The Eagle's Rook and the Pirate Games

By Marie Nadeau Lawson

When Chris Sainz comes into his family’s heritage of becoming a medium/psychometrist, he pays a heavy price for it. He pays for his gifts by going into seizures, comas or developing hypothermia after each paranormal experience.
If that’s not all, the legendary Pirate Games are about to take place just off Puerto Rico and the Eagle’s Rook and its crew have a long history winning these games. In the end, the crew of the Eagle’s Rook wins the Pirate Games. Chris and his father find his old friend, Sam, aboard an old enemy’s ship and bring him to the Eagle’s Rook where he is reunited with his old friend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marie Nadeau Lawson
• Release date: Jul 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781494983222

Marie Nadeau Lawson

Marie Nadeau Lawson got her writing start at the age of eight when she and some friends decided to write a book about bunnies. Marie wrote the story while her friends drew the images. Upon completion the book was placed in the school's library.The years went by and Marie received her advanced degree in Counseling Psychology and forgot about writing save for the many reports she had to write for her job, until the day her youngest brother, Chris, suggested she start writing again. That night Love, Carly was born.Marie lives in sunny Southern California with her gray tabby cat.

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The Eagle’s Rook and Robillard’s Treasure

Marie Nadeau Lawson

The Eagle’s Rook and the Pirate Games

By Marie Nadeau Lawson

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 Marie Nadeau Lawson

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Chapter I: A New Life

Chris shuddered as he watched the shadowy figure walk around his room as if looking for something specific. His entire body trembled as though going through an earthquake, his heart pounded what seemed a thousand beats a minute as sweat rained down his face as he stared wide-eyed at the figure, which did not even seem to be aware of his presence. Soon, the figure disappeared and Chris slept with his light on that night just in case the shadow figure returned.

The following morning just as he was heading downstairs, Chris heard his father call, Chris, will you come in my office for a moment, please?

He shook his head then yelled, Coming, dad!

Roberto Sainz motioned for his son to join him at his ornate mahogany desk and said, I was sent this map. Whoever sent it to me wanted to remain anonymous since there was no return address or postmark. It appeared to be authentic so I had it tested to ensure that it is as old as it appears as well as its authenticity. The results indicate that this map is about three hundred years old, which is why it is in this protective casing. I do not want it to disintegrate on me

Chris frowned and asked, Where was it found, dad?

It appears to have been found on Grand Isle in Louisiana. That is, according to the note that was sent with it.

Chris quoted, Grand Isle was one of the islands of Monsieur Lafitte’s Barataria. The other two were Grand Terre and Cheniere Caminada. Cheniere Caminada is gone now due to a massive hurricane on October 2, 1893. It was once a bustling oyster harvesting community.

Roberto chuckled and said, I know, my son. I was thinking perhaps we can look into this during the Pirate Games this summer.

As Chris turned to leave, Roberto said, Oh! Before I forget, here is your mail.

Chris took the mail and asked, Is it alright if I go and see Danny and Jean Pierre?

Roberto waved his son off as he studied the map in closer detail.

As he knocked on the front door of the Attean house, Chris smiled and thought about his two best friends, who were more like brothers than just his friends were. He could not remember a single moment in his life when Danny and Jean Pierre were not there to share it with him.

Doug Attean opened the door and said, Oh, good morning, Chris. Are you here to see the boys? Doug served as the navigator for the Eagle’s Rook.

Chris nodded.

Doug smiled and said, Go on through to the back.

He smiled when he saw Danny reading Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss and greeted, "Bonjour, mes amies!"

Danny looked up from his book then smiled and greeted, Hi, Chris! Are you done with your summer reading already?

Yeah, I just finished it earlier, but I’d already read them all before. Hello, Jean Pierre. The boy in question had earphones on while listening to his books on tape.

Jean Pierre looked up and saw Chris and waved to his best friend then returned to listening to his book on tape.

Danny said to Chris as they walked inside, He never speaks to me anymore. It’s like Jean Pierre hates me now because I’m his brother.

It’ll all work out, Danny. Jean Pierre will get over whatever is bothering him and talk to you again. He always does.

As they walked up the circular grand staircase of the Attean home, Chris watched his friend trip over his own feet and fall on his nose almost as if in slow motion. Chris ran to his friend and called for Doug who called Edward Wilson, the Eagle’s Rooks cook and physician.

After making sure Danny’s nose had stopped bleeding, he was in bed for the rest of the day.

Edward said to Danny, Breathe through yehr mouth, Danny and please don’t cough if yeh can help it, it could restart the bleedin’. I will come by tomorrow mornin’ and see how he’s doin’. If yeh need me day or night, yeh know where to find me. Danny slowly nodded then closed his eyes to get some sleep if at all possible with his mouth slightly open showing perfect white teeth.

Doug sighed and said, Thanks, Edward.

Edward left and a few minutes later Danny’s nose stopped bleeding.

Doug glanced at Chris and said, He’s going to be fine, Chris. I know you tend to worry about your friends, but he’ll be fine even if his nose is broken.

Chris nodded and said, I know, Doug. I just worry, that is all. I’m going to see the girls now and let them know what happened. I’ll bet Anne will be over sooner or later to check on him. If my dad calls, could you let him know where I am?

Doug nodded and Chris went to see the girls who lived on the other side of him and his dad.

Alyssa opened the door and greeted her nephew, Good morning, cher. What’s up? Are you here to see Marguerite?

Chris told his aunt about Danny’s mishap.

Alyssa frowned and exclaimed, Oh, poor, Danny! Anne will be so upset to hear that.

Chris nodded and assured, "I’ll tell her myself, ma tante. I was there so I can assure her he’s fine and in bed at the moment."

Okay, thank you, mon neveu. She’s in the back yard meditating.

Chris found Anne sitting in the lotus position with her eyes closed on her yoga mat by the pool in the Hawkins backyard.

Twenty minutes later, Anne opened her eyes, saw Chris watching her and asked, What are you doing here, Chris?

Chris told Anne about Danny not leaving out a single detail.

As Anne took in everything Chris told her, she nodded and said, Okay. Is he in any pain?

Chris nodded and replied, Yeah, a little. It took nearly fifteen minutes for the bleeding to stop. There was so much blood gushing out. I nearly lost it.

Okay, I’m going over there to see him myself. She hugged Chris, who had to bend down a quite a lot to reach Anne’s five foot two frame, and said, Thank you for telling me, Chris. It was really sweet of you.

Chris smiled and said, Go. I’ll go up to visit Marguerite and see what she’s up to. Anne waved as she left for the Attean house.

Chris found his girlfriend practicing her ballet stretches on the ballet barre Tony installed for her.

He greeted, Morning, cher! You shouldn’t bounce like that when stretching. You could hurt yourself. It should be one fluid movement. Sorry, but you asked me to remind you if I saw you doing that.

Marguerite glanced at Chris as her head touched her knee and asked, I know. It’s a bad habit I have. I’m trying to break myself of it with my ballet teacher’s help, which reminds me I have a class in two hours. She walked over to her desk then checked her calendar and confirmed, Yes, at noon.

Chris quipped, What are you doing? Are you taking ballet twenty-four seven? I know it’s your passion and all, besides me, of course. But that’s a little excessive taking ballet everyday don’t you think?

Marguerite laughed and kissed Chris then said, You, cher, are my greatest passion. I saw you hugging Anne outside. What was that about?

Chris told her about his morning.

I’m so sorry to hear about Danny. Is that why you were with Anne?

Yeah, I felt I should be the one to tell her since I was there. At least she can’t fall and hurt herself practicing yoga. She still is something of a klutz, but thank heavens, not at Danny’s level. I’ll go over and see how Danny’s doing after ballet

I’m sure he’d appreciate it. It would be awful if he did break his nose.

Cecily ran in and demanded, Here, sign this petition, they’re trying to turn the Everglades into a theme park! Can you imagine? They’re destroying our national treasures one by one! Ugh!

Marguerite asked, Where are you planning on sending this one?

I’ll send it to the White House if necessary! I won’t let them destroy our Everglades!

Chris studied Cecily for a moment then said, Um, unless the Everglades lost its national park status in the last twenty-four hours, it’ll be fine. No theme park developer would ever be able to build there, Cecily.

Cecily looked thoughtful for a few moments then brightened and said, Oh, that’s okay then. I have another one about the manatee losing its endangered status. I’ll go get dad and Alyssa to sign it then! I’ll get the whole crew of the Eagle’s Rook to sign it! She ran out of the room.

Marguerite called, Cecily, don’t run so fast, you’ll trip! She shook her head when she heard Cecily yell back, "Sorry, mom!"

She then commented, Yesterday she wanted me to ask you to help her with a writing campaign to end hunger, preserve the Brazilian rain forest and whatever else she could find. Cecily was born in the wrong decade. She’d have made the perfect hippy.

She’s passionate about her causes. There’s nothing wrong with that.

She’s decided to become a vegan since she can’t stand the thought of animals being killed for her food. So, now, we have vanilla soymilk in the fridge. I tried it in my strawberry smoothie last night. It was quite good.

I know. My dad is lactose intolerant so we have it at home, too. He uses the soy coffee creamer in his coffee.

I always have to remind you to take your medication before eating anything with dairy in it.

Chris laughed and said, I always appreciate it. So does my stomach.

Chris left an hour and a half later and went home.

Roberto called from his office, Is that you, my son?

Chris walked in the office and said, Yeah, dad. I’m home. Did Doug call you?

Yes, Chris. He informed me of Danny’s mishap.

I was there when it happened.

I imagine Anne is over there right now.

No, not right now anyway. She checked on him but he was asleep. She had to go to her Bikram yoga class. It’s at the same time as Marguerite’s ballet class and Cecily’s international folk dance class.

Cecily came by here earlier and asked me to sign a petition against manatees losing their endangered status. I asked her where she was sending it and she told me she was sending it to the World Conservation Union in Switzerland. I was impressed and signed it for her.

Chris chuckled and said, Now she’s decided to become a vegan since she can’t stand the thought of animals being used for her food.

Tio Carlos is a vegan but not by choice. He is allergic to animal protein. I remember Papa had to grill tofu burgers for him whenever we had barbecues when I was young. Now he serves some vegan and vegetarian options at Zaragoza.

I’ve had veggie burgers. They’re not that bad but I’m a hardcore meat lover, so I like a real burger but I love a really juicy steak.

Roberto laughed and said, That is good because I took out a couple of filet mignons to grill for lunch. I sent the chef home for the day. He was not feeling very well. I asked him to call tomorrow and let me know how he is doing. If he is still unwell, we shall dine out for breakfast.

Um, dad, we don’t have a grill outside.

No, that is true but we do have one in the kitchen, though. The only problem is I do not know how to cook. Do you?

Chris nodded and answered, Yeah, our assistant director at St. Jean’s to let us get our own breakfast and lunch whenever Madame Heureux and Chef Tabrizzi weren’t around. So, Jean Pierre, Danny and I learned how to cook way or the residents of St. Jean’s would have starved because our assistant director could not cook at all. Did mom know how to cook?

Yes. She was a gourmet cook. She could have become a world-class chef had she wanted. She prepared many wonderful meals for us at our home in New Orleans. She worked at a restaurant as a server because she did not want me footing all the bills. I do not believe she ever quite understood how much money we had. You and your mother are more alike than you know. You are as independent as she was.

Once in the kitchen Chris took the filet mignons out and commented, They already came with the bacon around the perimeter, which is how classic filet mignon is prepared. Good. We don’t have to worry about that. Dad, how do you like your steak cooked?

I prefer mine medium rare, please.

Okay. We’ll grill it on each side for three minutes then check it. I like mine medium well done, so I can leave mine on a little longer.

Soon lunch was done and Roberto commented, "At least I can prepare steak and salad now. If nothing else,