Secrets from the Deep

Chapter 7

"Day three on the Night Wind: Annie and I welcomed a new member onto the Night Wind. His name is Jasper. He was originally sailing with Caden and successfully escaped after Captain Modi attacked his ship, so he is now with us. Our new crewmate makes for some rather pleasant company and is also a talented swordsman and has helped me become even better at sword fighting. He has also helped Annie and me become better at navigating the ship. Now we feel more comfortable coming face-to-face with Captain Modi. I simply now hope that Caden and the rest of his friends are doing all right," Meg wrote in her journal the day after Jasper joined the crew.

"Well, girls, I believe this was the place that Captain Modi kidnapped Caden and the rest of my crew. Now we need to figure out where they would go next," Jasper explained.

Meg pulled out the map she and Annie brought, and the three of them did the best they could to figure out where they were.

"If I were a pirate, I would want to get away from where I last was, as fast as I could. So I suggest that we continue to head northeast and see where that takes us," Meg suggested. The three of them proceeded to sail the ship smoothly for two hours when suddenly, a drop of water unexpectedly landed on the deck.

"Looks like some rain is coming," Jasper explained as his reddish-brown hair began to get wet.

"Oh, well. I guess we'll have to get a little wet," Meg replied.

"Um, Meg. I don't think this is a little sprinkle," Annie realized as the rain slowly started to come down harder.

"In fact, we're heading straight into the middle of a heavy thunderstorm!" Jasper exclaimed.

"Oh, my goodness! Jasper, take the wheel! Annie, make sure everything is below deck so it won't get wet! I'll try to stow the sails to protect them," Meg commanded. She immediately left the wheel as soon as Jasper was ready to steer and jumped onto the rope ladder as fast as she could. Even though the rain began to pound on the deck harder than before, Meg persisted up the ladder, which was progressively becoming more slippery, to the sails to protect them from the rapidly increasing winds and rain.

Meanwhile, on deck, while Annie was grabbing hold of items on the upper deck and throwing them underneath to keep them dry, she suddenly heard a shriek from above!

"Meg? What's going on up there?" Annie asked after recognizing the shriek as Meg's.

"I have news that is both good and bad! The good news is that I successfully stowed the sails so they won't get destroyed by the rain. The bad news is, I lost my balance while bringing the sails down, so now I am holding on for dear life!" Meg explained, trying to remain as calm as she could fifty feet in the air.

Annie looked around the ship, trying to find something that could help Meg down from the yard. Just then, she spotted Meg's fishing net, sometimes used to catch fish for meals, on the upper deck.

"Jasper! Get over here! Meg needs our help!" Annie demanded while grabbing the net to start unfolding it so it could catch Meg. Jasper did as he was told, abandoning the helm and took hold of the other side of the fishing net.

"Meg, let go. It's alright. We're holding the net to catch you," Annie yelled.

After looking down and seeing the net that would make it safe for her to let go of the yard, Meg did what Annie said and allowed herself to fall. Luckily, Annie hit the target, landing safely in the net!.

"Thank you so much. I don't think this storm is going to clear up for a few hours. All in favor of taking cover at that island over there and wait out the storm, say I," Meg suggested.

"I," Annie and Jasper said at the same time. So Meg took hold of the wheel and sailed them to the island.