They both nodded. Henry took off sloshing in his shoes down the stairs at full speed, with Ms. Octavia swishing behind him.

Sky and Crow scrabbled down the mast.

“How did you think to do that?” Alex asked, still incredulous.

Crow shrugged. “We did a lot of climbing. Trees, mostly, but Sky worked in shipbuilding for a while.”

“Well, that’s pretty cool. You’ll have to teach me to climb like you someday,” Alex said.

Crow nodded and tried to hide a grin, embarrassed by the praise. He ran downstairs to help Henry. Sky headed to the bow.

Alex went through the rest of the leader roster, finding everyone present and accounted for. “Whew,” he said. And then he looked to the captain’s wheel, realizing the captain wasn’t on anyone’s team, and he hadn’t shouted in a while. “Captain?” He rushed through the maze of sopping wet humans and creatures and found Captain Ahab sitting on the deck, his head in his hands.

“Are you okay, Captain?”

The statue looked up. “My peg leg,” he growled. “That treacherous whale!”

Alex looked all around. “I don’t think the whale took your peg leg.”

“Aye, the greedy, monstrous, insatiable thief!” He pounded the deck with his fists. “Relentless beast!”

Alex shook his head and then called out, “Attention! If anyone finds Captain Ahab’s peg leg, please return it to the ship’s wheel area immediately!” He turned back to the captain. “Don’t worry. We’ll fix you right up.” He looked at the wheel, which began to turn on its own. “Is there anything I can do with this ship? Do you know where we’re going?”

But the captain just shook his head. “This ship obeys a ghoulish master. I am useless to you.”

“That’s not true. We need you,” Alex said. He patted the statue on the shoulder, trying to hide his anxiety. “Just sit tight. Ms. Octavia will take care of you soon. Are you in pain?”

“The pain of treachery festers in the darkest depths of the soul and never dies.”

Alex nodded. “Okay, then. Catch you later.” He turned and made his way to the bow.

Seeing Sean standing at the point with Carina, Sky, and Meghan, Alex went over to them, signaling to Simber to come along, which he did, staying far enough above to keep from disturbing the Unwanteds with his wings, but close enough to hear the conversation.

“Hey,” Alex said to the others. Having Carina back made it feel like old times on the roof of the gray shack. Alex looked out over the calm water to the island that had risen from below the surface. A burst of fire spewed up from the very top of the rocky land. He glanced at Sky, but he could feel his face flush, so he looked ahead again. “Looks like the ship is headed straight for it,” he said. He cracked his knuckles and tapped his fingers on the railing. “You know, this is killing me, leaving Lani and Samheed back there.”

“Me too,” Meghan said. “Ms. Octavia tried everything she could think of to turn it around, but its course is set.” She reached out and linked arms with Alex, resting her head on his shoulder. “Sky thinks the ship is going home.”

“Home?” The others turned to look at Sky.

“It’s Pirate Island. Home to pirates.” Sky blushed, perhaps realizing that was obvious.

“But how could anyone live there?” Alex said. “You’ve seen it disappear and reappear before?”

“Yes, I’ve seen it from Warbler. It’s a volcano island,” she said. “There’s something very spooky about it. No one really knows how anyone can live there, because it submerges randomly. But somehow they do.”

“How do you know?” Sean asked.

“We’ve seen their ships—they get caught in the current sometimes around the other side of our island. Queen Eagala has added a few of them to our fleet.” She paused. “Obviously, we’ve seen their pirates, too. Some were captured and live on Warbler now. A few escaped a couple of years ago.”

Alex leaned his head forward to look at her, all memories of the kiss forgotten now in his quest to figure out what was happening. “Did they escape in a ship like this one? And did they have the thorn necklaces?”

“I think so,” Sky said. “Queen Eagala tries to cover up any news of escapees, but word gets out, even though the hand signals limit conversation.”

Carina tapped her chin. “I remember when this ship came ashore. The two guys inside were dead.”

Alex nodded. “I bet it was them.”

“So the whispers of this ship . . .”

“It wants to go home,” Sky said, and she sounded convinced. She raised her hand to her forehead as a line of flames reached up from the volcano to enhance the red-gold setting sun. “Looks like we’ll be there in a few hours.” She turned toward the others with a very serious look on her face. “We need to hope that Pirate Island stays above the surface.”

“Why?” Meghan asked. “Maybe if the island is gone, the ship will stop trying to find it.”

Sky shook her head. “No. It was heading for the island when it was underwater earlier. It’s homed in. But the biggest problem now is if the island sinks when we’re anywhere near it. If it does, then this ship and everything on it will get sucked down into the gaping hole left by the volcano.”

A Long Night

As it became increasingly clear that the pirate ship was indeed heading straight for the volcanic island, Alex called everyone to the upper deck to discuss the plan before darkness overcame them. Meghan and Ms. Octavia began to light torches around the ship so that