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Soed It took Jack a nized only one voice, not two Another growl, an impact heavier than any that had coed the stor the wolves back several paces

All fell quiet The storht perhaps Sabine’s own breath was held--and then Louis took several steps toward the hatch A few feet fro he froze, crouched down; and the silhouette he threw changed shape, subtly but clearly Fur bristled across his bare back

"Jack!" Sabine said But they could both see the hand that now clasped the edge of the torn hatch, its nails longer than a man’s but shorter than a wolf’s, and they could see how the fingers were tensed as they supported the weight of whoever hung below

If it was Ghost and he had been victorious, Jack and Sabine would soon discover whether he would keep his word Perhaps theand would honor their pact, but Jack thought not He thought that Ghost’s honor stopped where it began--close to his own heart

If Death eed, then they were all faced with a very different probleun"

"Yes," Jack said, but he kept the gun down by his side However ive the captain a chance

The shape that rose froht have been either of the brothers So soaked in blood that the color of its hair was difficult to discern, its build hidden by the hole, it looked down beneath itself as it strained to haul itself up It dragged itself onto the rowl that was so low Jack thought he could feel it vibrating the deck, the victor stood

And Death Nilsson looked up

"Reverend," Death said, and his one surviving crew member looked around at the others with terror in his eyes

"Death…," the man muttered

"Reverend, if you do not continue the fight, then you becoh he now stood there as close to a man as he could be He looked past Louis at Jack and Sabine, and grinned "Two of us left, and I already see hoe can double the size of our crew" Then he looked at Sabine again, and the smile dropped a little "Or her … perhaps she will have another use"

Jack raised the gun and pointed it at Death’s chest One in the chest, a second in the head, and the last in his heart, once he’s down The inhumanity in the man’s eyes reminded him so much of Ghost

"What’s this?" Death said

"Silver," Jack said

"My own stock," Death said "Yes, silver You’d best h intoceasing as quickly as it had come, "is Jack London"

"My na as quickly as it had cooing to--"

Death’s eyes ide as he caught a scent, or a sound, and a shadow rose behind hi him, and as the shadow fell back into the hole, it took Death with it

He fought Ars stretched out, Death propped hi his left hand to beat back at the risen Ghost

"Damn you, Brother, I’ll have your heart!" Death shouted But it was not to be

The fist punched up through Death’s chest, ribs cracking and catching the stor In the fist--Ghost’s fist, clenching tight--was Death Nilsson’s beating heart

Ghost squeezed, and as the ht went from Death’s eyes

Louis dashed forward and hauled the corpse from above the hatch Vukovich helped, and theon his dead captain’s leg and then stepping back as Ghost climbed from the hold

He was a mess, naked and torn, but resplendent in the blood that clothed hih broken teeth and slashed lips He raised his arms at the sky, and the roar was so joyous that Jack felt a shout rising in his own throat

Sabine squeezed Jack’s left hand and held on tight

"I’ve never seen him so wild," she said, "not even as a wolf"

Ghost kicked Death’s body toward the railing, then lifted it up and flung it into the sea He followed it with a gob of bloody spittle and turned around to face them all

"Now then, Mr London," Ghost said, breathing heavily The rain did little to wash his brother’s blood froht perhaps he would be stained forever

Jack raised the gun again and pointed it at Ghost

"Now then, Ghost," Jack echoed "I hope you mean to--"

Ghost came at theer squeezed, but too slowly, too slowly, and he had maybe a second until--

Louis tripped Ghost and fell on hi, Maurilio the other, and Reverend ca his best to avoid his teeth

"Jack, kill him!" Louis said

"No"

"You fool," Maurilio said, shifting as he struggled to keep Ghost’s leg froe is slow One bullet to the heart will finish hiain Sabine touched his arht choice It was the only choice Kill or be killed was fine for those on the hunt, but if he shot Ghost like this, it would be murder

"He means to do you in," Vukovich said "He’ll never honor the pact, and you know it"

"You don’t understand I must let him live," Jack said

"But why?" Louis asked

"It’s the hu to do"

Ghost had twisted around to stare at hiht perhaps the old olf now hated him as much as he had his brother

"There must be another hold to keep him in," Jack said "We have much to discuss, and a ship to fix"

The sun shone and the sea was calm the day they prepared to leave the island, and Sabine pro to do with it

"The weather is s the deck of the Charon It had been scrubbed down several tirave on the beach But the ship would always retain the ht It was scratched and stained into the metal like a painful memory