Chapter 9
My whole body shivered, but not from the cold. I stared down at my clasped hands as though I didn’t recognize them. A few soft, trembling words left my parted lips. “What’s going on with me?”
“Encina must have seen this gift in you before you did,” the captain mused as he kicked one of the melting, warped crystals. “It needs a lot of focus that you don’t have. You’ll have to learn to control your emotions if you hope to use it.”
I swallowed hard. “Use it? Use it for what?”
“You could turn a whole deck to ice with those crystals, or maybe even jam their weapons.” A crooked smile slipped onto his lips. “Or you could give them a cold.”
I cupped my forehead in my hand and swayed from side to side. The captain leaped forward and grasped my arms, drawing me against his muscled chest. “I. . .I don’t think I feel very well.”
“You’re not used to using magic. It can take a lot out of you the first time,” he whispered as he nodded at the cabin door. “Let’s get you to bed.”
I had enough energy to frown at him. “Whose bed?”
He chuckled as he led me across the deck. “You’ve earned your bed, at least for this night.”
I didn’t like that little asterisk comment at the end, but I was too tired to argue my case.
One of the men roused from his sleep as we passed and sat up.
He was about fifty with a long ponytail with gray streaks at the temples.
His worn clothes were as wrinkled as the corners of his eyes, which were as sharp as a hawk’s.
“Something the matter, Captain?”
“Just getting some air, Fidel. Could you manage the helm for me for a while?”
“No problem,” he accepted as he eased himself out of the pile of ropes that had been his bed. Something cracked in his back, and the poor man clutched his back and winced. “Another one. . .”
We took the low road while he took the high one up a short flight of stairs to the wheel deck above the cabin.
I was glad for the warm interior of the captain’s quarters, and even more glad to see the bed.
The captain seated me on the edge and stepped back to look me over.
There was a strangely curious look in his eye, and a bittersweet smile on his lips.
I wrapped the blanket tighter around me and frowned at him. “What?”
H shook his head. “I was just remembering something.” He nodded at a nearby table with a pitcher, bowl, and glass. “There’s water there if you need it.”
“Thanks,” I replied as I scooted back and curled my legs up against myself. “I. . .I appreciate you doing this for me.”
He crossed an arm over his chest and swept into a low bow that brought his face even with mine. “The pleasure is all mine.”
My attention invariably fell on the eyepatch, and I nodded at the cover wear. “Did you. . .did you lose that in a fight?”
He straightened and brushed a finger over the patch. “No one’s ever bested me in a fight, Miss Larkin. We’ll just say this was a deal. Now try to get some sleep.”
“Wait a minute.” The captain had taken only a few steps toward the door before he stopped and turned back to me. I swept my eyes over the room. “We could share the room.”
A warm smile slipped onto his lips. “I appreciate the offer, Miss Larkin, but I have something to do.”
The captain slipped out of the room before I could inquire further. Silence fell over the room. I cleared my throat and sang a few notes. My voice was shaky, but the air vibrated in rhythm with my tune.
My impromptu singing was interrupted by the sudden lurch of the ship.
A faint noise came from the windows. I slipped off the bed and hurried to the glass, where I opened one of the panes.
Seaspray struck me in the face. I wiped it off and leaned over far enough to see the churning waves beneath me. The ship’s speed had increased.
I shut the window and padded across the floor to the entrance, opening the door.
The stars still twinkled over the deck, but the quiet was gone.
So were the sleeping men. A solitary figure stood at the bow.
I recognized the long trenchcoat flapping in the breeze as the vessel flew through the waters. He was using his magic now.
I stepped back inside and closed the door before leaning my back against it. Moving a ship by sheer force of will. That must have involved a lot of focus.
I reached up and wrapped my hand around my throat. I’d trained for years to perfect my voice, and now it was doing things I could never have imagined. I suddenly felt like I didn’t know myself, much less know what I was supposed to do with whatever had changed inside of me.
My unsatiated curiosity couldn’t stifle the yawn that stretched my mouth. I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes. Sweet sleep lulled me into its soft embrace.
I wasn’t awakened by the motion of the bed, but by a tickling in my ear. My face scrunched up, and I rubbed a finger in the canal. There was a slight dampness, but not enough to disturb my desire to go back to sleep. I snuggled back into the pillow and sighed.
Sleep was mine, but it wasn’t to be a peaceful or a long one.
The ship lurched so violently that I was thrown out of bed and onto the hard floor.
My knees and hands caught me, and they complained profusely about the treatment.
I lifted my groggy, confused head and looked about.
The cabin was still shrouded in night, but there was no silence.
Feet pounded against the deck outside the door.
I wormed my way out of the covers and limped over to the door. My hands fumbled with the handle, as they shook from a dense cold that flowed in from under the door. I opened the entrance and beheld-
Nothing.
A heavy fog covered the deck. The shadowy forms of the sailors flitted through the mist. I could hear Torvus shouting from the wheel deck above me.
“Light the lamps and trim the sails. Fidel, check the damage! Don’t go farther on land than you have to!”
“Aye, aye, Captain!” Fidel answered from a spot in front of me.
I yelped when something crawled across my foot, and did a quick dance to fling it away. The creature wrapped tighter around my leg and snapped a few words at me. “Stop that!”
I stiffened and squinted at the small thing attached to my limb. “Ramaro?”
“Who else would it be?” he growled.
“Why are you trying to climb my leg?”
“I’m not trying to climb it, it’s just safer to be here than anywhere on the deck,” he pointed out as he twisted his head around to stare at the busy ship. “I’ve already been stepped on twice and my poor tail has a kink in it that’ll take a week to get out.”
The chill struck me again, and I wrapped my arms around myself. “What’s going on?”
“We hit something.”
“A rock?”
“No, an island.”
I frowned. “Why didn’t the captain steer us away from it? Didn’t he know it was there?”
“No, because this island happens to move on its own.”
My mouth dropped open. “A moving island? Seriously?”
“Just go over to the railing and see for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
I stiffened my jaw and slipped back into the cabin, carrying my little stowaway with me. The sheets still lay on the floor, so I snatched one from the pile and tossed it over my shoulders. It kept some of the cold out, but I still shivered a little as I made my way out onto the deck.
“Turn a hard right and move along the wall until you hit the stairs, then take ten steps up the port side and look at the bow,” Ramaro instructed me. “You shouldn’t be in anyone’s way there.”
I followed his commands and soon found myself at the railing. Some of the fog had lifted and I grasped the wood tightly before leaning over. The port side of the bow was indeed wedged on some rocks, and those rocks jutted out of a land mass that disappeared into the fog.
I squinted at the mess of stones and dirt. “How can you tell it’s this moving island?”
“Because I know every island in these seas.” The voice didn’t come from my small companion, but from behind me. I yelped and spun around to find myself face-to-face with the captain. He strode up to my side and cast his eyes to the rocky shadows. “This one shouldn’t be there.”
“It shouldn’t even be in this sea. . .” Ramaro grumbled.
I lifted an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”
“The Island of Mist almost always sticks to the Sea of Erebus,” the agama told me as he crawled up me far enough to attach himself to the railing. He climbed onto the wood and plopped himself down between us. “For it to come out this far and attack us is not good.”
One of his choice of words made a shiver run down my spine. “Attack?”
“The Island of Mist strands people on its shores so it can feed us to a monster.”