Outwardly Ruby’s question was simple enough to understand and said with grace. Yet, there was a burning anger that was barely perceivable that surrounded the question. “I know quite a bit about you, Ruby One-Eye.” A moment ter Pearly found an overgrown path of cobblestone and pointed north, “Almost there Ruby.” It was the silence behind her that made Pearly’s hair stand on edge. She could feel Ruby right behind her, dead silent and expecting a real answer. “Okay. Okay, Damn it girl, Okay.” Pearly picked up her pace as she spoke, the little oak stick clopping forward with every step. “It wasn’t exactly hidden news that a dy named Tanya Rankles killed, murdered Duke Garrett. Your description and name were on the lips of every Frenchman that had an opinion.”

  Recovering her lighter spirit the moment she heard Pearly use her normal pattern of four words, Ruby’s dagger stopped heating her leg and a cool breeze passed through the shadowed trees to calm her further. “That’s true, the name was all over the pce. I never once used it openly, and went to Venice.”

  “I know all of that, Ruby.” Pearly waved to the younger pirate to walk beside her. “Since I work for many of the cities in Italy under a letter of marque, I get correspondence all the time saying which .. cargo .. is questionable. Savvy?”

  Without much warning the woods opened before the couple and led up to a dark three-story chapel, where various statues of clergy formed a pleasant welcome to the house of worship. “Yeah, I get it.” Ruby sighed, “Keep that information to yourself and I’ll owe you another favor.”

  With a healthy ugh, Pearly held up two fingers. “You have many more secrets that I know about, young dy. Let’s call it two more. So back to four.” Pearly skipped her boots over the cobblestone happily. “Gotcha. Now you’re doing this for free. I do like gambling with you Ruby.” She ughed. “Do you ever win?”

  “You are a loadstone, Pearly.” Ruby affirmed and pulled her dagger free of her small calf sheath. “This isn’t a house, Pearly. It’s a damned church.”

  “Expins the basement.” Pearly chuckled, “No better pce to be haunted than an old church with statues all over the pce.” Pearly opened one of her pouches and tied both of the streamers to the stick and shoved the yers full of bark and dried leaves. “A torch.”

  While Ruby could see perfectly clear with her mermaid vision, Ruby pyed along with Pearly since she knew the woman likely couldn’t see beyond the edge of the light she’d just created. “It’s been my experience that if there are valuables in a church, they are locked up until service and then used on the main altar and stage.” Ruby took the lead and stayed just ahead of Pearly with the torchlight behind her.

  “Can you pick the lock?” Pearly noted the chain and lock that held the hard wooden doors firmly shut.

  Sheathing her dagger, Ruby reached into her own dress and pulled out a small pouch from under her breast and unrolled a small set of thin tools in odd shapes. “Comes in handy.” Slipping a few of the tiny needle-like pins from the roll, Ruby held the lock and inserted the tines and nodded with each tumbler she moved.

  “Comes in handy while you are in a dress?” Pearly ughed. “How in the hell do you dance and keep them under your tits girl?” Pearly held the end of her pistol and peered in a circle to see if there was anyone else nearby.

  With her entire face lit up, Ruby let the click of the lock echo all around them. “I have a few secrets that I am not telling Pearly Pieces of Eight.” She handed the old pirate the lock. “A memento. I’d kiss it because…”

  Pearly took the lock and squished her eye shut, knowing what was coming next. “...Yes, Ruby…”

  “It would be worth an absolute fortune.” They both said at the exact same time.

  “Hey, that’s my line.” Ruby retorted and yanked the chain free. “Let me test the doors now. The lock might have been just part of an entire setup.” Quickly scanning the area, Ruby found a few sticks and started poking the door where she could in the hopes of hitting something unnatural. “We don’t want to open the door and get a face full of frog poison.”

  “I am older than you, it’s my line.” Pearly retorted and walked closer to the door for the light to shine better for Ruby. “I used it before you could crawl, girl. Now then, what in the world are you talking about with this frog poison?”

  Feeling a tiny bit of resistance with one of her smaller sticks, Ruby twisted to face Pearly. “I need you to hold this just like it is. Don’t move a muscle. I think it’s a tripwire.” When Pearly grabbed the stick like a mug of ale, Ruby poked Pearly’s nose. “I said don’t move a muscle and here you are grabbing it like a hunk of meat.” Ruby took a couple of steps back and looked over the church entrance and spotted a couple off center rocks that were slightly poking out from the rest of the roof structure. “Just as I suspected. The lock was too easy.” Ruby grabbed Pearly by the waist. “Slowly, now…follow my lead. Left foot then Right, left-right. Got it?”

  “Yes. Why exactly?” Pearly inquired and did her best to look where Ruby had just been studying the architecture of the entryway. “I don’t see anything.”

  Ignoring the question, Ruby squeezed Pearly’s hip, “Now, after the first left step, release the stick slowly. Don’t jerk it or try to retrieve it.” With a steady breath and watching the rocks, Ruby’s voice was commanding yet gentle. “Left…drop, right. Left-Right.”

  Following Ruby’s suggestion to the letter of her words, Pearly moved backward and did so with a little dance in her feet and hips, released the little wooden branch like she’d dropped a feather and took another two complete steps back. It was only after the couple had stopped moving that Pearly realized that she’d done everything with her eye closed. “Nothing happened, so I must have done it right. I felt like I was dancing.” Pearly swatted Ruby’s hands away, and spun on her heel. “Let’s not get that close again.”

  With an annoyed sputter, Ruby let go of Pearly’s waist and began walking around the church. “I didn’t want to be that close in the first pce. I could have let the rocks just fall on you, then where would you have been?” Ruby walked her fingers along the rock wall and hummed to herself as she did so. “Then I would have owed you nothing, Pearly Pieces of Eight.”