Tale of Five Friends and the Blue Flame

By Terrance Thomas

Five friends, known as the Star Crew, embark on a treasure-hunting expedition to the Nightmare Islands off Florida’s Everglades in hopes of locating an 18th century pirate’s ill-gotten wealth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terrance Thomas
• Release date: Jan 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311227911

Terrance Thomas

Terrance Thomas ended his thirteenth year by publishing Tale of Five Friends and the Blue Flame. He turned fourteen the very next day.The then Florida high school student grew up in coastal communities on both sides of the state, right off the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. The sound of waves crashing is as much a part of Terrance’s life as his breathing salt air—just like writing, the sea is in his soul.Terrance is also a math and science geek. He took his first high school math course in the 6th grade, and also as a student in the Stanford University EPGY program. He added high school science to his studies the following year. Then, a stint at the U.S. Naval Academy’s Summer Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program sealed his passion for STEM studies, and his excellent teachers back in Florida challenged him before and since.Learning French is the most challenging thing Terrance has ever attempted, but he hasn’t given up. He’s a pretty good epée fencer and dedicates much of his time away from his studies to the sport.Terrance plans to study engineering and creative writing in college. He says he will also continue writing stories and sharing them with you.

Book preview

The Tale of Five Friends and the

Blue Flame

TERRANCE THOMAS

Copyright © 2016 Terrance Thomas

All rights reserved.

ISBN:

ISBN-13:

DEDICATION

For my parents, Terry and Kyleelise

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Chapter 1:…….The Journal, the Map, and the Star Crew

Chapter 2:……………………. Four Nightmare Islands!

Chapter 3:…..A Chest Buried; But Where’s the Treasure?

Chapter 4:………………………..Black Caesar’s Repose

About the Author

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A lot of people helped me get here, and I thank all of you. I also thank my team for helping make possible the publication of Tale of Five Friends and the Blue Flame:

Diane Tetreault, my Editor and English Honors teacher

Kyleelise Thomas, my Mom and Editorial consultant

Charles Neubauer, who loaned me the awesome cover art photographer

PROLOGUE

Bang!—Crash!—Smash! Queen Anne's Revenge slammed into the rocky terrain. Wedged at the island’s head, there was no way to free her.

Arrgh, mates. We must protect the doubloons, Black Caesar howled to his crew. This isn’t good, the pirate warned his crew. Men, we must flee to the cavern!

Then, spying the enemy ships close behind, Black Caesar spoke to himself in a low voice, "I will not quarter, even if my crew and I are going to be sleeping with the fish."

Smash! The waves shoved the Queen deeper into the massive rocks, and she cracked under the pressure.

Grr! Black Caesar grew angrier. How is this happening? the fuming pirate protested. It would not be long before they were captured.

Black Caesar summoned his crew and ordered each man to disembark. As they took what they could to the grotto, the pirate went below deck to retrieve his gold. Trusting no one, he planned to secure it himself.

"Yarg, I’ll hide the