“We’re sailing to Three Peaks,” Twila said.
She’d been right. Blinking the pain away didn’t make her feel better. But Auntie Charlie had also been right. She could do things if the pain and the emptiness were pushed down.
“Why?” Asked Becca.
“Two reasons. First, Rosie, show everyone the map.”
When Rosie finished unfolding and smoothing the torn map, the crew stared at its markings. The Ludya Principalities, including Three Peaks, stood out in their thick, faded ink. Twila pointed at the darker Xs across the map. “We came to Shimmertower to follow Anton’s map but got distracted by the [Long Fives]. Can’t go back there easily, so we’re checking Three Peaks’ X next.”
Rojir raised his hand. “So, skipper, what’s the map for? I’d like to know a bit before we fly off to somewhere I’ve never been.” Marianna and Jamis nodded.
Rosie spoke up. “We found the map in Skipper Anton’s journal. We think it leads to [Pirate King] Kerr’s treasure. That’s what we’re trying to get. Right, Twila?”
“Right. We’ve got the map, so we’ll get the treasure.” Twila smiled weakly. Thinking about the treasure instead of…what she’d done helped.
The other kids nodded, but Auntie Charlie shook her head. “How long did Anton have the map?”
“It’s pretty old,” Rosie said.
“And he didn’t find the treasure, did he? So you’re missing something about the map. What are these?” Auntie Charlie pointed at the long list of numbers and letters in the map’s margins. “(3NTP12D83M), (ST3M84), (UISSWSF1D7S84), (UINB/D14S84), (IT18F87)...Whatever these codes are, you need to understand them before finding the treasure. Do you have any ideas?”
Rosie shook her head, and a moment later, so did Carter, Becca, and Twila. “If we don’t find anything at Three Peaks, maybe we can try the other Xs,” Rosie said.
“I think your goal’s a good one, and maybe we’ll learn something in Three Peaks. Just don’t get your hopes up on a quick solution,” Charlie said. “In the meantime, let’s talk about Shimmertower.”
Even as Auntie Charlie said the name, Twila’s head started to pound. She blinked over and over, breathing deeply until she’d buried the empty feeling deep down, just like Charlie had told her to. “What do you want to know?”
Twila learned more than anyone in the babble of voices that followed. They’d left at least one Marine dead behind them, of course. The boys had saved Auntie Charlie’s life–and recovered both her pistol and Twila’s. After they fled, Becca had patched up most of the myst cannon damage to the Hourglass.
But what no one could understand was where the gunship had gone.
Becca was close. “When we came in, it was clear one moment and stormy the next. I’d bet a crown -”
“If you had one,” Carter interrupted. “You owe me three wheels still, remember?”
“Yeah, whatever. I’d bet a crown the same thing happened.”
“I remembered that,” Twila said slowly. “I put [Anton’s Pocket Watch] inside the spot on the wheel mount. I tried to pull the levers, but it wouldn’t work. So I got mad and punched the watch. There were a bunch of ticks and a purple flash. Then the gunship was gone.”
“What do you mean?” Jamis asked. “Ships don’t just disappear.”
“We did disappear, though,” Twila said. “The watch lets me redo time. Not much, though–just five seconds. When I put it on the ship, I think it makes the ship travel through time instead and go way further than a few seconds.”
For a moment, the airship’s crew sat silently. Then everyone started talking at once.
Twila breathed and blinked until the noise stopped. “When the storm hit, I was playing with the pocket watch. I stuck it on the wheel mount, then I got knocked into the levers and bumped the watch. Then, something happened, and it got stormy.”
Auntie Charlie smiled slowly. “If you know what you did, and you did it twice, we can find a way to test this next time we’re in port.”
“Can’t test too much,” Twila said. “The black hand starts moving when we skip across time, and it takes a day to stop. It doesn’t fit on the wheel mount when the hand is moving.”
Becca hummed. “Well, we could ask the locals about the weather. If the ship skips backward, we could check what the weather was and -”
“- And see if the weather’s the same,” Carter finished, grinning. “I’m a genius!”
“You’re an ass,” Becca replied.
As the conversation dwindled, Carter looked up suddenly. “You said there were two reasons you picked Three Peaks. What was the second?”
Twila blinked a few more times. “My parents live there. Wanted to see them after…everything. But they don’t even live there anymore.”
“Oh.” Carter opened his mouth, then closed it.
Then he opened it again, but Auntie Charlie interrupted before he could say anything.
“Alright, you ship rats, back to your stations. The ship’s not going to take care of herself, and it’s still two days to Three Peaks!”
Carter looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped with a glare toward Auntie Charlie. He stomped off toward the hold. The others all headed to their various stations, including, oddly, Marianna at the helm.
Charlie noticed Twila’s raised eyebrow. “I assigned people to the jobs they were best for. She can hold the wheel straight on a bearing.”
She took a deep breath. “You have no idea how to be a skipper, do you?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Twila flashed back. The pistol going off. The cannon fire crashing through the Hourglass’s hull.
She blinked and breathed. Blinked and breathed. Until the visions stopped. “Yes. I don’t know. Maybe not.”
“I thought you might not,” Auntie Charlie nodded, smiling in a self-satisfied way. “I told you I served on several ships, right? Well, I learned a bit. I’ll be your quartermaster and teach you what you need to know. In return, I get two shares of Kerr’s treasure and, of any booty -”
Twila and Marianna both snorted.
“-we find. Do we have an agreement?” The woman stuck out her hand.
Twila thought about it. They didn’t have any treasure to share, and Charlie didn’t seem to think they’d likely find Kerr’s soon. Why would the woman want to work under a kid, with other kids? She had to be up to something - she’d bargained and negotiated with them before. It had to be to her advantage somehow.
But Twila also needed to learn her new job, and she didn’t have anyone else to learn from.
She nodded and grasped Auntie Charlie’s hand. They shook, and Auntie Charlie cleared her throat. “Get lost, mouse. Skipper has the helm. Take a nap or find some food, whatever six-year-olds do.”
“I’m eight, though,” Marianna argued as she let go of the wheel and ducked into the hold.
When the girl left, Auntie Charlie looked at Twila. “Take the helm and listen carefully to me. Pull your [Myst Lens] over your eye and stare at the wheel.”
Twila did, and words formed on the lens.
[Hourglass–Sloop (Myst Flow 30/Tick)]
[Condenser - Custom Type 4 Coil/Type 31 Sphere Mast Condenser (lvl.1): +30 myst/tick]
[Engines - Twin Shimmertower Skyworks Merchantman Engines (lvl. 2): -2/10/20/30/40 myst/tick]
[Deck Weapons - Long Fives (lvl. 1): 5-Pound Myst Shot: (active, 1 cartridge/shot) - Fire a large ray of charged, heated myst]
[Hold Weapons - Empty]
[Contraption #1 - Silver Engine (lvl. 5): Unknown Output]
[Contraption #2 - Empty]
[Contraption #3 - Empty]
[Contraption #4 - Empty]
[Armor - Wooden Hull (lvl. 0)]
[Crew: 4 crew for safe sailing, plus 4 crew on cannons]
“Hourglass’s stats look like mine!” Twila squealed. Her mind whirled. With this, she could really see what it would take to make Hourglass a proper pirate hunter - or, she thought with a touch of dread, a fearsome pirate.
“Yes, she does,” Auntie Charlie smiled and shut her eyes. “A ship her size would have the condenser and engines, deck weapons, four contraptions, armor, and four crew plus cannon teams.”
“And hold weapons, too, but she doesn’t have them, and she’s missing a bunch of contraptions,” Twila said. “All she has is the Silver Engine. I think that’d be the thing in the captain’s quarters.”
“The previous skipper seems to have run light for cargo. If you’re going to build her as a hunter like you’ve said, you’ll want to fill out those weapons slots and contraptions. There’s a lot that could help Hourglass in a fight,” Charlie said.
“For now, focus on the crew. You’ll need crowns to buy contraptions, more weapons, or supplies to build them ourselves. Assign yourself as skipper, me as quartermaster, and keep the rest as crewmates for now.”
[Crew: 4 crew for safe sailing, plus 4 crew on cannons]
[Skipper - Twila Tighe]
[Quartermaster - Caroline DeWalt]
“Done. What does a quartermaster do, anyways?” Twila asked.
“If the skipper’s planning on doing something incredibly stupid, the quartermaster can veto the decision, except in combat or chasing a prize,” Charlie said. “I’ll also give your orders to the crew and manage the mystlock arms on board. And being quartermaster gives me access to the ship’s status.”
Twila nodded. Being a skipper suddenly seemed like a lot of responsibility, especially without a quartermaster.
“I’m…proud of you, Skipper Tighe,” Auntie Charlie said, stumbling on the words a bit. “Just keep that feeling we talked about down until it cools. There’s too much to do, and too much you need to learn, to let yourself drift off again.”
Twila nodded again, slowly. “I’ll try not to. Thanks, Auntie - er, Quartermaster,” she said. She hesitated a moment. Then she ducked past the ship’s wheel and wrapped her arms around Charlie’s waist in a quick, sudden hug.
Caroline De’Walt froze, surprised. Then she patted Twila’s head awkwardly. “Auntie is fine, Twila. Auntie is just fine.”
[Twila Tighe, Ship Rat Mystgineer, Equipment Level 1.09 (Myst 1/10, Hit Points 1/1)]
[Head - Empty]
[Eyes - Myst Lens (lvl. 1) Myst Sight (passive) See own status block and others’ classes]
[Chest - Ship Rat’s Harness (lvl. 0)]
[Waist - Apprentice Mystgineer’s Bandolier (lvl. 1) Deep Pockets (passive) - Equip an additional Gizmo]
[Legs - Canvas Overalls (lvl. 0)]
[Gizmo #1 - Multitool (lv. 2) - Tool Transform (active, 1 myst/switch) - Change between many common tools; Skill - Tinkering]
[Gizmo #2 - Anton’s Pocket Watch (lvl. 4)] Redo (active, 5 myst/5 seconds) - redo the last five seconds of time, with knowledge of what’s happening (1 minute to reset); Skill - Piloting]
[Gizmo #3 - Empty]
[Gizmo (Belt) - Mystwork Lantern (lvl. 2): Mystlight (active, 25% failure chance, 1 myst/attempt) - start the light; Adjustable Light Aura (sustained, .5-2 myst/tick) - light a variable area; Skill - Perception]
[Myst Battery - Basic Myst Battery (lvl. 1) Small Storage (passive) - 10 myst maximum, requires condenser to refill]
[Weapon/Pair - Anton’s Paired Pistols (lvl. 2) Smoothbore Myst-Shot (active, 1 cartridge/shot) - fire a ray of heated myst; Rapid Shots (active, 2 myst/shot) - fire twice/tick; Skill - Marksman]
[Weapon/Pair - Empty]
[Skill #1 - Tinkering 2]
[Skill #2 - Perception 2]
[Skill #3 - Piloting 4]
[Skill #4 - Marksman 2]
[Skill #5 - Empty]