Stormborn) chapter 1

Instructions

Chapter 1 Lucas I have a question for you: what makes a bad day worst? The answer: pirates. If you haven't met a pirate, let me lay it out for you: they’re loud, rude, and stink. I was already having a bad day. My brother and Charlotte were upset because I had spent the day goofing off instead of doing chores. I mean, who wants to do chores when there’s a pirate hanging happening ? The answer: absolutely no one. But of course, the universe had to say you are going to get about kidnapped by pirates. I had just come home after watching this afternoon’s hanging—it was a man who had been found guilty of pirating on the south side of the island. It was awesome! But everything must end. I bet Charlotte hadn’t gotten three words into her scolding when the door crashed open, revealing four men, all armed with pistols and swords. "You Charlotte Stone?" The one who looked like he had been in too many fights said pointing, at Charlotte. I mean, his face looked like dough. "Who are you?" Charlotte asked, sounding as calm as could be. I mean, what? These were clearly pirates; why was she calm? "We don’t got to tell you nothing. All you need to know is Captain said to bring you, and a Lucas and a Samuel," another one said. He looked almost normal, except for a missing eye. Also, how did these men know our names, and who was this captain? I was thinking the same thing when I saw my brother's limp body resting over the man with the missing eye's shoulder. Sam almost looked like a baby next to these men. "Fine," Charlotte said, walking forward to the men. "What? Charlotte, why are you going? Just go with them!" "They want us alive; that's the only reason we're still alive They're not going to hurt us," she said, walking to the men as they bound her wrists. I followed, letting them do the same to me. How was she letting them do this? This was Charlotte—the girl who got mad and striked when the shop owner raised all the prices. I thought of her as like my second mom ever since she and Sam got married, and here she was, going along with this. We followed the men to a ship that was clearly a pirate ship. I mean, why was the guard not storming it right now? I watched as a man tossed a ladder over the edge for us to climb up. The men picked me and Charlotte and carried us up the ladder. The ship was crowded; there were men everywhere doing lots of different things—some were cleaning, some were playing what looked like cards, and others were doing other stuff. But if I wrote down everything that was happening, it would fill up the whole page. "This way," the men said, setting me and Charlotte down and pushing us through a door near the back of the boat into an office where a girl who looked about my age was sitting at a desk . At first, I thought she was another captive until one of the men started talking. "We got them, Captain, just like you asked. But this one got knocked out," the man who was carrying Sam said as he dropped him on the floor. "Sam!" Charlotte said as my brother's body hit the floor. "Ugh, Hank! What did we talk about? No hurting our guests in any way," the girl said, . She had short, curly brown hair and freckles She was pretty, if you could overlook the fact that she was a pirate. I was already kind of freaked out when I realized that she was the reason I was on this ship. When Charlotte had to go add to that, "What do you want, Jacqueline?" she said. It sounded like she knew this girl, this pirate. "Oh, come on! Is that any way to treat you're half-sister?" the girl said, standing up and walking over to Charlotte with her arms out like she wanted a hug. If there was any way this could have gotten weirder, I had no idea