Chapter 16
Sixteen
Cali attempted to roll onto her side in the hammock, curling the flat pillow as tight around her ears as possible. She swung back and forth as the ship swayed, and if it hadn’t been for Thrain’s snoring, she would have found it easy to be lulled to sleep.
It had been two days since they’d joined the pirate crew, which meant two nights sleeping above the dwarf in the tiny room. To be more accurate, it meant two nights not sleeping. Cali hadn’t stolen more than bits and pieces of sleep, although her friend seemed to have no problem.
Days on the ship had fallen into a comfortable rhythm.
Seraphina patrolled the ship’s railing while Gert kept the sailors working steadily.
She took her shifts in the crow’s nest, ate her share of stew and rolls with the rest of the crew, and occasionally joined Bonnie on the quarterdeck to observe their progress.
The captain assured her they were making progress, even though the stretch of water in all directions made it feel like they were going nowhere fast.
It was only at night, when Cali was alone with her thoughts, that she second-guessed why she was on the ship. It was only as she was lying in the top hammock, awake and listening to Thrain saw wood, that she was sure that this adventure would leave her right back where she started.
“How is he sleeping through it?” she muttered to herself as the rasping, rumbling sound echoed in the small room.
After a few more minutes, she sat up and peered down at the dwarf. Bramble lay curled in the crook of his arm, and the raccoon appeared to be oblivious to the noise, although he did have his bushy tail curled around his head. Too bad Cali’s tail was sleek and not long enough to use as earmuffs.
“This is ridiculous.” She swung her legs over the side of the hammock and vaulted to the floor, landing on silent paws. With a final glance back at her slumbering friends and a bewildered shake of her head, she slipped from the room and pulled the door behind her with a click.
The pantheri took a moment to regain her balance as the ship dipped from side to side. The door to the kitchen was now shut tight, and savory scents no longer filled the narrow hallway. Her gaze drifted to the door she knew belonged to the captain, but no light seeped beneath the closed door.
“Looks like everyone is asleep but me,” she grumbled as she headed for the stairs, her bare feet padding on the vivid colors of the steps that were muted in the blue light of the moon.
When she emerged from below deck, she sucked in a quick breath of cool sea air.
During the day, the ship bustled with the crew hoisting the sails and tugging thick rope.
Commands were bellowed and snippets of sea shanties were hummed.
But now, moonlight drenched the deck of the pirate ship as its bow whispered through the water.
Swiveling her head, she took in nothing but wine-dark water stretching in all directions, and she fought back the panic that clawed at her throat.
“It’s just water,” she told herself, trying not to think about all the things that could lurk beneath the surface. If the pirates were to be believed, sea monsters, mermaids, and sirens were all real.
Maybe they’d been teasing her. Or maybe Bonnie and her quartermaster had been testing her to see if she’d scare easily. Or maybe they were telling the truth. There was a reason she’d always avoided the sea. More than one, in fact, and now she had even more reasons.
Cali moved closer to the side of the ship, resting her paws on the painted wooden railing that was now dappled with cool light.
She peered tentatively over the side, jerking her head back at the sight of the swells frothing against the hull.
She patted the railing and whispered, “Thanks for keeping us dry up here.”
The ship made a keening noise as it rocked in the other direction, and for a moment, Cali felt like it was answering her. She smiled, thinking of the mermaid carved on the front of the ship, and wondered if she had a name or if she was the Cruel Mistress.
“Can’t sleep?”
Cali jerked and spun around, her tail thrashing and her heart racing as she spied the captain standing behind her wheel on the quarterdeck, her hair as black and glossy as polished ebony. “Do you always lurk on deck after dark?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized how accusatory they sounded. This was Bonnie’s ship, after all, and she was the captain. Most people wouldn’t consider her steering it to be lurking.
But the pirate didn’t seem offended. Instead, she beckoned for the pantheri to join her. “I couldn’t sleep either.”
Cali made her way up the stairs, her fur still on end. “Is Thrain’s snoring so loud that even you can hear it?”
Bonnie laughed, shaking her head. “That’s not why I couldn’t sleep, but I’m guessing it’s why you’re up here.”
Cali twitched one shoulder. If she were being honest, the dwarf’s snoring was only one reason she’d been chasing sleep and failing. “I should be used to sleeping in close quarters since I ran with a crew, but I guess it’s different when you’re not on solid land.”
The captain nodded as if she understood. “Give it a few more days, and solid land will feel strange to you.”
Cali couldn’t imagine ever feeling that way, but she nodded.
“Besides,” Bonnie said, running the tips of her fingers across the spokes of the wheel, “Tris likes you.”
Cali scoured her memories for a Tris. She’d met a lot of new people, but she was almost certain she hadn’t met a Tris. “Who’s Tris?”
Bonnie’s hand curled around two of the spokes in a caress more than a grip. “Why, the ship, of course.”
Cali blinked at the pirate. Had she said the ship was named Tris? She was sure it was called The Cruel Mistress? Then she turned the words over in her mind. “I get it. Tris is a nickname for Mistress.”
“Something like that.” Bonnie patted the spokes. “The old girl wanted a name that wasn’t such a mouthful.”
Cali thought of the woman painted on the bow of the ship. “You mean the mermaid at the front?”
The captain bobbled her head back and forth. “Yes and no. The mermaid is part of her, but she’s more than that.” She leaned forward and dropped her voice. “Aren’t you, Tris?”
Another keening sound as the ship scuttled a wave. This time, Cali was even more sure that was an actual answer.
Cali matched Bonnie’s hushed tone. “Are you telling me that your ship is alive?”
The pirate laughed, the sound as high and lilting as the musical sound that came from the ship’s creaking planks.
It was as if she and the ship were laughing together.
“Not alive in a traditional sense, and I couldn’t tell you how she came to be or who possessed enough powerful magic to create a sentient ship, but yes.
” She rested a hand on Cali’s shoulder. “You’re sailing on the only enchanted pirate ship on the known seas. ”
Cali slid her gaze around her to the ropes flowing from tall masts and the crisp sails that seemed to adjust themselves to catch the wind.
From her vantage point beside the captain, the colors splashed across the deck no longer appeared random and, unless her eyes were tricking her, they’d changed since earlier in the day.
It wasn’t only the moonlight that had shifted the ship’s colorful paint to a palette of blue.
Then Cali pivoted to the pirate captain. “Does that mean the jolly boat that Marina and the hellkins took is also…?”
Bonnie’s smile drooped, and the ship moaned. “Yes, which is why we must retrieve it. Jolli is as sentient as Tris, and the two have never been apart for longer than a few hours.”
“When Gert said the ship would rebel if you didn’t find the jolly boat, she didn’t mean the crew?”
Bonnie shook her head. “Although the crew is so fond of Tris that they’d also probably refuse to sail if we didn’t retrieve her companion.”
Cali rested a soft paw on the railing, which was surprisingly warm. Did she actually have something in common with a sentient ship? Were they both searching for someone?
Her throat tightened as she patted the warm wood, determination sharpening her breath.
If there was one thing she understood in the marrow of her bones, it was the pain of loss and the longing to find the one you loved.
Suddenly, the prospect of sirens and sea monsters and mermaids didn’t seem so daunting. “Then let’s get your friend.”
The ship bounded through a swell, the flapping of her sails sounding like a burst of applause.
Bonnie stepped back and gestured for Cali to take the wheel. “Lead on.”