Chapter 14

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I immediately jumped up from the floor of the skiff and followed Jim and Silver up to the deck to see what was going on.

"What teh devil?" Silver exclaimed as he arrived on deck.

The sky was a dangerous-looking bright red-orange, and there was strong wind blowing at us from the direction of what appeared to be a massive explosion.

"Good Heavens!" I heard Dr. Doppler exclaim as he pulled out a spyglass. "The star Pelusa! It's gone Supernova!" he yelled.

"Evasive Action, Mr. Turnbuckle," Captain Amelia yelled, running towards the helm of the ship.

"All hands fasten your lifelines!" Mr. Arrow bellowed.

Everyone ran to the main mast of the ship, where piles of rope were lying on the ground waiting to be used. Everyone began tying a line of rope around themselves and to a post attached to the mast. My hands were shaking so much that I couldn't get mine tied. Jim, after tying his lifeline, saw me struggling with mine and tied it for me.

"Thanks!" I shouted. My voice was shaking, and I'm sure he could hear it even above all the chaos happening around us.

"No problem! Don't want you falling off the ship, now do we?" he replied, putting his hand on my shoulder and giving me a smile to try and quell my fear.

I nodded, though fear was still coursing through every vein in my body.

Bits of debris from the exploding star and surrounding rocks were tearing through the sails.

"Mr. Arrow! Secure those sails!" Amelia ordered.

"Secure all sails!" Mr. Arrow relayed.

Everyone started climbing up towards the sails. Jim and Silver headed towards the bowsprit at the front of the ship. I tried to follow them out on the narrow piece of wood, but hesitated from fear. Standing on the edge of the ship, with all the wind and the endless space waiting below me, even knowing I was safely tied to the ship wouldn't subdue my fear of falling. Jim turned and saw me standing there frightened.

"Raphaelle! Stay there! We'll take care of it!" he yelled.

"Aye-aye," I replied, though he probably couldn't hear me.

Suddenly another wave hit the ship, knocking me to the ground. I looked up and saw a flaming piece of rock cut through Silver's lifeline and nearly miss his hand. But it did cause him to lose his balance and fall from the bowsprit. Luckily Jim caught his rope and pulled him back up.

Once Silver was no longer in imminent danger, my gaze expanded and I noticed something large in my peripheral vision. I turned my head and screamed. They looked in my direction and I pointed to what I wished was a fear-induced hallucination. Their eyes followed the direction of my finger.

I huge piece of rock larger than the ship was headed straight for us. I stared in horror at the flaming rock mere inches away from us.

But instead of colliding with us, it slowed to a halt and, to everyone's amazement, started moving backwards. While I was extremely relieved, I was also confused, and following this confusion was a sinking feeling in my stomach that something was terribly wrong.

"Capteen! The Star!" I heard Mr. Onus, the lookout, yell.

"It's devolving into a – a Black Hole!" I heard Delbert shriek.

"We're being pulled in!" Mr. Turnbuckle exclaimed as he fell from the wheel.

"Oh no you don't," Captain Amelia shouted, grabbing the wheel and holding it steady.

As Jim and Silver climbed back on deck, another huge wave sent us all to the floor.

"Blast these waves! They're so deucedly erratic!" Amelia shouted.

"No Captain! They're not erratic at all!" Delbert shouted, looking at some instruments. "There will be one more in about 47.2 seconds followed by the biggest magilla of them all!"

"Of course! Brilliant Doctor! We'll ride that last magilla out of here!" Amelia exclaimed, a determined smile upon her face.

"All sails secured Captain," Mr. Arrow called.

"Good man! Now, release them immediately!" the Captain ordered.

Mr. Arrow looked confused and hesitated before answering, "Aye Captain."

He turned around and ordered to the crew, "You heard her men. Unfurl those sails!"

Many of the crew members protested at the contradictory orders, but climbed back up to release the sails. Mr. Arrow joined them, climbing up the shrouds towards sails near the very top of the ship. Jim started to climb up the shrouds as well, but then the Captain called to him.

"Mr. Hawkins! Make sure all lifelines are secured good and tight!" Amelia ordered.

"Aye-aye Captain," he replied, jumping down from the shrouds and sprinting to carry out his orders as fast as possible.

He pulled on all the lifelines, making sure they were tightly tied around the posts lining the main mast.

"Life-lines secured Captain," Jim yelled when he was finished.

"Very good," the Captain replied.

Suddenly another wave hit, knocking everyone over. The force of this one was so strong it sent me flying into the air. I screamed as I was thrown over the side of the ship and into open space.

"Raphaelle!" Jim yelled, rushing over to pull me up by my life line. Though the rope was securely tied around my waist, I still gripped it with my hands as if that was the only thing keeping me from being sucked into the swirling black hole below me. I couldn't help but stare down at it in horror while Jim pulled my rope back towards him.

After what felt like an eternity, Jim had pulled me close enough to the ship so that he could grab my arms and haul me over the side. I fell to my knees on the floor, my legs too shaky to hold me up. In fact, my entire body was shaking with fear. I just stared straight ahead of me, my eyes wide, but not seeing or hearing anything. Not understanding that I was in shock, Jim pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me protectively.

As I started to snap out of my paralyzed fear, I realized he was murmuring into my hair.

"It's alright. You're okay," he was cooing. "I've got you."

I looked up at him, and he loosened his hold on me a bit when he felt me moving. He looked down at me, clearly very worried.

"I'm alright," I said, though my body was still shaking uncontrollably.

"Captain! The last wave! Here it comes!" Delbert yelled.

"Hold on to your lifelines, gents. It's going to be a bumpy ride!" Amelia shouted, seeming excited despite the extremely likely possibility that we were all about to die.

We were descending into the black hole. I saw Morph tie himself around a rope. Jim pulled me over to a mast and pressed me against it, wrapping his arms around me and shielding me with his body. Silver rushed over and wrapped his mechanical arm around both of us and his other arm around the mast to hold us there. I squeezed my eyes shut as darkness enveloped us.

At least I got to be near Jim when I died, I thought to myself.

At least I got to be near Jim when I died, I thought to myself

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