“No.”
Jo Mama put both hands on the wheel.
Paul pointed at her.
“No.”
Jo looked at the wheel.
Then at Paul.
“Already driving.”
“That is precisely the problem.”
The ship rolled beneath them.
Jo widened her stance.
“Boat likes Jo.”
“The boat does not have opinions.”
A wave slammed into the hull.
The wheel spun.
Jo caught it.
“Boat disagrees.”
Paul grabbed the railing.
“WHO LET JO MAMA DRIVE THE BOAT?”
From somewhere below deck, Jimmy shouted:
“CAPTAIN DID.”
Paul looked toward the stern.
Captain Marrow was unconscious.
“THE CAPTAIN HAS A CONCUSSION!”
Jimmy considered.
“Before concussion.”
Paul closed his eyes.
“That does not help.”
Three days earlier, the assignment had sounded reasonable.
That should have warned them.
A royal courier vessel, the Crown’s Wake, needed passage across the Sea of Storms.
Its cargo was diplomatic correspondence for the island kingdom of Veloria.
King Aldric wanted additional protection after the stolen-seal plot.
The party needed to travel south anyway.
Transportation.
Payment.
Ocean air.
Simple.
Then Jo saw the ship.
“BIG BOAT.”
Captain Marrow looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Can Jo drive?”
“No.”
“Later?”
“No.”
“Emergency?”
“No.”
“What if captain says yes?”
“I won’t.”
Jo nodded.
“Okay.”
Paul relaxed.
This was his mistake.
The first day passed peacefully.
Jo stood at the bow.
Ellie spent most of the afternoon climbing the rigging despite having no official reason to do so.
Luviana discovered that sailors were exceptionally responsive to compliments.
The Paladin learned nautical law.
Jimmy disappeared into the cargo hold and emerged three hours later with a complete inventory nobody had requested.
Paul read.
It was almost restful.
Then Jo found the cannon.
“No,” Paul said.
Jo had not touched it.
“Didn’t ask.”
“You looked.”
“Eyes only.”
Paul returned to his book.
On the second day, pirates appeared.
The lookout shouted.
Three black-sailed ships emerged through the morning fog.
Captain Marrow swore.
The Paladin frowned.
“Language.”
The captain stared at her.
“Pirates.”
“Still.”
The captain reconsidered.
“Apologies.”
The largest pirate ship raised a red flag.
Paul looked at Marrow.
“What does that mean?”
“No quarter.”
Jo leaned over.
“Meaning?”
“They don’t intend to take prisoners.”
Jo’s expression changed.
The silliness disappeared.
“Bad pirates.”
“Yes.”
Jo cracked her knuckles.
“Okay.”
The first bolts hit the Crown’s Wake.
Wood exploded.
Sailors scattered.
The Paladin organized the deck defense.
Paul raised a magical barrier.
Ellie vanished into the rigging.
Jimmy started distributing things nobody remembered him packing.
Luviana moved between the injured.
The pirates boarded.
Jo met the first one at the rail.
He swung.
She ducked.
Grabbed his coat.
Lifted him.
Paul saw where this was going.
“Jo!”
She looked at him.
The pirate dangled.
“What?”
“Do not casually throw people into the ocean!”
Jo looked at the pirate.
Then the ocean.
“Pirate.”
“Yes, he is attacking us. Defend yourself. That does not mean every person you grab becomes cargo to be disposed of!”
Jo considered this.
Then set the pirate back on the deck.
The pirate stared at her.
Jo punched him.
He collapsed.
Paul nodded.
“Better.”
Another pirate charged.
Jo caught him.
Paused.
Looked at Paul.
Paul pointed at the deck.
Jo put him down.
Then knocked him unconscious.
“Learning,” she said.
“Technically.”
The battle spread across the ship.
Ellie dropped from the rigging behind two boarders.
The Paladin held the center.
Paul’s magic blasted another pirate backward onto his own boarding plank.
Jimmy threw a bucket.
Nobody knew why.
It worked.
Then something hit the Crown’s Wake.
Not a cannon.
Something much larger.
The entire ship lurched.
Captain Marrow went down.
The helmsman was thrown against the railing.
The wheel spun free.
Jo caught Marrow before his head hit the deck.
Luviana rushed over.
“Concussion.”
Marrow blinked.
“Wheel.”
The ship turned.
Straight toward the pirates.
Marrow pointed.
At Jo.
“Hold it steady.”
Paul stared.
Jo stared.
“Me?”
“STEADY.”
Jo ran to the wheel.
She grabbed it.
And that was how Paul found himself shouting:
“WHO LET JO MAMA DRIVE THE BOAT?”
Captain Marrow had.
Before the concussion.
Jimmy had technically been correct.
Paul hated that.
The Crown’s Wake shuddered.
Something enormous rose beside them.
A tentacle struck the deck.
Jo stared.
“Big squid.”
“Kraken!” Paul shouted.
“Big squid.”
“THIS IS NOT THE TIME.”
Another tentacle wrapped around the mast.
Wood groaned.
Sailors hacked at it.
Another swept across the deck.
Jimmy disappeared.
“JIMMY!” Jo shouted.
A moment later his head appeared.
He was wrapped in a tentacle.
“Got me.”
The tentacle lifted him.
Jimmy remained oddly calm.
Paul shouted:
“WHY ARE YOU CALM?”
Jimmy reached into his bag.
“Got stuff.”
“THAT DOES NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION!”
Jimmy produced a knife.
Too small.
He put it back.
A hammer.
No.
Rope.
Possibly.
Then-
A jar of grease.
Jimmy paused.
“Could need.”
He poured it over himself.
The tentacle’s grip slipped.
Jimmy shot downward.
The Paladin caught him.
They both hit the deck.
Jimmy looked at the empty jar.
“Needed.”
The Paladin lay beneath him.
“Yes.”
Jimmy smiled.
Jo fought the wheel.
The kraken pulled the mast.
The ship turned.
Paul saw the rocks ahead.
“JO.”
“BUSY.”
“ROCKS.”
“SEE.”
“We’re heading directly toward them.”
“YEP.”
“TURN.”
“CAN’T.”
The kraken had them.
Jo looked at the sails.
The wind.
The reef.
The pirate ship trapped behind them.
The tentacle pulling from starboard.
Then the wheel.
Paul recognized the expression.
Greyhaven.
The map.
The riverbank.
That same moment when the pieces stopped being separate things and became one picture inside Jo’s head.
“Jo?”
“Got idea.”
Paul hated those words.
“What idea?”
“Boat wants go that way.”
“The boat does not-”
“Kraken pulls that way.”
Paul stopped.
Jo pointed.
“Wind pushes us.”
“Yes.”
“Rocks there.”
“Yes.”
“Pirates there.”
Paul looked.
His eyes widened.
“Oh.”
Jo grinned.
“Yep.”
She spun the wheel.
“JO!”
“TRUST BOAT!”
“I DON’T TRUST YOU!”
“GOOD ENOUGH!”
The Crown’s Wake turned.
Not away from the reef.
Toward it.
The crew screamed.
The remaining pirate vessel followed.
The kraken pulled.
The wind pushed.
Jo held the wheel.
Paul stared at the narrow channel between two black reefs.
“That gap is too small.”
“Maybe.”
“JO.”
“Boat skinny.”
“BOATS DO NOT-”
The Crown’s Wake entered the gap.
“Bye pirates.”
Paul stared at her.
“You did that on purpose.”
“Yep.”
“You used the kraken’s pull to help turn us.”
“Yep.”
“And the reef to break its grip.”
“Yep.”
“And left the pirates following directly into the same channel.”
“Yep.”
Paul looked at the wheel.
Then Jo.
“Who are you?”
Jo smiled.
“Captain Jo.”
“No.”
The storm worsened.
For two hours, Jo remained at the wheel.
Not alone.
The actual helmsman recovered enough to stand beside her.
At first he shouted instructions.
Then corrections.
Then fewer corrections.
Eventually he simply watched.
“Feel the pull,” he said.
Jo nodded.
“Boat tells.”
“Through the wheel.”
“Yep.”
“Don’t fight every movement.”
“Let boat move little.”
“Exactly.”
Paul heard this.
He looked at Jo.
Jo looked at him.
“Jo learning.”
Paul smiled despite himself.
“Yes.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am learning too.”
By sunset, the storm broke.
Captain Marrow woke.
He climbed onto deck with Luviana threatening to put him back in bed.
He saw Jo at the wheel.
Stopped.
Looked at Paul.
Paul held up both hands.
“You told her.”
Marrow remembered.
“Oh.”
Jo waved.
“Captain!”
Marrow looked at the intact ship.
The surviving crew.
The wrecked pirate vessel far behind them.
Then Jo.
“How?”
Paul answered.
“I would prefer not to discuss it.”
Jo grinned.
“Natural twenty.”
Marrow nodded slowly.
“Of course.”
They reached Veloria the next morning.
The royal harbor master met them at the dock.
He examined the damaged Crown’s Wake.
“Pirates?”
Captain Marrow nodded.
“Kraken?”
“Yes.”
“Storm?”
“Yes.”
The harbor master looked at Jo.
“And?”
Marrow sighed.
“Jo.”
The harbor master wrote something down.
The diplomatic cargo arrived intact.
Mostly.
One crate was soaked.
One had claw marks.
One had somehow acquired Jimmy’s name on an inventory label.
But the royal correspondence was safe.
The harbor master handed Captain Marrow a document.
Marrow read it.
His face changed.
Paul noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Paul held out his hand.
Marrow sighed and gave it to him.
Paul read.
Then looked at Jo.
Jo smiled.
“What?”
Paul read aloud:
“Notice of damages and navigational irregularities involving His Majesty’s royal vessel Crown’s Wake.”
The Paladin winced.
Paul continued.
“Combat maneuvering under emergency authorization.”
Jo nodded.
“Captain authorized.”
Marrow nodded.
“I did.”
Paul continued.
“Reckless proximity to protected reef structures.”
“Saved boat.”
“Yes.”
He reached the final line.
His shoulders dropped.
“What?” Ellie asked.
Paul read:
“Temporary helmswoman Jo Mama is hereby prohibited from independently operating vessels belonging to the Crown pending review.”
Jo stared.
“Banned from boat?”
“Only royal boats.”
Jo thought.
“Other boats okay?”
Everyone shouted:
“NO.”
“Normal.”
Jimmy inspected a coil of rope.
The Paladin read the maritime regulations.
Paul stared at the ocean.
Jo sat beside him.
“Paul.”
“Yes?”
“Jo good captain.”
Paul sighed.
Then looked at her.
“You were.”
Jo smiled.
“Say again.”
“No.”
“Paul.”
“You were a competent emergency helmswoman.”
“Captain.”
“No.”
“Captain Jo.”
“No.”
“Captain Jo Mama.”
Paul ate his lunch.
Jo leaned closer.
“Captain.”
He ignored her.
A horn sounded from the harbor.
Everyone looked.
A magnificent royal ship was entering port.
Three masts.
White sails.
Gold trim.
Jo stood.
Paul immediately grabbed the back of her belt.
“No.”
“Just looking.”
“No.”
“Eyes only.”
“No.”
The ship glided toward the dock.
Jo watched with admiration.
Paul tightened his grip.
The Paladin looked up from the regulations.
Jimmy looked at the ship.
Ellie smiled.
Luviana laughed.
Jo pointed.
“Big boat.”
Paul closed his eyes.
“Yes, Jo.”
“Can Jo-”
“No.”
She hadn’t even finished the sentence.
Jo grinned.
The royal ship entered the harbor.
And somewhere in a government office, a clerk who had never met Jo Mama began preparing paperwork that would eventually become extremely relevant.