Sirius studied the new ship for several seconds before he spoke. Then he gave one loud “hah!”

  Amanda turned to him confused. “Are they pirates?”

  He shook his head. He was smiling. “No... well… kind of… but no.”

  “They’re flying a pirate flag,” Amanda pointed out.

  “Yeah, but look.” Sirius pointed toward the mast. “It’s upside down.”

  Was that another rule of the sea that she didn’t know? “What does that mean?”

  Sirius shot her another smile. “There’s only one person I know who flies that flag upside down.”

  “Are they friends?”

  He nodded. “Sort of.”

  “Sort of?”

  But he was already half way down the climb from their sleeping spot.

  “Come on,” he called from the bottom. “We’ll eat some breakfast and then we’ll go greet our visitors.”

  Amanda made her way down and got herself ready. Although, ready for what she had no idea. As they were packing up their small collection of belongings she asked Sirius, “Will they give us a ride?”

  He paused in what he was doing and looked thoughtful. “I hope so.” As he continued throwing the last of his things into his crate he added. “Although based on who it is, I’d say the chances that Shiv didn’t just abandon us here have just gone up.”

  They made their way down the hill to the beach they’d originally arrived at. There they found a group of six men standing around a longboat arguing. As they approached, one of them looked up and pointed. “See, I told you we didn’t need to go walking up the hill. All we had to do was wait.” He was much older than the others but looked like he’d spent his life living in a gym and had many years of it left yet. His hair was dark black tinged with hints of grey, and he had a full beard. He crossed his arms as he made his point.

  The one who had been arguing with him was slightly shorter and younger but just as strong looking. His hair was browny-blonde tinged with a hint of red. He also had a full beard. He turned to look where the other man had pointed. Upon seeing Sirius he frowned and turned back to the other man. “Well, they might not have seen us. We could have been waiting here all day. And what if they’d been on one of the other islands?”

  “Everybody lands on this beach,” replied the older man.

  “You’re just old and lazy,” accused the younger.

  It was an almost laughable statement given how fit the older one looked but Amanda supposed relatively speaking, maybe it made sense.

  “Careful now. Don’t you forget who’s in charge or you might be swimming back to the boat.”

  The young one gave a laugh. “I’d probably still get there before you, you old codger.”

  The older man turned to Sirius instead and gave a nod. “Sirius, it’s good to see you again. Still alive and kicking I see.” His eyes dated to Amanda and for a moment it looked like he might speak to or of her as well but then he seemed to think better of it and he simply pressed his lips together in a smile and looked at Sirius again.

  Sirius nodded. “Likewise. I see Leo’s still giving you trouble.”

  Leo, the younger one, turned to look Sirius up and down. He had his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out. He was barefoot, unlike the others who were all wearing boots.

  Sirius took a single step forward and waited, looking down at Leo.

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  Finally Leo breathed out a huff. He half turned to his older crewman and absently waved his hand in Sirius’s direction. “Now even the boy’s treating me like a boy.”

  “Well, maybe if you stopped acting like one,” Sirius replied.

  “Pah!” exclaimed Leo with the shake of his head. Then peering past Sirius he asked, “So who’s the broad?”

  Sirius introduced her. “This is Amanda.”

  Leo held out a hand and with a friendly smile said, “Pleased to meet you, Amanda.”

  “And you,” Amanda replied as she shook his hand. His grip was gentle but he nearly shook her arm off.

  Her gaze shifted to the older man who had stayed his ground, his arms still crossed. He simply gave her a nod.

  “This is Stinger,” Sirius said, introducing the older man.

  Stinger then gestured to each of the rest of the men one by one. “This is Leo, Rick, Ryan, Pinto, and Peaches.”

  Leo winced. “Jeez you say em in that order you make us sound like some kind of fruity boy band.”

  A bald man with a brown goatee, the one Stinger had introduced as Rick, made kissy sounds toward Leo and then chuckled.

  Stinger sighed. It seemed he was used to all their antics. “I ain’t the one who picked their names,” he told Leo.

  “Are you the captain?” Amanda asked him.

  His look was one of brief surprise and then he started laughing.

  Amanda frowned. Evidently she’d gotten that wrong.

  “Stinger’s the quartermaster,” Sirius explained.

  “The captain’s back on the ship,” Stinger added in a more serious voice. “She’ll meet with you once you’re on board.”

  “She?” Amanda asked. But she didn’t get an answer. They were already getting busy loading the boat.

  Sirius and Stinger talked business as they rowed back toward the ship. Conversation about routes they’d sailed recently, the latest news from different ports, names of people she didn’t know. Amanda watched the island get further and further away behind them. It felt weird to suddenly be leaving it. It had almost come to feel like some sort of home, just her and Sirius’s. She already missed it.

  The row boat reached the ship before she knew it, coming to rest alongside it with a slight bump. She glanced upward in trepidation. Would this crew be like the last? Who was this female captain that Sirius knew? How did he know her? Would things change now they were no longer on the island together? What would happen next? What direction would they sail? She had so many questions.

  Sirius went first up the ladder.

  Stinger indicated for Amanda to go next. He must have noticed something in her expression for, as she carefully climbed onto the bottom rung of the ladder, he said, “Don’t worry the captain don’t bite.”

  One of the other men in the longboat laughed and retorted, “That’s not what Randy and Ferret say.”

  Stinger tilted his head in a slight acknowledgment. He grinned at Amanda and redacted his previous statement. “Well, she don’t bite much.”

  She could hear him chuckling below her as she began her climb up the side of the ship.

  This wood of this boat looked newer than Sirius’s. It was a amber brown, and the outside was extremely clean looking as if it had only recently had the entire hull polished. The boat was smaller and a little less high out of the water. It had the same number of masts but less sails that Sirius’s ship. The sails it did have were also larger and angled rather than front facing, Especially the ones on the rear masts. She looked up at them as she climbed up and onto the deck.

  Sirius glanced back to check how she was doing and help her over. As he did so he whispered. “This is a brig. She’s built for speed and agility.”

  Amanda nodded and then turned her attention toward the deck and the people on it. A few men moved about, hauling things. It seemed they’d picked up a few of their own crates from smuggler’s cove which were now being hauled back on board the ship and inspected, then resealed and carted off down into the hold of the ship.

  On the far side of the deck, a net was being pulled up. Silver fish that had been entangled inside flopped about on the boards among wet boots. Men grabbed them and flung them into a couple of open barrels.

  A few other men stood in a group in the centre of the deck watching the newcomers and returnees with caution. Right in the middle of them stood a woman. She was tall and strong looking, like many of the female sailors had been back at Wildwater. Her chin was almost level with the top of Sirius’s sternum and she towered over some of the shorter men. Her hair was wild and thick and medium brown which matched her eyes. She wore a white pull-over shirt, loose and open at the neck. Wide enough that Amanda could see most of her bare shoulders and deduce that she wasn’t wearing a bra. It was pulled together with string at the chest and tucked into her cotton pants at the waist, held tight with a brown leather belt. On one hip she had a sword, on the other a pistol. Her pants were three-quarter length cotton or canvas and on her feet she had a pair of calf high tight low-heeled leather boots. She didn’t look much older than Amanda.

  She looked more the part of a traditional pirate than most of the rest of her crew, many of whom were wearing jeans. Most of Sirius’s crew had worn cotton or canvas clothing although jeans weren’t uncommon either. The crew of this ship were far more modernly dressed. One guy was even wearing a blazer, sunglasses, and a peaky blinder hat, although none of it matched. He was lean looking and he perched not far behind the captain, on a pile of crates, looking their way. His fingers toyed with a toothpick that stuck out of his mouth.

  As Sirius and Amanda approached the group the captain spread her arms wide in a welcoming gesture and with a smile exclaimed, “Welcome aboard The Wolverine!”