But the ship suddenly and jerkily lashed into place, as if someone had dropped its anchor or something had stopped it out of nowhere, bringing it to a sudden stop.

The pull was such that that pirates lost their balance, even Fuego, who managed to hold on to avoid falling, but because of this his arm of fire began to burn a small piece of the ship.

-Put it out quickly! -he ordered and some pirates used their clothes to extinguish it.

The sudden movement also caused the pirate who was holding the doubloon and the tears to fall to the ground and release them momentarily, the vial of tears rolling towards Kaleb, only to be intercepted about halfway by another pirate.

The same must have happened with the gold doubloon, because now it was in the hand of another pirate who slowly raised it to his mouth, but before swallowing it a sword emerged from his chest, making him spit out the doubloon.

-Bastard! -said the pirate who was holding it-. I wanted to swallow the doubloon!

The pirates began to fight over the small piece of gold, some even drew swords and plunged them into each other. It wasn't until Fuego released a blaze from his mighty arm that they ceased.

-Enough! Enough, idiots! Can't you see that that's our only way out of this damn place? The next one that tries to swallow the doubloon I'll burn myself until their bones are made of charcoal!

Suddenly the sound of the wind fell silent. This caused the captain and crew to become alert. Little by little, a hiss, similar to the one of a thousand bugs, snakes, crawling creatures and their moving legs would make, began to sound in their surroundings.

-They caught up with us -Fuego exclaimed, Kaleb listening with real fear for the first time.

Fuego ran to lean over the side, his men following him. And they could see dozens of creatures, humanoid and abhorrent, pitch black and glowing red, climbing the sides of the ship.

-It's the shadow people! Defend La Flama and end the ritual, you damn useless dogs! -the captain yelled as he drew his sword and set it on fire-. Remember that to hurt them your weapons must have light!

The pirates began to light their swords, daggers, and weapons from the ship's torches. By the time these shadowy beings reached the deck, Kaleb could see that despite being the size of a ten-year-old, they were ruthless and cruel. They lunged at the crew members, biting them with jaws that their heads cracked open to reveal, or impaling them with the distorted claws that they had for hands.

The pirates defended themselves and with their sharp weapons cut these beings, who, when pierced, let out chilling screams of agony.

One of these beings managed to get close to the pirate who was holding the bottle of Tears of Cempasúchil, jumped on his back and bit his shoulder and neck in a cruel and vicious manner. The pirate yelled, fell to the ground with the thing still biting him, and dropped the vial, which rolled on the deck to Kaleb, who took advantage of the melee to free his hands from the binding. Once free, the boy quickly took the vial.

Fuego noticed this, for as he burned several of those creatures with his powerful arm of fire, he let out a furious:

-No! Stop him!

Several pirates tried to stop the boy, but among the chaos caused by the shadow entities it was difficult. Kaleb also had to dodge some of these beings, who seemed to have no mercy for anyone, they were just cruel killing machines.

Kaleb ran to the only place nearby that he thought was safest: the captain's cabin. He managed to open the doors and enter. When he turned around he found a pirate who was about to stab him with a sword, but one of the entities bit his arm and then his face. The entity turned to Kaleb and looked at him with those red eyes. Kaleb was horrified to see it, slamming the doors shut, just in time for the thing to crash into them.

The boy secured the doors with wood and slowly walked away, listening to the loud thumps of the creature as it tried to break the door open. Apparently it was working, as he began to hear cracking wood.

Kaleb turned to look at you.

-Quick, I have an idea. Fuego said that this could bring a spirit back, right? -he told you, referring to the bottle of Tears of Cempasúchil-. So... do you think I can bring him back?

The boy ran to the captain's trophies, where he found the dagger that Tabet had given him.

-Maybe I can call him... -said Kaleb.

The knocking on the door ceased and the horrifying shrieks of those things were heard accompanied by the crackling of flames.

-Quickly! Do you think it'll work? -he asked you, anguished.