The ship skirted around a shoal as if it knew it was there, and headed for the calm, deep water of a lagoon. With a startling clap the sails dropped all at once and the ship glided, slowing to a stop not more than twenty feet from the rocky shore of Pirate Island.

“We’re here,” Alex whispered. It felt sacred and spooky, the only sounds the whispers of the ship and the squeaky reel and splash of the anchor chain eerily releasing of its own accord. Alex looked around, finding Simber in his usual spot near the stern. He lifted his hand and drew a circle in the air with his finger. Simber nodded and flew toward the base of the volcanic island, weaving around rocks and clearing small juts and peaks, searching for signs of life.

By now the others had stood too, and they all watched in silence, looking down into the murky water and up at the volcano, hoping it was tired of shooting fire for now, because they were uncomfortably close.

» » « «

It was a long, anxious thirty minutes before Simber came back into view again, and half the ship let out a sigh of relief to see him, backlit by the moon. He drew close and landed on the nearby shoal, resting his wings for the first time since that morning, though he didn’t need to. Alex moved to the side of the ship nearest Simber and leaned over the railing.

“Did you find anything?”

Simber folded his wings and licked his shoulder where some water had splashed on it, and then he turned his attention to Alex and the dozens of others who had tuned in to listen. “No signs of life, not human, crrreature, or anything else, that I could detect,” he said. “It’s completely deserrrted.”

Still Stuck

Alex and Simber decided it was safer being on the ship than on the island, and there wasn’t much they could do in the dark, so everyone tried to settle in for the night.

Alex stayed on the deck near Simber. He lay on his back

staring up at the sky, his arms propping up his head. He couldn’t sleep knowing that at any second, without warning, the volcano could sink back into the sea, creating a vortex that would pull millions of gallons of seawater and their boat into its mouth and swallow them up.

The ship’s whispers grew stronger, or maybe it was the quiet night that made the whispers seem louder; Alex wasn’t sure. He could hear a soft purr somewhere nearby, more kittenlike than Simber-like. It was a comforting sound, and Alex was glad someone was feeling comfortable. He couldn’t stop thinking about being responsible for all these lives. He couldn’t stop thinking about Gunnar Haluki losing Henry and Lani. About Carina’s son growing up an orphan, never really having a chance to know either of his parents. About Artimé losing so many great leaders. Maybe it had been a bad idea to bring so many of them with him.

But he needed them. If they could ever get out of this lagoon, Alex would need them desperately. He fell into a fitful sleep, waking at every sound, expecting to be swallowed by the volcano at any moment.

When at last the sun rose, Alex stood up, shivering a little in the cool morning air, waiting for the rays to warm him. He could see Quill, a dot in the east just this side of the sun, and Warbler, a large lump on the horizon with its rocks jutting out.

In front of him the volcanic Pirate Island loomed blue-black and craggy and ominous, throwing spooky shadows everywhere. As far as Alex could tell, the fiery outburst had subsided completely.

Alex peered beyond Pirate Island to the west, knowing there was one more island out there somewhere. He thought he spied something rising up from the water, but it wavered and moved, the sea playing tricks on his tired eyes.

Simber stretched his hind legs, first one, then the other, and then arched his back and yawned.

Alex leaned over the side. “I want to explore,” he whispered, not wanting to wake anyone. “Maybe there’s a clue somewhere about how to deprogram the ship.”

Simber nodded. “Just you?”

Alex thought for a moment. He shook his head. “Be right back,” he said. He picked his way over sleeping bodies on the deck, making his way to the bow, where his friends had camped out for the night. He bent down next to Carina and shook her shoulder.

She roused and was wide awake in an instant. “What’s wrong?” she asked. She smoothed her pixie-cut hair, but it still stood up in one spot.

“Will you come explore the island with Simber and me?” “Sure,” Carina said. She got nimbly to her feet.

Alex grinned. He stepped over to Sky and found her already awake. “Want to explore?” Alex whispered.

Sky nodded once, and then she said, “But not without Crow.”

Alex flashed her a puzzled look. “Okay,” he said. “He can come too. No problem.”

Sky stood up and woke Crow, and then the four went back to the side of the ship nearest to Simber. Crow rubbed his eyes sleepily as he stumbled along.

Alex signaled to Simber and the great cat unfurled his wings, making a bridge to the ship. Alex hoisted Crow up on the wing first, and the boy crawled along it to Simber’s back without fear. Sky went next, and then Carina, and finally Alex.

“Hang on,” Simber said quietly, then loped along the shoal and flapped his powerful wings. Soon they were soaring toward the rocky shore, and then the short journey was over. Simber landed and everyone got down.

“Stay close. If anything begins to move, jump onto my back,” Simber said.

Alex hesitated. He glanced back at the ship, realizing that thanks to Simber, the four of them were probably safer here on the base of the sinking volcano than the others were in the boat.