image [https://imgur.com/Z8IOPOz.jpg]

Sailor captain Mitchel took us to a little building at the start of the docks. It was one of the guard posts in the area.

There was a big open room with some desks and papers spread all over each of them. He sat down at the biggest one and had someone gather seats for the rest of us.

“Over the last two weeks," he started, "those pirates have been trying to extort equipment out of us in exchange for protection.”

“What sort of equipment have they been taking?” Uncle asked.

“Scrap metal, broken parts, mainly lead. But they’ve also taken boats from the docks and alcohol from some of the nearby vendors.”

Boats and boos were pretty typical for pirates, but why were they taking lead? Was there a radiation problem I wasn’t detecting? I guess these tropical places do get a lot of sun, so you’ll burn easily.

Marek had something to add. “I’d expect pirates to want money rather than materials. That’s usually their MO.”

“Yes, Lord Verren. We thought so too. But these guys must have something else in mind.” He cleared off his desk and rolled out a map with the town and nearby sea on it. “They’ve been hiding out here.” He pointed to the island where the Longitude tower was. “Every team we’ve sent in to investigate has been intercepted by one of their ships. survivors claim the ship came out of nowhere to attack.”

“Ninja pirates,” I commented. “We’ll have to be careful.”

The sailor captain gave me a funny look. I don’t know why, since I was obviously on the right track.

“Anyway, our teams can’t get close enough to the island to investigate. If this goes on any longer, we’ll have to get the Royal Navy to send reinforcements. Then the port will have to shut down for a few days. Guess that's better than losing all the cargo, but still…”

Wow, the Royal Navy? They’d bring in battleships and planes to deal with the ninja ghost pirates. Maybe even nuke the ocean, just to be sure!

No wonder the pirates were stocking up on lead. They had to protect against a nuclear fallout!

“Uncle, we can’t let the Navy nuke the ocean!”

“What the heck are you on about?” Indena barked.

“Can someone take the kid outside?” The captain ordered his subordinates.

Wait! No way was I going outside!

Some dudes in white outfits and sailor hats were coming to take me away, but I couldn’t leave my party behind!

“Come on, kid,” one said with a nice smile. “You can build a sand castle or something.”

“No, wait!” I shouted as they tore me from the clutches of my friends. “I don’t want to goooo!”

“I’ll head outside with her,” Yamin said. “You guy’s can fill us in on what the plan is later.”

Yamin took over for the sailors, then walked me the rest of the way out. Rats…was it something I said? Maybe they didn't want me figuring out their plan.

~☆☆☆~

"Yamin, why'd they kick me out?"

"Because you were being distracting and a smidge too imaginative."

Maybe I was letting my imagination get the best of me. Or, maybe this was part of a grand conspiracy to keep me from the truth?

I had to find a way to listen in on the conversation to know what the truth really was. They were going to plan something big, and I needed to be a part of it.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

But, how was I going to sneak in there without them noticing?

“Hey Yalda, look! I found a seashell!” Yamin said as we walked along the beach.

Oooh, it was super pretty blue.

Wait, she was trying to distract me.

I’m not so silly that I’d forget what I was doing. I had to think of something to sneak back into that building.

Hmm…what could I do though?

“Okay, sweetheart…cover your eyes,” Yamin said. “Now hold out your hand.”

I did as she asked. But I kinda cheated and saw what she was doing using my crystal hearts. She was handing me an ice cream cup.

So, I have blue crystal hearts embedded in my body, they look like diamond shaped gems. The main one was in my chest, which I needed to make mana so I could live, but the two on my arms were spares that I could take off whenever I wanted. You could say I wear my heart on my sleeve.

Any of those hearts I could use as an extra pair of eyes, if I wanted.

Wait! That gave me an idea!

After eating the ice cream…mmm…cherry flavoured!

Anyways, after eating, I took off one of my arm hearts and noticed that I could still see through it, even though it was disconnected.

Perfect!

But now we had another problem. How was I going to get this thing inside that room to listen in on their conversation? I couldn’t sneak it back in there, since I wasn’t allowed to leave Yamin.

Maybe Samael could take it back for me? He’s a snake, so he could be really sneaky if he wanted. Right now he was sleeping under my paper boy hat. That was our compromise, since he didn’t like being in my pocket.

“Psst…Samael…” I whispered up to him, covering the side of my mouth that faced Yamin. “Sammy…”

“Sssss.” I got his attention. He peeked his head down from under my hat.

“Can you do me a favour?” I lifted up one of my crystal hearts to his mouth. “Take this back into the building and let me listen in on the conversation.”

“Sss.” He took the heart in his mouth like an egg and slithered down my head.

It looked like Yamin didn’t notice what was going on. She was too busy eating ice cream to pay attention.

“Hey, how’s the treat?” Yamin asked.

“It’s good.” I nodded and smiled, knowing my plan was going smooth as soft serve.

~☆☆☆~

Project Infiltrate the Meeting was underway. Samael had managed to get inside through a vent and was slithering around.

“Okay, Samael, just keep heading this way. I think you’re over the room now.”

I was able to speak through my heart. I used that as a means to communicate with him.

He’d discovered a vent grate over the room, so he approached and faced my view down into.

Bingo! They were still talking.

“So, you guys are really going to do this for us?” the sailor captain asked. “It’s just been a nightmare trying to deal with it.”

“If you’re willing to give us free passage to the mainland, we’ll solve this issue for you,” Uncle said.

Darn it. I missed the whole conversation. At least I got an idea of what was going to happen.

I requested Samael return. He quickly slithered back. Yamin was still eating the ice cream, not noticing I spaced out.

“Are you doing okay, sweety?” She asked me.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I gave a disarming smile.

Just then, everyone exited the building and was heading for us. Uncle didn’t look happy.

“I’m disappointed in you,” he picked me up and held me at eye level with him. “From now on, whenever we have a meeting, you will need to remain quiet.”

“N…No!”

That wasn’t fair! I was an essential part of this team, and I wasn’t going to be silenced because I wasn’t a grownup!

Dang it. Grownups get to do everything. I wanna be a grownup.

“And before you get any more ideas about snooping around…” Uncle poked my crystal heart. The exact one that I’d used to listen in with.

Double dang it! He’s so smart. He figured out what I was up to.

“You’re clever, but I was alerted the moment you started sneaking,” he said.

“This sucks. I can’t do anything any more.”

Uncle let out a laugh. “You can’t fool me that easily. But, I’m glad you're resourceful.”

At least he recognized my ingenuity. Like I said, he’s smart.

“Wait, what’d she do?” Indena raised a brow.

“You’ll see soon enough. I’m sure it will come in handy in the future.”

Everyone was at a loss for what we were talking about, but they decided to let it go. We had to prepare for our mission to stop the pirates and get a ride to the mainland!