It’s A Plunderful Life Page 17

  “He’s dead, Ichabod. He’s been dead for hundreds of years. He’s not coming back.”

  He moved to stand in front of me, his hands reaching out. Once again, I thought I felt strong hands gripping mine before the air of the cabin stirred over them. “I came back,” he said quietly.

  I shivered as I remembered what my mother had said to me. If Ichabod had been called back, did that mean that somehow Durus had been, too? But if he had been, where was he? Ichabod was a ghost. He could talk to me, but he couldn’t accomplish anything in the physical world on his own.

  How scary could a pirate ghost be?

  There were footsteps behind me, and I turned to find the young museum worker from earlier approaching. “Hi there,” she said. “Just wanted to let you know we’ll be closing in thirty minutes.”

  “Thanks,” I said. She began to walk away.

  “Mistress Cass,” Ichabod whispered. “The astrolabe…”

  Oh, right. “Excuse me,” I called. “I, um, read that Captain Frowd had a…” I glanced at Ichabod. “A special astrolabe, but I don’t see it anywhere. Do you know if it’s somewhere else?”

  The young woman cocked her head to one side. “What’s an astrolabe?”

  Ichabod started moving his hands as if he could communicate an understandable description of an astrolabe via charades, but that wasn’t going to do much good. Luckily, this was the twenty-first century and I didn’t have to rely on him. Pulling up my phone, I opened Google and typed the words in. “It’s this,” I said, doing a quick image search.

  “Huh.” She studied the photos, her brow crinkled with thought.

  It was only when I looked at the images myself that I realized I didn’t need her to answer. Because I knew exactly where the missing astrolabe was.

  More importantly, I knew who else was looking for it.

  25

  “Mistress Cass, will you tell me what we’re doing?” Ichabod grumbled as I practically ran down Main Street. It had been difficult to pry him away from the ship, which he felt was the most logical place to find his missing instrument.

  But as I had learned recently, the logical answer wasn’t always the right answer.

  Vivian’s shop was still closed. Just to be sure, I stopped and knocked on the front door. “Viv?” I called.

  There was no answer. But then, I hadn’t really expected one.

  “I know where it is,” I said, starting off in the direction of home. “I didn’t know what you were talking about until I saw the picture. Then I realized I’d seen it before.” I looked at him, floating along beside me. “It’s at the park.”

  I still didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but I was certain that Vivian was involved. All those questions about the treasure we’d found as kids? She wasn’t asking out of a wave of nostalgia.

  She wanted to find that astrolabe.

  Because that was the strange instrument we’d found in that little locked chest so many years ago. The one we’d made a game of hiding from each other. One of those games where one day you just stop playing, right in the middle of a round. And if I remembered correctly, the last person to have hidden it was me.

  I was the only person who knew where that astrolabe was. And, for some reason, Vivian wanted it.

  We made it back to the house. No one was inside, but I found Toni in the side yard, tending her carnivorous plants. She looked up as I came rushing out. “Hey, how was your—?”

  “Not now. I need to get down to Pirate’s Cove. Now. Where’s Mom?”

  “She’s at the hospital with Diana. Why? What’s wrong?”

  I turned to Ichabod, who was hovering behind me. “Can you go to the hospital and tell Mom I need her? I’ll be at the cove.”

  Ichabod’s brows lowered over his dark eyes. “I really feel as though I should go with you.”

  I shook my head. “No, I need Mom.” I lowered my voice. “I know you mean well, Ichabod, but you can’t really help me if I get into trouble.”

  He wanted to argue, but there wasn’t much he could say to that. Finally, he gave me a curt nod. “Fine. I will get Mistress Evelyn and send her to help you.”

  Toni stripped off her gardening gloves. “I’ll go with you, Cass.”

  “No, I don’t think—”

  “I’m sorry,” Toni snapped. “Did I ask you if you thought that was a good idea?”

  “Um…no?”

  “That’s right. So let’s go.”

  There was no point in arguing with her. Besides, she might be able to help me. To be honest, I wasn’t sure exactly what Vivian was up to, or what she would do if I caught her snooping around. I knew she was capable of hurting people—if she was responsible for what happened to Diana, or for surprising me in the cave, then she could probably be pushed to do more. But it was Vivian. My childhood BFF. She wasn’t some criminal mastermind.

  The coin swayed against my skin, and I shivered. Vivian wasn’t. But what if messing around with that coin had called up something much darker?

  I almost took the necklace off, but the thought of it lying around where someone else could find it had me leaving it alone for now.

  I headed for the shed where we kept the golf carts, but Toni stopped me. “Mom figured now would be the perfect time for some maintenance work,” she said. “Wilder took all the golf carts into town to get tune-ups.”

  I stared at her. “Please don’t tell me what I think you’re telling me.”

  “We’re going to need to take Mother Goose.”

  She flung open Mother Goose’s shed, the giant bird looking down at me. Mocking.

  Need to ride into battle? I can help, but you’re going to look ridiculous.

  But there was no help for it. I started for the door, but Toni hip-checked me. “I’m driving,” she said, brushing past me.

  “What? Why?” None of this was going according to how I pictured it.

  She held up her hand, a set of keys dangling from her fingers. “Um, because I thought ahead?”

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “But I’m riding up front. Don’t even think about making me sit in one of the ducklings.”

  “Why would you need to ride in a duckling?” Toni asked, settling into the driver’s seat while I walked around to the passenger side door.

  “Mom said we both wouldn’t fit in the front seat.” But as I clambered into the goose, I realized the front seat was plenty spacious enough for two people. “Hey,” I said. “She lied to me?”

  Toni started Mother Goose up. “Focus, Cass. Why do we need to rush down to Pirate’s Cove?”

  “Oh, right.” I rubbed one hand over my eyes. “The fate of the whole world depends on it, or something. I think.”

  “Cool, cool.” She eased Mother Goose out of the shed, then turned onto the trail that led to the park. “Just a typical Thursday night, huh? How was your date with Ichabod?”

  “It wasn’t a date.” I opened my purse and began rummaging through it. If I was going to deal with a pirate ghost, I might need some magic. Maybe? I wasn’t sure. Regardless, some candy couldn’t hurt.

  I thought I had some leftover jelly beans in my purse, but when I found the package it was empty. But then I caught sight of the shiny gold package that contained the gummy unicorns. Perfect.

  Ripping open the package, I grabbed a handful of gummies and stuffed them into my mouth.

  “Did he…kiss you, or anything?”

  I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Toni to get stuck on details that did not matter at all at the moment. Swallowing the gummies, I said, “He’s a ghost, Toni. He couldn’t kiss me even if he wanted to. Which he didn’t.”

  “Mmmhmm.” She slowed Mother Goose down just enough to make a sharp right-hand turn, then sped up again once we’d safely made the corner. “You sound kind of crabby about it.”

  “I’m not crabby, Toni. I’m trying to get mentally prepared for a confrontation with world-ending consequences.”

  Okay, that last part was a bit of a stretch. I didn’t think that�
��s what was going on here, but it would be nice if my sister would take this seriously.

  “So touchy,” she murmured.

  I ignored her and ate another handful of candy. The sugar was starting to do its magic, working its way through my bloodstream.

  As Astrid had said, these were particularly powerful. I could feel my fingers starting to tingle with barely suppressed power already.

  Toni was a good goose driver, keeping Mother Goose right at the edge of her safe speed the whole time, and we arrived just as I was finishing off another handful of gummies. “Thank goodness for these magical gummies,” I said. “I’m not sure I would have had enough energy without them.”

  “What magical gummies?” Toni asked, shutting off the goose’s engine. From just over a set of rocks, I could hear the tide coming in.

  “These.” I held up the package, with what remained of the gummies at the bottom. “Gummy unicorns.”

  Toni took the bag from me and held it in both hands. “Um, Cass, where did you get these?”

  “From the candy shop in town.”

  “I hate to tell you this—well, no. Actually, I wouldn’t say I hate to tell you this—”

  “What, Toni?” I snapped.

  “These are edibles.”

  It took way too long for that to sink in. “What, like pot gummies?”

  “Exactly like that.” She handed the package back to me and I squinted at the label, which definitely did not say the words “pot gummies.”

  “No, she said they were magic gummies.”

  Toni nodded. “Yeah. ‘Magic’ gummies.”

  She wasn’t making sense, and I spared a moment of pity for her. “She said that Mom buys these from her.”

  Toni scratched her bare knee. “She does. Evelyn does enjoy the occasional edible.”

  I dropped the package like it had burned me. “Mom does pot?”

  “Once in a while.”

  “After all those lectures she gave me in high school about never trying drugs?”

  “Cass, can you focus?”

  I wasn’t sure I could. I stared in horror at the half-empty package. How many had I eaten?

  “What happens if you eat that many edibles?” Toni asked as if she could hear my thoughts. And maybe she could. I might have been speaking aloud for all I knew.

  “I don’t know. I don’t do pot,” I hissed.

  “Well, you do now.”

  I took a deep breath and hiked my purse strap higher on my shoulder. Okay. So this wasn’t exactly the heroic moment I’d imagined. I’d downed half a bag of pot unicorns, and I’d rolled up in a giant goose, and my sister wasn’t taking this seriously, and my ghostly date had spent the whole night fretting over another woman.

  Focus, Cass.

  I was pretty sure Viv was in that cave, looking for the astrolabe I’d hidden years ago. Maybe I wasn’t exactly bringing my A-game, but that was okay. It was just Vivian. If I got into trouble, I had my magic. Toni was there to help, and my mom would be on her way shortly.

  Not bad odds.

  I could do this.

  I just needed to do it before all those pot gummies kicked in.

  Perfect.

  26

  Inside the cave, I could practically smell Vivian’s desperation. It rolled off her in waves, thick and sweaty and reeking of detritus.

  Her head whipped in my direction as my toe caught on a pebble, sending it clattering along the uneven ground. For a moment, she went very still, her eyes flat and dead, like a shark coming in for the kill. But then her body sagged with relief. “Cass!” she said. “You came! I knew you’d be here.”

  Okay, so that wasn’t exactly the reaction I’d feared. Maybe I hadn’t needed to scarf down half a bag of pot gummies after all.

  Her face shimmered with sweat. “I need to find it, Cass.” She moved closer to me, her eyes searching my face, her hands reaching for mine. “He told me I couldn’t tell you, that we couldn’t trust you, but you’re my oldest friend. You want to help me. Don’t you?”

  I nodded, still hazy on the details.

  “What are you looking for?” I asked, keeping my voice as neutral as possible. Was I speaking too loudly? It sounded like my voice was echoing off everything—the looming ship, the rocks, even itself.

  She smiled, the lines around her eyes creasing. “A weapon,” she whispered.

  Also not what I was expecting. I thought she wanted the astrolabe, but perhaps I had it all wrong. And then I remembered what Ichabod had said, that some woman—Eugenia—had given it to him and told him it would help him defeat Christopher Durus.

  Perhaps, if I were to look at that from Durus’s perspective, I, too, would call it a weapon.

  “Sure,” I said. “We’ll find it together.”

  With a sob, Viv threw her arms around me. “I knew you’d help me,” she said. Her shoulders were shaking.

  She drew back, smiling and sniffling. Then she glanced over my shoulder. “And Toni! You came, too!”

  “Honestly, I’m not exactly sure what—oh, hey. Great,” Toni said as Viv caught her in a hug as well.

  My sister was not a hugger.

  “Where is it, Cass?” Viv said, and even through the haze of my developing high, I was aware that something was wrong.

  She was still hugging Toni. Only it didn’t look like a hug anymore.

  When Viv spoke again, her voice was cool and quiet, a dark, low sound, like a snake slithering along the ground. “I need to know where it is, Cass.”

  “I’m trying to remember.” Only it was very hard to concentrate now that I was beginning to feel a little…floaty.

  Also, Vivian had twisted around behind Toni, so that both women were facing me, her arm around Toni’s neck.

  Well, great. Some action heroes we were. All the bad guy had to do was offer us hugs, and we were trapped.

  “You’d better remember quickly,” Viv said. “Because I’m not leaving here without it.”

  And with that one of her hands dipped into the pocket of her jacket. Was it a jacket? It might actually be classified as a duster, a garment I’d always loved the look of but never could seem to pull off. I couldn’t tell you how many dusters I’ve tried on and—

  “Cass?” Toni said, her voice strained. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Oh. This time I was talking out loud.

  “It’s a duster, Cass. From the seventies. I got it at an estate sale last year. I’d be happy to help you find a lovely vintage piece that works for you. But I need the astrolabe. Now.”

  And she pulled her hand out of her pocket. Holding a gun.

  Well, that certainly changed the odds a bit.

  “You know what one of my husband’s favorite things to do was?” Her voice was unnaturally calm, and my stomach rolled. From the gummies? Or from the fact that she lifted the gun and placed the barrel against Toni’s cheek? Probably both. “He loved to go to the shooting range. Oh, he could spend hours there. At first I just kissed him goodbye, but then he mentioned some of the women that shot there with him, and I decided to get more involved.

  “I started to go with him. You know, I actually got to be quite good. I thought it might warn his little whore away, but apparently she doesn’t scare easy.” She chuckled, and suddenly it did all seem very funny. There we were, the three of us standing around in the shadow of a fake pirate ship, chests of plastic coins and jewels all around us, and Viv holding a gun to Toni’s head because a long-dead pirate wanted some old-timey navigation device.

  Deep down, I knew the situation was very frightening. But it was also hilarious.

  Toni made a choked little sound. Okay, so maybe she didn’t find it so funny.

  “Why are you smiling, Cass?”

  Damn pot gummies.

  I shook my head and bit down on my bottom lip. “I’m not smiling.” But a weird little giggle escaped, and Toni rolled her eyes.

  “I need you to listen very carefully,” Viv said. “I don’t want to hurt Toni, but I
’m not going to miss if I have to shoot her.”

  I tried to remember what my self-defense teacher had told me, but he hadn’t given much instruction for what to do if your former best friend was holding a gun on your sister and you were high as a kite.

  Note to self-defense instructors everywhere: Please cover this scenario.

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll find it. But you’re going to have to give me a minute. I need to look around, see if that jogs my memory.”

  She shifted slightly, and then my ear exploded.

  Or rather, she fired the gun. It went off with a deafening roar, a dragon eager to rip off my head. There was a sharp crack of rock behind me, and my knees buckled.

  She’s shot Toni. My heart flipped over and I died a million deaths in the heartbeat it took for my head to clear enough that I could see Toni still standing, shaking. I didn’t see any blood, much to my relief.

  “Let’s see if that jogs your memory,” Viv said, her voice flat. “That was your one warning shot.”

  “I think that helped,” I said. Except I felt floatier than ever, and I was having a very hard time holding myself together.

  “Then go get it.”

  I headed toward the back of the cave. I needed a plan, and I didn’t have very long to figure one out. Pressing the back of my hand against my mouth, I smothered another nervous giggle.

  Sure would have been nice if I were sober.

  My fingers skimmed the exterior of my purse. Vivian hadn’t made me leave my purse behind, which went to show that she made a terrible supervillain herself. What a dumb mistake. Didn’t she know that I had…

  What? What do you have, Cass? I asked myself, clamping my lips together to ensure I didn’t actually say anything.

  You know what I had? A package of tissues, the rest of the gummies, my wallet, and a tinted Chapstick that was just a shade too coral for me.

  Yeah. Vivian wasn’t worried about my purse because she knew me well enough to know I didn’t carry a gun.

  “So,” I said, picking my way carefully over the rocks. “Who needs this weapon?”