Ms. Octavia threw a tentacle full of scatterclips at one of the pirates in the nearby ship. He held up his shield and they bounced off and fell into the water. “I’ve managed to hit a few, though, when I’ve caught them unawares or if they turn around. It’s just the shield that’s helping them. The noncomponent spells are working pretty well, like the kind Meghan was good at—slam poetry, fire step, stinging soliloquy, and those sorts of things. But the freeze spell and the clay shackles aren’t working either.”
“I wonder if Queen Eagala’s magic is protective or barrier based,” said Alex. “You know, like Gondoleery’s was elemental. Maybe the shields’ power is similar to how Eagala keeps her island from having any sound at all—besides the sound of her own voice, of course.”
“I don’t know,” said Ms. Octavia, “but clearly our initial strategy is no longer working.”
“Well,” growled Simber, “I forrr one am tirrred of this. I’m going afterrr them.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” asked Alex.
Simber didn’t respond, and Alex dove behind the crates to hide and watch as the big cat flapped his mighty wings and flew to the nearby ship. Immediately the sailors all scattered down the stairs and into tight corners that Simber couldn’t reach. Simber slammed into the ship’s cabin, but all it did was chip a bit of his wing and leave him furious and tripping over the catapult. Immediately someone released a flaming tar ball, hitting Simber square in the chest and sending the giant cheetah flipping head over tail through the air and plunging into the water. The splash was enormous and rained down on both ships.
Simber surfaced, spitting and flailing, until he finally composed himself enough to rise out of the water. He shook his body violently to free himself from the wet stuff.
Ms. Octavia hid her face behind a tentacle and eased from her hiding spot as the ship finally moved out of range of the blow darts. Alex reappeared from behind the crates, and Simber pretended like nothing had happened to him.
“Simber,” Alex called. “There’s nothing more we can do here. Octavia can abandon ship if she needs to, but she’s a safe distance from the enemy ships now. The others will wake up eventually. We need to find Fox.”
“Fox!” exclaimed Octavia. She looked all around in the water, alarmed. “He never came back,” she said. “I didn’t notice. Good heavens.”
“He’s not in the water around Queen Eagala’s ship either,” said Alex. “Not that Simber could see, anyway.” He began dragging bodies off one another and laying them flat on their backs. “Sean got hit by a sleep dart,” he said. “Again!” He rolled the sleeping young man onto his back. “Carina’s not going to let him forget that.”
“Carina might be in the same predicament before this is over,” said Ms. Octavia.
“You’re right, of course.” He stood up straight. “I can spare you a squirrelicorn and a few people from my team until yours wake up. It’ll be dark soon—are you all right here on your own for a bit?”
“I think so,” said Octavia. “The other ships don’t seem to want to follow us.”
“Because it could put them in the line of firrre frrrom the catapults,” observed Simber. “I think you’rrre safe forrr now.”
Alex climbed on Simber’s back. “You won’t be alone for long, Ms. Octavia.” He instructed Simber to go back to the shore. There Alex ordered a few Artiméans from his team to head out to the ship, carried by squirrelicorns, and then Alex and Simber flew back over the sea, dodging flaming tar balls and looking for Fox.
As the sun began to set in earnest, Simber rose up high in the air, out of range of the catapults. He flew over the ships, wishing he could safely catch the flying tar balls and drop them back onto the ships. But he didn’t want to risk losing any claws to the heat.
Despite his dislike for Fox, who was definitely not a cat no matter how much he wanted to be, Simber scanned the water and the ships for signs of the creature. Over his shoulder, Alex searched anxiously. And as they were searching, Kitten pushed her way out of Alex’s pocket and onto his thigh, and began to stretch.
Alex picked her up so she wouldn’t be blasted off Simber’s back by the wind.
“Mewmewmew?” asked Kitten.
“We’rrre looking forrr yourrr annoying frrriend,” answered Simber.
Kitten’s ears stiffened and she sat up. “Mewmewmew?”
“Alex sent him on an errrand and he disappearrred.”
Kitten struggled against Alex’s grasp, trying to see, and he held her out over the side of Simber’s back so she could look too.
“Mewmewmew!” she said, pointing.
“No,” said Alex, “that’s just a piece of driftwood.”
Kitten pointed the other way. “Mewmewmew!”
“No,” said Alex patiently. “That’s an oar.”
Kitten frowned and stared harder, but after a time she stopped staring and began licking her porcelain fur, which was getting ruffled in the wind.