The Better to See

Chapter 35

The first thing Sarah saw as she disembarked the Osprey onto Edina's not-so-abandoned parking structure was Ben waving a piece of paper wildly in the air.

"I've got it," he cried when he reached the ramp where she stood helping Pearl down. "I've got it!" He barely noticed Reynard, Edina, and Silas Oaks, although they made a big stir with Vesper and Amelia, who were also there to greet them.

"Oh my, Captain, did you bring us prisoners? How exciting! Who are they, then?" Vesper bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, trying to get a glimpse of Paul Edwards. Reynard had his elbow.

"Do you think she's building her harem, Vesper?" Amelia asked. "Would she let me have the French one, do you think?"

"Oh, you vamp!" Vesper scolded. "What would Chandra think, I'm sure I don't want to know. 'Auntie Amelia, stop gallivanting! Be more like my mother, now she's settled down nicely.' Oh, I shall have to take young Sarah in hand when she gets older. There's only one cure for being a twelve-year-old girl, you know," she offered to Sarah.

"Time?" Sarah theorized, hugging Ben.

"Piracy, of course," Vesper said. "Who did you bring home with you?"

Sarah turned. "That's Paul Edwards, commander of the—"

Amelia gasped. "It's the captain's arch-nemesis! You truly found him? Oh, Sarah, Vesper told me you'd make a good pirate. I confess I had my doubts, after all, you let yourself be captured! But you helped bring in the captain's oldest enemy, how wonderfully romantic!"

"Crop dusting," Ben exclaimed, still ignoring everyone else. "Airships! What do you think?"

"What?" Sarah asked him. Then, to Amelia, "I think he's more her ex-boyfriend than her arch-nemesis."

Amelia waved this correction away as negligible.

"Crop dusting," Ben repeated. "I've got the cure. And I've figured out how to make it airborne! A few of the people you sent back from the ships volunteered to test it out, and it worked! Even Amelia tried it, and it didn't hurt her at all! So now we can send it up in the whales and drop it without having to find every person in the world who might have it!"

"Hello, Ben," Sarah said pointedly.

He coughed. "Erm. Yes. Also hello. Hi Pearl, how are you? Nice to see you. Glad you all made it back safely, how was your trip?"

"Oh, I don't like her one bit," Vesper said. Sarah turned to see Esperanza being carried from the Osprey in Reynard's arms.

Ben stopped waving his paper around. "You brought back Yvette?"

"Call her Esperanza," said Pearl. "She hates it."

Ben turned to Sarah, bewildered.

Sarah sighed. "It is a long story, and I will happily tell it to you, but maybe not right here?"

Amelia watched Vermeille emerge from the jonah's hatch with suspiciously damp eyes. "Vesper, that's the captain's daughter! Oh, I do hope she becomes a pirate, too! Look how much swagger she has already!"

Vesper huffed. "If only my Chandra would follow in my footsteps."

"...Yes, I take your point," said Ben. "I really think this will work," he went on, returning to the subject of the cure. "Come on, let me show you." He grabbed her sleeve and tugged her toward the library.

Pearl laughed. "Have a good time, Honey," she called after them. "I'll get Edina to give me the grand tour."

Late that night, Sarah went to the pirates' kitchen to make herself some tea. The merry band of lady buccaneers had split into small groups. People from the Curie had been promptly adopted and were settling in. The whole place was vibrant with relief and the spirit of celebration, but Sarah only wanted a bit of quiet. A cup of tea, and then she would find Pearl and talk about what to do next.