The Sea Wolves by Christopher Golden Page A

another was the chart room in which Jack had served them breakfast, and he guessed Sabine must be in another. He’d have to navigate the mess in complete silence, then venture up on deck to begin his exploration of the ship.
    The way he had it figured, the pirates had snatched at least six people from the Umatilla . There couldn’t be many places for them to be hidden away, and it was time now to find them. And then what? Steal a boat, row away across these vicious seas? But that was a problem for another time. Discovering where they were must be his first step.
    He left behind the old boots Johansen had provided for him to replace the ones he’d lost in the ocean before being dragged on board the pirate ship. As he took his first step out of the galley, an image came to him, so sudden and shocking that it brought him up short: Ghost, lying in his bunk with eyes wide open, hearing and sensing everything that happened on his ship and smiling through it all.
    Jack glanced along the short, dark corridor. Ghost’s door was out of sight in the shadows, but the weight of his presence was undeniable. Jack moved quickly through the mess, worried that thinking so much about Ghost would bring the captain’s attention his way.
    A single weak oil lamp lit the mess, casting large, troubling shadows. But Jack heard no breathing or snoring and saw no sign of anyone sleeping behind the benches or beneath the table.
    Once through the mess, he paused again at the foot of a staircase. Up the stairs, through a small hatch, he would reach the open air. He could breathe more freely up there, and yet he knew that Ghost would always post a watch, even in the dead of night. Someone was steering the ship, and others would be patrolling the decks or doing other sailors’ duties. He could not afford to be caught now. He had not been locked away, yet he suspected the punishment for snooping would be severe.
    Jack closed his eyes and gave his senses free rein. That underlying scent of old wet animal was just as prevalent here as elsewhere. The ship rode the sea, dipping and shifting in rhythmic motion. Boards creaked, rigging stretched and hummed with tension, sails slapped at the air. And somewhere above him, casual footsteps trod the decks.
    For the moment, he would need to remain belowdecks. That suited him, because the prisoners would not be found topside. He needed to explore the ship’s hold.
    Jack bypassed the staircase and approached the forbidden door. It was not locked. The hinges creaked and he shoved it quickly, darting inside and closing it behind him. He squatted in the darkness and held his breath, and slowly his vision improved. There were four grilles set in the ceiling along the gangway, casting moonlight down from above, and a small gutter ran along either side to take away any water that came through. It smelled of the sea.
    With some areas weakly illuminated, shadows along the gangway seemed darker than ever. He walked slowly, crouched down, listening for any movement that would indicate he had been discovered. There was none … but there was something down here disturbing the dark air, and he sensed an awareness brought alert by his arrival.
    Stepping softly, breathing through his mouth, Jack advanced toward the first pool of light. He looked up before passing through, expecting one of those pirates to be staring down at him with a blade in his hand. But he was still alone.
    He stopped at the first door set into the bulkhead to his left. It was a heavy, wide door, bolted shut and locked with three iron padlocks. The hinges seemed to be embedded in the bulkhead, and Jack was sure he could see, in the cracks between timber boards, the glint of metal lining the door’s inside surface. He raised his fist and almost knocked … then wondered what a door such as this might be used to imprison. The damp, clinging animal smell he’d caught in the air before lingered here as well, but even more