When Ambrose returned to his workroom, Zoe didn’t join him, not until after dinner, when the deck was quiet and somber. Half the crew had heard all the shouting, and the other half was quick to learn about it. Some, he noticed, were visibly relieved to have a plan that didn’t involve risking their own lives. Others looked at him like he was already a dead man.

“Zoe,” he stood as soon as she entered, “you don’t have to help me if this if you don’t want to. I understand if—“

“You can teleport from the island,” she cut him off, clasping her hands behind her back. “Dawn’s idea. We anchor the ships on the far side, with the land between us and the fleet. You teleport to and from the island, raise a flag, then row to us. But you must raise the flag first, Mr. Beake, so we know you’re,” she sniffed, “so we know you’re—“

He gathered her up in a hug before she could burst into tears. “I promise you, I will raise the flag.” As she collected herself, he tried to smile and handed her a ladle. “Now, I think that’s enough invisibility for one day. How about I teach you about underwater breathing potions?”

#

As they approached the island in question—a crescent-shaped spit of land on the horizon, dotted with palm trees and little else—there was one more person he had to talk to. The person who had stayed the furthest away ever since the invisibility experiment two days ago.

He adjusted his cuffs and knocked on the door to the captain’s quarters.

“Eli?” he called. He knew the man was in there—there were only so many places to hide on a ship. “Captain, may I have a word?”

A pause. “Come in.”

He slipped inside and closed the door quietly. “Eli, I wanted to—“

“I can’t even look at the island,” Eli said. He was standing at the empty hearth, staring into it. His clothes were perfectly neat, but he still gave off an air of dishevelment. “I feel sick every time I see it.”

Ambrose dropped his shoulders. The island, and the treasure on it, was supposed to be a source of joy. It was not only his future, but the crew’s as well, whatever they chose to do with the gold.

He hadn’t meant to poison it.

“I’m sorry I tricked you into that promise,” he said, forging ahead with the apology he came in here to deliver. “It was a poor attempt to protect you, and I see that it has only caused you pain. I swear I will never do such a thing again.” Eli said nothing, and Ambrose fumbled for more words. “I’ll swear it on anything you like. The ship, the potion shop, my own life—“ Eli gave a humorless laugh, and a knot formed in Ambrose’s throat. “Eli, I have no intention of dying today, and every intention of coming back to you. Please, please tell me I haven’t ruined this.”

Eli whirled away from the hearth and was over to him in two paces, pulling him into a painfully tight embrace. “I want you to come back to me,” he whispered, his voice broken all over again. “I want you to take the gold and open a potion shop. I want to see you happy and safe—“

“You will.” Ambrose grabbed fistfuls of his coat as he returned the embrace, kissing the side of Eli’s head. “I’ll make sure of it.”

#

The crew was eager to row ashore—there was the smell of gold in the air, after all—and their excitement quickened the pace of the landing boats. That was for the best, Ambrose told himself. All the tilting wasn’t helping the churning in his stomach, and made him acutely aware of the grenade, wand, and vial strapped to his belt.

“Here!” Dawn called, waving her map and summoning her shovel-bearing crew. “Start digging here!”

While piles of sand and rock flew through the air, several others worked to erect a crude flagpole—little more than a plank of wood, a few hooks, and a rope. Ambrose’s throat tightened as Grim secured a scrap of blue fabric to the rope and gave it a test tug.

“This is what you’ll raise, Mr, Beake,” they said, “when you return to the island.”

“Are you sure we can’t stay here and wait?” Sherry grasped Ambrose’s shoulder. He squeezed her hand and shook his head.

“If the ships need to make a getaway, they can’t wait for those ashore to row back,” he said quietly. “I’ll not have anyone stranded on my account.” He glanced back to the ships. “Will you keep Zoe company while I’m away? I’m afraid she’s been quite nervous about the whole affair.”

“Wonder why,” Banneker grumbled loudly from the hole. “It’s not like you’re about to take down the most fearsome pirate-hunter this side of the—“

His shovel thumped not against dirt, but wood. Everyone froze.

“Faster,” Dawn ordered. “Let’s get this out of the ground before the fleet arrives.”

Eli hopped in to help dig, and as a large wooden chest revealed itself, nerves of a different sort turned Ambrose’s insides into knots. What if that pirate was right, and there was nothing inside? Even if they escaped the Navy fleet, he would have no avenue to the shop. The mere idea of facing years at the mast, or going back to his penniless existence on land, nearly overtook the weight of the grenade at his hip—

Something small flipped out of the hole and fell at Ambrose’s feet. A gold coin, glinting in the white sand. Ambrose fell to his knees. “Are you serious?”

Eli was grinning up at him, standing next to a chest as wide as he was tall. Every inch of it brimmed with blindingly yellow gold.

“Start thinking about what you want to name that shop, love,” he said, then stood on his toes, pulled Ambrose towards him, and kissed him.

After that, the crews worked faster than Ambrose had ever seen them. Canvas sacks loaded with gold went to Sherry first to weigh, then were divided evenly into two rowboats. Joyful shanties had already started up, both on land and aboard the ships. The only reason the Sunset wasn’t ablaze with a hundred flare wands was due to Dawn’s wise orders not to advertise their position.

“That’s the last of it,” Dawn said, wrapping an arm around Eli’s waist. Eli turned to the ocean and squeezed her hand.

“And just in time, too.”

White sails dotted the horizon, three sets of them on a straight course to the island.

“Time to go.” Grim started to guide Sherry away, but she tore out of their grasp and wrapped Ambrose in a hug.

“You be safe,” she whispered.

“As safe as I can be.” His heartbeat was back in his throat, making it difficult to swallow or speak. As soon as Sherry released him, Grim clapped a meaty hand to his shoulder, then followed her to the boats.

“Remember what I said,” Dawn’s voice clipped past his ear, then she was gone too, pink coat rippling in the wind. Banneker was next, lifting him in a hug to hide the tears in his eyes.

“First law of science,” he sniffed, “remember to have fun while being invisible.”

“I don’t think that’s the first law,” Ambrose held back tears of his own as he smiled, “nor even the second, but I’ll do my best.”

That left only Eli ashore, standing by the flagpole, the blue flag in the sand at his feet.

“If I don’t see this flag raised,” he said, his false smile trembling, “I will find Davy Jones, punch him in his barnacled face, and drag you up from the depths myself.”

Ambrose reached for him, and Eli was in his arms in seconds. Sand from Eli’s palms scraped against his cheeks, but he ignored it, focusing only on sealing his promise to return through his kiss. As soon as Eli pulled away, he drank the vial, letting the liquid rush past his lips before he could forget the plan and rush onto the boat with him.

“Watch for me,” he said, then gently pushed Eli towards the water. Eli kept his gaze on him until it unfocused, searching for where Ambrose’s eyes once were in the air. Ambrose looked down at his hands, and found he couldn’t see them.

Then as Eli finally turned and stepped into the boat, Ambrose pulled out the wand with a sweaty grip, spun it once, and pointed it at the flagship.