Grace gasped. How had Lorcan done it? He was blind! But before she had time to think anything else, Porfirio interrupted with a squeak. A very high pitched squeak, which got lower and lower until he was humming int a bass tone. Everyone looked on in confusedness, except Lorcan, who of course couldn't look. He listened in confusedness instead.

When Porfirio's eery humming reached so low a note that it became impossible for Grace's ears to hear, there was a huge flash of light, and Porfirio burst into a million tiny sparkling pieces, which floated off on the wind.

"What happened?" Lorcan asked, shakily.

"You got him, Lorcan!" Grace cried running to him and throwing herself into his arms. "You killed him!"

"I did?" He seemed slightly bemused.

"Yes!" Darcy cried, and ran to him too. "Move up," she muttered to Grace, playfully, and they both hugged Lorcan tight.

The vampirate crew, and the ghost crew watched, expressions ranging from joyful to confused to angry. The angry was mostly the ghosts, who were all sort of standing there, defeated and deflated.

"How will we get our energy now?" One muttered.

Grace turned to them and said, "Oh yes, that's another thing I found out!" She grinned. She loved being the one who knew it all. "The energy from the now disintegrated Porfirio has been drawn back to his home: his ship. It will keep you all going for over a hundred years to come. I know, amazing, isn't it?"

Darcy winked. "Now, are you going to leave peacefully, or will we have to kill you all?"

Some of the more wimpish ghosts shivered, but then, in silence, they all began to un-hitch the ships, and sail away.

Darcy and Grace moved back, leading Lorcan with them, as all the vampirates began talking animatedley, and moving off inside the ship, as, miraculously, the captain coughed a couple of times, and jerked up.

"What happened?" But his question was answered by the sight of the fast retreating ship, fiery and filled with ghosts. The captain stood and walked over to the three, and Grace imagined that beneath his mask he was smiling.

Before long, all the four watchers could see was a small shape in the distance, in the darkness. Just a fire on the horizon. Who knows where the ghost ship would venture to now? It would always be there, roaming the seas, and maybe there would be a legend, and perhaps a shanty, about them, too...

"Lorcan," Grace asked. "How on earth did you kill Porfirio, anyway?"

He put his arm around her, knowing that she was on his right side, and he frowned. "I just.... I just knew where to go."

Darcy and Grace were confused.

"I heard your voice, Grace, telling everyone about how to kill Porfirio. I was down in the water below. Believe it or not, I grabbed onto something hard and scaly which pulled me to the surface when I fell in-"

"Good old Sea Monster. I actually feel really bad about making all its teeth fall out now." Darcy put in.

"Aye. That must have been the sea monster." Lorcan said. "Anyway, then I heard all the fuss about Porfirio having won, I was ... drawn to the correct spot. I knew that's where I had to go and stab. After I'd done it, that feeling went away." He grinned sheepishly, and added, "Ta-da."

"It must have been Porfirio's angry force pulling you there." Grace told them. "If it was strong enough to make him solid, it would be strong enough to pull you toward him."

"Quite the little expert on ghosts, now, aren't you?" Darcy said, and Lorcan chuckled, as they moved off inside: the sky was just turning slightly pink with the rising sun.

"Well, it does help having been inside one's mind." Grace told her, and they all laughed.