Chapter 3

Staring into enraged, blood-red eyes would have been enough to make even the toughest pirate run. It took all my willpower not to do the same. I couldn’t stop myself from trembling in fear, though, and I knew Jim must have realized how affected I was by my brother’s harsh gaze. As terrified as I was, I couldn’t bring myself to look away from his eyes. Morph trembled in front of me as well.

 

“How does that thing know about her?” Gale demanded, his voice taking on a growling tone.

 

“I d-don’t know,” I answered shakily. I didn’t dare ask who the woman was. Gale glared down at Morph, causing the little pink blob to tremble even more. He looked like Jell-o.

 

“Where have you seen her?” my brother asked darkly. That was what finally did Morph in. He completely turned into mush and fell to the floor, landing with a sickening slopping sound. I stared down at poor Morph and frowned. Looking back at Gale, I could hear a growl in the back of his throat.

 

“Gale, stop it!” My voice wasn’t nearly as powerful as I would have liked, being at a higher pitch than usual. It did, however, cause him to pay more attention to what I was saying. At that exact moment, I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. “We’re not your enemy. I just want to find our father. I’d like to think you’d share the same feelings.” Gale sighed through his teeth and I could tell he was trying to get a grip on his anger.

 

“Right. Then let’s focus on finding him.”

 

“First, we’re setting up our agreement. Please, take a seat and we’ll talk this out calmly.” All of us sat at the small wooden table that was provided in the room. It looked like it would fall with little difficulty. Morph had now gathered himself together and hid behind my neck, while Jim sat to my right; Gale was across from us.

 

“We’re keeping this as simple as possible,” my brother said, obviously not wanting to waste time.

 

“My thoughts exactly. Since we’re looking for our father, we just need to work together, bring any information we have, or gather to the table. Then, we stick together until our father is found. That’s as simple as it gets,” I answered, holding out a hand. Gale shook it and we were ready to begin.

 

“Then we’ll split up and ask around. Report back here in twenty minutes.” With that, we all stood up and left the room. Gale started down the stairs and Jim grabbed my arm to keep me from going too far.

 

“Do you trust him?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

 

“I trust him enough to help me find my dad. Beyond that, no. Now come on. We’ve got some interrogations to do,” I answered with a smirk. Jim and I walked downstairs into the tavern and split up to ask around. “Have you heard of a man by the name of John Silver around here?” I asked a Zirrelian man. He trembled slightly and shook his head. I was sure there was something more to it, based on the fear he was showing.

 

“No,” he said.

 

“You don’t understand. He’s my father and I really need to find him. Maybe if I describe him to you, that might jog your memory.”

 

“I don’t know how he is,” the man answered and walked away, leaving the tavern.

 

All of my questioning went much the same. These men seemed to be deathly afraid of something, or someone, that might harm them if they gave any information on my father’s whereabouts. I leaned against an empty table and put my hand over my mouth, trying to reason out why that may be.

 

“Don’t make me ask you again!” Gale yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked around, only to see him holding a small, trembling alien man by the collar. I ran across the room and was about to stop my brother when his victim spoke.

 

“H-He was taken by p-pirates. They said if we told anyone anything, they’d kill us all!” the small man cried.

 

“Who took him?”

 

“I…I…”

 

“Answer me!”

 

“I don’t know!” Gale whipped out one of his guns and held it to the man’s head.

 

“Who took my father?” he asked menacingly.

 

“Gale, stop it!” I yelled, putting my hand firmly on his shoulder.

 

“Not until I get answers!”

 

“And this is how you plan to do that?!”

 

“Well, how’s your method been working out?” my brother asked. He then turned his attention back to the man in his grasp. “Now, who took John Silver.”

 

“I don’t know!”

 

“Wrong answer.” Gale started to pull the trigger on his gun.

 

“Wait! Wait! Th-they said something a-a-about going to Merkitan!” the man answered, covering his face with his arms.

 

“Looks like you remember more than you thought.” The crowd that had gathered was utterly still. The only movement came from Morph, Gale, his hostage, and me. “Let’s see what else we can bring up.”

 

“I know nothing else, I swear!”

 

“Really? Because I’m sure you could describe who took my father, with the right incentive.” I could hear the gun in his hand humming as it charged up.

 

“Morph, change into whatever he describes,” I ordered and the pink blob saluted me in answer.

 

“He… He was a Felinid, with black fur and yellow eyes. He looked like… like a panther,” the man explained and Morph transformed into the basic form of a Panther-Felinid. “No, taller.”

 

“That thing can only go so big. I hope you mean proportionally,” Gale said and I glared at him. Morph wasn’t just a thing.

 

The man nodded at my brother’s words and continued giving Morph directions. In the end, Morph looked very much like a black panther standing upright, wearing loose, tan pants and a red shirt. He looked very muscular, as if he did a lot of hard work. “Are you sure that’s what he looks like? Think hard on this one,” Gale said, inching his gun closer the man’s head.

 

“That’s him! That’s him!” Gale dropped the man and glanced around. The other men began trembling in fear again.

 

“Anyone have any objections to this image? If I find out it’s wrong, I’ll come back and kill every one of you.”

 

No one moved. Gale nodded and began walking back up the stairs leading to the inn room we were using. Jim and I glanced at each other before running after him, Morph right behind us in his usual gelatinous form. Once inside our room again, I glared at Gale harshly.

 

“What was that?!” I demanded.

 

“Gathering information,” he answered simply, sitting on the edge of one of the beds.

 

“That was crazy! What if that man truly didn’t know anything about our father?!”

 

“But he did. There’s no way you’re my sister.”

 

“Excuse me?!”

 

“Most of my personality comes from Dad. If you were anything like him, you’d’ve done the same.”

 

“I mellowed out.”

 

“Or softened up. Either way, you’re not much of a pirate.” I scowled at him, but didn’t say anything. Words wouldn’t prove to him I could be just as ruthless as I once was. Only actions would show that, and it would have to wait.

 

“We know where we’re going. We should leave for Merkitan as soon as possible,” Jim interrupted.

 

“You have a crew?” Gale asked. “Because I sure don’t.” I glanced at my husband and smirked.

 

”Not yet, but I can get one that would be more than willing to join us,” I answered.

 

“Ember, you’re not thinking of-” Jim started.

 

“Yes, I am.”