The Devil and the Dark Water

On the deck, Arent fills Sara and Lia in on the Eighth Lantern and his conversation with Sammy. He tells them two things to focus on: finding out more about Bosey and learning why her husband chose the Saardam. She mentions the large cargo, other than the Folly, that is on board, and says she will find out from him what it is. Meanwhile, Arent will be trying to figure out what Bosey’s bargain was and what “Laxagarr” means.

On the way back to their cabins, Sara and Lia pass the cabin of Viscountess Dalvhain. Lia speculates that she may be Old Tom, as no one has seen her since boarding. Sara knocks on her door and offers help as a healer, but an old voice tells her to go away and not return.

In her own cabin, Sara leans out her porthole to try to see how Bosey—or his ghost—could have gotten to it. She sees a dirty handprint, then another, then realizes they are comprised of ash from the charred hull—as if Bosey had climbed out of the ocean and up the side of the boat while on fire.

Arent makes his way to the section of the deck with the sailors. When he tries to ask about Bosey, he is met with hostility as several men throw jugs at him. He is pulled away by the constable who guards the gunpowder store.

As Arent helps restack the gunpowder keg, he asks about Wyck. The constable sends a boy to fetch Wyck, who arrives angry at having been woken up. The constable tells him that he is going to set up a fight between Wyck and Arent—with Arent losing so that Wyck can appear stronger to the crew. In return, the constable agrees to answer Arent’s questions.

Sara calls Vos, Haan, Drecht, van Schooten, and Arent together to show them the burned handprints on the side of the hull left by Bosey. She appreciates their apology and enjoys their stunned reactions to the discovery.

After the men disperse, Sara rushes into her cabin and listens through the porthole to the conversation the men have without her. Haan orders a halt to the journey and for all the ships to be searched for any sign of Bosey’s rags. Arent again requests that Sammy be set free, and Haan again denies him.

Haan sends everyone away and pulls Vos aside. Sara listens as the two discuss Old Tom. Haan says he is afraid of Old Tom being loose again after having dealt with the evil entity 30 years before. He says, “Old Tom made me into the man I am,” but he does not wish to repeat his earlier experience (198). They then discuss who they think is responsible and agree that it was likely Arent.

Larme sits on the lion figurehead at the front of the ship and carves a piece of wood. He thinks of how much he and the rest of the crew love the Saardam—a home for them in a world where they have little.

Sara calls Isabel to her cabin and asks how Old Tom is summoned. Isabel reads that a loved one’s blood must be on a blade, that blade used to kill someone hated, and a prayer read over the body. Sara speculates that Haan used Arent, whom he loved, and Arent’s father, whom he hated, for the ritual.

Sara leaves to find Arent. On the deck, she finds the crew readying for a storm that the captain insists is coming. She sees Arent disappear below deck and follows him. Their conversation is interrupted by a growl from deeper in the cargo hold.

They follow a labyrinth of passages beneath the ship, hearing the growl growing closer. They come to a wall marked with several of Old Tom’s symbols, then see Bosey at the end of the passage. He walks ahead around the corner, then waits for them to see him again, before turning another corner. At the end of it, they see a room with hundreds of the marks on the walls. In the center of the room are eight candles around an alter with the mark of Old Tom. Sara refers to it as a “church,” with Arent noting that Old Tom “likely already has followers among the crew” (214).

After they leave the labyrinth, they discuss who could have built the altar. Arent suggests Isabel, remembering that she had been sneaking around at night. Their thoughts are interrupted by a loud thud, and they find Larme amongst a bunch of crates. They try to get information out of Larme about Bosey, but he insists that he will remain loyal to the crew. After Larme leaves, Arent and Sara search the area for the cause of the noise they heard. They discover a hidden compartment, but it is empty.

Arent goes to Haan’s cabin and speaks to Haan, Vos, and Drecht. He demands to know what happened to his father. Haan tells him that, at the request of Arent’s grandfather, he had Arent’s father killed to protect Arent. He also says that the assassin they hired to do the job did not follow their instructions; Haan blames him for the mark on Arent’s hand and the fact that Arent was left wandering for three days. He did, however, return Arent’s father’s rosary as evidence of his death.

Arent then claims that he spied on Vos and Haan to protect Sara. He directly asks Haan if he summoned Old Tom, but Haan dodges the question by saying that Arent does not believe in demons. When Arent asks why Old Tom is tormenting them now, Haan says that it’s “because [he] wanted more than was offered,” but refuses to tell Arent more (223).

Arent finds Drecht on the ship. Drecht tells him that they took down the alter and discovered nothing further in Larme’s cabin. He admits to Arent that Sammy was arrested as a “favor” to someone, but he doesn’t know who or why.

Preparing for dinner, Sara asks Lia if she understands the ship and knows where other secret compartments would be. Excited, Lia offers to build a model of the ship and help Sara track them down.

As the day ends, the crew readies the ship to anchor for the night. Crauwels looks on as two ships continue past them, thinking that they are “fools” to try to travel at night to make up time.

Sara goes to her husband’s cabin to fulfill her “obligations” by having sex with him. Before they begin, she pours him wine and puts her sleeping draught inside. She contemplates using five drops—which would kill him—but decides she cannot risk being caught and leaving Lia alone. She tries one, but accidentally puts in three, which will cause him to sleep for much longer than intended.

Haan confronts Sara about being seen with Arent. He forbids her from seeing him, telling her that she will remain in her cabin.

After sex, an act which causes Sara to feel “humiliated,” Haan informs her that he married her because he knew she would hate it; he considers their marriage and her suffering a punishment for her father, who was his enemy. In anger, she confronts him about summoning Old Tom, but he responds with pride that he “wrote” his own future “with the devil that was to hand” and he will feel no shame for it (239).

Fulfilling his promise to Sara, Arent goes to dinner that evening. He watches from the doorway as Creesjie flirts with the captain, attempting to figure out if he has bargained with Old Tom, but she fails. Just as Arent is about to join everyone, he is stopped by a drunk van Schooten. He taunts Arent about his past—his failures with Sammy and his desire to leave his wealthy family name behind. Van Schooten says that Arent wanted to be like the wealthy but didn’t realize “what it costs,” leading Arent to believe he is talking about Old Tom (244). Larme interrupts their conversation to proclaim to the dining hall that the Eighth Lantern is back.

Arent gets Sammy from his cell. They go to the deck and watch a rowboat being readied to check on the Eighth Lantern. Arent sees Sara and Lia watching from a distance but is told that Haan could not be woken.

As the orange lantern turns blood red, a loud scream pierces the night air. Sammy and Arent rush toward it and find that all the animals have been slaughtered in their pens, with the mark of Old Tom left behind in blood. Arent considers the incident a “warning” about the power Old Tom has over them, while Lia points out that it is the first of the “unholy miracles” (251). The captain turns the attention back to the lantern, but it has gone out.

Van Schooten creates chaos among the men, insisting that a demon is at work and that they need to return to Amsterdam at once. He points out that the ship follows them without being seen and that no one saw or heard anything as the animals died, despite being nearby. Sammy, however, searches the pen and finds bloodied rags and rosary beads. He mentions that the pen is above the porthole where Bosey was seen. The captain agrees with van Schooten: After getting Haan’s approval, they will turn back to Amsterdam.

As the men depart, Arent pulls Sammy aside. He tells him that the rosary beads belonged to his father.

On the way back to the cabins, Vos pulls Creesjie aside and proposes to her. She is shocked, never having thought of Vos as anything more than “cogs and springs” with no feelings (256). He tells her that he has found a way to make a great fortune and plans to become the next governor general of Batavia. She tells him she will think about it, and, as he leaves, considers that it truly is a good offer for her.

Creesjie goes to Haan’s cabin, where she finds him asleep from Sara’s draught. She told Sara that she would copy a list of names that Sara saw in her husband’s passenger manifest earlier. As she begins to do so, she also finds a scrap of paper hidden in the breastplate of his armor.

That night, Old Tom whispers to several of the passengers and crew, promising them whatever they want in exchange for doing its bidding. Sara struggles to resist the temptation, telling Old Tom that she wants “freedom.” Lia contemplates how giving in would require “such little effort for so great a reward” (263). Wyck repeatedly touches his eyepatch, telling Old Tom that he remembers it and that Old Tom owes him a debt.

In the morning, Sara runs into Creesjie outside her cabin. Creesjie tells her that Old Tom whispered to her, too, demanding that she kill Haan. Sara admits that Old Tom asked her to do the same thing, and the two wonder why Old Tom would want Haan dead after he summoned it.

After walking with Sammy, Arent does not return to his hammock until dawn. He finds that someone has defecated in it and realizes that this is the grievance that will allow him to demand a fight with Wyck under sailor law. Wyck accepts the fight, but only if they are allowed blades. The thought makes Arent wonder what Wyck has planned, but he feels compelled to agree.

A group gathers for Kers’s next sermon, but he does not show. Sara, Creesjie, and Lia go looking for him, with Sara wondering if Old Tom asked everyone on the ship to kill her husband.

Creesjie shows Sara the paper she found in Haan’s breastplate—a letter from Casper van den Berg, Arent’s grandfather, requesting that Haan have Sammy arrested for being a “traitor.”

Unable to find Kers, Sara goes to Arent’s hammock and wakes him up. She shows Arent the note from his grandfather. Shocked, he insists that Sammy cannot be a traitor.

Creesjie gives Sara the list of names she copied from Haan. As Isabel looks at them, Sara notes that she smells of Paprika—something she had never noticed before. Isabel recognizes them as people who dealt with Old Tom and were investigated by Pieter.

Isabel opens the daemonologica and shows them where the same names have been recorded on the pages about Old Tom. Creesjie begins reading the reports on the names Haan collected. She is shocked to learn that her husband killed all but two of them after performing rituals to reveal Old Tom’s possession.

As Crauwels looks out the window of his cabin at the storm forming around them, Haan arrives looking disheveled. Van Schooten enters as well and, to Crauwels’s surprise, is sober for the first time on the voyage. The two men summarize the events for Haan, who informs them that they are going to continue their voyage to Amsterdam. Crauwels tries to argue, but Haan insists that they will be facing a demon no matter which direction they travel.

The storm pursues the Saardam for two weeks. Despite their best efforts, it seems to follow the ship relentlessly. The men begin to whisper about Bosey and Old Tom, with all of them hearing its voice in the night. They slowly begin to question whether they should bargain with it to save themselves. Through it all, the altar to Old Tom keeps reappearing in the corridors below the ship no matter how many times it is destroyed.

The crew also turns their anger toward the nobles on board. They become angry at their wealth and safety below deck, while the sailors are forced to battle the storm.

Although Arent searches for three days, Kers is never found.