Page 119 of Ship of Shadows
We both looked up at everyone else, and I just rolled my eyes.
“How does the game work?” I asked. “This treasure hunt they go on?”
Lochlan crossed his arms. “They break out into teams and the goal is for each team to capture the treasure. That’s what they always called it. The team that comes back with their treasure are the ones who win the game.”
My eyes bugged out of my head. “So they go out in teams and have to capture one of their shadows and bring it back to camp?”
Mal stroked his jaw. “Blood and water, we’re idiots. The winning team always came back with a bag, the treasure inside. Lochlan and I just thought it was some silly relic in the bag. But it was a shadow. A damn shadow.”
“And they what?” Mia tapped the table. “Just set it free?”
Lochlan groaned. “I guess. They don’t care about getting their shadows back. In fact, most of them don’t want them back. They want to stay here, stay young and free forever.”
“This is perfect.” Excitement thrummed inside of me. “Don’t you see? They’ve been training to capture their own shadows. Some of them for years. They know where their shadows are. They can go get them.”
“And what, stuff them in a bag?” Mal said. “How are we going to capture two hundred shadows and get them on Bastian’s ship?”
My excitement burst like a bubble. I hadn’t thought of that part.
Kara braced her hands on the table. “They’re shadows. Surely we can stuff a ton of them into a bag.”
“But every time you open the bag, there’s risk the others will escape,” I said. “I don’t think that will work.”
Bastian’s arms tensed around me.
“There has to be something we’re missing.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “A key to all of this. We’re so close to figuring it out.”
“Too bad we don’t have those books with us,” Bastian said. “They’re back on the ship.”
Outside, Bartholomew strummed his banjo, the camp quieting as he began to sing.
I straightened, remembering the song he sang last night. “Was that song true?” I asked. “The one that Bartholomew sang about the boy who sewed the shadow to his feet so it couldn’t escape him?”
Mal and Lochlan froze, and Mia and Kara gave each other unsure looks.
“I don’t know,” Bastian said. “Bartholomew tends to stretch the truth quite a lot in his songs.”
“No,” Mia said slowly. “That one is true. Bartholomew told me he witnessed it himself. Before Kara and I joined the crew.”
“That’s it,” I breathed.
Lochlan cocked a brow. “We’re going to sew our shadows to ourselves?”
“Yes,” I said. “It’s perfect. We have so much thread and needles from the supplies Bastian has brought over the years. Thread and needles that haven’t been used because spirit knows none of these boys can sew. It won’t take a lot. We give each boya small piece of thread, and a needle. Send them out in teams and tell them the game.”
Mal’s eyes widened. “A treasure hunt. We send them on a treasure hunt.”
I nodded. “We tell them the objective: capture their shadows, sew them to their shoes, and get to the marsh. And they’ll win a prize.”
“Their freedom,” Lochlan mumbled.
“That’s just crazy enough that it might work,” Kara said, surprising me. She shot me a small smile.
I couldn’t believe it. We had an actual plan. “We can use light to corral the shadows. Make them carry torches.”
“How are we going to make sure the boys succeed?” Mal asked. “I won’t leave any behind.”
I frowned.
