The Silent Thief

XXV

XXV

       Without my coat on, I felt as if I was revealing too much. I had checked my whole body for the twentieth time and still knew that I looked just as much a boy as Jake, but I still couldn’t shake that feeling. I sat in my usual place on the deck and watched a group of sailors play cards. The wind had picked up and we were still going at a fast pace. At least it cooled me somewhat.

My thoughts were the only thing I paid much attention to. I was too bored to care who lost or won the game beside me. I thought about what the island and the gem would be like. Sir William hadn’t mentioned anything about it so I assumed the obvious; we would sail there and I would find the gem. I never thought about how I would find it. I was a thief. Not an explorer or a pirate. Did Sir William think the three were the same?

With these things popping up in my mind I thought, Really though, how on Earth am I going to find that gem? Will it glow or something?

“Men, listen up,” Sir William called.

The card game stopped and all eyes turned to look at the Sir.

He spoke once he saw he had everyone’s attention. “Because of the wind, we will reach the island sooner than we thought. If it stays in our favor, we will arrive in the dead of night.”

There were some smiles and some talking. One man stood with his arms crossed and asked, “How then will we see the island? There will be little moon light tonight.”

Sir William looked straight at me and I flinched.

That stare will continue scaring me for the rest of my life, I thought looking back at him.

“We’ll leave that problem in the hands of our master thief,” he said directing it at me.

Oh, so now I’m a navigator? I thought furiously.

A man who sat beside me elbowed my ribs and spat, “Ya’ better not get us shipwrecked!”

I heard complaints all around. I thought to myself, Now is a time to seek my father’s advice. Getting up, I dusted off my pants and casually strolled toward the berthing all the while knowing every eye bore into my back.

Once I was out of their sights, I sighed. I walked to my father’s sleeping spot and saw he was reading. He seemed to not notice me.

“Father, I have a problem,” I started to say.

“I heard.”

I looked at him expecting to hear what I should do. He continued reading. I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. It appeared he would keep reading so I sat down beside him.

“Are you just going to lay there?” I asked.

He looked up from his book and answered with a question, “Are you not going to think about the solution at all?”

I blinked. “But that’s why I came to you.”

“Grace,” he set his book down, “I taught you better than that. Think. Don’t go to others for answers when you already have them.”

I growled aggravated with him. I put my head in my hands and stared intently at the floor. The waves splashed along the sides and the ship tipped back and forth slightly. I turned my head staring at the far wall. Under one of the rows of oars, I saw the stones we had used during the storm.

I sighed. “The Captain probably knows how to do this! Is he trying to get us all killed now?” I noticed my dad’s head drop. “What? What is it?”