Chapter 7 - Who's a Liar?
Skully POV
The next morning, my three crew mates and I sat in a circle on Jake's bed, playing a simple game of cards. Yep, you heard it right – even this parrot was getting in on the action. I held my cards with my feathers, squawking out my moves like a pro.
"You guys are gonna be coconut pudding." Cubby announced confidently as he arranged his master plan with the cards.
"I never wager more than what I'm willing to lose Cubby." Jake said, his green eyes very focused on the fan of cards in his hands.
"What are we? Making bets now?" the blonde pirate boy asked.
"Sure are," Jake confirmed, finally looking up from his cards. "I'll go first," He then pointed up to the upper bunk right above us. "I'll bet the top bunk Cubby. If I win it's mine." The blue eyed lad's jaw dropped open and he looked at Jake in what I couldn't distinguish between disgust and disbelief.
"You can't do that! That bed and I are together forever!"
"All in the name of the game Cubster." the elder boy stated, only to receive a blank star from the younger boy.
"Jake the name of the game is Go Fish not Blackjack. The best thing you could win from this game is a plate of crackers." Cubby told him.
"Crackers!?" I squawked. "I'll play this game a thousand times if I have to!"
"I had a feeling you would say that Skully," Jake chuckled. "Now, back to business boys." Maybe it was just a friendly card game, but those two were taking it way too seriously. Cubby was staring at his cards like they held the secret of life, and Jake had this intense poker face that would put a grown adult pirate to shame.
Meanwhile, Izzy was sitting next to me, trying her best to keep a straight face as she listened to the boys' rambling, but I could tell something was off. My suspicious parrot instincts were tingling. I eyed her closely, trying to figure out what she could possibly be up to. I had a feeling she wasn't as sick as she made herself out to be last night, if at all, and instead was just putting on a show for us. And a pretty darn good one at that.
"Go Fish!" Cubby ordered confidently. Jake exchanged shot him a death glare before drawing from the deck. I swear, they looked like they were planning a heist instead of playing cards. Izzy burst into laughter, finding their seriousness downright hilarious. I joined in with a squawk, but deep down, I was still keeping an eye on her. "Any sixes?" Cubby asked Jake, who shook his head in response.
"Nope. Go fish." he said bluntly. Cubby's jaw dropped.
"You liar! Yes you do!" the pale pirate boy shot back.
"I do not! And I am not a liar!"
"Oh yes you are!"
"How do you know!?"
"Because I looked at your deck!" Cubby exclaimed, though he immediately regretted it when Jake and I stared at him in shock. "Erm...I mean..I got a glance at it when you lowered it by accident."
"Oh you did, did you?" the green eyed teen said, hiding his cards better. "Well for your information and to prove I am no liar, what you saw was a nine. Not a six. Now why don't you just draw the card so we can keep playing?" Cubby blushed.
"But I already drew it!" he said, in defense.
"You did not!"
"I did too!" Jake then turned to me.
"Did you see him draw a card Skully?" he asked me.
"Nope. Sure didn't." I answer.
"See? Who's a liar now?" the lad with the red bandanna questioned, and Cubby rolled his eyes and drew the card and the game continued. Speaking of liars, I glanced over at Izzy who still continued to innocently giggle and spectate.
A few minutes later Jake slammed his cards down in frustration, and Cubby snickered like he just won the treasure of Neverland.
"HA! That's three more pairs for me which makes fourteen all together! I win, you lose!" he gloated. "Not so much of a dumb blonde after all huh?"
"I don't believe it!" Jake gasped, in all astonishment.
"No top bunk for you." Cubby bragged. Jake's eyes narrowed, and he demanded a rematch quicker than a cannon firing.
"This ain't over yet! Rematch! Right now!" Jake declared, his competitive spirit aflame. Cubby chuckled, totally up for another round of card warfare. While the boys geared up for a rematch, Izzy, got up from her spectating spot and announced,
"I'm heading outside for a bit, I uh…I need some fresh air." she said. Jake barely glanced her way, too caught up in his quest for redemption. Cubby was already shuffling the cards for the next round. As they dove back into their game, Izzy slipped out unnoticed. Or so they thought.
I wasn't about to let her sneak away without a parrot's watchful eye. Flapping my wings, I followed Izzy outside and onto the sandy beach. I perched on top of a palm tree observing as Izzy gazed out at the Neverland horizon. It was just her and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. Something was definitely brewing in Izzy's world, and this parrot wasn't about to let it fly under the radar.
Izzy quickly looked left and right, making sure she was alone before reaching into one of the back pockets of her purple pants and pulling out what seemed to be a piece of paper, which she quickly read.
"Shiver me timbers!" she exclaimed in whisper, after she finished reading whatever was written on the paper. "So that's what happened." What!? What happened!? I thought. Izzy looked like she was rereading whatever message was on the page, for she sat on a nearby rock and continued to stare at the paper for about fifteen more minutes. I watched while still perched on the palm tree, trying to see if I could make out what was on the paper, but I couldn't. It was too far away, and if I tried to fly any closer Izzy would surely hear me. Oh this was hopeless! I was never gonna find out what it said—
"Iz-zy!" Jake's unmistakable pubescent voice called from inside. The lass quickly lifted her head from the mysterious note.
"Ye-yeah!?" she hollered back, while beginning to crumple up the paper. Great. Now I'll never know what it says.
"Could you come here!? We need your help! This dumb blonde doesn't know how a game of cards works!"
"Oh uh yeah sure thing! I-I'll be right there!" Izzy shouted before further crumpling the note into a ball, throwing it in a nearby bush and running off. Perfect! I thought as I dove down to the bush and scavenged about it until I found paper. I snatched it in one of my claws and set it on a nearby rock where I uncrumpled it using my beak and wings. I felt my little body fill with curiosity, for I thought this could be the answer to why Izzy's been acting so strange lately….but I was wrong. When I could finally make out the words, I read what I had discovered to be a letter. But what I read made absolutely no sense.
Later in the day, the Neverland sun hung lower in the sky as I soared through the air, my parrot wings cutting through the warm breeze. I had a feeling Izzy was up to something behind the scenes, and I decided it was high time to tell somebody about what I found and get to the bottom of it. As I circled Pirate Island, I spotted Jake down by the Neversea, on his knees, vigorously scrubbing what looked like someone's clothes in the water, a bottle of soap and a wooden bucket at his side. I descended rapidly, landing beside him with a flutter of feathers.
"Ahoy Jake!" I squawked.
"Hi." he grumbled, as he rang the water out of what looked to be a pair of red board shorts.
"What are you doin'?" I asked, eyeing the wet laundry.
Jake looked up, with an expression that made him look like he was in physical pain.
"Well uh..you see Skully, I lost the card game to Cubby, not once, not twice, not even three but six times and this is my punishment. Washing his clothes." I tilted my head in confusion.
"Washing clothes as punishment? Since when did that become a thing?"
"Since Cubby turned twelve and he began to develop a certain unpleasant aroma." he answered bitterly. He shook his head. "But enough about that. What brings you here?" the olive skinned teen asked me and I wasted no time.
"I found something rather interesting. And I've got to show someone. But before I do…where's Izzy?"
"Gosh I don't know," he answered looking kinda shocked at his own answer. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen her all day. Well, after I made her knock some sense into Cubby about cards of course. But that was the last time I saw her." My eyes quickly widened and concern rushed through me, almost paralyzing my wings.
"Crackers! Jake you don't think that sneaky snook Hook—-."
"No I don't, Skully." he assured, putting a hand up.
"How do you know?"
"Because if featherhat did have Izzy, he would've rubbed it in all our faces repeatedly. Now stop worrying about her. She's probably takin' a nap or something," He looked back to the next load of Cubby's clothes that he was still yet to wash and sighed. "Now is there anything else you need because I'd really like to get this all done before sun down." he told me. With a quick movement, I dropped the crumpled letter from my claws and Jake caught it in his hand. He stood up, dropping the wet clothes for a quick minute and uncrumpled the paper. "What's this?"
"Izzy threw it in the bushes earlier. I thought it might have something to do with her playing sick last night." I explained.
"You think she played sick?" the raven haired boy asked, looking up at me.
"Don't tell me you don't!" I exclaimed. Jake chuckled in response, much to my surprise.
"Oh of course I knew she wasn't really sick, Skully! But I'd never expect that from you," he said, pointing at me. "However I thought she just said she was because she didn't wanna go out so late at night."
"Yeah well you never know. There could be another reason. And I think that may have something to do with it." I said, pointing a wing at the letter. Jake furrowed his brow.
"What's it about anyway?" he asked as he prepared to read.
"I have no idea. That's the thing. It made no sense to me. Maybe you'll figure it out." I replied, my parrot head tilting to the side.
Jake took a deep breath and started reading the letter out loud.
"Not too long ago, my mother came home from one of her week-long wilderness trips, but something was off. She had strange clothes on, and her black hair had streaks of red. She didn't even say goodnight to us, just went straight to bed. Later, my dad went to talk to her, and suddenly there was a lot of screaming and shouting and what I think was glass breaking. They sounded like they were gonna kill each other. I heard daddy tell her to get out and then mother immediately stomped out of the house and slammed the door. That was the last time I saw her. She never came back.
Yours Truly N….." Jake put down the letter. "The rest of the name is smudged," he said. " All that I can make out is the letter N."
"Now what do you suppose it means?" I asked him, perching on his shoulder to get a look at the letter again.
"I have no idea Skully." he said and then began to fold the paper up and tuck it away in a pocket of his midnight blue vest.
"Crackers! If Izzy read it and reacted the way she did then it must mean something." I burbled.
"What do you mean the way she reacted? What did she say?" Jake asked me as he got back on his hands and knees and resumed dipping Cubby's clothes in the bucket full of sea water.
"Well ... .she sure was surprised. But not at the letter itself. What was on it. It seemed like she knew exactly what it meant. It was almost as if she were…" Jake paused once more from his chore and looked up at me before finishing my sentence.
"Expecting it."
To Be Continued….
Well, this is where the story comes to an end for now. Blue Monday's on its way...sadly. :(
But look alive, chapter 8 will be up January 19. Wohoo!
