Em was grateful to the bottom of her heart for whatever Michael had told Roger after leaving the mess hall. Although she still performed menial and hard-laboring tasks; was still subjugated to verbal and, a few times, physical abuse by the other crewmen; and Roger still avoided speaking or looking at her, there was a silver lining between the dark clouds. Em was allowed to keep her cutlass and also slept in her old quarters beside Roger's again. She had better nights of sleep since then, even when on the other side of the wall, Dread Pirate Robin did not.
"LAND-HO!" announced the lookout from the crow's nest three weeks after they had left Silvertide Island. "LAND-HO! SCARLETT ISLAND UP AHEAD!"
Em jumped onto her feet and looked to the bow of the ship, but the men on the main deck already crowded around the sides of the ship. Their heads obscured Em's view beyond the bow. She ran over to one of the stairs that led up to the helm, stopping midway, before practically throwing herself over the railing.
The blood-red island loomed dauntingly ahead of the ship. Everything was shaded with that single coloring—the dirt, the rivers and lakes, and even the plants and animals. The more gruesome myths explained that because so many victims had been lost to or killed by its cannibal inhabitants, the ground soaked in their blood and turned everything on the island red. However, more level-headed people believed that underneath the ground were iron ingots whose rust turned the island its famed red.
As Em's eyes wandered over the strip of crimson terrain between the imaginary line where sea and air met, suddenly, her stomach felt as if it was turning inside out. Nausea rushed over her like a crashing tidal wave.
Michael's head swiveled around at the sound of retching. Leaving his captain's side behind the steering wheel, he walked over to the staircase on his right. His blue eyes widened to see Em's upper body leaned over the side of the ship with her arms straining to keep her in place as she emptied her stomach. Michael was at her side in an instant. He pulled her back and kept her hair away from her pale and clammy face. Her hands grasped the front of his shirt and pulled him close.
"I-It's evil," she said hoarsely. "I feel evil coming from that godless place!"
The hair on the back of Michael's neck prickled. He turned his head to the bow and looked at Scarlett Island. "Just as well," he said. "It's where our fortune lies."
Within three leagues from the island, an underwater current pulled the ship from its fight against the Faethm Ocean's continuous clockwise cycle as if a force from the isle itself was doing it. According to the rewritten version of the map, this current was called Incauta. An X marked a spot on the northern side of Scarlett Island on the map. The ship was approaching its southern side. It had to navigate the natural deathtraps that surrounded the island in order to reach its north side. Not only did they have to worry about shark-infested waters, but the shallower waters closer to the isle housed dangerous coral reefs that made large ships like The Jolly Roger unable to cleverly maneuver around them.
Upon their arrival on the north side, they encountered a few more problems, this time with the island itself. The narrow coast was full of rocks that jutted out into the ocean, forcing the ship to be kept anchored at sea. This position raised much concern since the map indicated with a tiny picture that the treasure was in a hidden, underwater cave.
It was the Twins who, during a minor argument over Daryl's healing arm, discovered the nearly obscure passage between two cliffs. There seemed to be no possible way to avoid the rocks from above or the coral reefs below in the water without damaging the Pirate King's beloved ship. The captain ordered only a portion of the men—after a massive argument broke out as to who should go with him—to get into the three long boats and row into the narrow passage. As a practical matter, Michael was ordered to stay on The Jolly Roger with Joshua as his temporary quartermaster.
"You'll be fine, Em," the first mate assured her. He helped her step into the longboat that she would share with the captain. "I'll still be here when you come back with the Mermaid's Tear."
Joshua appeared next to him as the boats were lowered into the water. "Sure, ye'll still be here, but will she come back?" he muttered.
The limestone cliffs jutted and crossed each other, making the passage narrower than expected. The three boats had to maneuver carefully through, one at a time. With Em sitting awkwardly next to him, Dread Robin sat in the first boat directing action to the other two boats. A wide opening greeted them from the other side of the passage. Except for that opening, they were closed in from all sides by the jagged walls.
The clear blue water made it very easy to spot the cave. At the captain's command, the Leadsman took out a long string with a lead nugget attached to one end. The man dropped the nugget into the water and slowly measured out the distance between the surface of the water and the entrance of the cave. Nearly fifteen fathoms was the distance with which the Leadsman came up. Godsworth was selected to swim down to the entrance of the cave to see if it were possible to make it with one breath. To everyone's relief, the stout pirate was able to float before the cave entrance and come back up without much trouble.
Then Dread Robin ordered the men to leave all their weapons but their cutlasses in the boats. The pirates tied empty burlap sacks around their waists. After a count of three, they all dove down into the cold water. The cave led into a large underwater tunnel that curved up deeper into the surrounding cliffs. The glow of the blue water helped light their way through. When they broke the surface again, they found another long tunnel stretched before them.
Everyone tried to squint through the pervading darkness that filled the passage. "How're wi 'sposed to get through this, Cap'n?" they complained. The only light that was provided was the one from the water behind them.
Roger seized a man nearest to him, Briggen. Without warning, he threw the man into the tunnel.
Cries of alarm and surprise went up as two balls of fire erupted from either side of Briggen on the tunnel's walls. Yet he was still alive and visibly shaking all the way down to his boots in front of them. Spinning around for a better look, they saw that the fire was coming from braziers embedded into the rock walls. Instinctively looking past their trembling comrade, there were empty braziers lined on either side of the passageway.
Roger stepped past Briggen and watched as the next pair of braziers he walked past lit up as well. He looked over his shoulder at everyone behind him. "Let's go."
When they came upon a fork in the tunnel, Roger took Em, Godsworth, Briggen, and three other men with him through the left passageway. The rest took the right. It became clear to Em's small group, with the horrifying sounds of the other party's screams echoing distantly behind them, that they had chosen the correct way.
"W-wot ye think 'appened to 'em?" asked Nonoi, a pirate with hair down to his elbows and tattoos all over his face, as everyone cast frightened looks over their shoulders and at each other.
Dread Robin's pace hadn't slowed down like the rest of them. "Dead," he said without looking back.
They came upon a door made entirely of white marble. Intricate patterns pertaining to the waves of the sea were carved onto the entranceway. Large statues of six fierce merpeople wearing armor lined both of its sides, three on each side. Upon a closer look of the statues, they all had sapphire gems for eyes. Their eyes looked hollow under the flicker of the burning braziers. Their warrior-like expressions, combined with the flickering flames from the braziers that danced shadows over their beautiful features, made for a very intimidating scene. Yet what finally caught everyone's attention was a figure entirely made of jade stone in the center of the marble door. It was a mermaid with her arms stretched out on either side of her so that they were shoulder-height. Her hands were held palms up and cupped, giving the impression of a balance scale. Underneath her was an inscription chiseled in the stone.
Dread Pirate Robin stepped up to the door. "Mermish," he muttered to himself as he studied the inscription. Using his index finger to trace the arcane words, Roger translated, "Heart as cold as the sea, but blood as hot as passion; give up thy essence of life and thy voice in exchange for the jewel produced by love."
A short silence followed the strange decree, mainly out of awe for the captain's ability to understand Mermish.
"S-So wot do they want us t-to do, Cap'n?" ventured Briggen.
Roger turned around slowly to face Em. The fire from the braziers cast shadows over his face and almost made him resemble the six statues that guarded the door. Yet unlike their hollow sapphire eyes, his black eyes blazed as spiritedly as the braziers' flames. Deep down, Em knew what he was going to say before his scarred lips even uttered the words. The jade mermaid on the marble door behind Roger smiled down at her almost wickedly.
"Virgin blood must open the door."
Em's cry of surprise bounced off the walls when he seized her arm and forced her in front of the door. She thrashed desperately in his arms until she felt the edge of a cold blade against the base of her throat. Em froze and closed her eyes as Dread Robin's hot breath whispered into her ear.
"Time to prove your worth, Princess."
With the knife to keep her still, Roger stretched forcibly her injured arm out from her side. Em's pleas of help to the others fell on deaf ears as the men craned their necks in order to get a better look at what their captain was about to do. Roger removed the dagger from her throat and placed its sharp tip on her forearm. Her eyes widened when she recognized the dagger that had pinned the second black mark to her door in Donbrakes. Roger tore the cotton fabric of her sleeve and let it fall away to reveal the veins in her forearm. Em jerked her head to the side so that she looked at Roger's face. Tears leaked out from her eyes. So this was why Dread Pirate Robin and his first mate had kept repeating that they still needed her, why Roger had reacted so violently when he saw Cicero kissing her and then believed he was her lover. Her blood, virginblood, was needed as the talisman against the curse and to open the door.
"Please, don't do it," Em begged. She was wildly afraid that he intended to cut her arm off and then soak the blood out. "Please, Roger." His name had escaped her lips before she had time to think. Roger's eyes hardened like pieces of obsidian and he turned his head to the door.
"Heart as cold as the sea, but blood hot as passion; give up thy essence of life in exchange for the jewel produced by love!" he bellowed. His clear and un-muffled voice shook deep into the souls of the other men. It thundered against Em's back through his thin chest. She shut her eyes as he turned her forearm so that it was exposed toward the portal. With a roar, Roger plunged the rusty dagger into her arm. The cavern walls amplified her pained screams, nearly shattering eardrums. When they all had recovered, Em's blood was peppered across the door's white stone, particularly on the jade mermaid where it pooled in the cupped hands, but nothing happened.
Roger shook Em violently before he threw her to the ground at his feet. "You are no virgin," he hissed. His deeply secret fear was confirmed, and now that it had, he felt that he could finally move on and forget about her. She was completely useless to him now. She could die at his feet for all that he cared. And yet, his chest burned with betrayal at the truth.
Em sank to the floor on her knees and hunched over her bloodied arm, crying softly at the pain coursing through her body like tiny bolts of electricity. The dagger clattered beside her, but she took no notice other than to glare at it as if it were the cause of all her troubles.
"Search the door," ordered the Pirate King as he backed away from the huddled figure. His eyes combed over the gruesome scene in front of him for any changes, but there were none. After a moment's hesitation, the men approached the portal, taking care not to go near Em as if she carried the plague. The elaborate marble entrance was still sealed shut. Nothing could get it to open. Not even taking the blades of their cutlasses, shoving them underneath the door, and then prying it open to no avail.
"Wot's wrong, Cap'n?" Nonoi cried out in aggravation, but also partly in fear. They were all filled to some degree with fear. Would the curse fall upon them now?
"It needs virgin blood. We gave it whore's blood," said the Pirate King bitterly.
Godsworth's beetle eyes looked up at the mermaid, smiling down at them mockingly. He lowered his gaze until it stopped at the inscription. Though he couldn't read its words, he mouthed his captain's translation to himself.
"I've got it!" he shouted excitedly. Godsworth spun to face Dread Robin. "I know why it din't open, Cap'n!"
Roger jerked his head with a scowl. "Well then, why don't you tell us, you dolt?"
The thickset pirate nodded quickly, growing nervous at the familiar murderous look on his captain's face. "Ye on'y gave the girl's blood, but it says ye gotta give it 'thy voice' too!" he said.
Realization, coupled with an initial overwhelming feeling of foolishness, lit up in Roger. "They need a password," he breathed, but then skepticism filled him. Even if they had the password, it did not necessarily mean the girl's blood would be accepted.
"But wot kind?" asked someone.
"It must be one that pertains to"—Roger's eyes fell on Em before he forced out the disgusting word—"lovers." He turned to the rest of the men and told them to recall any words they knew that were linked to mermaids and sailors. He was barraged instantly with names, but none of them fit for what he was looking.
Em shut her eyes to try to block out the crash of their collective arguing voices without having to move her arms to cover her ears. The pain in her arm had dulled, but all she wanted right now was for someone to comfort her and make this nightmare go away. All of a sudden, she felt the pirates' voices grow dim as if they stood far away from her even though she could sense that they were still behind her. A pair of arms encircled her body in a motherly embrace. In this surreal moment, as she cradled her bleeding arm closer to her body and rocked back and forth slowly on her knees, Em heard her mother's sweet voice singing in his ear.
We can be together
Every day, just each other
We could swim together
As loving waves spill over
Before Em could stop herself, the beautiful words of the love song, coming from her mother's voice in her ear, flowed effortlessly through her lips.
The fully risen moon
Illuminates the sea
As you glide into my vision
Time stands still for me
I fear to end this dream
Come back to me, my lover
Return to hear my song
And we shall be together
A blue glow out of the corner of Roger's eye attracted his attention, and he turned around to find its source. The eyes of the closest statue to the left of the entranceway danced with their own inner light. Roger's eyes darted from the statue to the young woman kneeling in front of the door, singing clearly in a melodious tenor. Everything clicked. He raised his hand. The men fell silent, allowing only Em's voice to fill the large chamber.
In the palace of the sea
I see you looking over
With my wishful melody
You leap into the water
This is no breaths sighing
'Tis the mermaid singing
Together we will be
Forever young and free
As the song progressed, another pair of sapphire eyes lit up. Everyone stared down at Em in wonder as she broke into the chorus.
We can be together
Every day, just each other
We belong together
In boundless seas, forever
Each time she sang the chorus, more sapphire eyes lit up. The blue light soon bathed the entire corridor and everyone in it. As the final chorus echoed and faded away, and all six pairs of sapphire eyes danced with light, a sudden earth-shattering rumble came from the doorway.
"It's working! Her blood and her voice!" all the men but Roger shouted as the marble portal rose. Clouds of dust were sent up into the air, at first obscuring everything from view. But when it cleared, the sight beyond the opened entranceway was breathtaking.
In front of them was a vast and deep red-colored cavern that stretched out as far as they could see. More passages farther away led deeper into the island's underground. Limestone stalagmites rose out from the floor like the legs of giants, and sharp stalactites hung threateningly from a ceiling as high as the sky. A golden pathway in front of the treasure hunters led down to a shallow lake at the bottom of the cavern. As if the gods themselves showed them the way, a thin ray of sunlight shined down from the ceiling in the middle of the lake where it illuminated the vast riches covering a mound of rock. At the center was a pedestal with a stone basin on top.
As shouts and whoops from the men reverberated off every inch of the cavern, Em's gasp went unheard when Roger bent down and forced her onto her feet. The captain, with the girl in tow, followed the rest of the men down the golden path, which they realized was made of gold bricks. There were stepping stones floating on the water's smooth surface all the way to the center of the lake. Briggen, Godsworth, and the other three men hopped across like energetic young lads. Though they didn't think much of the lake, they were careful not to touch the water as a precaution.
"Move quicker, Princess," Roger ordered as he yanked harder on Em to go onto the stepping stones. He was struggling slightly as she found the strength slowly leaving her legs while they crossed. She had lost a lot of blood from the latest injury to her arm. When they stepped onto the tiny island, Em sank down. She couldn't get up no matter how hard Roger cursed and tried to get her to stand again, and in truth, she didn't want to obey. She was too tired and melancholy by his brutal treatment of her. She just wanted to go home and forget ever meeting the Pirate King.
With a black scowl, Roger released her shirt collar and left her there. Em followed him with her dark brown eyes as he climbed over the treasures; his own eyes were glued to the stone basin. She dropped her gaze on the water. At this point, she didn't care if it was foul or some other death-inducing liquid. For all she knew, Roger intended to leave her there to die anyway once he had the Mermaid's Tear, and her arm burned with pain again. With the last of her strength, she crawled over to the edge of the mound and plunged her arm up to her elbow into the water. Em sighed loudly with relief as the burning and the pain felt like they were being washed away. The cheers of the pirates and the clinking of coins and jewels they threw in the air drowned out her gasp of surprise. When Em took her wet arm out of the water and looked at the inner skin, not only had the blood washed away, but so had the cut down her forearm!
Em's astonished reflection stared back at her. "It healed," she said breathlessly. She ran her gaze up the rest of her arm until it stopped at the bandages just below her shoulder that she couldn't see underneath the ripped sleeve. Em tore off the rest of the ruined fabric so that side was now sleeveless. Then she unwound the bandages so that her red scar glared up at her. Bending forward, she scooped up some water in the palm of her hand and let it fall on the scar. Like dirt being washed away, so did the scar until it was no more and all there was left was unblemished skin. Em threw her head back and laughed as she wiggled and flexed her arm about. It felt as good as new and looked undamaged.
Em's jaw dropped as she looked down at her reflection again. Above her left eyebrow, where it once had been stitched, was a thin white scar. With shaking hands, she wet her fingers and dabbed at the scar. Em looked again at her reflection, and the scar was gone. Shaking with her wonderful discovery, she cast about her vicinity for something that would allow her to keep some of the miraculous water. Under a golden dinner plate, Em found a small silver flask that fit snugly in her fist. She took a chain made of gold and tied it around the neck of the flask before she filled it up. After putting her new necklace securely around her neck and hiding the container underneath her shirt, Em took a deep breath and plunged into the lake.
She surfaced with more laughter. It doubled once she lifted both her hands and saw that the scars on them were gone as well. The white bands that had come from the manacles she'd worn as Pontius's slave had disappeared. So had the scars on her knuckles. Em's sadness and sorrow lifted. There was another cry of joy from the tiny island full of treasures, but Em felt that the real treasure was the one she glided through joyously.
A howl of agony filled the dark red cavern. Em spun around to face the mound. The horrifying sound came from Nonoi. He and the captain stood next to the pedestal. Nonoi held up a mangled right hand for all eyes to see. The tips of his fingers looked as if acid had disintegrated flesh and bone. Blood spurted out of his mutilated fingers and drenched the gold underneath his feet. Without thinking twice, Em swam back onto the tiny island. She grabbed the nearest goblet and filled it with the lake's water before she stumbled up to the pedestal. When she reached Nonoi, she took his hand carefully so that none of his blood would fall on her and poured the water over it. Instantly, the blood stopped flowing and the skin healed in front of her, Roger's, and Nonoi's eyes. However, the segments of his digits were still missing.
Em let go of Nonoi and looked at the pedestal next to her. The basin was plain all around. It was filled with silver liquid, and just barely protruding from the surface was a cusp of a glass orb. The captain must have taken one look at the viscous material and had ordered one of his men to retrieve the Mermaid's Tear for him. Em looked up at Roger, but he was looking at the rest of the men staring up at the two of them.
"Back to what you're doing," he ordered. His signature scowl darkened his face and twisted his scar. "When I figure out how to get the Tear, I'm leaving immediately—with or without you dogs."
Em held up the goblet and peered into it. There was still some water left. She looked back at the silver liquid in the basin. Before Roger could tell her to get away from him, she tipped the rest of the goblet's contents into the basin. "What are you doing, you fool!" he said. The clear water mingled with the silver liquid like water and olive oil, but then, the silver bubbled until it turned clear as well. They could see the entire glass sphere now. Em moved to the other side of the basin as Roger threw his hands on either side of it. They looked at each other simultaneously.
Roger's knuckles were white with tension as he gripped the sides of the basin. He stared at Em, for once at a loss for words. He wished to Calypso that he didn't feel so much pain because of her; he wished he could feel empty again just like he had been before Michael had ever brought her onto his ship. He wished it wasn't fate that he met her, but knowing that he wouldn't be there in the cavern and on the rock covered in riches if it weren't for her, he knew it was the work of the gods that the two of them were there together.
"You were wrong." Em savored these words for only a second before she continued in a clear yet quiet voice for only his ears. "I'm still a virgin. Cicero was not my lover. He never was."
The door had proven Em right and Roger wrong. To his surprise, hearing the truth by her own lips removed the heavy burden off his shoulders. The burning in his chest lessened by the balm of her words. However, Roger had already made up his mind. There could be no more going back to the pain. No more would he let fantasies of elusive love cloud his mind. Roger clenched his jaw and dropped his eyes to the basin.
Em smiled, happy that finally she had a chance to properly defend herself. "I trust you," she said simply before plunging her entire hand into the basin. Roger's hands twitched, but he didn't move to take her hand out. To Em's relief, her fingers closed around the glass orb and pull it out with her hand still intact. As soon as she removed the Mermaid's Tear, Roger snatched it away.
He held it up between them. The smooth glass the orb was made of sparkled brightly at the two adventurers. As both eyes, one dark brown and the other as black as night, stared down with equal intensity into the orb, a mirage of scenes flitted and blossomed from within. A group of dolphins jumped playfully amongst fresh waves; thousands of tropical fish swam through and around coral reefs; and a giant tail of a fish, which Em suspected was more than a fish, tried to evade their sight. Then Roger dropped the Mermaid's Tear inside the breast pocket of his grey overcoat.