Chapter 3: Endless Day

'From the Chronicles of the Orb Nymph, by Mistress LaFitz:'

The first two storms were but precursors of what was to come, like the shadow of a monster with its back to the sun. The Orb Nymph weathered them with few problems, except for one small child's penchant for seasickness. Then the sea grew still, the kind of stillness that bodes ill in the hearts of all seamen, the calm before the great storm. There was nary a breath of wind in the air, the air was hot and steamy, and the sails sagged in uselessness

The captain had kept mostly to her cabin until then, matching every league and every storm with the logs of ships that had set sail the same day as La Beltranista. She was determined to recreate the voyage of the lost ship, down to the last tear in the sails and the last keg of fresh water. So far, she'd been successful, but her success weighed heavily on the crew and the word 'mutiny' was whispered from one mariner to another. While the crew sniffed the air and checked for wind and prepared for the storm of their lives, the captain settled comfortably on the deck and waited with the anticipation of a child on Christmas Eve.

Then came the great storm, its wild winds thrashing the tiny vessel about like a matchstick. The crew was black and blue from being tossed hither and yon in the belly of the boat. Twice, Josefina and Aphrodite had to drag the captain from the deck and pump gallons of sea water from her lungs, after her obsession led her to lash herself to the mast, like Ulysses braving the sirens. We knew she had lost all common sense and we would soon have to relieve her of her command.

Finally, everything stopped, and we rose to the deck like ghosts from our graves, only to find the ship unmoving in the waters and surrounded by an old gray mist that clung to our goose-bumped skins like a damp shroud. The fog was so thick, we couldn't see beyond the length of a yardarm....

"No! No! Go away! Stop it! Stop it!" Emerald broke into screams on the deck, her hands clasped over both ears and her legs weakening beneath her. Jannie quickly came to her assistance and lowered her to the floor.

"What is it?" Rosalita asked, nervously glancing about. Even she could feel something strange in the air, but Emerald's psychic powers were stronger than anyone else's aboard ship.

"Voices. Hundreds. Thousands. Screaming. Fear. Death," Emerald moaned.

"I don't hear anything," noted Jannie.

"That's enough," the captain charged. "Wickeddoll, take her below and give her something to quiet her. Rosetta, get up in the crow's nest and see what you can see."

"But I can barely see my nose in front of my face!" Rosetta objected.

"Now!" the captain ordered, and Rosetta quickly clambered up to her post.

"Where's my spyglass?" the captain asked, fighting down a wave of panic.

Josefina produced it, keeping a cautious eye on the captain as if expecting the woman to turn into Blackbeard himself.

Everyone waited anxiously, hugging themselves to keep off the chill, peering into the murky void in search of any signs and wondering what would become of them. Even the nanny and her charge had come above deck, wrapped in heavy shawls, and now the stately blond looked smug.

"You will all die out here, and for what?" she spat. "For the delusions of a madwoman?"

Aphrodite drew her sword and approached the speaker.

"Hush, or you'll quickly find we have no use for you!" Aphrodite stated, but her voice held an edge of uncertainty. Eva had merely said aloud what everyone else was already thinking.

"You all think I'm crazy, do you?" the captain asked, still glued to her spyglass. "Well, tell me this, if I'm crazy, what is that?"

She jabbed a pointed finger at the horizon, where the large black shadow of a ship suddenly rose from the waters, it's width and breadth far greater than that of the Orb Nymph, it's sails unfurled, its tattered wooden hull creaking in the mist. And through the densest fog, through the silent screaming of the ocean's depths, the crew could make out the name of the ship, emblazoned along its flank - La Beltranista!

"All hands, secure weapons," Captain Ursula ordered, her heart pounding. Good pirates, all, they already were well armed. "Prepare to board enemy vessel," she continued.

"Wait," said Stone, reaching up and grabbing the captain's arm. "Something's wrong." Stone could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She shivered, more from fear than cold.

"Captain," yelled Rosetta from the crow's nest. "It's a ghost ship!"

The captain growled. She was not about to have her revenge seized from her teeth at this point.

"Then it will be that much easier to board," she retorted.

"Let's hail them, first," Stone insisted. "They could be below deck or hiding."

The captain reluctantly agreed. She signaled to Rosalita, whose voice was strongest of them all, and the mariner hailed the ship.

"Ahoy, there!" she yelled. "This is the Orb Nymph! Show your colors!"

There was no reply.

"Ahoy! Is anyone on board!" Rosalita called out again.

Still, no reply.

Suddenly, the two-year-old broke lose from her Nanny's grip and ran to the rail, her little voice piercing the air. "Daddy! Daddy!" she screamed repeatedly at the galleon, until Eva grabbed her and pulled her back.

On the foggy deck of the ghost ship, a specter appeared -- tall and rugged, moving slowly as if the weight of all creation was upon him. And behind him, a second figure, and then a third, and a fourth. Slowly, a dozen men came to the rail, one at a time, as if walking in their sleep.

"Be gone, ghosts!" the first man yelled, his voice deep and edged with madness. "I'll brook no more of your tricks!"

Captain Ursula studied the somber visage of her enemy and signaled Rosalita to continue the conversation.

"We are not ghosts," Rosalita yelled. "We are the women of the Orb Nymph. We have come in search of La Beltranista. Are you its captain?"

"I see your Jolly Roger hung to aft," the specter responded. "I know who you are. No pirate vessel would willingly come into this abyss. You are as trapped here as we, ghosts in a watery graveyard."

The pirate crew murmured among themselves, fearing his words were true.

"Prepare to be boarded!" Rosalita yelled.

The ghost laughed, a laugh that hung in the fog like a wet sheet, a laugh that reminded Ursula of Blackbeard.

"Come aboard if you wish," he responded. "All you will find is a living death."

Captain Ursula turned to her crew.

Jannie, Rosalita, Stone, Telamarine, you will come with me. The rest, stay here," she ordered. <