“Grab cover,” I yelled. Keeping the ship whole was our only chance to keep everyone alive. If we sprang a leak, we’d be sitting ducks. Who knew how many people we’d lose before having to surrender. My crew and I grabbed crates, tenders, and whatever else we found in reach to set up as walls of protection. Sweat beaded down my forehead and my back. My blouse clung to my skin.

Water spouts rose hundreds of feet in the air where two balls fell short of our hull. My ears rang from the cannon’s harsh cracks. My vision fogged from the sharp tang of gunpowder flooding my nose. The ship thrashed beneath us as the choppy, manmade waves struck our keel.

Between the haze of cannons and fountains of water, our sight of the enemy’s sloops withered to muddled glimpses. I headed toward the crow’s nest, thinking to join Delmar for a long-range view when the attack stopped. As if the gods snapped their fingers and smote the enemy, the mist cleared. The Black Hollow’s outline faded into nothing but crystal blue skies and gentle, foaming waves. How in the underworld had we pulled off this miracle?

“Delmar,” I called.

“Yes, Captain?”

“Tell me what you see.”

He raised the spyglass to his eye, dropped it, shook his head, and raised it back again. When he finally lowered it, he stared at me several seconds before answering. “Nothing, Captain.” He scratched his head. “Open waters. Not even a bird in sight. It’s like they…”

“Vanished,” I whispered to the wind.

I swiveled around to join Bernard at the helm and found Dara and Hannah escorting Smitter and Rylander to my side. My brows lowered. Pirates didn’t believe in coincidences. First Smitter and Rylander disappeared from my ship. Then the enemy from our sights.

“My cabin, now,” I ordered pointing to Smitter and Rylander.

They trailed me into my chambers. We called it the “great cabin” because it spanned the width of the stern. I opened the door and ushered them in. Rectangular panes of natural light cast shadows from my long windows onto the wood floors. “I’m calling in my second question. Tell me exactly what you did and how. The truth! There’s no way we should have survived that attack. Where did you go?”

Rylander pulled out the chair behind my desk and sat, relaxed as ever. Smitter stood at the beveled window, the sun at his back haloing his form.

“Show her,” Rylander said with a wave of his hand.

Smitter smiled, gilded tooth glinting. He snapped his fingers and vanished into thin air.

Chapter seventeen

Rylander

Smitter popped out of the room, and Lou jumped back. “What? Where did he go?”