The Treasure of Mermaid Cove ch. 3 part three

She was roused by vanilla being waved over her nose. Instantly she saw Heather with streaks of tears on her face and Esther her bright green eyes livid with fear. Sammey had never been so relieved to see their faces. Sammey looked down at her expected sweat soaked clothing but instead she wore a gown of light cotton. Her hands, she discovered, were heavily bandaged.
“It’s about time you came around lass.” said Esther breathing heavily.
“What happened to the spout” she croaked looking at Heather.
“It just, vanished” she whispered wiping tears of her rosy cheeks. “It came as quick as it came. Poof!” she made a gesture that suggested a disappearing object.
“Esther, will I have to cook tomorrow?” she asked.
Esther chuckled, “No, no. I want your hands to heal properly.” Esther left the room to start breakfast.
“Did you see those ropes just vanish like the waterspout. It looked like they were slashed by an invisible sword.” Heather looked like a newborn puppy on a fat juicy steak. The excitement was that fierce to her.
“Yeah” she mumbled trying not to think about her journey on the rigging.
“Yes! And when you were climbing on the outer edge or hanging over the sea, Wow!” she giggled, “I would have liked to do it myself, but the crew said you had to do it yourself. It must have been painful.” Heather was flushed with excitement. Never before had Sammey seen her so excited.
“And when you found Withershins dead on the Crow’s Nest, just WOW!”
Sammey liked being fawned over by Heather.
“I guess I had a pretty exciting first day here huh?” she asked looking sheepish.
“Yeah. Well, I’m off to bake some biscuits with Esther. She said just to stay put in your cabin and she’ll bring you some food. Oh, and Trevor said he’d be by later too.” And with that she skidded out of the doorway.
Sammey now had a chance to ponder things. She had so many questions buzzing about her head. Why was Sal acting so funny when she left? Why did Trevor take such a liking in her? Why didn’t the Captain throw her overboard when he found her hanging around in a crate? How did that waterspout just appear in the middle of the water? Why did it just disappear like that? How did the ropes get cut?
Her head began to spin. Being alone like this made her almost insane. She got up to go talk to Esther or someone when her cabin door opened a crack. An ocean blue eye peered through. Man that color sent shivers up her spine.
“You can come in Trevor.” she said at last.
He walked in the room and closed the door. His eyes gave a mighty flash in the light from the candles he passed. Trevor settled himself at the edge of the bed.
“ So you really aren’t a pirate are you Jane?” he looked at her quizzically. She sighed someday she’ll have to tell him so why not now.
“No I’m not. How could you tell.”
“The way your hands blistered up like that when you climbed the rigging and by how scrawny you are. Every good pirate can climb the rigging and not even get a scratch.” he laughed.
“So is your name really Jane the Swift Hearted?”
“Nope.” she said bluntly “ It’s Sammey, Samantha if you want to get technical.”
“I like it. I also had another question. Have you ever heard of the Pirate of Storms and the Pirate of Seas?” She shook her head. “Well legend has it that every three generations a descendant of the Pirate of Storms and the Pirate of Seas is born. There is no legend that states why this is so or if they are useful accept one.”
“Which one?” she asked knowing what the answer is.
“It’s the legend of the Treasure of Mermaid Cove. It says that only the descendants of those two pirates can open the door to the treasure. You see the captain that founded Mermaid Cove was the father of the Pirate of Storms and the Pirate of Seas. He wanted only blood relatives to be able to access the treasure.”
Sammey gaped at him with her moth open wide. Does the Captain know this?
“And do you know who they are?” she asked uncertain “Because the captain is planning to get the treasure.”
“Yes, I have a theory.” he smiled, “It’s us.” They sat in silence could it really be?
“Why- How...” she stammered
“It’s us because of the color of our eyes. My eyes are the exact shade of the sea. Your eyes are the exact color of storm clouds in case you haven’t noticed.” she looked into the mirror by her bed. He was correct, her eyes were the exact shade of grey as a storm over the sea.
“You have a point. So that’s why the captain didn’t throw me overboard when he found me in the box.!” a stroke of brilliance hit her suddenly. “So we are important now!”
Trevor laughed, “ I guess we are.”
***
In the weeks and months that followed the crew of the S.S. Crane became restless. They had a routine that had to be followed exactly. For the ship to be in good shape. Sammey’s routine was simple. Go to work in the galley early in the morning. Make a large hearty breakfast for the crew. Clean up after the crew and start on lunch. Finish lunch and clean up. Eat her lunch. Go out to the deck and find Trevor in his new post in the Crow’s Nest. Of course she didn’t climb up. He came down. Trevor had been teaching her to be a pirate. He made her do push-ups and sit-ups to build up her strength in her arm and upper body. Every day he asked her to climb the rigging as far as she could go. Sammey never made it very far.
Captain Flynn noticed how Sammey and Trevor had made a routine with the rigging. One day about a week before her birthday, Flynn started to get suspicious.
“Jane, Trevor may I have a word with you?” he asked giving them a shifty but commanding look. They obeyed without a word of complaint.
“I don’t know why you two are acting so funny but...” his voice trailed of to a whisper. Flynn had just noticed the colors of Sammey’s and Trevor’s eyes next to one another.
“Something wrong Captain?” asked Esther who had just come out of the galley for fresh air.
“Esther, look at their eyes! Can you see the..”
“Resemblance. Yes I can.” Esther stood in awe of the small boy and girl.
“Come to my quarters children. Esther bring me Thug and yourself please. I believe it is time to tell them the legend.”
Esther obeyed, and in moments Henry had lit a fire and the captain had asked them all to sit down.”
Sammey noticed that Trevor looked oddly excited about something. Of course, she thought, he has never heard the whole legend. Around the fireplace sat five adults and two kids in silence. They dared not make a move until...wait. Sammey noticed that The Blank was sitting by Flynn. Why was he here?
“Ok, Thug do your stuff!” said Henry as he passed out some hot tea, a rare delicacy on the sea.
“Alrighty then,” he started, “ Well, it all happened about one-hundred years ago. A Captain by the name of Barley Swift.” Thug was talking in a misty storyteller voice. “ HE was a buccaneer who knew his way around the seven seas, even though he had not an eye to ‘is name. Yes, he was blind! They say that the ocean talked to him, telling him which way to steer the ship and when danger’s about! His hands felt all dead like and he had a face that could drive holes in steel.” Just the thought made Sammey shiver.
“Thug’s the best storyteller on the ship. Some of his ghost stories still give me nightmares.” Trevor whispered in her ear.
“One day the old pirate was escaping from a band of skeletons that ate your flesh because they didn’t have any! He liked his flesh just where he had it, so he fled the island. Swift had ‘is treasure al locked up in the brig of his own ship Death’s Breath. He needed a place to hide it for ‘is treasure was massive and the evil skelies would surely take what he so rightfully earned.
A wave told him to sail to the left until he touched land. This is the only place safe for ‘im and ‘is treasure would be Mermaid Cove an island that can only be reached by him or his decedents. Any other person without his offspring could not find the island even if ‘e had a map. Swift liked the idea so he hid his priceless treasure there.
That wasn’t the end of Swift though. He kept comin’ back for more. HE hid all of his greatest conquests there in the island.
Thug paused to add effect. Captain Flynn interrupted at that moment.
“Swift had only two heirs, no one knows their true names. Everyone just called them The Pirate of Storms and The Pirate of Seas for the color of their eyes. The exact color of your eyes Trevor, Jane.”
Trevor gulped and Sammey almost feinted. They were the only way to get on to the island and the Captain was telling them in a very subtitle way that they were important. Esther was pale and The Blank looked around the room uninterested.