Leaping from the top of a barrel I tackled the pirate hard enough to send both of us crashing to the floor. He yelped in surprise as I yanked the sword out of his hands and pressed it against his neck, just above the carotid artery where his blood delivered vital oxygen to his brain. One cut and his life-force would drain away. He knew it too and kept still as I looked towards the man against the wall, sighing with relief.

  “Find some place to hide until you get your strength back,” I told him, then turned back towards the pirate, “Look, sir, this is all a big misunderstanding. We’re not here to steal your treasure. I mean we are, but not all of it! There were fifty coins planted on this ship a while ago, we just want to retrieve them and be on our way.”

  With all the charm he could muster, he spat in my face.

  “Get off me you block-headed harpy!”

  I sighed.

  “I’m really sorry about this. Hope it doesn’t hurt too much when you wake up.”

  I whacked the hilt of the sword against his head, sending him into unconsciousness as his eyes slowly closed and his head spun to a stop.

  He looked peaceful. At least, I hoped he was at peace. Maybe he’d have a bit of a sore head but he’d earned that for spitting in my face.

  Above the fray on the main deck, a shout sounded louder than the others, the gruff voice that could only belong to Rolene.

  “Do your worst!” she challenged and I spun around to see her duelling another pirate, holding her own capably enough. She was surprisingly agile on her feet and held back her opponent’s blows with a strength refined by transporting rocks from the quarry. But her movements were slowing, and I wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be able to keep it up.

  I inspected the unconscious pirate’s sword, almost a twin to the one sheathed at my side that was issued by the Estate, but lighter and with an amethyst embedded into the hilt. It would be easier to fight with.

  I unsheathed the sword from the Estate and flung it into the ocean, not watching it sink beneath the waves as I stole the other and charged towards the pirates targeting Rolene.

  “Behind you!” I screamed, letting the sword sing a song of defence as I swung it from side to side to keep the pirates away.

  “Ha! I knew you wouldn’t die first!” she cried, parrying another blow. “What do you say we show these suckers what we can really do?”

  “Isn’t that what we’re doing now? I don’t have any more tricks up my sleeve!”

  “It’s not over until the fat lady sings, kid, and I ain’t singing yet,” she laughed, and grabbed onto one of the ropes hanging down from the mast, “Let’s go.”

  I lunged for the rope opposite and we ran back, jumping simultaneously and letting the weight of the rope fly us forward as we kicked our opponents overboard.

  They landed in the water with a splash, bobbing up and down like buoys, figuring out a way to get back on board as the ship soldiered on, leaving them further and further behind.

  Rolene and I had barely celebrated when a rhythmic thud started creeping behind us. Wood scraping against wood.

  We both turned around to meet another pirate. With his coat billowing in the wind, his hat sitting on top of his head like an outstretched fan and his peg leg, he could only have been the captain.

  The sword he held at his side dripped blood onto the floor, each red drop as he stepped closer a warning.

  “Evening ladies,” he said with a rolling accent, “I was told I might have some stowaways. I was also told not to give them anything at all costs.”

  I cleared my throat, already dry with fear.

  “Please, sir. We only need one coin each.”

  He swaggered forward still.

  “It’s a pity you found yourself in my waters,” he sighed, “I really hate cleaning the blood off this ship.”

  He lunged forward, and luckily Rolene was a split second faster than me, because she blocked his attack not a moment too late, swords clashing against each other in a stalemate.

  “Run!” she cried, but I stood on the spot.

  “No, I want to help.”

  “You can help by finding your coin and getting out of here. Go!”

  She pulled back her sword, letting the captain stumble a bit before she went for the next strike but he saw it coming and swung at her legs, forcing her to jump.

  The momentum sent her falling on the floor and as she did, something glinted against the steel of her sword. Something gold.

  I turned behind me for the source of the reflection and sure enough, tied to the mast at eye level was a golden coin, engraved with the number TL3540. Not mine but it belonged to someone. A small victory.

  “Hey!” I shouted, swiping the coin from where it was embedded among the rope. The captain turned from his advancement to face me. “I’m stealing a piece of treasure!”

  I waved the coin mockingly.

  “That doesn’t belong to you,” he growled in warning.

  Well, he wasn’t wrong about that, but I looked him straight in the eyes and said, “Come and get it then.”

  And we were off to the races.

  Fast as I could, I scrambled up the mast, up towards the pillowy sails, not daring to look back to check if he was following as my muscles strained to climb higher and higher until I finally reached the topmast, balancing on the precipice with the ocean surrounding me, white waves curling like fingers beckoning me to join them. Which, at this height, would not end so well. The roaring wind didn’t help my fast-beating heart, howling even fiercer at the extra distance above sea level.

  The captain still climbed the topmast below with surprising speed and strength, hoisting himself up through sheer determination.

  I waved my sword to stop him getting any closer.

  “Sorry, captain, but I need this. All these people do.”

  He hesitated for a second, the murderous look in his face diminishing to contemplation.

  “You seem like a polite young woman, it really will be a shame to kill you.”

  If murder was still on the table, maybe it’d be a good idea to change tactics. I let my legs dangle over the topmast and nodded.

  “I understand, you’ve got to save face and defend what’s yours, but surely two civil people such as ourselves can reach a compromise.”

  He shook his head.

  “I’m afraid the man who warned me about you lot was quite clear. I mustn’t part with a single coin or he’ll kill me when I reach the Azores.”

  “What man?”

  What monster would do such a thing?

  “Tall, muscular, no hair… English.”

  He said that last word with disgust. English… that must’ve been what they called people from Saxanglain in the old days.

  “He gave me strict instructions to make it as difficult for you as possible.”

  The description was disturbingly familiar… the instructor back at the Estate, Maddox. He must’ve offered the captain extra motivation to keep the coins. I should’ve known, even this far away in time and space, the Estate’s puppet strings still controlled our lives, our fates.

  “You’re gonna let a coward bully you?” I asked over the wind.

  “His negotiation tactic was quite persuasive.”

  “I’m sure it was. However, at the end of the day, beneath all the brawn, he’s only an empty man, threatening those who he thinks won’t fight back,” I told the captain, pointing my sword at the Relegates fighting below, “But we can fight back. All of us. Because you and I have the same power he’s not counting on. We both have nothing to lose, and people with nothing to lose have everything to gain.”

  He watched the action playing out on deck with pursed lips, providing a flicker of hope. At least he was considering it.

  “If I let you do this, he’ll kill me.”

  “He’ll try,” I agreed, “But then you’ll beat him, and isn’t that worth fifty gold coins? To gain the respect of your crew by preventing their deaths and defeating a bully?”

  He looked up, searching my face for a sign of deceit.

  “I let you search the ship, take one coin each, then you leave for good? No one else dies?”

  “I promise it.”

  A debate raged in his mind. I could see every doubt, every counterargument play out on his face. For what seemed like forever, he weighed out every argument, almost to the point where I believed he wouldn’t go for it, but after a few more seconds of deliberation, he gave a curt nod.

  “There’s been enough bloodshed today.”

  That seemed to settle it as he slid back, grabbing onto a rope and swinging down to the deck.

  I followed, landing on my feet shortly after him.

  “Stop!” he shouted, taking my sword and clanging it against his to grab everyone’s attention. “I order the fighting to stop!”

  The shouts died down, and slowly, pair by pair, more and more eyes became fixed on the captain. When he was sure the fighting had stopped, he exhaled a breath he must’ve been holding for quite some time.

  “I am an honourable man, and both sides have lost today. Therefore, while we are a crew capable of exacting our vengeance, we will give the stowaways until sunset to leave. Alive, and with the coins that are rightfully theirs. If anyone has anything to say about it they can talk directly to me. Understood?”

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  The pirates grumbled but dropped their weapons, which rumbled to the floor like thunder. The Relegates hesitated, and behind me Rolene gripped my shoulder.

  “What did you say to him?” she whispered.

  “I just reminded him we had a common enemy.”

  She gave me a look that could have been described as dismayed, but I chose to interpret it as impressed, before muttering something under her breath.

  “Come on Relegates!” she cried, “Let’s follow their good example.”

  Her voice didn’t leave room for defiance as a second round of weapons hit the floor. Some tension eased in the captain’s shoulders.

  “You have my permission to search the ship for what you are looking for,” he said to us with a slight dip of his head, “Now, Robert and Linus, in my quarters please, we have much to discuss.”

  The two men I assumed were Robert and Lineus followed their captain into the room under the stairs while the other pirates turned on anyone with an R on their shirt, grimacing with yellowed, crooked teeth.

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve taking our coin after ye killed our own,” sneered one of them in my direction, pale face and bulging eyes combining with swollen gums to produce a horrifying picture of ill-health.

  I’d witnessed a couple of cases of scurvy during my time on the med ward, thanks to the extremely varied and healthy diet of rations served at the institution, but nothing as bad as this.

  “Suck a lemon,” I replied, “And by the way, you killed some of our people too. We don’t want to be here any more than you do, can’t you see that?”

  The pirate started growling but Rolene wedged herself between us to stop any threat of violence.

  “Which is why we’ll be minding our business and finding those coins as soon as possible so we can be out of your hair.”

  She put a strong arm around my shoulders and led me away.

  “Look, I’m as confused as you are about this whole situation,” she whispered, “But the best thing to do is stay out of their way. We’re not making the best first impression so we need to show them we’re not trying to invade their home. Gather the Relegates, we need to work together if we’re going to find everyone’s coins in time.”

  I sighed.

  “Whoever’s idea it was to send us looking for personalised coins on an old pirate ship while fighting pirates guaranteed to hate us from the get-go as a first trial has a lot of explaining to do.”

  “It’s… a lot,” Rolene agreed, and for a moment she was someplace else, far beyond the tilting horizon, “Doesn’t it seem odd to you, travelling in time to prove our worth? Why couldn’t we do it in our time, at the Estate?”

  “Maybe we’re not the only ones being tested. Maybe they want to see how far their control can reach.”

  Rolene nodded darkly.

  “Be careful, Pickering. I wouldn’t trust anyone at the Estate with so much as a toothpick.”

  My hands closed around a circular object in my pockets. She was right of course, even if there was one person who’d been given the chance to betray me and hadn’t. Still, it would be better to keep a level head.

  “Before I forget,” I said, bringing out the coin I’d picked from the mast, “This belongs to somebody.”

  “We’ll find them,” she said, nodding sternly, “Now let’s search for the others.”

  We spent the rest of the available time on our little treasure hunt, finding coins under rum barrels, wedged in door frames and one even stuck above the latrine. At least it avoided most of the human waste, on a small shelf off the floor, but I was careful to watch where I stepped as I retrieved it.

  The pirates largely ignored us as they were instructed to but it was hard to ignore the dirty looks and stares. The foundations of our temporary alliance were starting to crack, and there was no doubt if we stayed much longer they’d crumble entirely.

  Luckily, we’d found most of the coins in the time we had before the portal opened again.

  “Alright, think that’s all of them,” said Rolene to the gathering group of Relegates, “Time to distribute. Call the number on the coins you’ve all found and whoever it belongs to step up to collect it.”

  She rummaged through her pockets where she’d kept quite a stash of findings and brought out five golden pieces.

  “BN6489. FS2472. RV5288. MD2956. TL3791.”

  Four people raised their hands and retrieved them. Rolene raised her eyebrows and the single coin left.

  “FS2472?” she tried again, but still no one answered. None of us said what we knew to be true, that FS2472 had likely been one of the people killed by the pirates. One of the nameless bodies.

  This continued for some time, most coins claimed by an owner but some not and each time I waited for my own number to be called, and each time tried not to let my rising panic get the better of me. The next person would have it, or the next, or the next, but too soon my turn came around, and I knew for a fact nothing in my pockets belonged to me.

  I turned them out, and called the numbers for the people to claim. One by one the coins disappeared, and I realised everyone was holding one except for me.

  Rolene glanced at my empty hands.

  “You don’t have yours?”

  I shook my head.

  “There’s still time,” she said, “We’ll look again.”

  No sooner had she said the words the space behind her flashed blue lightening and mist started swirling in thunderous clouds, the portal opening for us.

  I expected everyone to shoot apologetic looks and rush through but they stayed, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t warm my heart a bit.

  With people standing beside me, even when they had no reason to, the danger seemed a little less scary.

  “There be your portal!” cried the scurvy pirate from earlier, “Make yourself scarce.”

  Rolene stepped up to him.

  “Wait a moment, we’re missing a coin.”

  The pirate grinned horribly.

  “That be none of my concern. We had a deal and I expect you to take the wench through the portal, coin or not. Savvy?”

  Rolene didn’t move, so the pirate lunged forward and started pushing me towards the portal himself.

  “Captain’s busy, but I’m sure he won’t mind me hurrying things along.”

  “Get off me!” I yelled, wrestling out of his rough grip, flailing pathetically to avoid the portal.

  Not yet, please not yet.

  In all the flailing my hand pulled at his coat, almost turning it upside down, where a gold coin clattered from his upturned pocket to the floor.

  Our eyes widened, and his grip loosened as I pounced for it, not daring to hope until I saw the number staring back at me.

  VC2104.

  Mine.

  I almost kissed it with relief, but then I saw the pirate’s face, eyes shifting.

  He’d hidden it. On purpose.

  “I couldn’t let ye have them all,” he growled, “Ye didn’t deserve it.”

  Deep breaths filled my lungs, my nostrils flared with the air hissing in and out, my hands itched to make him pay for what he’d almost done. But he had a right to be angry too.

  Unfortunately.

  I spat at his feet instead.

  “Your fight wasn’t with us.”

  Rolene and I turned our backs to him and walked towards the misty portal, secure in the knowledge that for now, at least, we were safe.

  Back at the Estate, the Chancellor welcomed us back with the bullet-fire of camera flashes.

  “And there they are! Welcome back, and congratulations for making it over the first hurdle. Please be patient while Maddox inspects your coins.”

  Maddox marched down the line, mechanically studying everyone’s pieces. He found no faults, no reason to throw anyone back through the portal. He almost looked annoyed about it.

  I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at his scowl when he announced through gritted teeth how we were safe until the next trial.

  Don’t be too happy about it, will you? I thought.

  That was when I caught Elian hiding a smirk behind his hand, as if he’d noticed my judgement, maybe even shared in it. But that wouldn’t do. I needed to wipe that smirk from his face, show him he wasn’t immune to my mockery either. He must’ve found my ignorance around his identity last night so amusing. Oh look at the silly Relegate girl, I think I’ll let her make a fool of herself a little longer, it’s so entertaining! Ha. If he thought I’d let him get the upper hand he had another thing coming.

  I shot him a look that said Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, son of the Chancellor, but he simply shrugged.

  Nobody else seemed to notice the silent exchange, what with all the attention being on Maddox, and I was glad for it until Maddox’s scowl faded and all our androids trooped into the room, lining up at the entrance to the portal.

  “That’s all for today, thank you,” said the Chancellor, ushering out the press, who snapped a last couple of pictures of the androids laid out like an army. Once they’d disappeared behind the doors of the lift, he turned to Maddox.

  “We don’t need pictures of the dead ones, after all.”

  The silence grew thick and heavy as we realised what the androids were currently lined up for.

  “Let this be a warning to you,” he spoke to us now as the androids marched into the portal, his words matching pace with their footsteps, “When you signed that paper, you signed away your lives. So while it makes no difference to me, I’d advise you not to try anything, because we can and will make an example of you. Failed participants will be taken, dead or alive, to the primary labs and made useful.”

  One of the Relegates lifted his hand, and we collectively held our breath. Even the Chancellor and Maddox were mildly surprised.

  “What do you mean by useful?” the Relegate asked.

  The Chancellor gave a tooth-filled smile.

  “There is a way to reanimate the dead by combining them with android technology. Of course, since you are property of the Estate you’ll forgive us if we use this technology to our advantage. You are investments, after all, so we might as well make the most of you.”

  “You mean… you mean like turning our corpses into robot servants?”

  The Chancellor tilted his head in a poor imitation of pity.

  “Oh come now, you have nothing to fear as long as you don’t fail our trials. Chin up old boy.”

  You could almost hear the hearts dropping in people’s chests, the bile rising to their throats.

  For my part, I dug my nails into my palms as the androids returned, carrying all of ten bodies on stretchers through the gym and into the lifts, presumably to be converted. It offered a grim vision of our possible futures. No one deserved this. After all we’d been through, all we’d endured…

  They wouldn’t even let us rest in peace.

  And something about those faces, asleep and helpless, set my core alight, birthing a flame that would never go out until I got justice for them.

  I couldn’t save them in life, but maybe I could honour them in death.

  My jaw trembled from clamping it down too hard. This was not the time for tears. Somehow the Estate would be punished for this affront, this absolute mockery of human life. They’d pay with my fire and anguish and blood.

  I could rip them limb from limb, slowly so they could watch and know the whole time they were powerless to stop me. Or let every mistake flash before their eyes while I watched them burn to pieces.

  A hand lay on my shoulder.

  “Easy there,” Rolene murmured, “Nobody wins when you act on hatred.”

  Her words only fanned the flames within me, but I stayed still and said nothing while the lift doors shut.

  To be fair, I didn’t trust what would come out of my mouth if I did try to speak.

  Maddox dismissed us until dinner under the careful watch of our androids who were supposed to stop us if we went anywhere we weren’t supposed to.

  Ganymede and I trudged back to my room through the silver-gilded halls, though they’d lost their shine in the early evening, neither of us much in the mood to talk.

  Which was why it was perfect when footsteps echoed along the marble floor behind us, announcing Elian’s presence. The last person I wanted to see.

  He stopped some feet away, as if he was scared to get too close, his hair dishevelled and cheeks turned a shade darker. He must’ve jogged up the stairs.

  “For what it’s worth,” he panted, “I tried to stop him.”

  “But you didn’t, did you?” I scoffed, “And now those poor people… for the sake of what? What reason could there possibly be for that kind of cruelty?”

  I barely stopped my voice from breaking. His mouth gaped open to talk but he struggled to find the words. I crossed my arms and turned to leave.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, reaching out to me, “It’s not right, any of it. If I was in charge I’d stop all of this in a heartbeat, but my father’s stubborn. He has his vision of a perfect world and doesn’t care who he hurts to achieve it.”

  I stopped, still hugging my chest.

  “What’s it to you? You’re a Custom, same as him, you don’t care what happens to us.”

  He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, something like anger flaring in his chest.

  “I’ve watched people die, people I cared about, and if anyone tried to do to them what he’s doing to you... I understand you’re angry but please don’t paint me with the same brush as him. What he’s doing is unforgivable.”

  I looked at him with wide eyes, the news I’d watched last night resurfacing in my memory. Because the reports didn’t just show him following around his father, that wasn’t the half of it. He’d been away among bombs and bloodshed, more violence than even I could muster the courage the think about.

  “You’ve come back from the war.”

  I’d heard of the war of course, but isolated in the institution it seemed so far away, so insignificant. A danger that would never reach our shores. Which was foolish, obviously. Danger waited until you weren’t looking to strike. But no, I’d never really thought about the war, about the people who signed up to fight in it.

  The European Commonwealth had been fighting amongst itself for decades now, west versus east, so long that its news had faded into background chatter, with neither side ever making any progress. And I’d gone ahead and told him he hadn’t lost anything. Stupid.

  Elian’s dark eyes creased in sympathy as they returned to the present.

  “I’m not in the habit of making promises I can’t keep,” he said soberly, “But I do promise to do what I can to help you and your friends. You won’t be going back to the institutions or converted into robots if I can help it.”

  I couldn’t say whether it reassured or terrified me, nor could I say exactly what his motives were, but one thing was clear, the trials were far from over, and if I had any chance of surviving, I’d need all the help I could get. Even if it was from a boy who believed he could change the entire world in a heartbeat.

  “Why did you come find me?” I asked.

  “I didn’t want you to think I’m a monster, that I agreed with any of this. Besides,” he added, the shadows under his eyes clearing to make way for the flicker of the boy I’d met last night, “I thought we’d started a thing. You came to me, now I come to you…”

  He tilted side to side and I had to stop myself laughing.

  “That’s not a thing.”

  His face brightened.

  “Sure it is. I mean, maybe not yet but we could make it one. You look like you could do with an ally.”

  How pathetic must my life have been that I was so touched by such a simple offer. It shouldn’t have hurt in my chest so much.

  “You’re being too nice,” I told him, only half-joking, “I don’t trust it.”

  “A wise decision,” he pretended to agree. “Perhaps you’re right, perhaps I should work on being cold and aloof, close myself off to everyone. After all, they say the biggest bleeding hearts die first.”

  “They do?”

  “Oh, they definitely do. Anyway, see you at dinner.”

  He turned on his heel and sauntered back to where he’d come from, leaving me to question if I’d been too hasty in my judgment.