“I don’t think he realizes it. He’s not well, Alex.” She gave him a serious look. “I think you need to take over the ship’s wheel.”
Alex looked at Florence in alarm. “Me? I don’t know how to steer this thing!”
Florence pointed at the island in the flickering light. “We’re turning, see? Watch the island. We’re moving in a circle around it, picking up speed.” She looked at Alex. “Take over. I’ll coach you. I’d do it myself if I could reach the wheel, but I need to get centered on the deck for everyone’s safety, especially now that the waves are swelling.” She shifted carefully back to center, trying to counterbalance her weight against the rocking ship.
Alex nodded—there was no one else who could take Ahab’s place, so it was up to him. If only Simber were here! he thought. Simber would have seen this coming before it was too late. “Henry,” he said abruptly, turning to the boy, “I need you to distract Captain Ahab and coax him away from the wheel. I don’t know how happy he’ll be to leave his post right now.”
“I can do it,” Henry said.
They braced themselves against the wind, and as the ship rocked, they lurched along with it until they reached the captain. Henry distracted the statue, suggesting to him that the whale he sought might be on the other side of the ship.
When they’d moved away, Alex grabbed hold of the wheel and peered into the storm. Florence called out instructions and Alex did his best to follow them and try to turn the ship away from the island, but at every lightning flash he saw they were growing closer and closer. Soon their wide circling of the island became a tighter spiraling motion around it, as if they were caught in the water of a draining bathtub. “No! Stop!” he shouted. Then, “Hang on!” His words were all but snatched up by the wind.
Alex tugged and pulled at the wheel, fighting the impossible current and wind, until his whole body ached. His muscles began shaking, and he knew he couldn’t get the ship to turn away. “It’s no use!” he shouted. “We’re caught in this storm and it’s not letting go!”
The ship rocked and the sea churned. Even in the confusion, Alex heard the glass-patched hole explode. The shouts of Samheed, Lani, and Ms. Octavia assured him they were still alive, but they would have trouble aiming a new glass spell accurately with all the rocking.
Spike jumped nearby, trying to fight the current by traveling through air rather than water.
“Spike!” Alex called, struck by an idea. “Can you use part of your body to plug the hole in the ship?”
“I will try, the Alex.” Immediately the whale dove down and disappeared. Alex listened, and soon he heard faint cheers from below. Spike had saved them once more. Alex just hoped he wasn’t putting the whale’s life in danger by trapping her in a runaway vessel. He focused on the island, looming very close now. Alex could see the rocky coast, and he didn’t know what to do.
“We’re going to crash!” he shouted. “If we don’t slow down, we’ll have to abandon ship!”
Word spread quickly from statue to creature to human, and before Alex knew it, Sky had arrived at his side, soaking-wet hair stuck to her face and shoulders. She was furious. “My mother can’t swim!” she shouted. “She can’t abandon ship—what are you thinking? We have to do something else!”
Alex gave her a frantic look. He whipped his head around, looking for any possible solution to this latest problem, and his eyes landed on Florence, who was a rock in stressful times. “Get your mother,” Alex said to Sky in a voice more assured and calm than he felt. “Bring her up here.”
She hesitated, skeptical.
“I mean it. We don’t have much time.”
Sky turned and made her way below.
“Florence?” Alex called.
“Yes, Alex,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the looming rocks.
“I need the squirrelicorns to deliver Copper safely to the island. They can take up to two others who want to go by air—Ahab, probably, and someone else. Can you prep them? Sky’s coming up with her mother now.”
“Of course,” Florence said. “I think Lani or Samheed should go too, or someone with magical ability, in case there are unfriendly islanders to greet us.”
“Yikes. I didn’t even think of that.”
“That’s why you have me,” she replied with an uneasy grin. Florence called the six squirrelicorns to attention and gave them their instructions. Within moments they were carrying Copper, Lani, and Captain Ahab—despite his protests—through the storm and out of sight in the dark torrent. With the hole plugged by Spike, the rest of the Artiméans trickled upstairs, some carrying supplies, prepared to jump.
The wind and current forced the swirling ship uncomfortably close to a bevy of rocks near the island’s shore. Alex, grasping the railing for balance, pointed a blinding highlighter toward land, but it was useless—the rain was too heavy in his eyes, and he couldn’t see much beyond the rocks. He looked at Florence and she nodded. It was time.
“Everybody, listen up!” he shouted. All of the Artiméans gathered together on the top deck, hanging on to the nets and railings as rain and wind stung their skin. “We can’t wait for the squirrelicorns to come back—we’re going to wreck. We’ve tried to control the ship but we can’t. Without Simber here, there’s nothing more we can do. So I’m ordering you to jump now, and swim for the rocks. Okay? Don’t try to make it all the way to shore. The squirrelicorns will come out for you. Pair up and keep track of each other!”