The Time Pirate (5 page)

“That's one.”

“And the secret is about—well, the secret is about flying.”

“Flying.”

“Yep.”

“Like a bird.”

“More or less.”

“Like Peter Pan and Tinker Bell and Wendy and Michael?”

“Sort of.”

“Do I get to fly? Or just you?”

“We both fly.”

“I already love this secret.”

“I thought you might.”

“But we still get to sail to Storm Island for a picnic.”

“Next Saturday, rain or shine.”

“Promise delay granted. Where are we going?”

“Those spooky woods, the ones we called the Black Forest when we were kids. Up by Lord Hawke's airstrip.”

“You mean the Green Forest, don't you?”

“No, I mean the Black Forest.”

“But it isn't black, Nicky. It's green! Just like every other forest on this island.”

“Well. I know. But Black Forest sounds better. So just go along with me on this, all right? Besides, it's black enough when you go deep inside it, as I plan to do.”

“I got lost in that place for a whole day the summer I was four! It was very, very scary. Why, if Jipper hadn't found me, I would have just died of starvation or something worse.”

“Exactly. The Black Forest is not a place for the faint of heart.”

“Nicky, it is a very spooky wood. I still have nightmares about being lost in there sometimes. Do we have to go through there?”

“I'm afraid so. What I'm looking for is, I believe, somewhere inside that dark wood. But, look, I'll be with you this time. And Jip, of course. Nothing spooks that dog.”

“You won't leave me somewhere and run off, will you?”

“Of course not.”

Kate looked her brother hard in the eye, measuring his sincerity.

“Flying, huh?” she said, sliding toward the end of his bed.

“Flying.”

“And I get to fly, too?”

“Let me put it this way. If I get to fly, you will definitely get to fly, too.”

Her sparkling blue eyes lit up and her wide smile returned. “Be downstairs in five minutes, Nick McIver, or I'm leaving without you!” she cried. Leaping off his completely disheveled bed, she ran from his room at the top of the lighthouse, banging Nick's door closed behind her and dancing down the curving staircase the led to the kitchen.

There was only one thing better than picnics, and that was secrets. And, as she'd learned earlier that summer, when they'd discovered the golden orb inside an old sea chest, there was no shortage of secrets on this little island.

And so they set out that morning on their new adventure. It would not be a long hike. Greybeard Island was the tiniest of the Channel Islands. Jersey and Guernsey, those were the big ones. Ministries and museums and fancy mansions with gardens and stables fit for a king. And although Nick's home islands were decidedly British, they all lay much closer to the coast of France than that of England.

Greybeard, though small, was a pretty enough place, Nick supposed, as he and his sister strolled along the leafy lane that led from the lighthouse to the coast road going to the south end of the island. The morning sunlight through the trees was beautiful, almost magical. But then he'd never really lived anywhere else.

The island roads were unpaved, and there were no motorcars on Greybeard at all, not one, and more cows than humans. Still, as Nick had learned over the course of one amazing summer, there was plenty of excitement to be found on his little island. Oh, yes. More than enough adventure to satisfy any boy anywhere. For a lifetime.

All the excitement in the world, in fact.

Because young Nicholas McIver had now, through the most curious sequence of events, come into possession of Leonardo da Vinci's Tempus Machina.

It was a Time Machine.

A miraculous time machine, for all love! This magnificent device, a gleaming golden ball, had allowed Nick, along with his friends Gunner and Lord Hawke, to conquer time and space, using the machine to travel through time, doing good wherever he was needed. Why, he'd even helped Lord Nelson himself, in addition to rescuing his dog Jip and Lord Hawke's two little children, Alex and Annabel, from an evil pirate named Billy Blood!

Perhaps, he sometimes thought, no,
really
, the golden orb provided even a bit more excitement than he could handle. After his last adventure with the golden orb, he'd insisted Gunner lock the thing away in the great gun vault at his inn. It had a combination lock and Nick made Gunner swear never to give him that combination, no matter how much he might plead or beg.

Still, Nick had long ago decided, excitement and risk were good for any boy. Especially one who wanted more than anything to be a hero. It took adversity to mold a boy into someone worthy of being called a man. And if he was stong and bold enough, even a heroic man. That's what he thought, anyway. And that's what he was bound and determined to become.

Heroes, he knew, were molded in the face of danger. And so, instead of running from it, Nick raced after it. Or, at least, didn't turn away when he encountered it.

“A good ship is never tested in calm waters, Nicholas,” as his father was fond of reminding him.

And now that the Germans were coming, the waters surrounding the Channel Islands were anything but calm. U-boats could be seen offshore at all hours of the day and night. Squadrons of German fighters, Messerschmitts they were called, roared overhead with frightening regularity.

His father, a spy for Winston Churchill himself, believed an invasion of the Channel Islands was imminent. There would be adversity aplenty then, all right, bags of the stuff.

And when the Germans, the Nazis, did come, when they invaded Nick's beloved Channel Islands, where his family had lived for generations, what then? More excitement and danger than anyone could reasonably expect, he'd wager. But he'd be ready for them, sure he would. He and Gunner and Lord Hawke and Commander Hobbes and even little Katie, who'd proved herself brave beyond measure in their last adventure through time.

They'd all be ready when the Nazis came.

Now, as he and Kate made their way along a curving path that led up toward the Black Forest, Nick was thinking about these Nazi invaders. He'd need some way to fight back, defend his island, protect his family, his home. That's why his recent dream had been so powerful, he now understood. If he and Kate could possibly find what he hoped lay somewhere in the forest, it might be a way for him to—

“Jipper!” Nick cried, “Come back here!”

The dog Jip, barking loudly, had raced ahead of the children and disappeared inside the dense and tangled wood.

“I have a bad feeling about this place, Nicky,” Kate said, her brow furrowed with worry.

“Don't be silly. There's nothing in there can hurt us. Nothing but songbirds and rabbits and squirrels and such. He's probably on the scent of a rabbit.”

“What about Nazis?” Kate said, looking carefully at her brother.

“What about them?”

“They could be hiding in those woods. Just waiting for someone like us to come along. Mother says she thinks she saw a parachute floating down near there last week, even though it was near dark and she wasn't sure. And remember Father and the Birdwatchers found that overturned raft washed up on Sandy Cove last week. It was off a German U-boat, Papa said.”

“Kate, listen to me. When and if the Nazis do come, we'll know about it, believe me. They're not likely to be hiding in the woods, looking for children on a picnic. Now, come along, let's catch up with Jip.”

“If you say so,” Kate said quietly, reaching up and taking her brother's hand.

Its strength was reassuring. And besides, what was she afraid of? Nazis? She'd dealt with them before.

And won.

K
ate was slipping and sliding, clinging to vines and low-hanging branches trying to make her way up the great sodden slab of slick, moss-covered granite. Nicky was already at the top, waiting for her. They'd been in the dark, deep woods for at least half an hour with no sign of Jip no matter how loudly they cried out to him.

Where could that dog have got to?
Nick wondered.

“I don't like it here. There used to be a path through this wood, Nicky,” his sister said with a pout as she heaved herself up to the top of the rock. She'd fallen three or four times; both her knees were skinned, She was frightfully hot, and she was not happy. “Where is it?”

“Path's grown over, I'm afraid, most of it, anyway. Looks like nobody comes through the wood this way much anymore,” Nick said as they leaped down to the ground.

“Really? I wonder why, do you think?” she said, giving him a look.

“Now, Kate, be patient. I'm sure we'll find what we're looking for soon. There's a pretty little stream not far from here. Used to be full of fish. The woods are much less dense on the far side. You'll see. We should find it easily enough.”

“Find
what
easily enough?”

“What we're looking for, of course. What else?”

Katie sighed deeply and looked at her brother in frustration. A sunny picnic on Storm Island had been postponed for this? Mucking about in a spooky, pitch-black forest, scratches on her arms, legs, and cheeks from the briar? No. This was not the Saturday she'd had in mind at all.

“Nick. Listen. How can I even begin to look for something if my brother won't even tell me what it is?” She plopped herself down on a fallen tree trunk and crossed her arms in front of her.

Nick sat down next to Katie, put his arm around her, and said, “Well, fair enough. I can tell you Part One of the secret now that we're here in the heart of the woods.”

“About time, too.”

“It's a barn.”

“A barn?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“You don't mean just a big old wooden building-type barn, I hope?”

“Right-oh.”

“So, your big secret is a barn? I'm going home.”

“Wait! Sit down. Not exactly a barn. There's a bit more to it than that.”

“Like what?”

“You'll find out. See, nobody's used this particular barn for decades. I'm sure that creeper vines and ivy and such have completely covered it over. But, don't worry, we'll find it.”

“It's a barn, Nicky, not a needle in a haystack! Of course we'll find it.”

Nick stood up and held out his hand to Kate. She took it and slid forward off the big tree trunk, landing nimbly on her
feet. Then she followed her brother, sticking close behind him now.

“So, a secret barn. Does it fly?”

“No, not really.”

“But you said this secret was about flying! That's the only reason I came.”

“It
is
about flying. I promise. Now come along. Listen. Hear that stream rushing just beyond those trees? We're getting very close now.”

The children removed their shoes and socks and waded across the shallow stream, Nick holding Kate's hand because the rocks beneath their bare feet were very slippery. Reaching the far side, they sat down on the grassy bank and were just putting their shoes back on when suddenly they heard Jip, barking in the distance.

“Jipper!” Nick cried, pulling Kate to her feet. “Come on, let's go!”

The woods were not nearly so thick on this far side of the stream, and Nick and Kate were able to run reasonably quickly toward the sound of Jip's barking.

“See that sunny clearing beyond the trees, Katie? That's where Jipper is. Probably got a hedgehog cornered up a tree from all the commotion he's making. I'll run up ahead and see. You slow down, I don't want you tripping over tree roots again.”

Nick sprinted forward and reached the clearing a good five minutes before Katie.

Across the clearing, in a small meadow filled with gently waving poppies, he saw Jip circling at the base of a large elm. He was barking at a man hanging from one of the lower branches of the ancient tree, and Nick sprinted toward him.