Ellery and I shouldn’t have been on the deck of the Tempest’s Rage when the island appeared. Maybe if we’d just stayed below, Captain Crowe wouldn’t have gotten the idea. Nevertheless, decisions were made, and we can’t turn back time now.

It was August when we boarded the King’s Jewel in search of adventure upon a tiny British supply ship bound for the New World. Ellery and I were going to be orphaned stowaways for two months, treading through the murky, stagnant water in the orlop to escape the crew. He’d use his charms to mislead them, creating wild fantasies about animal hitchhikers on various levels of the ship, and I’d steal food from the belligerent cook. One foolish boatswain was even led to believe that Ellery was of royal descent. 

But the fun couldn’t last. A month and a half into the journey, we heard it: the terrible crack and boom of cannon fire. 

The last place Ellery wanted to be was at the bottom of the ship when it sank. He was grabbing at my arms, and I was ushering him up the stairs as the crew flooded past us to man their own cannons. 

“It must be the French,” Ellery spat.

“How could it be?” I questioned. “We’re still fathoms away from the New World!” 

“Pirates, then,” said Ellery, hushed. 

My eyes widened. I’d always been the more studious sibling, and while Ellery may have believed pirates plundered only for treasure, I knew what else they were capable of. 

“Go,” I pushed him up the stairs, and we kept climbing. 

The trap door was right above us. Ellery flung it open, and we stepped out onto the bucking deck of the ship.

When I first saw the Tempest’s Rage, all I thought was big. The ship towered over the tiny supply boat Ellery and I stood on. 

My second thought was much more ominous. Black sails. 

This was no friendly ship. 

“You were right,” I breathed to Ellery. 

He grinned, “I know.” 

Elbowing him, I pointed to the sky, where you could see the rough ropes holding the vessel together. “Look.” 

“They’re coming,” Ellery’s voice shivered as he spoke. 

They were like monkeys, swinging from cable to cord with ease. Some brandished cutlasses, most appeared grimy and unclean, but all were pirates. 

When they began to jump on the deck, it was like a clap of thunder each time one landed. Ellery and I watched, motionless, as one buccaneer cut down a sailor with ease. His unattached head rolled far too close to my foot with the swaying of the ship, but it brought Ellery back to his senses. 

“Seraphina! We need to move!” Ellery yelled over the chaos. 

I started. “Right… where?!” 

Ellery’s sandy blonde head swung around like a globe. “There! The captain’s quarters!” 

We sprinted, hand in hand, to the quarters directly underneath the helmsman’s elevated deck. “Locked!” Ellery exclaimed, shaking the door handle. 

“I can pick it,” I declared under my breath, “keep watch while I have my back turned.”

Ellery’s reply was muffled by an enormous cracking from deep inside the hull. Smoke rose from both port and starboard sides of the craft, and an explosion rocked the already swaying deck. 

“One of the cannonballs must have reached the ammunition!” Ellery caught himself before he toppled off and into the churning ocean below. 

Panicked, I yanked my aquamarine stingray hair pin out of my loose bun. It was the only precious thing I still owned from the time when Ellery and I still had parents, but I knew it worked every time. My back turned to Ellery, I bent down to work on the stubborn doorknob. 

“Got it!” I put the ray pin between my teeth and shoved the gilded wood door open. 

“Finally!” Ellery pushed me inside and slammed the door behind us. 

The havoc outside became muted, and my brother and I both breathed a sigh of relief. 

“I think you finally found that adventure you were looking for when you dragged me on this trip,” I told Ellery, wiping sweat from my brow. 

Even though Ellery was panting like a dog, his smirk was still gleeful as he replied, “Couldn’t get worse than this.” 

“Don’t tempt fate, El,” I reprimanded him, still aware of the murderers just outside the quarters. 

“Oh, Sera, live a little! It’s not every day your ship gets plundered! Besides, I’m pretty sure we got the better end of the deal,” He strutted around the cabin with a hand on his chest, mocking the pretentious who must have sat in this same room. “I mean, look around.” 

He wasn’t wrong. The captain’s quarters must have been the nicest place on the entire ship, with colorful mosaic windows in the back, a two-person canopy bed, and a golden mapping table, all nailed to the carpeted floor to brave even the roughest high sea storms. 

“See? I’m sure the crew will take care of the pirates, too. Have you seen some of those sailors?” El took a moment to imagine their muscular builds. “Wish I could have a gun show like that. Pity, really, I’m so skinny. I only wish the captain was here, y’know? Bet he’d like to meet his famous stowaways, huh? Bet that boatswain’d want an audience with his ‘prince’ again!” 

I was in the middle of an exaggerated eye roll when I realized the rest of the ship had gone eerily quiet. The sounds of chaos from just outside the door had stopped. Somehow, the silence felt… deadlier. 

Creak, mumbled the floor outside the captain’s quarters. 

“Hide,” I whispered, eyes wide. 

Ellery pointed at a closet. We tiptoed over as fast as we could, and winced when the closet’s door gave a quick squeak. 

In the darkness inside, Ellery muttered, “Got worse.” 

“All your fault, fate tempter,” I murmured back. 

The heavy door to the captain’s quarters scraped open. “Blimey, Pig! Ne’er in me life did me foresee so much booty!” 

Chuckling darkly, the other pirate, Pig, responded, “Be’er yet, I swear I ‘eard voices in ‘ere, George. Young ‘uns.” 

“Will Cap’n Crowe get ‘imself a lil’ girly and a lil’ boy for hisself to play with?” George rasped in a high pitched voice. I shivered, and Ellery put his arms around me in the cramped space. 

Pig cackled. “Let’s search ‘ta place!” 

George giggled. “Hehee, search,” 

Ellery and I listened as glass broke, tables were overturned, and the great canopy bed’s silk drapes were ripped apart. 

Footsteps approached the closet, and El and I leaned away from the door, but there was no escaping now. 

“Mmmm, Pig, lookee here. A fine bounty fer our cap’n,” a lanky, dirty pirate peered over us with predatory eyes. 

Pig, a stouter, red faced pirate who smelled of rum lumbered over and grabbed Ellery by the arm. “Fine, strong lil boy, aren’t ye?” 

George yanked me out of the semi-darkness by the roots of my hair. “Stowaways, ar’ ye?” 

“Yes!” Ellery said, wrestling his arm free. The pirate holding me pinched my cheek, and I let out a squeak. 

“Hehee!” he exclaimed. “Listen ta her! She scared!” 

“Don’t touch her!” Ellery yelled, starting forward to protect me. 

“Ah!” Pig yelped, and pulled a dagger to Ellery’s throat. “No ye don’t!” 

“Ye listen te’ the Captain Crowe now,” drawled George, tightening his grip on my hair. “Out ye get.” 

The pirates forced us out the door and onto the ravaged, unrecognizable deck, across a gangplank placed between the two ships, and on to their huge vessel. Within seconds of stepping on the upper deck, we were plagued with a disgusting, putrid smell that seemed to pour out of every corner. Pirates began to appear, and in no less than a minute, we were surrounded. 

The buccaneers muttered amongst themselves, and Ellery and I kept hearing three of the same words, repeated through the ranks of the malignant sailors. 

“Kill ‘em.” 

“Drown ‘em.”

“Torture ‘em.” 

Cutlasses were quietly drawn. Ropes were tied in poisonous knots. One man was sent to get the chains. 

My heart pounded, and a shiny sheen of sweat was visible on my forehead. Ellery appeared pained with the curved dagger to his throat, and drips of red were sliding down the metal. 

Just as the man returned with long, rusted links attached to heavy weighted balls, the quiet menace among the crowd ground to a halt as a curled red feather floated through the ranks, pushing to the center. 

Finally, the captain appeared to glide through to where Ellery and I stood prisoner. He was a tall pirate, and his outlandish, feathered captain’s hat, reminiscent of the French general caps, added a foot onto his six foot frame. His mustache was equally absurd, curling out widely and ending in points. 

But for all his special fashion choices, the crew still jumped to attention when he came through. His black eyes peered into each of our own one at a time, and when he eventually spoke, it came from the deep recesses of his mind, like a snake’s song. 

“Who… are… they?” He slowly hissed, lethal and full of venom. His accent was twisty and Scottish, and it made me feel as if  he were sizing up our financial worth. 

“Mister- Cap’n Crowe, sir, we found ‘em lurking in the captain’s quar’ers. Stowaways, ’ey say!” Pig stammered. 

“Release them.” 

“Right, yes sir, Cap’n sir!” 

Pig and George relinquished their hold on my hair and lowered the knife, and I grasped Ellery’s firm hand defiantly. 

“How touching. Names?” said the Captain. He was not a man to waste words. 

George nudged Ellery when we didn’t speak up. “Ellery. Ellery and Seraphina Whitney.” 

“I would like to formally apologize for the idiocy of my crew,” Captain Crowe drew himself up. “Pleased to make your acquaintances, Ellery and… Seraphina.” 

Staring at the Captain’s outstretched hand, El was the first to shake. Much more reluctantly, I accepted after Ellery finished. 

His hand was stiff and ice cold. 

“Perfect,” The way Crowe extended his r made the word sound anything but perfect. “Two more brave souls to become our new cabin boys. They’ve already got their sea legs!” 

The pirates laughed cruelly. One cried out, “No more work fer ya, Fitzgerald!” 

Captain Crowe turned back to Ellery and me. “Pull your weight, and you stay alive. We give you food and shelter. Don’t work for you? Then die,” Captain gestured at the open sea on the starboard side. “Fancy a trip out there?” 

Ellery shook his head, “No, sir.” 

“This one’s learning!” yelled Crowe to the cheers of his crew. “No one harms these two— for now. Captain’s orders. Welcome to the Tempest’s Rage, children.” 

The Captain bared his teeth in what should have been a smile, but all I saw was the sneering of a hooded cobra who’d caught its prey. 

… 

    “Two months spent on a pirate ship can really wear you down,” Ellery groaned, chopping fishy sea turtle meat into chunks for the salmagundi. 

“Come on, you’re enjoying this. Admit it!” I accused him as I sifted through the contents of the cook’s rancid smelling pantry. 

Ellery wrinkled his nose. “I’d be enjoying it a whole lot more if we didn’t have to work around the clock. Cleaning the loo, cooking, swabbing the deck for two months! A young man like myself should not be forced into servitude like this! They threaten us with beatings and make us do all the dirty work!” 

“At least you weren’t thrown off the ship like that other cabin boy.” 

My brother sniffed and put his hand over his heart. “Fitzgerald will forever be remembered.” 

“You didn’t even know him!” I exclaimed, slapping Ellery with a dirty rag. “Show some respect. That could’ve been us!” 

“Chop up the chicken, Seraphina.” 

“Fine.” 

I took the butcher’s knife and began whacking the salted meat lying on the rough counter. 

“Whitney!” screamed a familiar voice. 

“Yes?” Ellery and I both looked up from our work to see the fat cook tromping down the galley stairs. 

“The crew wants their dinner! Cap’n is getting impatient!” 

“We’re working as fast as we can, sir!” Ellery said nervously. 

“Do ye want to go to Davy Jones’ Locker?!” The cook put his hands on his hips. 

I shook my head. 

“Then hurry it up, ye scallywags! Or it’ll be the briney deep for ya! Y’know Cap’n Crowe doggone killed ta’ last cap’n, an’ he’ll kill ya too!” 

Ellery’s head popped up. “Mutiny?” 

“Yessiree. He ‘ad been a young Scottish lad for sometime, workin’ as a cabin boy like yerselves. ‘Cept he went from a lad to a man, an’ y’know ‘ow that goes. Convinced ‘is crew to organize said mutiny, an’ it was successful. Strung the ol’ cap up an’ left em hanging. Renamed the ship, too,” he explained as he threw some spices on the chicken. “But why are ye askin’? Yer s’posed to be workin’!” 

“Yes, sir,” Ellery said as the cook waddled away. 

We cooked in silence from that moment on until we were finished. Then, ducking our heads to avoid notice, Ellery and I ran the plates up to the captain’s rooms, where the crew was invited to eat and celebrate that night. Only two nights prior, they’d raided a Dutch trading ship and returned with a few deliciously aged barrels of wine, along with the usual hoards of booty. 

“I fear they’ll all get deliriously drunk tonight,” Ellery confessed to me when we finally finished serving the crew, who were seated along a long table brought up from the mess room where they usually ate. 

“It’s always a possibility,” I replied as we each grabbed our cup of crackers and small cuts of roasted meat from the cook. Our spiced salmagundi would be a delicacy for the pirates only. 

Ellery and I crouched in a corner of the room to eat our fill as the crew jabbered on about the pirate life. Our job was to disappear, and I’d taught Ellery well. He sat, legs criss-crossed, on the boards, not even flinching when a cockroach scurried past. Pests were normal now. 

Of course, hardship wasn’t a rare occurrence in our lives, even though it used to be. Growing up as the children of the town’s librarian, I was surrounded by books every day, although Ellery did not care for them. Instead, he took to delivering the news to houses around us for a few farthings each day. I wish I hadn’t gone with him on his route the day the fire swept over the thousands of volumes in the library. I wish I had been there to save my parents when it swept over them, too. 

Ellery’s strategy had always been to grin and bear it, literally. On the opposite spectrum, I’d always sought out a good book, even if it meant thievery. Escapism was my pleasure. 

Finished with my food, my attention strayed to the buccaneers’ conversation. 

Their boatswain was speaking now. “I swear te’ ya, the Tempest’s Rage sank two inches after the raid.” 

“Weight! Too much weight!” A sailor called out. 

Captain Crowe downed his silver goblet of wine. “Calm down, fellows. The navy hasn’t chased us in years.” 

All of a sudden, the boat rocked and thunder boomed. Several pirates jumped up. 

“Blimey!” 

“Storm! Get on yer feet, sailors!” 

The entire crew stampeded out the door, Ellery and I on their heels. Rain lashed the sides of the vessel like a cat o’ nine tails, hitting over and over again. 

Although the ship was careening dangerously, we kept our balance, slipping down the deck to hold on to a pole as the crew sprinted all around us. Sailors screamed commands, most of which were lost to the dark skies and ghostly wind. 

“Weighs—much!” One man came running by, tripping over a rope. 

“Get yer wits together, pirates!” 

More words were lost to the raging storm. “Land! We—land! Dump—!”

“Port side!” 

I could see the faint outline of an island, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Flashes of lightning illuminated the outline of Captain Crowe, struggling at the wheel. 

He whistled for the crew’s attention as the storm relented for a moment. 

“Men! Listen to your captain!” 

The pirates didn’t stop their work, but I could tell they were all ears now. 

“The Tempest’s Rage is too heavy. We must dump something to survive this storm.” 

The thought was unsaid, but it passed through the minds of all the crew members. 

What is useless? 

What do we not need?

Half a second passed, but suddenly, some of the crew were converging on Ellery. As I watched, the captain pointed straight at him with beady eyes. 

Desperate, I grabbed at the pirates’ clothing, ripping fabric off of their shirts. “Stop! No!” 

“I been waitin’ for this,” sneered the cook as he pushed by me, knocking me back. 

Two buff sailors grabbed Ellery’s arms and hauled him up while he struggled. 

I could hear George’s high pitched giggling. “Time to feed them fishies!” 

No, I thought as the pirates carried Ellery to the port side of the ship, jeering and eager. 

A wild idea filled my head when the savages tossed Ellery over the side of the ship, into the water.

His screams demanded my attention until they were finally muffled by the tiniest splash. 

Feet pounded the deck. Were they mine? I thought so, because the side of the ship was coming closer. 

My consciousness gave in to impulse, and I dove. 

The fall felt endless, but my body cut through the frigid water almost a second later. I refused to succumb to the biting cold. 

Could I swim? Apparently, my adrenaline thought so. 

But the icy venom was creeping toward my mind, and my conscience awoke with a start. My legs kicked, and my arms pushed, and I broke the surface to take a huge breath of wind and rain. 

I remembered Ellery, and I remembered the island. If we could only get to that strip of land, we had a chance of survival. So I plunged back into the ocean for my brother. 

Under the water, I could see a blurry blob of rags and limbs only a few yards away. I tried to propel myself towards it, but my efforts felt futile against the tempest above me. 

Suddenly, the sea pushed me forward and swept Ellery and me up into its arms, shoving us to the surface. A barrel floated by, and I draped Ellery over it and shoved my own arm through the handle. 

The last thing I heard before I blacked out was an ethereal voice, singing softly to the tune of the waves… 

… 

When I woke, the storm had gone, along with the Tempest’s Rage. Ellery and I lay on a stretch of soggy sand, tickled by the waves that washed ashore. The skin on my wrists was raw and full of splinters from hanging on to the rotten barrel, but I crawled weakly over to Ellery’s side to check on him. 

In my stinging saltwater vision, I could just make out the familiar rise and fall of my brother’s chest. 

Alive. 

While my sight returned to normal, I observed my surroundings. Where the beach ended, a jungle began, full of stocky palms and spiky undergrowth. Through the trees, I could see the outline of a freshwater pond, where colorful birds of paradise sang and danced. 

Groaning erupted behind me, and I turned to catch sight of Ellery coughing up saltwater. 

I dashed over to him, “You all right?” 

“I reckon so,” he rasped, “Thanks.” 

My eyebrows scrunched together. “For what?” 

“For what?!” His eyes widened in incredulous disbelief. “For saving my life, you twit!” 

Tears sprang into my vision, and I laughed. “You would have done the same for me.” 

A corner of Ellery’s mouth turned up as I helped him stand. 

“Well, Sera, we are officially stranded on a deserted island!” 

“Another thing to check off your bucket list,” I muttered with a snicker. 

“Come on, we need a shelter!” Ellery raced up to the edge of the jungle, his strength stemming mostly from his enthusiasm. 

I trudged along after him, clenching and unclenching a fist in mild annoyance. 

Ellery bounded through the forest, pointing at every animal and flower. Quietly, I watched the things he pointed to, thinking back to my stitched-together books, taken from the ashy remnants of my parents’ library. 

Antillean euphonia, avian resident of the Caribbean islands. 

Hutía, of the rodent species. 

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I almost crashed straight into Ellery, who’d stopped dead in the middle of the path he’d carved. 

“Ellery?” 

His eyes were wide and prey-like when he said, “I hear voices in the trees.” 

“What?” I asked, confused. 

“I hear voices.” 

This wasn’t normal. Ellery had always been down to earth. I was the one with my head in the clouds. 

“Voices…?” 

“They’re calling me…” he whispered, his hand trailing along the bark of a palm tree. 

I took a step back. 

“This way,” He gestured in a vague direction and took off sprinting. 

“Ellery!” I screamed, running after him. 

His body was a blur as he raced through the trees, so I followed the sound of his thundering footsteps until they stopped in front of the maw of a cave. 

“They said this was the place. Safety, shelter…” Ellery kept mumbling, his face like blank glass. 

The cave gaped open wide like a menacing python, but by the light of day one could see that the interior was small and uninhabited. I could just see the ocean from the opening of the cave. It would protect us from the elements, a key piece of our survival. 

“Let’s get you inside,” I murmured, guiding a shaking Ellery to sit on the ground. 

“Sera— what’s wrong with me?” He asked, fear clouding his gaze. “I feel… different.” 

“It’ll be okay,” I reassured. Empty words. 

“The voices— they’re still in my head. I can feel them,” Ellery hugged himself. 

“I’m going to find food,” I told him. “Stay here. Don’t move, don’t go anywhere. Not even if the… voices tell you to.” 

“They’ll be quiet for a while,” he breathed. “I can tell.” 

After giving my brother a hurried hug, I hopped outside and set off in search of something edible. 

Fifteen minutes of scouring the ground later, I came to a halt where the line of trees ended and the beach began. The endless abyss of the ocean stretched out before me, huge crystalline waves pounding the shore, capped with wreaths of frothy white. 

Seraphina, a motherly voice called out. 

My body snapped to attention. What was that? 

Come, it breathed again, in my mind, I can give you everything you want… 

“Who are you?!” I shrieked out to the voice. “What do you want from Ellery?!” 

I am not the one who seeks your brother, the thing soothed. 

“…me?” I began shaking my head, “No, no…” 

Yeeesss… it purred. Trust me… 

“Who are you!?” I wailed into empty air. 

I am called the Sea. 

The waves looked menacing somehow, glowing with the creature inside. 

Come to me. 

Something inside me pulled me forward, to the edge of the waves. When my skin connected with the Sea, her call filled my mind, ever insistent. It all felt… familiar… 

Salty water washed over me with the ring of realization. 

“You were the one,” I breathed. “You saved us that night. You were the singer!” 

Yes. You and your brother are the chosen ones… 

“What?” 

The isle has chosen you… it shall be a blessing and a curse to bear. 

It was then I noticed I was much farther out from shore than I had been before. The Sea’s waves were up to my chest now. 

Something glowed underneath the waves, pulsing like a beating heart. 

Do not fear. It will all be over quickly. 

Suddenly, I was plunged into the depths of the Sea, and my soul was ripped from me. It hovered like a string of blue fairy lights, pulsing as the Sea wrapped herself around it. Algae green fingers pressed against my soul, filling it with an icy turquoise light. The pulsating, beating light was right in front of me. Although I had never seen the aurora borealis, I imagined this was how it would look. 

Then I was back on shore, and the Sea was gone. There was no trace of her, and somehow I knew that her essence was inside me now. 

Water droplets hovered around me, and a snap of my fingers caused them to spin like a carousel. Waving my hands made them scatter and fall back into the ocean like skipping rocks. 

Ellery! my subconscious suddenly screamed out. Jumping to my feet, I tore back through the jungle, heading for the cave. The Sea had told me someone else was looking for him. Was he safe? 

When I reached the black opening and peered inside, I saw Ellery… but he was different. 

Something about the way the earth shifted around him as he sat peacefully in the middle of the cave with his eyes closed unnerved me. 

In fact, he hadn’t been acting normal at all ever since we got on this island. 

“Ellery?” 

His eyes popped open, and I gasped. “Your eyes!” 

“What about them?” He said calmly. 

“…they’re… brown!” His eyes had always been the lightest shade of blue, but they were now a shade of brown speckled with flecks of green. 

“It may interest you to know that yours, previously gray, are now a sort of electric blue.” 

It may interest you? Previously gray? 

Ellery didn’t smile as he stood. He didn’t wink or joke. 

What is happening?

We’d always been different sides of the same coin, Ellery and me. He used to be heads, with his wavy blonde hair, baby blue eyes, and wit like a whip. I was tails, with straight, raven colored tresses, the outward demeanor of a mouse, and hands too quick to notice, even when they were slipping your life savings out of your front coat pocket. But I was beginning to observe subtle changes in Ellery’s behavior, like the way he didn’t sweep his hair out of his eyes as often, and how he hadn’t made a wisecrack, not once, since I’d entered the cave. His enthusiasm was simply gone. 

Had I changed too? I didn’t know. 

“We have a job, sister,” Ellery pushed past me, knocking me aside. “They will be coming in one hour.”

I jogged beside him. “Who? Who will be coming?” 

“The pirates. Did the Sea not tell you about your powers?” 

“I figured them out on my own. Who gave you yours? Why are we looking for the Tempest’s Rage?” I questioned the stony-faced boy beside me. 

“My powers were given to me by the Island,” Ellery intoned. 

“Okay… what about the pirates?” I urged him on. This new Ellery did not like to speak. 

“Revenge,” he growled. 

This was not the Ellery I knew and loved. “What?” 

“They kidnapped us and threw me into the sea. They hurt you!” He was screaming. 

I flinched back. “No, Ellery, don’t do this—” 

“I must.” Ellery’s face was a stone castle. 

But then it changed. My brother’s features twisted in a torturous haze of pain, and his eyes flashed familiar blue again. I reached for his hand, but the moment ended, and he pulled away.

The fortress was back, but Ellery was still in there. 

He stomped away in the direction of the ocean. For a moment, I stood, stunned, and then bolted after him. 

“No, Ellery, no!” 

Ellery kept going. 

“STOP!” I shouted as he neared the water. 

Out on the horizon, a blot appeared. I knew it was the Tempest’s Rage when Ellery called upon the Earth to aid him. 

The ground swelled and bulged, and a bridge of rock and tree formed. Ellery climbed up and began to race toward the ship. 

I followed in hot pursuit, but the bridge didn’t bend to my will the way it did for Ellery. Three steps and I was free falling into the ocean as dust and shrapnel rained around me. 

Instinct took over, and the water below me erupted into a solid tower. Landing on two feet, I hopped from one spire of seawater to the next, determined to stop my brother. 

Despite my haste, when I arrived on the horribly familiar vessel, my heart plummeted. Bodies of the crew were scattered all around me… 

I could pick out the cook, Pig, and George from the dead. Choking back tears, I covered my mouth and scanned the deck for Ellery. 

He was holding the captain by his neck when I finally spotted him. 

“HOW COULD YOU?” I screamed at Ellery. Betrayal was on my tongue, and it tasted bitter. 

But when Ellery looked back at me, his expression changed to one of confusion and pain. “Help me, Sera…” 

I felt my facial features twist in shock as the blood splattered Ellery dropped unconscious Captain Crowe. 

“Sera, it’s the Island, Sera, don’t trust him, help me,” he pleaded, falling to his knees, “He wants to destroy… everything… rage, rage, he feels angry!” 

But the moment passed, and Ellery’s face twisted back into the blank mask he wore before. Suddenly, he was advancing toward me, his mouth a rigid line. 

I knew what I had to do. 

I called upon the Sea. 

Torrential waves surged up and around me, and the possessed Ellery balked in fear. Drawing upon the way the Sea had taken my spirit, I did the same to my brother, clenching the glowing water around his body. 

His soul floated out of where his heart was, and I could see a bead of black energy that didn’t match the fairy pink of the rest of his spirit. 

My waves tore the bead apart with vengeance and, when they were finished and the bead was no more, they shoved the rest of his soul back into Ellery’s body. Carefully, I let the Sea go, and it washed away the bodies of the poor pirates as it went. 

Ellery toppled to the wooden surface of the deck. 

I had saved him. 

I rushed over to my brother’s side, brushing his soggy bangs out of his eyes. He inhaled, and I sighed. 

“Seraphina?” He said hoarsely. 

“Yes?” Tears dripped down my cheeks in tiny rivulets. 

It was like seeing the dawn again after months of black night when Ellery finally smiled again. “You did it again.” 

“I did.” 

“I’m so sorry, Sera…” Ellery hung his head as similar tears poured down his own cheeks. “All of those pirates didn’t deserve a fate like that…”

“It wasn’t you who took their lives,” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“I know… I just…” his speech died in his throat. 

“We’ll give them a proper send-off,” I promised, my eyes on the sky. “A proper sea burial. It’s over, Ellery, we’re done.” 

“Yeah,” his mouth curved in a bittersweet smile as he uttered the simple response.

“Hey, listen to me,” I said, “the Island is gone.” 

“Gone.” Ellery scoffed under his breath. “It doesn’t change what I did.” 

“Not you,” I told him, shaking my head. “It wasn’t you. That creature could never match the spirit of my true brother.” 

I stood, and offered my hand to Ellery. He took it, and we embraced as the sun dipped below the horizon. 

Wiping at his now-blue eyes, Ellery sniffed. “But… what now? We can’t go back to London.” 

“We have an entire ship to ourselves,” I flung out my arms to emphasize the enormity. “I don’t know!” 

He paused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. I saw the idea forming in his eyes, and I grinned. My Ellery is back, I thought.

“It’s a good thing I do, then,” said Ellery with a grin. 

He pulled me up the ship’s stairs to the elevated deck where the helmsman would take the wheel. Ellery grasped the spokes and spun the ship around, so the isle was behind us. 

“Tell me! What do we do?” I was getting a little impatient. 

Ellery smirked and, keeping one hand on the wheel, took my hand with his free one. 

“We live.”