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From Evelyn Terry’s Private Journal, Dated June 8, 1825

I awoke to the sound of my mother crying…

Mama’s cries carried through the house, yanking me from my sleep. I stumbled out of bed to find her. The sky was still dark, and I could hear the rain falling outside as it had every day this week. I found Mama in the kitchen sitting at our table.

“Mama? What is it?” I could see her tear-streaked face in the shadows. “Are you sick?”

“No, sweet girl.” She opened her arms for me to come sit on her lap, which I hadn’t done in years. I obliged, frightened. “We are fine. It’s Aggy. Your father went by there last night to check on them and…” She hesitated. “She isn’t doing well, dear. Her mother is ill now too.”

“No!” I started to cry. “What is going to happen to Aggy?”

“We’re going to pray very hard that they all get well, and the Cough stays away from our home.” Mama brushed my hair off my sweaty forehead, the breeze almost nonexistent, even though the window was open. “That’s all we can do.”

No, it isn’t , I thought. There’s something I can do.

I could get them medicine. I knew Aggy’s mom and aunt were healers, but if their treatments weren’t working, maybe I could barter to get medicine for them from the mercantile. Once Mama went off to do her chores, I snuck out of the house and headed into town, praying Papa didn’t realize I was gone.

“Sparrow!” Gil jumped off the mercantile porch, spotting me right away. He stood a short distance from me. No one wanted to get too close with the Cough. “What are you doing out here?”

“I wanted to see if I could barter to get medicine for Aggy. Gil, she’s terribly sick,” I whispered.

“I heard,” Gil said, his eyes wide. “The Hendersons came down with it this week too. I heard Laurel is too weak to get out of bed.”

“No,” I said, fighting back tears at the thought of losing Laurel too. “What about the Lyons family? Has anyone heard from Thomas?”

Gil shook his head. “No. Not yet. But I’m sure if they need medicine, they’ll come here. I’ll send word if I hear anything,” he promised.

“Thank you. You’re a good friend,” I told him, and we stood and stared at one another for a moment, wanting to say more, even if we didn’t know what it was. It was so good to see him.

Then I heard someone whistling. I turned around. It was Axel.

“No one is supposed to be on the streets,” Axel told us by way of greeting, his dark eyes narrowing at the sight of us together. “We don’t need the Cough spreading.”

“Who put you in charge?” I asked boldly.

Axel puffed up his chest. “My father. He says we should all stay home till this clears. Otherwise, everyone in Greenport will be dead and buried.”

I shuddered. “Don’t say such things.”

“You’re scaring her,” Gil told Axel.

“Why? It’s the truth. The Cough comes on fast, and poor people don’t have the money for medicine,” Axel said with a smirk. “The Lyons came round trying to barter for some, but my father sent them away.”

I felt a rush of anger. “How could you let him do that? Thomas and his family are our friends.”

Axel’s expression darkened. “Rudds don’t give handouts. You two better stay well. Lord knows neither of your families can afford medicine either.”

“Why, you lout!” Gilbert went to hit Axel, and Axel jumped back and laughed.

I pulled Gil back. “You’re a horrible boy, Axel Rudd,” I shouted. “Shame on you for not helping your friends when they need you.”

“Rudds take care of themselves.” Axel fixed his shirt, which Gil had yanked. “You two should head home and do the same.”

“Go home, you rat!” Gilbert shouted after him. “Go—” Gil stopped talking, a deep, thick cough racking his body.

I stepped back in horror. “Gil. No. Not you too.”

He covered his mouth with his sleeve, looking as anxious as I felt. “You go home now, Sparrow. I’ll be fine. Pray we’ll all be fine.”

He was the second person to say that to me, but I knew we needed more than prayers now. We needed a miracle.

And I had a feeling I knew just where to get one.

***

For something so precious, Kimble left the treasure unguarded often. He wasn’t in the fort when I arrived, still angry after my conversation with Axel. Instead, I found Aggy’s traitorous cat curled up next to the treasure chest. Winks saw me and hissed.

“I’m doing this to save your owner,” I told the cat, who glared at me with her one eye.

I couldn’t worry about Winks. I had to move quickly. I was nervous Kimble would appear and catch me in the act, but I also knew if he was missing a piece of treasure, then he’d be off in search of it. While he hadn’t said it outright, I was beginning to guess that he couldn’t be free of immortality till every last piece of stolen treasure was returned to this chest.

And if he was only missing one piece, I was now stealing his chance.

He’ll get another one , I told myself. He’s lived two hundred years as a young man. He can live two hundred more till the next Blood Orange Moon comes around. How bad can living forever be? I have to save Aggy and my friends.

I could feel the treasure calling to me as I neared the chest, the whispers growing louder and more urgent. Welcome, Evelyn Terry! Welcome home! The island knew I was here, and it wanted me to take its treasure. Who was I to deny the island this when I needed its help? I knelt beside the chest and placed my hand on the lid’s latch.

Don’t do this, Sparrow , I could almost hear Aggy saying. You don’t know the price.

But I do , I told the voice, sure it was my own, even if I always considered Aggy my conscience. I need to save you.

Winks’ eyes were on me as I lifted the latch. I heard a sound like air being whistled through a gap in a window as I opened the chest.

A gasp escaped my throat as I stared at its contents. The chest was filled with hundreds of silver coins, shiny, gleaming, and sparkling like new. They were the most beautiful coins I’d ever seen. I picked up a fistful and let them fall through my fingers and drop back into the chest. Then I lifted a single coin and stared at it. There was heft to the piece that I turned over in my hand. Waves of the sea were emblazoned on the obverse side, the pillars of Hercules on the other. There were markings of letters on one side. An E stuck out like a sore thumb. Holding the coin in my hand, the whispers grew louder, the coin growing hot between my fingers. I quickly pocketed the coin in a small velvet pouch that I’d made with scraps of purple fabric. Then I took three more coins and placed them in the sack as well. Then I shut the lid fast, the whispers growing faint again. The island, it seemed, was satisfied with what I’d done. Winks, however, was not. The cat was clawing my dress now as I tried to tiptoe out of the fort.

“Shoo, Winks! Shoo!” I told the cat, nudging her aside as I shut the fort door behind me, then watched the ivy cover the door, hiding it from sight again.

“Looking for me?”

I spun around. “Captain Kimble, sir!” I said nervously.

He was drenched again, his sack slung over his shoulder. He dropped it on the ground. He sounded out of breath. “We went over this, kid. Sparrow . I don’t need your help.”

“Have you found it yet?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Would I still be here if I had?” he replied.

Winks started to meow loudly, and I could hear her through the closed fort door. Kimble and I looked at each other. He studied me. “You go in there?”

“I don’t know how to get in,” I lied. “I was just coming to see if you needed my help.”

“You didn’t actually say anything,” Kimble noted, stepping closer. His blue eyes were fierce as he held my gaze. “You’re not planning on doing anything stupid now, are you?”

The ground rumbled beneath our feet. Kimble was unfazed, but I jumped. “What was that?”

“The island,” he said, sounding frustrated. “Just reminding me how much time I have left before…” He didn’t finish the sentence. “I don’t have time for this. Go home, Sparrow,” he said, turning around and heading back out into the jungle of trees that swayed in the sunshine. “And don’t let me find you here again.”

“Yes, sir!” I said, relief flooding my body. This time I listened, running over the sandbar, back into the heavy rain and fog of Greenport, and not stopping till I reached my house. Inside, I rushed upstairs to my room, and as fast as I could, I wrote four letters. One for Aggy. One for Gil. One for Thomas, and a fourth for Laurel. I folded each letter and placed them in small purple pouches I’d made with scraps of fabric. On each, I stamped my symbol: Sparrow. So they’d know it was from me. I placed a coin safely inside each one. Then I waited for the day to end, for darkness to come and Papa, Mama, and my brothers to go to sleep. That’s when I would sneak back out. There was no time to waste. My friends were growing sicker, and the Blood Orange Moon was two days away. I needed to get these coins to my friends. Their lives depended on it.