Free Queen Liliuokalani: Royal Prisoner by Ann Hood Page A

landed—”
    “Don’t remind me,” Maisie groaned, touching that lump again.
    “—right where we needed to be.”
    By now they had reached the seaport. The harbor was full of ships from France and England and theUnited States, and the air was heavy with the stink of whales and rotting fish.
    But Felix didn’t seem to notice.
    “Now you’re telling me that if we say…those words…again, without the crown…somehow we’ll get the crown back?”
    “I don’t know,” Maisie said.
    “Well, I think we should try. Don’t you?”
    Felix looked at her expectantly.
    “But Great-Uncle Thorne said not to overuse the words,” Maisie said, unsure of what to do.
    “What? There’s more?”
    “That’s all. I promise. He said if we overuse them—”
    “What would happen?”
    Maisie shrugged. “He wouldn’t tell me. He said since The Treasure Chest was sealed it didn’t matter.”
    “Great,” Felix muttered. “Now I don’t know what to do.”
    Maisie stared off at the ships, and the buildings of Honolulu beyond them. On the docks, people were selling silk from China, and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and whalebone carved with pictures of ships. Felix had been down here a dozentimes already. But to Maisie it was new, and she wanted to see everything.
    “Let’s think about it awhile,” she said, eager to buy some time. “We don’t have the crown, so we’re not going anywhere.”
    “Fine,” Felix said, in a way that let her know it was not fine.
    “Who would have thought,” Maisie said as she moved into the crowd on the dock, “that
lame demon
could cause so many problems?”
    Felix didn’t hear her, though. Something had caught his eye, and he was squinting in the sun to better see it.
    All of a sudden, he grabbed Maisie’s arm with one hand and pointed with the other.
    “Look!” he said.
    She turned to see what he was pointing at. A group of sailors in dirty striped shirts and bell-bottoms, their faces bearded and sunburned, their hats pushed back on their heads, were selling a heap of treasures. The sailors appeared to be guys you wouldn’t want to mess with, Maisie thought as Felix pulled her closer to them. One of them had a gold tooth that sparkled in the sun. Another had anelaborately carved saber strapped to his hip. A third had a gold hoop earring dangling from one ear like a pirate. And a fourth had a bright green, blue, and red parrot perched on his shoulder, squawking.
    “They look like real toughs, Felix,” Maisie warned as they neared the men. “This doesn’t seem like a very good idea.”
    Just as she was wondering why her brother, who was usually cautious and fearful, suddenly wanted to march up to a quartet of scary-looking sailors, Maisie saw exactly what he must have seen.
    The treasures they were selling were laid out on a piece of yellow silk. A whale skull. Colorful paintings of a tropical garden. Cinnamon sticks.
    And the crown, glistening in the sun.
    “Hey!” Maisie said as soon as she could push her way through the small crowd pawing through the objects. “That’s our crown!”
    The sailor with the gold tooth laughed. “Not anymore it ain’t,” he said.
    Up close, the men were even more grizzled and unkempt than they had appeared from a distance.
    “Yes, it is. It’s a valuable…I mean…an important family treasure.”
    The parrot said, “That’s a good one! That’s a good one!”
    The parrot’s sailor narrowed his eyes at Maisie. “How much is it worth to ya?” he said in a raspy, phlegmy voice.
    “I don’t have any money!” Maisie said. “And besides, it’s mine already. You have to give it back!”
    All the sailors laughed at that, and the parrot repeated, “That’s a good one! That’s a good one!”
    Maisie glared at the parrot.
    The crowd had opened to let Maisie and then Felix in, but now all the people turned their attention to the crown.
    “Must be worth a thousand dollars,” someone murmured.
    “More,” someone else chimed in.
    “A