Nadya Skylung and the Masked Kidnapper Read online

  IN WHICH NADYA LOSES SOMETHING PRECIOUS.

  A storm blows in soon after Raj leaves. It starts off soft, just rain and a bit of wind, but by the time dinner’s cleaned up it’s raging hard enough to shake the docking spire. There’s lightning and thunder everywhere. With the weather this bad, there’s no way Gossner’s going to make it out to bring Alé home, so we get ready for her to stay overnight. Nic and Thom suggest she stay in Mrs. T’s old room, but when I offer to let her share my cabin instead they leave the decision to her, and she takes me up on it.

  She seems excited about staying over. Tam helps us battle through the wind and the rain to my cabin, then says goodnight. We’re both pretty wet, despite the rain slickers we have on, but Alé still grins like she’s on the biggest adventure of her life. I turn up my oil lamp, show her where to hang her slicker, and grab a couple towels from my dresser for us to dry off with.

  “Thanks,” Alé says. The floor shimmies underneath her, and she nearly loses her balance. “Think I’m gonna sit down.” She slumps into my desk chair and takes one of Nic’s empanadas, wrapped in a napkin, out of her pocket. “Mmm,” she says as she wolfs it down. “Man, this is good. Like the ones my dad used to make. Does the floor move around this much all the time?”

  I finish with my towel and drape it over the footboard of my bed. “Just during storms, and even then it’s not usually this bad. We try to run around dangerous weather, and even if we get caught in it at sea, there’s room for the Orion to move with the wind. We only get shaking like this when we’re tied up in port and a storm hits, or if we have really bad luck in the open.”

  Alé nods, wrestling with her boot, then plonking herself on the floor so she can pull on it harder. She wiggles her hurt ankle a little. “Ow. Goshend’s eyeballs, that hurts. Captain Vega thinks it’s just sprained, but it might take weeks to heal.” She slides onto her back and puts her foot up against the wall. “He wants me to keep it elevated. Says it’ll help.”

  I only half pay attention, reaching under my bed for some extra blankets for her. She keeps talking.

  “So you guys really see the whole world, huh? What’s it like, having that kind of freedom?”

  I snort, tugging out two heavy blankets I reserve for winter and storm nights and nabbing a spare pillow from my bed. “What freedom?” I grumble. “We just go where Nic tells us to.”

  Alé reaches over to the coat hooks and fishes around in one of her pockets, then pulls out a rubber ball and starts bouncing it off the wall. “I picked up on that,” she says. “He seems kinda strict.”

  I roll my eyes. “‘Kinda’ doesn’t even start to cover it. Lately he—”

  There’s a rumble and a thump from the deck below us, and I stop talking.

  Alé spins away from the wall and sits up straight. “What was that?”

  I put my finger to my lips and keep listening. It’s probably just thunder or the ship straining against its mooring lines. But the deck below’s where the hole in the hull is, and it sounded like maybe something came aboard. I strain my ears, trying to pick up anything below us, but there’s so much noise from the storm I can’t hear much else.

  Then there’s another thump, softer, and creaking timbers. Alé reaches for her boot and starts putting it back on.

  “I dunno,” I say. My heart pounds. “Maybe somebody’s sneaking aboard.” But who?

  The fear-octopus pounces. “The Shadowmen,” Alé and I say at the same time.

  I can’t believe we didn’t think of it before. Silvermask knew who I was. He knew what happened on the Remora. He must’ve gotten the name of the Orion too, and if he had that, it can’t have been that hard to figure out where she was berthed.

  I vault off my bed and grab my crutch. Nobody’s on watch because of the storm, so if I don’t raise the alarm, no one will. “Stay here,” I tell Alé. “Lock the door, and scream bloody murder if anybody tries to get in.”

  “Wait a sec!” Alé says. “You can’t just leave me here!”

  “We’ve only got one crutch,” I say, “and I know the ship better than you do.”

  Alé curses, then reaches into her coat pocket. “Then you’d better take this.” She tosses me the collapsible rod she used to fight off the Shadowmen in the skyscraper. “I made it myself. There’s a button on the side. Just hold it and flick it out, and then hit them as hard as you can wherever you think it’ll hurt the most. The side of the leg just above the knee’s pretty good. So are the ears and the face.”

  I find the button and try it out, then tuck it into one of my pockets. “Thanks.”

  Alé nods. “Go get ’em,” she says, and as I’m heading out the door, she slides under my bed to hide.

  Then I’m out on the deck, and the storm’s screaming, and I have to fight to stay upright. The wind races over Nic’s cabin and splashes rain into my eyes. The cloud balloon shifts, and water cascades onto the hood of my slicker and nearly takes me down. This storm’s as bad as I’ve ever seen in port. The deck groans and shifts, and I’m really wobbly on one crutch. My balance hasn’t been right ever since I lost my leg.

  I do a lot of slipping and sliding, and halfway across I fall, bashing my chin and biting my tongue. I end up scooting across the rest of the deck, but eventually I get to Nic’s cabin. I knock twice, then twist the knob and barge in.

  Nic’s sitting at his table, head in his hands, staring at nothing. He jumps when the door opens. “Nadya,” he says with an exasperated frown, “what have I told you about entering without permission?”

  “Sorry, Nic—Captain . . . urrgh! Look, I think those kidnappers are back, on the ship, looking for me!”

  “What?” Nic says. He stands up and reaches for his coat on the wall. “What do you mean?”

  “This guy Silvermask. He’s kidnapping skylungs and cloudlings, and I think he wants me specifically.”

  Nic walks over with a confused look on his face. “You? Why . . . ?” He shakes his head. “Never mind that for now. Who do you think is on the ship, and where, and why?”

  I take a deep breath and try to calm down. “I heard some thumps below me, and then boards squeaking, like someone was sneaking around down there.”

  A look of instant relief breaks over Nic’s face. “Ah. It’s probably just the storm, Nadya. Tam was frightened about the hole in the hull a few days ago and thought there were intruders too, and that’s where Pepper was when she was out of bed. I can understand why you’re worried after today. But it’s probably nothing. I’ll just go check it out and make sure.”

  I shake my head. “You don’t understand, Nic. Silvermask is after me. He saw me on the Panpathia and he told me he was coming for me and the whole reason I went on the zip lines today was to avoid him in the first place! They’re here, I know it! This is serious!”

  Nic looks at me hard, like there’s books writing and unwriting themselves in his mind as he tries to figure out how far to trust me. My gills burn. I wish I hadn’t lied to him. I wish I hadn’t snuck around. I wish I hadn’t ever pushed the line or broken rules or talked back to him, because I need him to trust me right now, and I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t.

  Finally, he nods. “Okay,” he says. “We’ll get Thom and check the ship. And later you can explain what’s going on, and give me the whole truth this time.”

  I bounce on my toes, still worried. “Fine, but hurry! Alé’s alone in my cabin. What if they go there first?”

  Nic starts for the door, pauses, then pulls a walking stick with a heavy brass knob at the top from behind his cabinets. I’ve only ever seen him use it in port, but after watching Alé with her little rod, it occurs to me it’s not just for walking around—you could give someone a pretty good thump with that if you had to. “Then we’ll go to your cabin first,” Nic says. He opens the door.

  Alé screams.

  The door to my cabin is open across the deck, a
nd Nic takes off toward it like a cannonball. There are two shadowy shapes inside, and I can see Alé kicking at them beneath my bed.

  “Get Thom!” Nic shouts. “And have the others raise the alarm with the dockmaster!”

  I watch Nic go for a split second, torn. I want to help. Alé gave me her rod, so she’s got nothing to protect herself with, and those goons must think she’s me or they wouldn’t be bothering with her at all. But it would take me ages to get across the deck again. Nic’s her best shot right now, and I’m the only one who knows what’s going on and can bring help.

  So I turn and crutch down the stairs to the mid-deck as fast as I can, screaming at the top of my lungs. “Thom! Tam! Sal! Tian Li! Pep! Everybody, get up! There’s goons on the ship! Get up, get up, get up!”

  By the time I hit the landing on the deck, Sal and Tam are already there. “What’s happening?” Tam asks. “What’s going on?”

  “Those guys who tried to kidnap me are back,” I say breathlessly. “They’ve got Alé, and Nic’s fighting them in my cabin. Somebody’s gotta go help and somebody else needs to raise the alarm!”

  “I’ll get the dockmaster,” Sal says, and he takes off up the stairs. I wonder why he’s not going to help Nic until I remember his vow to Goshend never to harm another human being again. I grind my teeth. Sure would be handy if he could bend his vow right now, but he’s a faster runner than Tam anyway, and I guess bringing help is pretty important too.

  “Okay,” Tam says. He takes a deep breath, like he’s psyching himself up. He didn’t like tangling with the pirates last month at all. “Okay, here I go.”

  Just as he’s starting, Thom bursts out of his cabin carrying a walking stick like Nic’s. “Move!” he barks, and we jump out of the way as he thunders by. I hear him sprinting across the deck above our heads a second later. Alé’s not screaming anymore, but I can hear Nic and Thom shouting and lots of big, heavy footsteps.

  “Coming through!” Tian Li shouts a second later, and she flies up the stairs in Thom’s wake. Pepper’s right on her heels, carrying the cargo net from her ceiling that usually has her stuffed animals in it.

  That leaves Tam and me. “Okay,” Tam says again, breathing hard. “Are you gonna be all right alone, Nadya?”

  I nod. “I’ll stick with Aaron in Sal’s room. We’ll be fine. Just go help them!”

  Tam swallows, and then he takes off up the stairs too.

  My heart’s still thumping. I wish I could go up there with him, but everybody would have to protect me once the goons figured out who I am. So instead I crutch over to Sal’s room, clenching my fists in frustration, and head inside.

  Aaron’s sitting up on his cot, staring at the door. “Is th-there a fight, Nadya?” he asks.

  “Yeah,” I say, my arms shaking. “It’s those goons from before.” I lock the door behind me and crutch over to him. “They came back. But everybody’s taking care of it.” I sit on the cot next to him, and then there’s more thumping above me and Pepper shouts in pain. I wince and try not to cry. Please be okay, I think. Please, please, everybody be okay. A siren starts up from the dockmaster’s office down below, and I figure the dock’s security guards should be here any minute. Everybody just has to hold out a little longer, and maybe the Shadowmen will get spooked and leave.

  “Hear that?” I say, wiping the tears away. “It’s gonna be fine. That’s the security coming. Everything’s—”

  The hallway creaks, and I shut my mouth and freeze. Oh no, oh no, oh no, I think. Don’t hear, don’t hear, don’t hear.

  Somebody tries the doorknob. My heart jumps into my throat, and Aaron shrinks up against me. “If they get in,” I whisper, “I’ll try to distract them. You run, okay?”

  Aaron nods. Whoever’s out there shakes the doorknob more forcefully. I take Alé’s rod out of my pocket and extend it, then hop up on my foot.

  There’s a few seconds of silence, except for the shouting and thumping above us. I hear the voices from our side more than I hear the voices from theirs now, and everybody sounds calmer. I think we’re probably winning.

  The door crashes open. A big, booted foot plunges down in a sea of splinters that used to be the wood around the lock. It’s attached to a large man with a long black coat. There’s another man behind him in the hallway. They look at me and Aaron for a second, then inch forward. Their eyes are dark as midnight.

  One of them speaks with Silvermask’s nails-on-a-saw voice. “Found you,” he says, and he chuckles. It sounds like a bucketful of bolts rattling around in an engine. “Oh, you led me on quite a chase, but here you are, both of you together. Remarkable. We’ll just take a little trip, shall we?”

  I stand my ground and wait for them to get close enough to hit with Alé’s rod. The bigger guy steps forward, and I thwack him in the leg just like she did, but he doesn’t seem to feel it. When I swing the rod again, at his face, he catches it and yanks it out of my hand. “That won’t work again. These men are more tightly under my control. They won’t be confused or distracted by little stings.”

  Aaron jumps up next to me, but I hold him back. “The window,” I whisper to him, nodding toward Salyeh’s porthole on my right. “Try for the window.”

  And then, against every instinct in my body, I pick up my crutch and jump straight toward the two guys in the door, swinging it like a club.

  Silvermask stops taunting me. His goons step aside and let the momentum of my swing spin me around. I almost fall, but I catch myself on the wall and try again. This time the big guy ducks under my crutch, puts his shoulder against my hip, and lifts me up in one smooth motion.

  Aaron’s to the window, and he’s got it open. I scream and bite and claw, but I can’t do much from this position except pull this goon’s hair and yank on his ears and try to kick him in the gut or the crotch, and he just stands and takes it. The other goon walks calmly past us and plucks Aaron up beneath the armpits, then slings him over his shoulder too.

  There’s no more talking. The goons hustle out Sal’s door toward the hole in the front of the Orion. I’m still hollering and shouting and kicking and biting, and Aaron’s doing the same, but it doesn’t seem to matter. The goons get onto the ropes between the Orion and the docking spire. I can see how they got in now: There’s a rope ladder dangling through the spire down to the water, where they have a launch tied up, bobbing wildly on the crashing waves. Nobody thinking for themselves would chance the bay on a night like this, but these guys aren’t thinking for themselves. Silvermask is controlling them, just like Rash and Alé thought.

  The goons inch carefully along the ropes. I buck and twist, trying to get free, but this guy’s got too strong a grip on me. I’m pointed back toward the Orion, and I can see the fight on the deck now in the orange light from her lamps and the white of the floodlights. The security guards are arriving, and it looks like the other Shadowmen are giving up. They’re starting to jump onto the ropes and head toward the launch.

  We’re almost to their ladder. They’re gonna take me to Silvermask, and then I dunno what’s going to happen. I lose my breath for a second. I feel tiny and meek, like a mouse.

  No, I tell myself, realizing I’ve got one last chance. You can’t be like a mouse.

  If Silvermask is controlling these guys over the Panpathia, he must be using the Malumbra’s shadow to do it. And maybe if I can burn the shadow out of them, I’ll be able to get free.

  I close my eyes and step onto the Panpathia. Sure enough, the strands coming off the guy carrying me feel dark and cold, like a blizzard tainted with an oil slick.

  Okay, Nadya, I tell myself. Big and powerful. But my mind freezes. The fear-octopus shoots out and wraps itself around my brain. All I can think of is that leviathan I saw last week and how it lost to the shadow. There’s nothing big and powerful enough to beat the Malumbra. Nothing in the world.

  I feel light and heat on the Panpathia in f
ront of me. Aaron must’ve had the same idea I had. Dimly, I’m aware of the guy carrying me stumbling and slowing down. I catch a glimpse of Aaron as a lion, slashing through shadows, his claws trailing fire and light.

  But behind him there’s something else.

  A silver mask appears, and the body of a man flows out of the shadows behind it. Silvermask walks toward us gleefully, tugging on the poisoned purple strands of the Panpathia that lead to his goons like a puppeteer. He wears a black suit, and a black cape flaps from his shoulders. The clothes are so dark they look like little gashes of nothing in the fabric of the world.

  Hah, Silvermask breathes. So this is how it was done.

  Aaron roars and charges at him, but Silvermask doesn’t seem worried.

  Impressive, for a child, Silvermask says. Still, there’s so much you don’t know.

  Silvermask reaches behind himself and pulls on his too-black cape. As he tugs, it stretches around him until he’s cocooned in an egg of darkness. The egg grows and grows. It’s the size of a room, then a house, then bigger. Eight enormous legs erupt from it. Its body squeezes into an hourglass shape, and eight eyes bubble up on the front. By the time Silvermask is done growing, he’s a spider the size of the world’s biggest cloudships. I could drop into its eyes and be lost forever, falling and falling in the dark . . .

  My heart seizes. I’ve seen this spider before, when I was looking for Mrs. T on the Panpathia last month. It was just over the horizon, hunting kids like me.

  Aaron’s lion skids to a stop. He can’t possibly win. Silvermask is too big. Quick as the lightning around us, Silvermask lunges toward him.

  Run, Nadya! Aaron shouts. As Silvermask pounces on him, Aaron swipes at the strand of the Panpathia leading to the man carrying me. Sunset light bursts along it until it hits us like dawn on the end of a sledgehammer. The goon carrying me curses. His arms go limp, and I leave the Panpathia because I have to focus on what to do with my body. We’re still at the very edge of the Orion’s slip, on the ropes in front of the ladder down to the launch. The safety net’s below me. I push as hard as I can at the man’s head and roll off his shoulders. I fall about twelve terrifying feet before the net’s cold, wet, scratchy rope catches me, and then I tumble down it until I’m resting at its bottom, twenty feet below the Orion’s keel.