Chapter 33
Wow, did my head hurt. A soft groan escaped me as my eyes fluttered open. An open rafter ceiling presented itself to me. I shifted and a soft mattress soothed my aching muscles.
“About time.”
That voice. Ramaro. I turned my head to my right and found him seated on a chair beside me. The cabin door stood behind him. All was quiet but for the soft creaking of the vessel and a few footsteps across the deck.
I licked my dry lips. “What happened?”
“You hit your head hard enough to knock you out,” he told me as he nodded at my chest. “And you broke a few ribs, too.”
I drew the sheets down and saw I had been bandaged. A blush accented my cheeks when I realized a man would have had to do that.
A man. My eyes widened, and I shot up. “Marc!”
My ribs screamed at me, and my head became woozy. I fell back onto the pillow and groaned.
Ramaro rolled his eyes. “Always the foolish human.”
My heart pounded in my chest, causing little aching tremors inside me. “Where’s Marc?”
“Look to our left.”
I turned my head and froze. Marc lay beside me, his eye closed and his breathing even. His patch had been set back in its proper place. He was also shockingly pale.
I liked my dry lips. “Is he alright?”
“He’s fine, he just needs a few more days of rest,” Ramaro assured me.
I examined his person. Most of him was hidden by the sheets, but there weren’t any obvious scaly signs. “He’s back to normal?”
Ramaro rolled his eyes. “As normal as he ever was.”
“I heard that.” The faint voice came from the prostrate man.
“Marc?” I choked out as I struggled to lift myself onto my arms.
A smile slipped across his lips, though he didn’t open his eye. “I told you we could share a bed.”
A heavy blush warmed my cheeks. “You didn’t tell me we’d have to be injured to do it.”
Marc’s eye opened and looked me over. His good humor faltered. “I’m sorry. I should have done better on the landing.”
I snorted. “You got us off Jaeger’s boat and all the way to the Tempest. That’s a win in my book.”
“I suppose you two want to talk alone for a while,” Ramaro mused as he hopped off the chair and sauntered toward the open rear window.
He climbed onto the sill, but paused and looked over his shoulder.
“Don’t do too much. Neither of you is in any shape to do your usual stupid human things.
” And with that warning, he scuttled out of sight up the rear wall.
Marc closed his eyes and shifted before he winced. “I think he may be right for once.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked him.
He sank deeper into the bed and sighed. “Like I had my body stretched and snapped back.”
I winced. “Is that what it feels like?”
“It does now,” he admitted as he returned his focus to me. His eye dropped to the bandages around my chest. “That looks bad.”
I wrapped an arm around me and shook my head. “I don’t feel much.”
He chuckled. “You’re a terrible liar.”
A frown creased my lips. “And what about you? When were you going to tell me you could turn into a dragon?”
“It’s not a willing choice,” he countered as he shifted beneath the sheets. “That fool Jaeger brought it out by pulling off my patch.”
I studied the thin cloth over his eye. “What is that under there?”
“A gift and a curse,” he mused as he reached up and cupped his covered eye in one hand. “It gets the Tempest where she needs to go, and faster than any machine.”
“And you always turn into a dragon when it comes off?” I guessed.
“If I have enough strength,” he admitted as he adjusted the cloth. “That’s why I don’t take it off.”
I squinted at the patch. “Is it a little loose?”
“More than that,” he warned me as he dropped his hand to his side. “It could pop out any moment.”
What little color I had in my cheeks was drained by his warning. “Why can’t you just put it back on?”
He rolled his head from side to side. “It’s not that easy. This patch doesn’t look like much, but it has a lot of magic built into it. Magic that needs a special touch to stick it to my face and keep all that dragon power back. That’s why we’re headed for the capital.”
My eyes widened. “The capital? You have to head there to get it fixed?”
“The only person who can fix this patch lives there,” Marc revealed as he looked past me and at the door. He raised his voice. “But you guys already know about that, so why are you listening at the door?”
The door opened, and most of the sailors sheepishly shuffled inside. Fidel and Cook stood at the head, and Cook had one hand hidden by his back.
“Well?” Marc questioned them as he looked over his men. “What’s wanted?”
“We wanted to give the miss something,” Cook answered as he stepped forward and drew out his hidden hand. He opened his large fist and revealed a colorful handkerchief. “To show she belongs here.”
My eyes widened, and my jaw hit the floor. “That. . .that’s for me?”
He grinned. “We didn’t go to all the trouble to scrounge up a clean one for just anybody.”
He handed me the soft, silky-smooth piece of cloth. I held it across both my open palms, and tears sprang to my eyes. “But why?”
“For bringing him back to us, Miss Rose,” Cook told me as he puffed out his chest. “Ramaro told us you threw yourself on Jaeger’s gun to save him. We can’t thank you enough for that.”
Ramaro skittered through their feet to the front and bobbed his head. “That’s right. She could’ve exploded, but she threw herself on it, anyway.”
My face drooped as I thought back to the fight and that strange gun. “Well, I, um, that is, it was really nothing.”
“I appreciate the effort,” Marc spoke up as he eased himself into a sitting position. He held out his hand to me. “Let me help you put it on.”
My cheeks were flushed and tears pooled in my eyes as I handed him the handkerchief.
He tied it around my head in a second. I reached up with a shaking hand and brushed my fingers over the soft cloth.
“Thank you so much.” A few shifted their weight from foot to foot, and others bowed their heads and scuffed the floor with their toes.
“Now everyone back on deck,” Marc commanded them as he nodded the door. “We won’t reach the capital any time soon if we drift off course.”
“You heard the captain!” Fidel barked as he turned to face the group. “Back to your posts!”
They marched out of the room, a few of them giving me some shy smiles and open winks. I felt warm inside as Fidel closed the door behind them, giving me his own knowing grin before he disappeared.
I patted the front of my handkerchief as I turned back to Marc. “So does that mean I’m a part of the crew?”
He grinned. “I’m afraid so, though I have to say the handkerchief suits you more than most.”
I dropped my hand into my lap and smiled. “Thank you, Marc.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “For what?”
“For giving me a new home.”
His eyes lit up, and a gentle smile graced his lips. “I couldn’t be happier to give it to you, Rose.”
Little did I know that home would be the ‘home’ of many coming adventures, including a mystery involving an ancient scroll and buried treasure. But then, being on a pirate ship, what else would you expect?