Vampirates 4: Black Heart (26 page)

"In that case, I'm really, really scared!" Jacoby said, reaching out his hand.

"Wait up!" cried Cheng Li, striding over to join them at the door. She folded her arms, her face severe. "I must remind the three of you that we are here on very serious business." Her dark eyes bore into those of her crew. "We are here to solve a murder. The murder of our headmaster, a leader of the Pirate Federation and -- and a good friend. This is not a jolly little adventure. You're not schoolkids anymore, you're professional pirates on my crew. I took a big gamble placing you three in such senior roles. Don't make me regret it."

"Sorry, boss," said Jacoby. "I guess we just got a bit caught up in the adrenaline rush of cracking the code and all that."

"He's right," Jasmine said. "We do understand the gravity of the mission. Varsha was one of my best friends." There were tears in Jasmine's eyes as she continued. "I can't even bear to think about what she and Zak and Commodore Kuo went through."

Cheng Li turned to Connor. He could tell she was waiting for him to say his piece. He took a breath and then began. "There was no great love lost between me and Commodore Kuo. I'd be a hypocrite if I pretended there was. But no one deserves to die like that."

Cheng Li surveyed her crew members once more. "All right," she said, "I'm glad we had this conversation. Now let's proceed in a more appropriate manner."

The others stepped aside to give her room, and she pushed back the door to the secret archive. As Jasmine had observed, it was dark inside, but the blue light from the corridor stretched far enough to illuminate a table on which sat four hurricane lamps, candles, and a box of matches.

"Come on!" Cheng Li exclaimed. "Let's get some light in here." She lit the lamps, with Connor's assistance. They passed one each to Jasmine and Jacoby and stepped back as the lamplight revealed the room to them. It was long and narrow, with shelves on either side, lined with rows of identical boxes. At the end of the avenue of shelves were a pair of desks and a few chairs. Behind the desk were bookshelves crammed tightly with volumes. Tacked onto the wall above them were several maps, punctured by colored pins.

Cheng Li peered at one of the maps. "Fascinating," she murmured.

Connor appeared at her side. "These maps," he said, "they chart sightings of the Vampirate ship, don't they?"

Cheng Li nodded. "Who'd ever have imagined it?"

Connor smiled to himself. Certainly not Cheng Li, he thought. He again remembered telling her about his sighting of the Nocturne when they first met. Her answer, in no uncertain terms, had been that it was impossible for such a ship of vampire pirates to exist. In spite of his confusion, he had known she was wrong. Now it seemed as if others within the pirate world had known the truth all along.

"Look at this," Jasmine said, joining them and placing one of the boring-looking archive boxes on the desk and lifting the lid. "It's full of notes, some handwritten, others typed, by those who've witnessed the Vampirates and their ship."

Cheng Li dipped her hand into the box and lifted out a sheet of paper. Her eyes ranged across the page. "To think this archive was here all along," she said, "right beneath the floor of the Rotunda." She shook her head in disbelief, then set down the sheet and picked up another.

"The word archive sounds so dry and boring," Jacoby said, opening up what looked like an oversize gym locker. "But there's nothing boring about this!"

"What have you found?" Cheng Li called over.

"Just a few of my favorite things!" Jacoby yelled back. "Come and take a look." The others turned as Jacoby wielded a pair of evil-looking swords at them.

"Swords!" said Connor. "What are they doing down here?"

"Jacoby!" The tone of Cheng Li's voice gave Jacoby a clear note of warning.

"Sorry," said Jacoby. He dropped the swords and reached inside the locker again. "Man, this is like the cupboard of death!" He produced a couple of bottles labeled DANGER: TOXIC, and waved them at the others.

"Please be careful!" said Cheng Li.

Connor at last managed to get a look inside the locker himself. "It's like some crazy science lab in there," he said. "Test tubes and vials and all kinds of strange equipment!"

"Of course," Cheng Li said coolly. "They were experimenting."

"Experimenting?" the others asked in unison.

Cheng Li nodded. "Isn't it obvious?"

Jasmine's voice was low. "They were working out how to kill a vampire."

Cheng Li nodded. "Exactly, Jasmine. Thank goodness one of you has your brain switched on today. But they didn't finish their work. And now the baton has been passed to us."

"It has?" Jacoby exclaimed.

Cheng Li nodded. "It's our mission," she said. "The Tiger will be no ordinary rank-and-file ship of the Pirate Federation. We've been given a unique project. Our ship will blaze a trail as the first ship of the Federation designated for Vampirate assassins."

"Vampirate assassins?" Jacoby repeated, his eyes wide. "We're going to assassinate Vampirates?"

Cheng Li nodded patiently. "Yes. Starting with the one who killed Commodore Kuo."

"Isn't that going to be kind of dangerous?" said Jasmine. "How do we go into battle with Vampirates?"

"Just as we would go into battle with any other kind of enemy," answered Cheng Li, cool as ice. "We prepare. We leave nothing to chance. We read every last sheet of notes in this room. We absorb every last crumb of information gathered by the Federation over the years. We get up to speed on every one of their experiments, and then we continue them ourselves. We need to know how to kill a Vampirate. But before we get to that, we need to think about how we attack them."

Jacoby's eyes widened. "And this is an official Federation mission? How cool is that?! Oh, I'm sorry, boss."

"You don't have to apologize, " said Cheng Li. "It's all right to bring enthusiasm to a mission." She added, with some satisfaction, "My ship was singled out for the job."

"What's the time frame for this?" Jasmine inquired.

"Good question, Lieutenant Peacock," said Cheng Li. "This mission has priority alpha status. In other words, the Federation wants it accomplished yesterday. But" -- she stressed the word -- "we must be fully prepared. And we will be." Her eyes were bright as she continued. "Let's not lose any time. Jasmine, you take charge of the archive boxes. Read through everything that's there and pull it together into a report for me."

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Jasmine saluted Cheng Li, then settled herself at the desk with the first box of papers, opening the desk drawers and finding a notebook and a pen.

Seeing the endless rows of boxes, Jacoby looked positively pained. "Don't worry, Jacoby," Cheng Li said. "I have something different in mind for you. I want you to go through all the weapons and scientific materials in that locker. It looks like there are notebooks in there, too. You'll bring us up to speed on the experiments carried out to date. And then we'll continue them."

"Yes, boss!" Jacoby said.

Cheng Li grimaced. "Do stop calling me boss," she said. "Either captain or Cheng Li will suffice."

"Yes, bo -- I mean, Captain," said Jacoby, darting off eagerly toward the cupboard of death.

Cheng Li turned to Connor. He met her gaze, trying to appear resolute, waiting to hear what role she had in mind for him on this unique and important mission. But when she spoke, her voice was different somehow, softer. "You're conflicted, aren't you?" she asked.

He nodded, flushed with relief. "Yes, I am. I know that it was a terrible, terrible thing that happened to Commodore Kuo. And don't get me wrong, I'm no lover of the Vampirates." He sighed, reaching out an arm to one of the archive shelves to steady himself. "But Grace has this connection to them, and some of them have been good to her."

"You need to talk to her again," Cheng Li said. "She must break this connection."

Connor shook his head. "It's getting stronger and stronger all the time," he said.

Cheng Li frowned. "It's the boy vampire, isn't it? She told me about him. Lorcan Furey -- that's his name, correct? Grace is falling in love with him, isn't she?"

Ifonly that was the extent of the problem, thought Connor. Sure, it would be difficult to untangle, but nowhere near as complicated as the true state of affairs. He couldn't tell Cheng Li about the latest development -- the real reason he'd left his sister to come back here -- that Grace had started to believe that she, that both of them, had Vampirate blood in them. Cheng Li would think that both brother and sister were crazy. And surely, she would be right.

"Well?" Cheng Li was still waiting for an answer.

"You're right," Connor said. "It's Lorcan. She has very deep feelings for him. And the captain, too ... though obviously her feelings for him are different."

"I understand," Cheng Li said. "And this won't be easy. We've been ordered to attack the Vampirates. There's no turning back for me. I must act as the Federation commands. And to honor my friend John Kuo, I will. But, if you want out, never mind the articles you've signed, you can walk away right now. I won't think badly of you."

Connor shook his head. "I don't want out," he said.

"Are you sure?" Cheng Li paused. "This is a one-time offer."

Connor nodded. "I mean it. I don't want out. I just wish we could make Commodore Black understand that not all Vampirates are the same."

"Maybe we can," said Cheng Li. "Maybe something we find right here in this archive will help us to persuade him of that."

"But if it was here," argued Connor, "wouldn't he already know?"

Cheng Li ran a finger across one of the shelves. When she drew it away, her fingertip was caked in dust. "Look at that, Connor," she said. "It's dirt. Does Commodore Black strike you as the kind of man who gets his hands dirty?"

Connor smiled and shook his head.

"I care about Grace, too," Cheng Li said. "And not only because she's your sister. I would never do anything to put her in danger. You have to trust me on this one. I know we've had our ... moments of difficulty in the past. But we have to move beyond that."

The words seemed so simple. She hadn't always been entirely straight with him. Now, in spite of her present openness, was she still keeping secrets from him? It was a possibility. But then, he was certainly keeping secrets from her. His instinct told him that Cheng Li's team was the one he was supposed to be on. Together, they'd find a way to get Grace away from Lorcan and the others before anything bad happened. On that, he would trust her. He reached out his hand. Cheng Li shook it.

"Right," she said. "Let's get to work."

26PERFECT DAY

"Are you sure you two will be okay?" Lorcan asked.

"Yes," said Grace firmly. "We'll be fine, won't we, Mother?"

"Yes," Sally said, looping her arm through Grace's. "Just the two of us."

Mosh Zu nodded. "As it should be. It's a beautiful day. Enjoy it, my dear friends." Although he was smiling and his words were warm, they all knew the implications behind them.

Grace was eager to get going. "So we'll meet you at the churchyard just after nightfall?" she asked.

Lorcan exchanged a glance with Mosh Zu, who nodded.

"Yes," Mosh Zu said. "We'll meet you there."

Grace and Sally set off along the coastal path up to the lighthouse. Birds swooped around them, and pretty wildflowers grew on either side of the track.

"I think I might pick some of these flowers to take to Dad's grave," said Grace. She hoped that the mention of his name would start Sally reminiscing, but her mother stayed silent, preserving her energy for the walk.

All the way up, Grace wondered who the new lighthouse keeper might be. Would he or she know of Grace and her family? Would she be welcomed back into the lighthouse? She wasn't sure if Sally would have the strength to climb up to the lamp room, but if by any chance she did, it would be wonderful to share with her the view from up top and the memories of all those nights looking out to sea with her dad and Connor.

But as they neared the lighthouse, Grace stopped in her tracks. Ahead of her the main door was boarded up, with a chunky padlock strung across it.

"That's strange," she said. "And disappointing. I wanted to show you the view from the lamp room. You get the best views of the bay from there."