Summer in Enchantia Read Online Free Page B

Nutmeg followed her. It wasn’t easy, because the ship was now moving up and down in the rough sea.
    “Where are we going to go?” Nutmeg cried.
    “I don’t know! Just keep climbing!” gasped Rosa, clinging on to the ropes with all her strength as the pirates started climbing up behind them. Her mind whirled. Sooner or later they would reach the top of the rigging, and then what would they do? There was no escape! But she still kept climbing, faster and faster, higher and higher. She and Nutmeg were both light and nimble and they could move much faster than the heavy, cumbersome pirates.
    “Now where?” said Nutmeg as they reached the top of the main sail. There was nowhere else to go, so they edgedout along one of the wooden spars at the top of the sail, until they were above the rolling waves.
    “I … I don’t know,” said Rosa, panic rising inside her. She glanced down. The pirates and King Rat were gathered on the deck, yelling up at them, while two more pirates slowly climbed the rigging towards them, eyesgleaming, daggers between their teeth.
    “We’re completely trapped, Rosa!” said Nutmeg. “Whoa!” she cried, hanging on as the ship tossed upwards on a large wave. “And it doesn’t feel very safe up here!”

    “Why’s it so rough suddenly?” Rosa exclaimed. There was no wind blowing the sails. The waves shouldn’t be as big as they were. Still, she didn’t have time to worry about that now. The ship plunged down a wave and she felt her fingers slip on the ropes. She tried to cling on, but she didn’t have a proper grip. The ship bucked like a horse and suddenly Rosa lost her footing and was flung off the rigging.
    She heard Nutmeg yell and saw her in the air too. They both cried out as they started to fall …

Rosa fell through the air, her hands reaching out for anything to grab hold of, but closing on nothing. I’m going to land in the sea! she thought fearfully. But just then she bumped backwards into something soft and strong. It was the sail! She heard Nutmeg gasp as she hit it too. Rosa started to slide down it at top speed on her back.

    All she could see was the blue sky and the sea. The rush of the air in her ears drowned out every other sound – it was like being on a giant slide! Rosa felt Nutmeg grasp her hand and pull her up into a sitting position.
    “Whee!” shouted the fairy as they slid and bounced down the sail, their head scarves coming off and their hair blowing free.
    The fear at being captured or falling disappeared in the sheer rush of speed. “Wowwwww!” Rosa yelled, clutching Nutmeg’s hands as they bounced on to the lowest sail.
    “We’re going to land in the rowing boats!” cried Nutmeg. “Look, Rosa!”
    Rosa realised Nutmeg was right. Directly beneath them was one of the small rowing boats, bobbing next to the ship like a cygnet behind the mother swan! On the deck of the ship she could see the pirates yelling and King Rat waving his cutlass.
    “Here we go!” cried Rosa, as the end of the lowest sail approached fast.
    They flew off the end of the sail, fell through the air and then landed on the piles of rope in the bottom of the rowing boat. It was a bit of a bump, but Rosa was so relieved not to have ended up back on the ship that she didn’t care. She struggled up, but was almost thrown overboard as the little boat pitched violently on the waves. “Quick, Nutmeg! Let’s get rowing!” she said, crouching down again.
    Rosa seized the oars while Nutmeg threw off the rope that was holding the rowing boat to the pirate ship. It had taken the pirates a few moments to realise what was happening, but now they all rushed to the side of the ship and leaned over.
    “They’re not boys after all! It’s that dratted girl and the blasted fairy!” roared King Rat over the hullabaloo. “Stop them from getting away!”
    Hearts pounding and breath short in their throats, Rosa and Nutmeg started rowing as hard as they could. But the waves were big and the