The Sea Ruby

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I assumed the ink had run as the map felt damp, but I didn’t take it out in case Abigale snatched it away. “Soo, give up?” She grinned again, looking at me with one wide eye. I shook my head silently, gripping my pocket. 

Abigale moaned, “Ugh, well … I bet you don’t even have the map. You don’t have a crew and you don’t even have a ship! After you get the sea ruby, are you going to make a trip to fairy land?” She laughed, motioning for her crew to do so, too. 

Mira appeared from behind her, to my relief. She looked at me and Adam sitting in our rowboat and let out a chuckle. “Well, capture them!” Abigale yelled, pointing to the gangplank she had just lowered. The pirate crew ran down the gangplank and jumped onto our boat. They grabbed us by our collars before chunking us towards their captain. 

I slid painfully across the deck, smashing into Abigale’s feet. Adam followed too, sliding into my back. We were taken below deck where there were two bamboo hammocks. The pirate who took us down there locked the door behind him. “What do we do now?” Adam moaned, throwing himself onto one of the hammocks. 

“I …I don’t know,” I stammered, walking towards my hammock. We both lay in silence, gazing at the deck above us. “I still have the map,” I whispered at last.  

“Oh, well it’s not much help anyway. We don’t have a boat and we don’t have a way out of here,” Adam whispered back.  

I was too tired to think of a plan. My eyes drooped and my head ached for water. Suddenly, within a mere minute, I was asleep. 

“Flint! Wake up!” Mira said in an urgent whisper, shaking me awake. I jumped up, surprised to see a familiar face. I burst into joy and wrapped my arms around Mira. She hugged me back, but then pushed me away. “I know how to get you out of here,” she said, helping me out of bed. Adam woke up, too, and jumped with joy. 

“First, sneak down the hall and take the last door on your left. The room is filled with spare boats. Pick one and then lift the small door in the room. You can easily escape then. Put a bunch of garbage bags on top of you so you look like Fat Fingers daily garbage boat,” Mira instructed. I wanted to ask about the weird name, but I listened instead. 

“Go straight to the castle place, okay?” Mira looked at me for reassurance.  

I shook my head. “No way! We’re going to find the sea ruby.”   

“You don’t even have a map!” Mira looked at me in disbelief.   

I smartly pulled out the damp map from the pocket. “It’s torn and the ink has run a bit, but we can still make out the path.”