Chapter 2

I stared at the silver-haired stranger with my mouth agape, unable to form a coherent sentence. I had heard him right? Did he really say John Silver was his father? But, how could that be? I noticed light reflecting off of something in his hand and glanced down to see a sphere much like my own.

 

“Who are you?” I asked.

 

“I could ask you the same,” the man answered. Jim stepped forward and I glanced at him with worry. What if this guy had a weapon? I didn’t doubt it. Everyone in this town probably had one.

 

“My name’s Jim Hawkins and she’s Ember. Silver’s someone we know very well,” my husband said, trying to keep the situation as calm as possible.

 

“How do you know him?”

 

“He’s my father,” I answered and the other man looked at me in surprise. “So, following logic, either we are brother and sister, or one of us is lying.”

 

“Somehow, I don’t believe you.”

 

“I was told to come here by my… our father. I’ve got the map to prove it. Now, who are you?”

 

“Gale Hollow.”

 

“How do you have a different-” Jim started.

 

“None of your business,” Gale snapped, interrupting my husband. I stepped forward, Morph still floating by my head.

 

“Fair enough. If you don’t mind, though, I’d rather we continue this conversation privately,” I said, glancing pointedly at a couple of the other people in the tavern.

 

Gale nodded curtly and motioned for us to follow him. He led us up the stairs, to room 23. I recognized it as the room number another part of our map had directed us to go. Jim closed the door behind us and I watched Gale cautiously as he stood on the other side of the room, his stance rigid.

 

“Let’s see it,” he said.

 

“You too,” I answered. “That sphere in your hand is a map, isn’t it?”

 

“You’re good, Ember.”

 

Gale held up his silver orb as I did with mine. Jim stood next to me, Morph sitting on his shoulder. Gale and I opened our maps at the same time, but rather than a grid of blue light flooding the room, the two spheres projected to form one image of my father.

 

“I’d hoped ya wouldn’t have to find out this way, Em and Wind. I planned on bein’ there when ya came to Ethrum. But, if you’re seenin’ this, it means somethin’s happened to me. I need ya both to know you’re family. Em, Gale’s your brother and Wind, Ember’s your sister. Ya deserved to know,” the holographic image explained and then disappeared. I covered my mouth with my hand and stared at Gale. His eyes were wide as well, but I could also see some kind of anger in them. The room was utterly silent; even Morph hadn’t made a sound.

 

“How?” I whispered, taking a step back.

 

“Who cares how?!” Gale demanded, his rage showing. Somehow, I knew what I saw was only the tip of the iceberg. “All that matters is finding him!”

 

I blinked a couple times in surprise. Anyone else in this type of situation would be asking how we were siblings. Gale didn’t care about that, or at least, it wasn’t as important as finding our father. I couldn’t agree more. Of course, discovering I had a brother was strange, but it paled in comparison to finding my dad.

 

“How do you plan to find him? You have no idea where he could be,” Jim pointed out.

 

“That doesn’t matter,” Gale and I answered in unison. I glanced at him with a smirk.

 

“We’re going to need some kind of lead on what might have happened to him.”

 

“Well, this is the place he chose for lying low. Maybe the people around here have seen him. They might know when he disappeared,” I said, thinking aloud.

 

“Then what are we waiting for?” Gale demanded.

 

“Because we’re going to need each other’s help if we’re ever going to find our father. I haven’t seen him since I was sixteen, when I chose to settle down on Montressor. What about you?”

 

“Not since I was a kid, but we never had any problems outside of the norm.”

 

“The norm?” Jim asked. “What does that include?”

 

“Anything a pirate can encounter,” I answered over my shoulder. “Raiding another ship, being raided, police. Remember, Jim, we’re a dying breed. Cadets like the ones you trained with at the Space Academy are slowly wiping us out.” I turned my attention back towards Gale, only to find a gun in each of his hands. They were pointed at Jim and me. My eyes widened in shock as I stared into the barrel of the laser gun in front of me.

 

“You’re on their side! You probably set him up to be taken, didn’t you?!” Gale demanded. “And now you’ve come for me!”

 

“Gale, please, calm down,” I said, inching forward.

 

“Don’t move!” I stopped where I was and stared him in the eyes. Gale was obviously angry, but I couldn’t tell exactly what had triggered this sudden outburst. No pun intended.

 

“Alright, alright. Just put the guns down. We’re not here to turn you in to anyone. I didn’t even know about you. Jim and I came because we wanted to see Dad again. I’m just as shocked by his disappearance as you are, and I understand that you’re angry. Just, please, put the guns down.” Gale’s harsh red eyes glared down at me and I couldn’t help but feel intimidated. He was obviously the kind of man who wouldn’t hesitate in getting rid of anyone he felt threatened him. And yet, he hadn’t shot yet. “Gale, I’m not asking you to trust us with your life. I just want you to put down your weapons. We’re unarmed. The best weapons we’ve got are combat skills and a morph.”

 

He slowly lowered the guns, but kept his eyes trained on Jim and me. At that point, it was enough for me. If we were ever going to work together to find our father, we definitely needed to get over these trust issues. That was a different problem for another time, though. What really mattered was getting the information we needed to find our father.

 

“If we’re going to find Silver, you’re going to have to trust us,” Jim said, sounding confident.

 

“Jim, you obviously forgot how things work,” I told him. “All we need in order to be able to work together is a mutual agreement. Pirates rarely trust anyone. Before you came along, I only trusted my father. So, Gale, why don’t we sit down and talk over this agreement?”

 

“Only if you tell me what a rule-follower like him is doing, trying to find my father,” he answered. I glanced back at Jim, allowing him to tell the story.

 

“I met Silver and Ember when I was fifteen. I was in trouble with the law at the time and looking to find Treasure Planet. Silver taught me and encouraged me to do better. That’s why I’m here,” my husband explained, boiling down the story to its most basic form.

 

Gale nodded, but he seemed apprehensive still. I couldn’t blame him. I probably would have reacted the same way, had our roles been reversed. Morph darted past my head and towards Gale. I tried to reach out and stop him, but he slipped right through my fingers. Here’s a tip: Don’t try to stop a morph from doing what he wants because you’ll only be wasting your efforts. Morph went up to Gale’s face, causing him to move back a little, and glanced over the young man. It was almost as if he recognized Gale from somewhere, like me.

 

Morph then transformed in to the miniature of a young woman with short silver hair, like Gale’s, who was very slender. Actually, she looked very much like Gale. The small figure began moving like an acrobat on a tight-rope. Morph then turned back into his usual form and began chattering happily. I had no idea who that woman could have been, but Gale obviously did. His eyes were wide with a mixture of shock and rage. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew it made my brother ready to kill. Well, this was certainly a turn for the worse.