This Was Our Pact

The two-page spread that opens the chapter is wordless; its dark blues, purples, and blacks show the small boat carrying the two boys and the fisherbear being tossed by large waves as they make their way into the ocean. The following page is a borderless splash page showing the boat being carried atop a huge wave; the orange full moon looms above them. Inset panels at the top of the page show their worried faces as they urge each other to paddle hard for the shore and realize that their boat is out of control. Ben notices the color of the moon and calls their attention to it. Nathaniel explains that it is a lunar eclipse, and they realize that Madam Majestic’s potion must have worked. Nathaniel says that when Madam Majestic’s potion moved the moon into the earth’s shadow, it affected the moon’s gravitational pull, which is what is causing the huge waves.

The fisherbear feels seasick and asks the boys to go into his basket and get his seasickness medication. They pull out a bottle marked “Madam Majestic’s Motion Mellower” (260.) When the bear drinks some of it, though, it tastes so foul that he spits it over the side of the boat.