Chapter Three: The Thin Spot Between Worlds

Dylan held up his hand to the Lost Boys and signaled them to be silent. They nodded solemnly and saluted. Pip pretended to zip his mouth shut. Spoken cleaned his glasses and then hunched close to watch. He seemed quite fascinated by Dylan's copper key as though it were a marvelous treasure.

He turned to the apartment door, slowly placed his key into the lock and gently turned it. He carefully turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. Dylan flinched and sucked in his breath as the door creaked. He listened carefully for noise and then crept inside.

"Why are we sneaking about?" Pip asked, forgetting to whisper.

Dylan hushed him. Knox snatched Pip's ear and tugged him close. "Pip! We're making sure no one's here!"

Dylan groaned and ushered them inside. "We're clear guys. Dad must not have found out."

"Your friend surely would have reported your involvement," Spoken replied. The arrogance in his voice grated on Dylan. "He can't help it. The Taint will force him to betray you."

Dylan ignored him. The Lost Boys didn't know Wayne. They weren't there when Wayne sat with him after the funeral. Or lived through the endless monotony of days where the only thing Dylan wanted to do was watch television or play video games. "I trust him."

He closed the door, turned the dead bolt, and then jammed one of the dining room chairs under the doorknob. "Dad's not all that easy to get a hold of at work. We should have enough time to get packed. If not, we'll have to sneak out the window in back."

"Will he be mad?" Pip asked, uncomfortable about the mere concept of an adult. "I mean Wayne did get in trouble."

"Dad's great. Almost my best friend. But, he wouldn't understand. Not about this." Dylan tried to imagine his father in a world of Lost Boys and pirates and shook his head. He loved stories, but the thought of Dylan risking his life for a friend would be too much for him. "And you said adults can't go to the island."

The Lost Boys ignored him and stared at the living room awed like it was a magical place. "This is a real home. A bona fide home! With furniture and dishes!"

Dylan smiled wryly, a bit embarrassed at the number of stacked boxes, empty pizza cartons, and pile of laundry. "Tomorrow is clean up day."

"Clean up what?" Pip asked.

Dylan laughed. He imagined that cleaning wasn't quite the priority in the Dreamlands. "Take a seat. It'll just take me a minute or two to grab some clothes."

"What shall we do?" Spoken asked, studying a magazine.

Rooting around in the kitchen, Dylan pondered what he should take. Would he be allowed to bring food across to the Dreamlands? Where would they get water? "You could watch a movie."

"A movie?" Spoken asked, curious. "Sounds bona fide."

"That might be too much for now." Dylan suspected that it would be a good idea to keep the Lost Boys occupied, but a movie might over stimulate them. He searched the living room for something that might occupy the Lost Boys and found himself drawn to the bookshelf. He searched through the books piled on the shelves, but didn't find what he was looking for. He lifted one of the card board boxes onto the kitchen table, opened it, and dug through the books and produced a small blue book. "I figured you guys might want to read Peter Pan."

"You have a book about Peter Pan?" Pip asked, his eyes the size of dinner plates.

Dylan waved the book in front of them. "Mom used to read it to me when I was sick. If you guys sit on the couch, I'll let you read it." The Lost Boys raced across the room, scrambling over each other, and finally landed on the couch. "This book belonged to my Mom. Be careful with it. I think it's older than I am."

They nodded solemnly. Mother was a sacred word to them. "What are you going to do?"

He handed the worn edition of Peter Pan to Spoken. "I need to pack for the trip, but I'll just be in the other room."

"Why?" Pip asked.

"So I have a change of clothing. Food."

Pip shrugged his shoulders. "The Dreamlands always provide what we need."

"We're not going to the Island. Not right away. And we'll need food."

Spoken looked up from reading Peter Pan. "We've always hunted and fished."

"Dream animals? Dream fish? Or do the animals crossover somehow?" Dylan remembered some sort of myth about going into the underworld and eating the food. "I won't be trapped there if I eat the food?"

Knox scratched his chin. "Never gave it much thought, I suppose."

"Don't fret, Dylan," Spoken said, knowingly. "Trouble was able to leave the Dreamlands for good. You should be able to do the same."

"And how are we going to fight off the pirates?"

"Well, they can't fly, can they? Knox grinned and held up his fists. He threw a couple quick punches in the air. "I just sneak up behind them and clobber'em."

"Peter Pan had a sword in the book. Don't you guys have swords or daggers?" Dylan asked. The Lost Boys suddenly were so interested in the book that they couldn't look at Dylan. Knox's face had turned crimson. "What aren't you telling me?"

Knox scratched his head. His ears were almost crimson. "There ain't been pirates in ages."

"There's been no need for keeping up our guard," Spoken admitted. "None of us can even remember the last time we had to fight."

"We lost the weapons."

"So where did the pirates come from?" Dylan asked. "If there haven't been any pirates for ages and none of you have become pirates, they had to come from somewhere right?"

The Lost Boys exchanged glances and then shrugged their shoulders. Pirates were simply part of their world and it had never occurred to them to question it. "I'll see what I can find in my closet. If you need anything, I'll be in the other room."

Pip raised his hand. Dylan groaned. "What?"

"Who is Barrie? His name sounds quite familiar." Pip bit his lip as though he were deep in thought. "I remember a play. And lights. A special treat. My happiest memory from before. My only memory from before."

Dylan didn't have an answer for them so he left them to read Peter Pan and went to his room. It had never occurred to Dylan to think about what he might need to pack for adventure, but he imagined that he would need several pairs of socks and clean pairs of underwear. For a moment, he considered packing his mother's blanket, but then realized a sleeping bag would be more useful. He crammed several items of clothing into his backpack and then opened his closet. Fingering through his clothing, Dylan spotted a thick jacket with green and white stripes and then slipped it over his head, hoping that it would keep him warm in the sky.

If they were going to fight pirates, they needed weapons and Dylan was certain that they couldn't go to the mall and buy a couple of swords. And even if swords were available, Dylan didn't know how to use one. He did know how to swing a baseball bat and use a hockey stick and thankfully happened to have one of each. He scooped them into his arm and then returned to the living room to present them to the Lost Boys.

"What's that?" Pip asked.

Spoken scoffed derisively. "That looks like a thin cricket bat."

"That's a hockey stick, but close enough."

"We're going to play cricket?" Pip asked hopefully.

"We're going to raise the Tempest and find this treasure to help Wayne." Dylan groaned. "Don't you guys remember why you came looking for Trouble?"

The Lost Boys blushed. Spoken coughed, clearly embarrassed. "We lost ourselves in the story. Sometimes it's hard to remember real things."

Pip nodded. "We forget things that make us sad." He paused for a moment as though trying to find just the right words and stumbled. "There's too much joy. You can't fly with sorrow."

"That doesn't sound good. Wouldn't you forget everything that mattered?" Dylan asked. This sounded like a dangerous trap. "Wouldn't you keep having the same problems over and over?"

"Not sure. Can't remember," Pip admitted.

"I had a mother once. Sometimes, I think I remember her in my dreams," Knox admitted. He turned his head away from the others unconsciously, trying to remember. "She was always whistling."

Spoken nodded remembering. "She let you go to save you. I remember that metal ship sinking into ice and water. Trouble insisted that we save as many as we could."

Dylan gestured to a picture on the wall above the television. It was a family portrait. Dylan smiled wide posing with his parents. His father had a bit more hair, certainly more happy. His mother was healthy. His mother had long blond hair, twinkling blue eyes, and a large warm smile. They were standing on a grassy hill with his father next to a white stone lighthouse with a red accent trim on a sandy beach. "That's my mother. We were on vacation. That was before we knew she was sick."

"The lady is beautiful," Spoken whispered. "What is her name?"

"Where is she?" Knox asked eagerly. The Lost Boys were completely memorized by the photograph. It was as though she were an angel or a unicorn. Something so magical and rare that they had never thought they would encounter it. "Can we meet her?"

"We'll be good. Promise!" Pip added.

Dylan turned away from them. He felt his chest constrict and his heart beat angrily, but tried to calm himself. The Lost Boys couldn't help it. Like Pip said, they forgot things that made them sad. "Her name was Katherine. She died."

The Lost Boys exchanged glances, as though they were uncertain of the meaning of his words. He might as well have told them that the sun and the moon were dancing together in the sky. Thinking about it, Dylan decided that they might have understood that better. "Mothers can die?" Pip asked.

"I suppose every one dies eventually."

"Even us?" Pip asked.

"I know don't. You guys seem magical." Dylan shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know that the rules apply to you guys. I don't know that any rules apply to you."

Knox raised his hand to ask a question, but the turning of the doorknob cut him off. The door opened, but then was blocked by the chair Dylan had wedged against it. "Dylan Foley? Did you do this?"

"Dad!" Dylan said, uncomfortably. "Can't explain it, but I have to go help Wayne."

Impatiently banging on the door, Travis Foley shouted. "Dylan! Open this door right now. Stephanie called. I know what happened."

"Sorry, Dad." Dylan gestured towards his room to the Lost Boys. "Run to the back window!"

Knox ran down the hall into Dylan's room and then popped opened the window easily and then stepped aside. Pip and Spoken took flight and swooshed through the window. Dylan slipped on his backpack, tucked the bat under his belt, and then stepped through the window. As Pip and Spoken took his hands, there was a loud crash. "He broke through the door!"

"Dad! I love you, but I have to go save Wayne!" Dylan yelled. He stepped onto the window sill. "I know you won't understand. But I'll be back as soon as I can."

Knox wormed through the window and grabbed Dylan, following the others as Travis Foley burst into the bedroom. Travis looked out the window, and cried out to his son. "Dylan Mathew Foley! Don't go it's dangerous. I can help you."

Dylan turned towards the window as they gained altitude. His father was furiously waving at him and gesturing for him to return to the apartment. Dylan closed his eyes and let the Lost Boys lift him to the sky.

"Foley? Your name is Foley?" Pip asked horrified.

"Does it matter right now?" Dylan asked.

Pip swallowed. "I suppose not, but Foley's a pirate name."

They flew north, crossing the Puget Sound, and zigzagging up the coastline. The urban density of the city faded into the tall houses and schools of the suburbs and then gradually empty beaches, trees, and green fields. Dylan studied the Dream Map and tried to ignore the squawking of the seagulls chasing them. Some parts of the real world mirrored the map, but he had never heard of a place called Cube Land.

They crossed the water and landed on a beach covered with driftwood and white sand. Dylan stretched his arms and craned his neck. The salt air invigorated his hopes. "I have to learn how to fly." He sat down on the beach, scratching his head. This place felt familiar. He studied the shoreline and the grassy hills until he found the familiar mission style white stone lighthouse with the red trim. "This is where my family went on vacation! Vancouver Island, right? We took a ferry here last summer."

"You went on vacation to the Graveyard of Dreams?" Pip asked awed. "What courage you must have!"

Puzzled, Dylan craned his neck. A name like Graveyard of Dreams definitely caught his attention. He tried to imagine how this serene little beach could earn such a name. "What?"

"In the Dreamlands, we leave things better off undreamt in these waters," Spoken cleaned his glasses nervously. "We usually fly through it as fast as we can."

"Trouble's clever!" Pip clapped, excited to finally be making progress. "He left the Tempest among the other wrecks."

"This is the entry point to the Dreamlands?" Dylan asked. If there was anything magical about this place, he couldn't see it. "Why?

"I'm unfamiliar with the name of this island in your realm." Spoken adjusted his collar. The idea of not knowing something clearly made him very uncomfortable. "Or the history."

"We avoid this place, if we can. That's why we rarely visit this realm," Pip added.

The tide washed over the pebbles and sand. Dylan remembered his mother claiming that this island above all other places made her feel at peace. "Why? There's nothing dangerous here."

"This island is covered with restless spirits from the shipwrecks."

"This place is haunted?" Dylan asked, credulous. "I've been here with my family a bunch of times. Never saw anything weird."

Spoken wiped his glasses. "Perhaps not in this realm, I admit. But on the other side, it is quite dangerous. Trouble scuttled the Tempest there for a reason."

"What can ghosts do to us? They're immaterial, right?" Dylan asked, hopefully.

"The Restless don't want to pass on. They live in the memories." Knox unconsciously stared out into the sea. His cheeks turned red. "They spend their time working. Building and then destroying."

Pip's eyes widened and he whispered. "The Restless have form in the Dreamlands."

Knox nodded and pulled his collar to the side revealing a jagged scar on his shoulder. "One of them clawed me ages ago. Trouble got it fixed up right."

"We'll have to be careful. I don't think we can fight spirits and pirates," Dylan said, clearly worried. "Seems too much."

"They're bound by the land. They can't cross the Dream Sea," Pip said, smiling weakly.

"But the Tempest is in the water. We'll have to call it onto the land to fix it right?" Dylan asked.

"The Tempest is made with wood from the Island. When we wake her, she will remember her old shape." Spoken placed his glasses back on his face. "At least, that is the hope. It may have been too late."

Dylan's eyes opened wide. "What? I thought this was a sure thing?"

"The Tempest was scuttled ages ago. She might have forgotten that she was a ship. Anything could have happened to her under there!" Knox waved towards the water and Dylan understood the absurdity of trying to raise a ship, even a magical one, from the bottom of the ocean. "She has been living the dreams of others for who knows how long."

Dylan pulled the baseball bat from his belt and held it firmly. Discussing the difficulty of what they had to do somehow increased the tension. He decided it was best to just push through it. "How do we cross?"

"It is simple really. We must find the thin spot," Spoken explained. Spoken licked his finger and held it up into the air as though he were searching for the direction of the wind.

"What's a thin spot? How do we find it."

"A thin spot is a place where the barrier between the realms is weak," Spoken answered. He seemed to find what he was looking for as he took flight and stopped at the other end of the beach. "Very close now."

Dylan ran to catch-up to Spoken. Pip and Knox effortless flew over his head. The tall boy had landed in the far section of the white beach, near the shore and the giant boulders. "Here it is!"

"Dylan, don't fret," Pip said. "Crossing is easy if you know how."

Dylan shook his head. "I don't see anything."

The other ignored him and started searching for white stones and arranged them around Pip in a semi-circle. "How's this going to help us?"

"The circle is for you Dylan. So you can learn to see the thin spot," Pip explained while continuing his work. "Keep watch and you'll see."

"I don't see anything different."

Pip stepped into the semi-circle. His form broke into rigid lines and then began to fold. "Don't fret, it don't hurt any."

Dylan rushed towards Pip, but Knox gripped his shoulder and pulled him back. "Let him pass. You could hurt yourself."

Dylan felt his stomach ache watching his friend break and fold into smaller and smaller units. "That looks horrible."

"It's your noggin that's giving you the willies, Dylan," Spoken explained. "You've never been to the other side and so it can't understand what it's seeing."

Pip folded into nothing.

Dylan resisted the urge to puke. It was like watching a friend set fire to his hand and then smile. Every thought and instinct told him it was wrong. Knox grinned. "Everything is copacetic, Dylan. Pip is waiting for us."

"We're next, Dylan. Can you do it?" Knox asked.

"Dylan wasn't at all certain he was brave enough to step into the circle. Isn't there some other way?"

"There are many other ways; each with their own unique dangers. This is actually the safest passage," Spoken said.

"Unless you are a wizard."

"Or a dragon."

Dylan brushed the hair out of his eyes. "That's not helping."

"Don't you trust us, Dylan?" Knox asked.

He pondered about his trust in the Lost Boys? They were reckless, prone to making wild mistakes and forgetting the important things. And yet, they took him to the fly. "I trust you guys. I really do. Mom used to ask me if everyone else jumped off a bridge, would I?"

Knox laughed. "Dylan, we can fly. We'd take you with us."

Dylan shook his head. "That's not the point."

Spoken adjusted his glasses. "Indeed, you are correct. We must jump to the other side if we are to stop Red-Handed Jack and save your friend."

Dylan nodded and thought of his friend. Wayne wasn't brave or even the nicest guy, but he was always there for him. He clutched his baseball bat and stepped into the circle of stone.

The thin spot proved to be an apt name. It felt as though Dylan had pushed through a thin membrane of air. The horizon seemed to fold and crumbled. It was difficult for his eyes to adjust. He felt like he was trapped between two parallel trains speeding in the opposite direction.

"Dylan? Can you hear me?"

It was Pip. Dylan blinked, surprised he was still upright, even if he was on his knees. He dropped the bat and dug his fingers into the soft sand. "Did we cross? This doesn't look any different."

The beach looked the same, only the sky was dark like an eternal twilight. Pip extended a hand to Dylan and pulled him to his feet. "This place lies. It wants the Restless."

Dylan glanced down to the rising tide. He sensed a deep power in the dark waters. It might have been his imagination, but every clash of the tide sounded like a mob of whispers. "And that's the Dream Sea."

Pip nodded solemnly. "Every hope that ever existed is in there."

"Then why are you so afraid of it?"

"For every hope, there's fear."

A rush of wind caught Dylan off guard. He turned to see Knox and Spoken step through the thin spot. This time Dylan felt less sick. "My brain must be adjusting. That didn't seem so bad. And now, I can see a faint outline."

"You'll see it for now on," Knox said.

Spoken raised his hockey stick and pointed to the hill behind them. "Beware the Restless!"

The lighthouse didn't exist in the Dreamlands. It had been replaced with a sprawl of mausoleums built with white stones. The dead worked aimlessly, trying to rebuild a city long dead.

"Zombies!" Dylan cried. "Do they want our brains?"

Spoken scoffed. "Brains? Why would they want your brains?" He pondered that question a moment. "Mine, I could understand."

"Can they see us?" Dylan asked.

"At this distance, they'll just think we're scavengers. But as soon as we call for the Tempest, they'll know we're alive," Knox explained.

"Why would they attack us?"

Knox swallowed. "Hearts, I expect."

Pip shivered. "They want our hearts. To feel, even for just a moment or two."

Spoken brandished his hockey stick. "Remember that though they are sizeable in numbers, they are dim-witted and lethargic. They don't have souls. They're just echoes of life."

Dylan glanced back at the Dream Sea. "Right. How do we call the Tempest?"

Pip reached under his shirt for the bone whistle tied to a leather cord around his neck. "Trouble trained her to come to his whistle."

Knox stood between Pip and the white mausoleums steeling himself for a fight. He brandished the hockey stick and grinned. "You blow it. We'll keep them off you."

Dylan griped his bat and joined Knox. "Can't you guys just fly us and blow the whistle?"

Spoken shook his head. "The magic in the whistle only works on land. Besides, it's dangerous to fly here. The wind is unpredictable."

Pip put the whistle in his mouth and looked to his friends, as though to give them a chance to change their mind. He blew Trouble's whistle. Despite the cold and the fear, Dylan smiled. The sound was not that of a whistle, but of a playful summer's day, filled with joy and laughter. They immediately felt warmer and brave.

Movement stopped in the Restless city. They turned to the children on the beach. Thousands of cries bellowed at once.

"I was to be married!"

"Where's my son?"

"I was on watch!"

The Restless shambled towards them. At first, Dylan could only see a mass of rotted flesh and bone and tattered clothing. It was like watching a swarm of hideous slugs creep in unison towards them. As they moved closer, their individual shapes became distinct. Weeping faces twisted in pain called out to them.

Pip blew the whistle again. "How long will it take?" Dylan asked.

Knox kept his eyes on the Restless, determined. "We've never done it without Trouble."

"So you don't know if it will work?"

Pip blew the whistle again. The Restless paused for a moment and then continued their march towards them. The Lost Boys slowly backed towards the Dream Sea. The Restless pushed forward. Little of their humanity echoed in their forms. They reacted like animals, packs of dogs, waiting for their alpha to attack first. And then all at once, the Restless attacked. Their lips were deceased, hanging from their faces. Black, oozing eye sockets glared at them, hungry for the light.

Knox swung his hockey stick, pushing them off-balance. The Restless mobbed around them, moving as a giant amorphous blob. "We're running out of beach," Pip warned.

Slowly, the Restless circled them, flanking them on all sides. The Lost Boys stepped back onto the wet sand allowing the mystical waters of the Dream Sea to wash over their feet. The water was warm, soothing. Dylan wanted more than anything else to curl into a ball under a blanket and close his eyes.

"Do not succumb to slumber. Fight the tide!" Spoken yelled.

"When is the Tempest going to get here?" Dylan asked through a yawn.

Knox held his hockey stick like a staff and pushed back two of the Restless. "We might need to run!"

"If we take flight, we surrender the Tempest to the depths."

"Why isn't it coming?" Pip asked.

"Mayhap, it has forgotten having been at the bottom of the Dream Sea." Spoken swiped his stick at the mob. "Or she has fallen to the final sleep."

Dylan poked several hands and arms back from the mob with his bat. The Restless were slow, but unrelenting. With a bit of effort and using the bat, he could keep them from grappling him. If he stopped for just a moment, they would grab him. "You guys talk like its alive."

"She is more than alive. She's part of this world. And smart. Trouble trained her like a dog." Knox blocked another attack wave. He finished his thoughts punctuated by grunts and deep breaths. "She's loyal, but doesn't always understand things."

Dylan considered the implications. "When we had a dog, we called it by name."

"I can not believe that I have forgotten! Trouble did just that." Spoken laughed. It was an odd sound surrounded by the broken arms and hands of the Restless. Dylan wondered for a moment if Spoken had lost his mind. Spoken cupped his hands and yelled towards the Dream Sea. "Lady Tempest!"

Knox and Pip joined their friend. "Tempest!"

The Restless pushed them back into the water, but stopped where the waves crashed upon the stones and the sand. "They're afraid of the water!" Dylan cried.

Pip blew the whistle again. "Join us, Dylan!" Knox said. "Maybe she can't hear us!"

Dylan stepped back, fighting the urge to sleep. The water came to his thighs. "Tempest!"

And then they yelled together, a final cry in the darkness. "TEMPEST."

There was a distant boom of thunder. "Oh great! Dream rain," Dylan complained.

Pip cheered. "That's not thunder. It's a cannon. From the Tempest."

BOOM! A quick whistle zipped past them and exploded in the mass of the Restless. Ghastly arms, legs, and heads shattered and scattered across the sand. The impact caused Dylan to slip, almost dunking under the water. Knox helped him recover his footing. Pip pointed out into the water. "There she is!"

Knox and Spoken rose from the waves. Dylan dropped his bat and grabbed onto their hands and was pulled along with them. Pip flew ahead towards the light in the horizon. Just below him was the Tempest.

It was the most beautiful ship that Dylan had ever seen. The Tempest was a three-masted barque sailing ship made of dark ebony. There was a winking mermaid carved into the bow. She turned perpendicular to the shore, firing her side cannons onto the shore. "Who's firing the cannons?" Dylan yelled.

"The Tempest is a magic ship. It does as it wills." Spoken yelled between cannon blasts. "She's protecting us."

The cannon fire pummeled the beach, driving the Restless back to their forgotten city. Knox leaned close to Dylan and whispered. "Let's just hope that she hasn't gone loopy or we could be in for a bumpy ride."

The Lost Boys landed on the deck of the Tempest. Her sides were covered with wet barnacles and twitching seaweed. Spoken held up his thin hand. "Be weary of touching that which comes from the Dream Sea in these waters."

Dylan glanced about the deck, noting the various unkempt rigging and torn sails. "We can't sail this ship."

"Don't fret, Dylan!" Pip shivered and rubbed his hands. "She'll do the work for us when she fully wakes."

"She might be a magic ship, but she can't catch the wind without a better sail." Dylan groaned and pointed to the sails. "Look at that rope! It'll snap in a strong wind."

"We can fix her." Knox grinned widely. "She's awakening."

Dylan resisted the urge to pull his hair. Something about living in the Dreamlands seemed to discourage thinking ahead. "Where are we going to get supplies?"

"I believe there is a port not far from here." Spoken pulled out Borri's Map and noted the location of the Tempest. "It won't be quick or showy, but I think we can manage it."

Dylan's head spun thinking about the various possibilities of what they might need on their journey. How would they get food? Or water? Could you drink from the Dream Sea? "What about a crew? We might be able to recruit some at the port? Any older Lost Boys?"

Knox scowled. "There aren't any older Lost Boys."

"Didn't Peter Pan grow up?" Dylan asked.

"He lived ages ago. Hard to say," Pip admitted.

"What do you mean by ages ago? A hundred years. Two hundred?"

"I'm that old, Dylan," Spoken scoffed. "At least I am when I remember."

"And you haven't grown up?" Dylan asked.

Pip wiped his eyes. "Lost Boys can't stay in this world and grow up. It's against the rules."

Dylan didn't like the thought of being a kid forever. "So you can't ever grow up? Ever?"

"Didn't say can't. Just that it's against the rules. Most stay for ages and then return back to your world," Knox said.

"Most? So some stay then?" Dylan asked.

"Those would be the pirates," Spoken answered.

"The pirates used to be Lost Boys?" Dylan asked, horrified.

"They say that Red-Handed Jack himself was once a Lost Boy," Pip whispered fearfully.

Knox growled. "That's just a campfire story. No one's still around from back then."

Spoken lifted a finger into the air. "Except for the Queen of Cats, of course."

"Maybe we can ask her when we find her," Dylan suggested

Spoken adjusted the map flat so that the others could see. He pointed to a large crescent island near the red avatar of the Tempest. There were seven large hills on the island that were honeycombed with villages and buildings. The map legend named the island Semiramis. "Until then, are we agreed that we should try to make port then away from the Graveyard of Dreams?"

Dylan nodded reluctantly. "That seems like the smart thing to do, I guess. Do we know anything about Semirami?"

"Semiramis is the largest port known in the Dream Sea," Spoken answered. He pointed to the large crescent with the narrow entry point. "The outside section of the island is protected by the coral reefs of the Aycayíans to the south and east. No ships can go near there without sinking. You pass through the gates and this entire side is one large port."

"Is there anything dangerous there?"

Knot scratched his head. "Anything can happen on Semiramis. There's not much in the way of rules or laws."

Pip nodded nervously. "We'll have to watch for pirates. Anyone's allowed to berth there as long as they follow the rules. And there's not many that's dare to say no to Red-Handed Jack."

Dylan thought about it for a moment. "Maybe we should fly ahead and see if we can buy some rope. This is a beautiful ship, but without supplies, she's stuck here."

"Do you really think I'm beautiful?"

It was a warm, feminine voice. Dylan glanced about the deck. "Who said that?"

The wooden mermaid figurehead curved from the bow animated and then pulled herself to the ledge. She peeked at her new passengers and giggled. "It's been ages since I've been called beautiful."

Spoken bowed. "My apologies, I had forgotten to make introduction. Dylan Foley, this is the Lady Tempest, the heart of the ship."