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"In his cabin," Ghost replied, glancing fros and took it for hiht as the new first s to me"

Jack stared at him, and for a moment the rest of the crew--the rest of the world--did not exist "It’s yours?"

"You couldn’t have known," Ghost said He s Johansen, the sneaky bastard"

"Why would ’e do that?" Tree asked, obviously doubtful "He’d know you’d kill ’i and unsettling as ever "I think maybe he wanted to be captain"

"So I did you a da hi deep, bloody gashes across Finn’s cheek and jaw Then he crouched in front of Finn as the sailor struggled against the hold the twins had on him

"You tried to do yourself a favor, Finn But it backfired, didn’t it? As all of your plans have, because you are a fool"

Ghost held the silver stiletto out to Jack, careful not to touch the blade The sea wolves stiffened, alert and anxious They hadn’t realized the blade was silver when Jack had first brandished it, but now they stared at it and then at Ghost as though the captain had lost his mind

"Take it, Jack," Ghost said "Finn has tried to kill you more than once If you let him live, he will succeed You have no choice but to kill hilanced at Kelly and Vukovich, their faces blank with sheer disbelief, and he watched as their expressions turned to quiet, si to turn Jack, as Louis had said, but he was not a olf yet He ht have been made first mate, but he was not a ht of their leader surrendering the life of one of their own into the hands of a human They were already riled up by the fact that Ghost hadn’t killed Finn for the murder of Johansen, and Jack suspected they had been bitterly disappointed not to have the chance to eat Finn’s remains They wanted him dead, but not at the hands of an ordinary ain for this All his plans began to unravel as the urge to take the blade greithin him There could be no doubt that Ghost was correct--in fact, the captain did not kno correct Jack had successfully framed Finn as a thief, and the lowest member of the pack would not rest until he had Jack’s throat in his jaws Even now the hatred blazed in Finn’s eyes But if Jack took the stiletto, he would have to choose to use it on Finn or try to kill Ghost

The tean to reach for the blade

All his plans began to unravel as the urge to take the blade greithin hi satisfaction touched his lips, and Jack froze If it would please Ghost, then it had to be a terrible idea And there washts But their hatred would be toward Jack as well

And it would be cold-blooded slaughter FinnJack’s own life, but if he couldn’t fight back, it would still feel like murder And Jack London was no e in his eyes

"I will not offer you this blade again," the captain said

Jack took a long breath, then shook his head "I’d kill to save myself, or someone I love But I won’tto kill for your amusement"

With a scowl, Ghost backhanded Jack, knocking hire’s feet He rose to his knees,Ghost snatched hi doll, fu the small leather scabbard in which he’d discovered the stiletto Then the captain hurled Jack to the deck again, discarding hio, but paused to look back at Jack and then at Huginn and Muninn, still holding Finn

In one fluid motion, impossibly swift, Ghost drew the stiletto and drove it into Finn’s heart Huginn and Muninn let go of him, and the pirate dropped to the deck His skull thunked on the wood, and his dead eyes stared up at the full sails, unseeing

"You son of a bitch!" Kelly snarled, rushing toward Ghost

It took both Vukovich and Maurilio to stop him, but they saved his life Jack knew the look in Ghost’s eyes He would have killed the entire crew in that e him further

Ghost loomed over him "Stay on your knees, Mr London That’s where cowards belong"

The captain strode aft and vanished below, and a inn and Muninn took up positions on either side of the cabin steps, ered to his feet Maurilio sneered at hi fronored him They mumbled to one another about the captain, their hatred for hi the loyalty that membership in the pack dere and Tree picked Finn up by his hands and feet, careful not to touch his spilled blood, and carried hi As they tossed the corpse overboard as uncereht have the remains of their dinner, the truth dawned on him, and he realized the enormity of what the captain had done

In the eyes of the pack, Finn had deserved to die, killed by Ghost and then savaged by the rest He ought to have been torn apart and eaten, but instead of killing Finn in combat, Ghost had tainted him with silver Poisoned hiiven them what they wanted, but in a way that only added insult to earlier injury He s worse But he did not care He ht as well have spit in their faces It was just another exaard for their loyalty The rules of the pack seemed to apply less and less to its leader, and the wolves were growing angry

As Jack watched the crew disperse, the dread fluttering in his chest ed with sick excite as the captain still had plans for him, it didn’t matter In two days or less, Death Nilsson would come for his brother, and all hell would break loose

But Jack wondered if the creould last two more days If Ghost continued to treat them with such disrespect, it was only a matter of time before they would be driven to e new dynamic developed on board the Larsen Ghost keptbehind the closed door of his cabin and e only every few hours to inspect the ship and its crew Once that first night and several times the next day, he went into the chart room that doubled as Sabine’s quarters and consulted with her Each time he visited her, Sabine would wait until the captain had departed and then cohostlike silence No one troubled her, and she spoke to no one Jack’s only contact with her caain, now that Finn was dead

As first mate, he could have ordered any member of the crew to take over as cook, but in truth he did not like the idea of inviting any of the crew into the galley Except when the diuards, Sabine, and Jack were now the only people on board allowed in the stern cabins It was safer that way

The Larsen had become a stew of hatred and homicidal intent Of the crew, only Louis and Tree did not look at Jack with murder in their eyes Yet despite the aniht for the sea wolves They understood the usefulness of Sabine’s gifts, but they could not co an ordinary man in a position of authority over members of the pack Even if Ghost intended to make Jack one of them, the pirates did not want him; in their eyes he was a symptom of whatever madness had co the fear, intimidation, and brutality to teach them the laws by which the pack would operate Now he had thrown those laws in their faces His pride had turned him into a tyrant who made decisions in order to remind them that he stood above and apart fro of resenthtest further provocation

More and s and saw the way they watched their captain, he thought of the Ro on Julius Caesar In the case of Ghost, at least one of the knives would have to be silver, and Jack wondered how many other such blades there were hidden on board Ghost had thrown Finn’s silver knife into the sea and kept his own, but would othersuch a dangerous weapon as? He suspected not Only Finn had been that stupid But there was no way to know for sure