History Keepers: Nightship to China Read Online Free Page A

way, up the stairs onto the main deck.
    The ship was listing: its stern was sinking, while its prow stuck up out of the water. Many of the sailors and watchmen were clustered together on one side, swords drawn, shouting. The merchants stumbled over, and saw another of the sea creature’s limbs rising up. There was a cry as it reached into the sky before curling round towards the deck. The crew tried to fight it off – and it was only when their swords made contact that they realized it was made of metal! The tentacle took hold of the ship’s rail and pulled.
    The merchants turned and ran across to the other side, where the rest of the sailors were lowering a small skiff. The ship’s owners scrambled aboard and it thumped down onto the water. Immediately another tentacle shot out, smashing the boat to pieces, tossing them all into the water, before reaching up for the other side of the ship.
    The entire vessel, now coming apart at the seams, was drawn down under the water. Two of the masts snapped in two, one tumbling onto the remaining sailors. The ocean churned as the junk quickly disappeared below the surface.
    It was lunch time on the Mont St Michel. Jake sat by Charlie’s bed in the castle sick bay. He’d been watching over his friend for three days, often accompanied by Nathan and Topaz, as they waited for him to wake up properly.
    Josephine had shattered Charlie’s ankle, along with three bones in his foot. The attack had left him in a state of deep shock. Dr Chatterju had operated on him immediately, and now Lydia Wunderbar was in charge of his recovery. She was the larger-than-life head librarian – as vivacious as she was fearsome – who doubled up as a brilliant nurse (apparently she’d once been a friend of Florence Nightingale).
    ‘Miss Wunderbar, something’s happening,’ Jake whispered, seeing Charlie’s eyes flicker open properly for the first time.
    She approached the bed, and Charlie looked up at them both, blinking in confusion. Then a terrible thought struck him. ‘Mr Drake? Where’s Mr Drake?’
    ‘He’s a very fortunate parrot,’ Lydia said, smiling. She indicated a basket by the bed, containing a poorly looking bird stretched out on plump velvet cushions, wing bandaged in much the same manner as Charlie’s leg. She and Jake watched, tears in their eyes, as Charlie picked up his beloved pet and held him next to his heart.
    ‘How are you feeling?’ Jake asked.
    Charlie looked down at his leg uncertainly. ‘I don’t know. How
am
I feeling, Miss Wunderbar?’
    ‘In time, you’ll make a full recovery,’ she said, ‘but there’ll certainly be no assignments for a while.’
    Charlie nodded grimly; then he remembered something else. ‘It’s all a blur, but I suppose Josephine . . . did she make it after all?’ Despite everything, he couldn’t help feeling dreadful about what had happened. Jake’s face told him the answer. ‘And Oceane?’
    ‘She’s been locked in her room for three days – she’s opened her door just once, to receive a delivery of red wine and cigars.’
    ‘She must be inconsolable,’ Charlie said quietly. ‘What about the wedding? Did Rose and Jupitus tie the knot in the end?’
    Jake and Lydia Wunderbar shared a look. The librarian busied herself cleaning up the sick bay as Jake explained: ‘Actually, they’re not on speaking terms. They had a huge row – Jupitus said something about the garish colour of Rose’s wedding dress being like a red rag to a bull, and she flew off the handle. It ended up with her tossing her engagement ring into the sea.’
    ‘Into the sea? Hell’s bells and Bathsheba . . .!’ Charlie sat up, trying to get comfortable. ‘So, anything else I’ve missed?’
    ‘Tomorrow my parents are going back to London, for a month,’ Jake told him.
    ‘I’d forgotten. Modern London?’
    ‘Yes, where I’m from – where you and I met for the first time,’ Jake remembered with a smile. ‘Their two oldest friends, Martin and