Free The Ship of Lost Souls 1 by Rachelle Delaney Page B

port, he’d met a girl—the daughter of a man who owned a plantation near Port Aberhard—and he’d fallen in love. A few weeks later, he’d befriended the girl’s father, who’d quickly come to look upon him as a son. The family had offered to take him in and introduce him to the life of a plantation manager. And ultimately, to groom him to marry their daughter when he turned eighteen. He looked at Scarlet, grinned, and then shrugged as if to say “What’s a pirate to do?”
    Scarlet hated her immediately, this girl who’d lured Ben back to land from a life on the sea. Her name was probably something like Cornelia or Adeline. She probably had smooth, corn-colored hair and a very small brain. She probably thought that pirates were grimy and covered in fleas.
    â€œAs for who I’m going to name captain when I go,” Ben continued, “I’ve given it a lot of thought. I’ve chosen someone very brave, someone who knows the islands well and understands what the Lost Souls are all about . . .”
    Maybe Cornelia-Adeline would make Ben wear a proper coat and clean his fingernails. Likely she had an irrational fear of millipedes—
    â€œWhat do you say, Scarlet McCray?” Ben was looking at her, and Scarlet had no idea why. All she could think to say was, “You’ll have to cut your hair, you know.” She flushed when her voice broke on the last word.
    â€œWill you take over as captain?” Ben asked quietly, and the Lost Souls fell silent.
    â€œWill I
what
?” She couldn’t have heard him correctly. She hadn’t yet turned twelve. Granted, she was one of the older ones now that all the original Lost Souls had moved on, but—
    â€œCaptain Scarlet. Captain Scarlet McCray. Sound all right to you?” Ben was smiling.
    â€œMe?” Scarlet flushed again. “Um, but—”
    To her surprise, the rest of the pirates cheered.
    â€œThree great grunts for your new captain!” Ben yelled. The pirates grunted accordingly, then swarmed her with congratulations.
    All except one, Scarlet remembered, as sleep now spread its heavy blanket over her hammock. One who undoubtedly thought himself more suitable for the job. One Lucas Lawrence.

CHAPTER SIX
    â€œAll good pirates, come to order!”
    Scarlet McCray certainly didn’t look like your average buccaneer, Jem thought, but she sure had the voice of a seaman. Seawoman? Jem decided that Scarlet would probably prefer “seaperson.” He’d never felt intimidated by a girl before, but he didn’t fancy getting on this one’s bad side. Come to think of it, he’d never had much contact with girls at all, being an only child sent to a boys’ school. So perhaps all girls acted like Scarlet. But he highly doubted it.
    â€œI said come to order!” Scarlet bellowed again. “Can everyone hear me?”
    â€œEven if we didn’t have ears we’d hear you,” Smitty called back, and received a dirty look.
    All twenty-three Lost Souls and Jem stood on a thin strip of coal-colored sand in Castaway Cove, a little nook on an island shaped like a question mark. The Lost Souls considered Castaway Cove their own; they could anchor the
Margaret’s Hop
behind a rocky outcropping that hid her from passing ships and the crew could stretch their sea legs on the beach.
    â€œThe best thing about Castaway Cove,” Tim told Jem as they waded barefoot through the sand, “is that there isn’t much danger of anyone finding us here. It’s one of
those
islands.”
    â€œOne of which islands?” Jem had asked.
    Tim turned to him, looking serious. “The kind that make even the bravest King’s Man and snarliest pirate turn tail and run. Some islands are like that—just so completely haunted that no one dares touch them. So far, the King’s Men have mainly stuck to the not-quite-so-haunted islands.”
    Jem