Hal, his Brotherband crew, and the Ranger Gilan have freed the twelve Araluens sold into slavery. Returning to Araluen, Gilan is given a new mission by King Duncan: protect his daughter's life. Princess Cassandra has survived one attempt on her life already, and now whispers of a second attempt have reached the kingdom. A deadly sect known as the Scorpion Cult is thought to be behind the assassination threat.

On a mission to rescue Empress Justina's son from his pirate kidnappers, Hal and the brotherband crew set sail amid stormy seas to the island of Santorillos where they encounter a formidable obstacle, a caldera.

"Following clues left by their missing father, twelve-year-old twins Bickford and Rebecca Kidd sail from the Caribbean to New York City with their siblings to finish the dangerous quest of their world-famous treasure-hunting parents"--Provided by publisher.

When a massive storm at sea blows the Brotherband crew off course to a land so far west Hal cannot recognize it from his maps, they face an unknown enemy.

In a world where female sailors are executed, sixteen-year-old Lane's dream of being a ship's captain seems impossible. Sea life is all she knows, and she wouldn't give it up for anything, even if it means she has to hide as a captain's boy to avoid being killed. But Lane's carefully constructed world begins to crumble when an old pirate enemy comes after her father. And she begins hearing rumours that her father was once a pirate as well. Lane doesn't...

"Hal and the other Herons face many perils as they track down the pirates who stole Skandia's most prized artifact, the Andomal"--

Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London, a thirteen-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventure in search of pirates.