A/N: Welcome to the first collab book between my friend Night and I! As the word first implies, there is more to come. Once we finish this book and move on to the second, I will update my profile with a chronological timeline for the books, so you can read them in order! With that said, my friend Night writes the odd chapters, and I write the even. This of course means that Night wrote this chapter. I have her full permission to post this story here.

We already have ten of the fifteen chapters in this book written, so for the next week and two days, expect daily updates!

Also, chapters one-six are three years old. Chapters seven and on were written this year.

Concentrating fiercely, Sunny Hannah Silver incanted the words of the spell, passing her staff before herself, twirling it in the air, and planting it in the ground in the center of the circle of bone dust. Sweat beaded her forehead as the spell grew more intense, her chanting became louder, and her bright green eyes began to glow like a pair of miniature suns. An eerie light surrounded her staff, which was sticking out of the ground, and it began to rise, seemingly of its own accord. It spun around once in the air, then began to shoot downward. As it did so, Hannah shouted the words, "Holly Aurelia Everret!" The name of the spirit she wanted to summon. Also, completely non-coincidentally, the name of her best friend.

At that point, the ghost of the mightiest pirate Hannah had ever known should have appeared to speak with her. She should have had one last chance at talking to her friend; one last chance to ask what had happened in the Armada fortress when Holly had blown it up. Instead of any of this happening, there was a loud bang! and a cloud of pure-black ash coated everything within a fifteen-foot radius of the staff. Hannah was not spared; her white-blond hair became a sooty, dusty black, and her clothes were caked with a thick layer of the stuff.

Hannah sighed. Failed again, she thought dismally to herself. Why isn't this working? It was the third time she had tried to summon Holly, and the exact same thing had happened every time. She resolved to ask Madame Vadima, her trainer, what exactly she was doing wrong. She picked up her staff (miraculously ash-free, as always) and began the trek down from her secluded hollow at the top of Skull Mountain.

By the time Hannah reached Vadima's sanctum, which was just off of Avery's Court, she was soaked with sweat, coated with ash, and extremely disheartened. She hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye, as she and her other friends had expected Holly to make it out alive. She pushed aside the curtain concealing the cave and barged in.

"Why isn't my spell working?" she demanded. "I've done everything you told me exactly right, but all that I can summon is a cloud of black ash!"

Vadima chuckled. "Dear child," she purred, "only thing you are doing wrong is summoning live spirit. If spirit does not come, spirit is not dead."

Hannah's demeanor changed with a snap from angry and disheartened to hopeful. A painfully wide smile split her face. "You really think she's alive?"

"I know so. Go now, find friend. Waste no more of my time or yours."

"Okay!" Hannah raced down to the docks, nearly slamming into an old blind cat on the way there. Sparing barely a moment to call an apology over her shoulder, she continued on her way.

As she reached the docks and whipped her bottled ship out of her pack, she noticed a girl about her age sitting on the dock, staring at the most miserable ship Hannah had ever seen. It could hardly be called a ship — its hull was made of old casks, which were in turn covered with rickety, rotting planks to serve as a sort of deck. A single battered, rusty cannon stuck out of one of the barrels, and several long planks lashed together served as a mast, with an old blanket for the sail. Even the flag, emblazoned with a red dragon, was battered and torn.

Even so, Hannah could tell it could technically be considered skyworthy; that couldn't be why the girl had a look of abject terror on her face, nor could it explain the way she watched ships come and go as though she was watching a friend be murdered. Hannah knelt beside her and asked, "What's wrong?"

The girl turned to her. Though she appeared to be trying to keep calm, her voice shook as she said, "I don't like flying."

Hannah couldn't help but let a chuckle escape. "You're afraid of the Skyways? What kind of pirate are you?"

Instantly the girl was on her feet, had dragged Hannah up beside her, and had her staff pointed at Hannah's chest. "Not one more word out of you," she said through gritted teeth. "You don't understand. My parents were killed in the Skyways — shipwrecked. I don't want to end up like them!"

Hannah gently pushed the staff aside. "Whoa, calm down!" she exclaimed. "You don't need to be scared! My parents died the same way, but I still fly."

But the girl wasn't listening. She was firing spell after spell and shouting incoherently in a fit of indignation. Hannah tolerated this for about a minute; then she seized the staff, tossed it onto the dock behind her, and grabbed the girl by the shoulders. "Pay attention for a moment," she insisted, her voice level but impossible to ignore. She forced the girl to look her in the eyes. "Look," she continued. "I understand you're afraid of flying. There's no need to be scared. You won't crash and suffer your parents' fate."

"But what if I do?" The girl had gone from angry back into just plain scared, apparently easily calmed.

Hannah sighed. "Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. Where is it exactly that you want to go?"

"Blood Shoals," the girl replied reluctantly. "I've been chasing a scoundrel named Ratbeard who has a means of finding a treasure that I want. He and his crew were headed for Blood Shoals, so that's where I want to go."

"I have a ship, and I daresay it's better than that lump of wood anyway. I can fly you there, if you want."

"Oh, would you?" The girl sounded equal parts relieved and delighted, but then she hesitated. "I don't even know your name."

Hannah lauged. "That could be important, yeah. The name's Sunny Hannah Silver, but just call me Hannah."

"Nice to meet you, Hannah," the girl replied, shaking her hand. "I'm Dashing Destiny Donnely. Now, what do you say we go catch some rats?"

A thought crossed Hannah's mind, and she said, "Wait a minute. Before I help you, I'd like to ask a favor in return."

"What favor?"

"A friend of mine is missing. Until today, I thought she was dead, but when I tried to summon her spirit, it didn't work — because she's alive. Would you be willing to help me find her?"

Destiny thought about it. "Who is she?"

"Her name is Stormy Holly Everret, but most people don't know that, as she keeps her identity quite well-hidden. Have you ever heard of the Storm Captain? Dashing rogue, finest Swashbuckler in the Skyways, most powerful pirate, some say?" It occurred to her too late that giving out her friend's secret identity like that was probably not the best idea, but the damage was done.

"Can't say that I have," Destiny admitted.

Hannah barely stifled a slightly rude question. "Well, that's who I'm looking for."

Destiny thought some more. "I'm quite willing. Just let me…" She stopped midsentence, and a look of something akin to worry clouded her face. "Oh, no…"

"What is it?"

"I think I may have my own missing person to deal with."

"And you just realized this?"

"Well, I hadn't thought about it in months. There's a girl I owe my life, named Shy Marissa Silver. She's called the Iron Dove, and I guess you could say she's another legend of the Skyways: bold, brave, compassionate, and powerful. We became good friends before she had to leave for something, and she said she would contact me again; it's been almost a year, and she still hasn't gotten back to me. I don't think she'd leave me hanging like this unless something had happened!"

"Can you be sure?"

"The more I think about it, the more certain I am!"

Hannah frowned. "I wonder if you're just being paranoid."

"Well, would you at least be willing to help me check — to find her and see if she's all right?"

"I suppose I would," Hannah conceded.

"Great!" Destiny replied, looking slightly less worried, but not much. "Let's find some legends."