He thumped the wall barely inches from where they stood. Ned shifted closer against Cecilia; beside them, Alex made the tiniest sound as he unsheathed a weapon. Cecilia bit her lips desperately to keep silent.

“Damn it, girl! You’re going to be sorry. For every half hour you stay hidden, I will slit the throat of a pirate lady.” His voice shuddered through the timbers. His smile cut the dark. “I’m sure you don’t want that, do you?”

Cecilia moved instantly to open the door. Ned caught her, pushing her against raw wood and spiderwebs. She struggled, but he was gentle, confusing her instinct to resist. He brushed back her hair, soothing her, calming her, until she eased beneath him.

“Cecilia!” Morvath shouted again, but his voice was fading, and his footsteps moved away. Finally he was gone.

Ned shifted back, but Cecilia pulled him to her again with unthinking need, her arms and her heart clinging to the comfort of his steady self-assurance.

“Pardon me,” someone whispered in a high, fine voice. “I don’t like to interrupt, but you are blocking our escape.”

Ned immediately stepped away from Cecilia. “Who’s there?” he demanded.

A sharp scratching sounded in the blackness, then light flared. As the pirates squinted against it, the light bloomed, filling the passage. Their eyes adjusted; they saw a rotund woman holding up a lantern.

“Who are you?” Alex asked, raising his sword.

“Captain Anne Brown, at your service,” she said archly. “Who are you?”

“Miss Brown!” Cecilia sidled past the men to grasp the woman’s hand. “You’re safe! You’re free! Is my aunt also?”

“Ah, Cecilia, so good to have found you. Your aunt is about six people to the rear of me.”

Cecilia felt a rush of relief so powerful, she might have wept from it had Miss Brown not been watching her with sharp, cynical eyes. “Morvath said he would kill you if I didn’t return to him.”

“Yes, dear,” Miss Brown replied, patting Cecilia’s arm. “We heard him. But we have all escaped. Except Miss Fairweather and her granddaughter Jane. They were taken from us yesterday and we fear the worst.”

“The worst indeed, Miss Brown,” Cecilia replied. “Jane Fairweather is a traitor! Captain Lightbourne can tell you all—”

“Actually . . .” Ned interjected.

“It was she who aided Morvath’s kidnapping of the Society. I never trusted her myself. What kind of person scrapes the icing off a bun before eating it? As for her tastes in literature— But are you otherwise all here? The children?”

“No, they and the men are being held elsewhere as hostages for our good behavior. And so we must not delay! The guards will soon realize we have gone.”

Suddenly a tumult of footsteps filled the gallery. People were running from both directions; someone shouted. The pirates froze, barely daring to breathe.

“You lot, to the upper floor!” a man called. “Leave no door unopened. The girl must be somewhere. Jack, find that Bassingthwaite landlubber as well. He’ll probably be cowering in a corner, but in case he’s trying to escape, catch him.”