The entire ship turns hard into the wind, the sails billowing even more as we race toward the shore.
I try to find Widow in the dark, the moon casting a shadow on where she was working on the sail. “Widow!” I yell for her.
“Lass, you should be inside!” Hook runs to me.
“Captain! Long Tom!” Starkey slides down a rope from the crow’s nest and rushes to the cannon. One of the blocks under its wheels has come loose, and it’s pointing toward the front of the ship. Starkey heaves the rope attached to the cannon, but it doesn’t budge.
“Go!” I push Hook away. “Go. I’m fine.”
His brows lower, but he jumps over the rail, lands hard on the deck, then darts to Starkey. “Grab the line!” He and Starkey both pull at the rope as I still search for Widow.
“Widow!” I’m not foolish enough to untie the knot at my waist, but I pull against the rope, my eyes searching the gloom for her.
“Heave!” Hook cries as Bill Jukes and a few other pirates join he and Starkey on the gun.
When I look out to sea, I find Anne’s ship bearing down. She’s cutting a diagonal line through the waves to us, firing all the while. Why is she shooting? There’s no way she has cannonballs to waste.
A hard thump has me whirling to find Widow behind me.
I scream and throw my arms around her. “You’re okay!”
“Of course I am.” She hugs me back. “I can hold a line even tighter than I hold a cock.”
“I don’t know what that even means.” I’m just so happy she’s safe and sound.
“Sit tight.” She pulls away and jogs down to the deck where Bill Jukes is replacing the blocks.
Shiner peeks out from one of the ladders that leads below decks, and even in the dark, I can tell her face is a sickly greenish shade. She keeps climbing, though, and makes it onto the deck before Skylights rises behind her, grabs her around the waist, and drags her below. It’s probably for her own good, but I don’t think she’s going to let Skylights manhandle her like that for too long.
The boom of Anne’s guns grows louder, and her ship is racing toward us on a collision course.
“There!” Bill replaces the block beneath Long Tom.
“Get ready to fire!” Hook’s whistle pierces the hiss of the sea and the blowing sails. He comes back to the wheel and spins it a few turns. “Are you all right, lass?”
“I’m good.” I blink against the wind as we turn more toward Anne’s ship.
Hook watches Starkey and Bill load the cannon with powder while Cecco carries a huge cannonball up from below. Cecco struggles, but Bill takes the ball from him and lifts it overhead to load it into the cannon.
With eagle eyes, Hook scans Anne’s ship, then makes another minute adjustment at the wheel, positioning the Jolly Roger like a piece on a playing board.
“Fire when ready!” he calls then turns to me. “Lass, cover your ears!”
I slap my palms to my ears and watch as Widow lights the cannon. She and the others run back and hunker down behind some barrels as the fuse burns and disappears inside the iron monster.
The explosion that follows is deafening even through my hands. The entire ship rocks violently as the cannonball takes flight through a plume of gray smoke. I can only make out its shadow as it sails through the night. It collides with Anne’s ship, sending splinters flying into the air and the main mast crashing down into the water.
“Reload!” Hook calls. “Cecco, bowse the Genoa!”
I have no idea what he’s saying, but Cecco does, because he goes to work lowering one of the sails.
Anne’s cannons boom less frequently now, but they’re still going.
“Why is she firing?” I yell to Hook.
He gives me a dark look. “She’s trying to call up hell from the depths. Let’s hope she doesn’t get it done before I sink her and send her there.”
“Ready, Captain!” Starkey calls.
