Yes! It was Elinor! I knew she would come!
“Elena, what do you want for me to give you, so that you will not harm Miss Victoria?” Elinor asked.

“What do I want? I want the KEY! What do you think?!?” Elena exclaimed.

“Very well, I will give it to you.” Elinor said.
I watched restlessly as Elinor was about to give the key to Elena. If she won, we would’ve come all this way for nothing!

Then suddenly, Elinor grabbed her sister and said,

“Victoria, catch!!” and she threw the key.

“Got it!!” I yelled.

When I looked down I saw Elinor and Elena fighting. “Oh, no.” I thought to myself.

“Enough, Elinor!! You’ve lost!!” Elena cried.
“You misunderstand, sister. You’re the one who has lost!!” Elinor grunted as she tried to get Elena off of her.
“AMELIA GET THE KEY FROM VICTORIA!! You may have 65% of the treasure!” Elena commanded. Just as Amelia was heading towards me, Celeste rushed forward.

“Oh, no you don’t, matie!” Celeste yelled as she pushed Amelia to the ground.

Juliet rushed to the aid of Celeste.
“Get off of her!” Juliet yelled.
“Stop, she’s my friend!” Rosa ordered.

I looked down at them all fighting and was troubled. Then I remembered the riddle:
“Take Heed!
Once inside the cave
A hero will save!
Tis’ no easy task
Ye should wear a mask”
“Perhaps the riddle means that I have to save my friends and restore everyone else’s friendship. ‘Wear a mask’ could mean that I need to be someone different to help everyone.” I thought to myself.

I went to Juliet and pulled her off of Rosa.

“Victoria, what are ya doing? She works for Elena!” Juliet said.
“That doesn’t mean that she’s evil, Juliet!” I said.

Then I walked over to Celeste and Amelia and I seperated them.

“You all wait here and just ignore each other for a sec, okay?” I ordered.
I pulled Elinor off of Elena and said,

“Elinor, think about who you’re fighting. This is your sister and as bad as she may be, she deserves a second chance.” I whispered.

“Everyone, stop fighting and listen to me for a moment!” I said, “I have come a long way and I have seen things I’ve only read about. It’s been quite a journey with a lot of hard work and determination. And I’m not going to see all that go to waste.”

“What exactly are you trying to say, missy?” Elena asked, getting bored of all the talk.

“Elena, Elinor, you’re sisters! I don’t know what happened between you two, but it needs to stop. Now, instead of both of you fighting to get to the chest first, so one of you ends up rich and happy and the other poor and miserable, why don’t you split the share of your parent’s treasure?” I suggested. Elinor smiled and said,
“I’d go for that.” And Elena agreed.

“Good! Elena, because of all that you have done I am going to give the key to Elinor.” I said.

“That’s not fair! We should both open the chest if we both have to share it!” Elena said not happy with the decision.
“You can help lift the top open, but there is no way I can trust you with the key!” I explained.

I handed the key to Elinor and she unlocked the chest.

“Wow!” Elinor and Elena exclaimed at the same time.

“Elinor, I want to apologize for how I have acted these past few years. I don’t know what came over me. We always used to have fun when we were younger, didn’t we?” Elena said.

“Aye, we did.” Elinor replied with a sigh.
“I want to change my ways and be a good older sister to you. Can you ever forgive me?” Elena asked.

“Aye, I forgive you, Elena.” Elinor said.

“Victoria, I am so sorry for what I have and what I have almost done to you. Could you forgive me?” Elena asked me.
“Of course.” I said with a smile.

I said goodbye to Rosa and Amelia. I thought of everything that had happened those past 2 weeks. Then suddenly, I knew where I belonged.

Weeks past and Captain McGovern’s ship was back in order. Celeste and Juliet looked on the horizon from the crows nest and Captain Elinor was at the wheel with her new crew mate…

I-  Victoria Farnsworth who used to live a wealthy life and never used to do any work at all, was now a pirate.

I guess that Captain Elinor was right- it truly is a pirate’s life for me!

THE END

~Jaclynn~