Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
The tip of Cali’s tail bristled. “Is this why you brought us on board? Are Thrain and I siren fodder?”
Bonnie’s head snapped up. “Siren fodder? Of course not.” Her forehead bunched. “I would never put you—or your friend—in harm’s way.”
Cali dipped her fork into the meat pie. “That’s not exactly true, is it? If we’re heading for an outlaw island guarded by murderous sirens, I’d call that harm’s way.”
Bonnie frowned. “We’re on a ship crossing the sea. There’s always danger lurking, but no more than there would be on any of your land quests.”
The pantheri wanted to scoff at this but then remembered being chased by wraiths who’d been fully intent on killing them. Okay, maybe the pirate had a point. She picked up her fork and stabbed a steaming chunk of pastry.
“Like I said, it isn’t blood the sirens desire,” Bonnie continued. “Not anymore. I think bashing sailors on the rocks or dragging them to the depths got boring after so long.”
Cali took a bite of pie, and the mouthful got lodged in her throat. Bashing people to death was boring?
“It’s secrets they love now.” Bonnie dabbed at the corners of her mouth. “The more salacious, the better.”
Cali crossed one leg over the other and jiggled her foot. “You make them sound like a bunch of bored gossips.”
Bonnie took another bite of the meat pie and swiveled her fork in the air. “In a way, they are. They do nothing but guard the island’s cove and wait for ships to enter. Wouldn’t you be hungry for news if you’d done that for hundreds of years?”
“As long as that’s all they’re hungry for.”
Before the archer could spear some pie onto her fork, the ship pitched to one side and the pie plate slid the length of the table.
Bonnie deftly lunged forward and caught the pie before it hit the floor.
The ship hissed as it tipped in the other direction, and Cali swayed with the movement.
Her gaze went to the window where dark water churned and lashed the glass.
“What’s happening?” she asked, as the surrounding wood creaked and the books shuffled in place on the shelves.
It was only as the ship rocked that Cali noticed how everything in the captain’s quarters was fastened to something or hooked to the walls. Even the shelves had wooden dowel railings to keep the tomes from cascading onto the floor.
Bonnie didn’t bother to look out the window before answering. “Storm.”
Cali shook her head. “But we were just on deck. There was no storm on the horizon.” She thought back to the clear sky and the placid sea. “There weren’t even clouds.”
Bonnie tossed the dishtowels onto her bed, then placed the pie on top of them, where it sagged into the soft surface. “Doesn’t matter. Storms can pop up without warning around here.”
“Around here?” Cali asked as she followed the pirate slowly across the room toward the door. “Where is here?”
Bonnie grasped the wrought-iron door handle and yanked it open, catching Cali’s eyes over her shoulder. “Didn’t I mention that to reach Claw Island, we have to pass through an area called Sailor’s Graveyard?”
The ship dipped, and Cali slid the rest of the distance to the door, catching herself on the doorframe before sliding fully into the corridor. She vaguely remembered the term being mentioned in passing. “Any chance the name is a joke?”
Bonnie was already taking long strides toward the stairs leading to the main deck. “No joke. It’s an area known for changing winds and unpredictable currents, but I didn’t think we’d reach it until morning.”
Cali hunched over on all fours and used her claws to keep from skittering from side to side as she followed the captain down the narrow hallway.
As expected, the pirate stayed upright with more ease, and she bounded up the stairs.
The pantheri used the stair railing to heave herself up the steps, her stomach churning in time with the ship.
When she emerged onto the deck, Pinkie was already hoisting herself up the mast while Gert was barking orders to the crew. Water crested the sides of the ship and rained onto the deck, as the raging sea swallowed the vessel’s moans.
Cali tipped her head to the sky, startled by how quickly it had blackened. Murky clouds swirled above as if the sky itself was being churned and whirled.
“I don’t know how this happened, Cap,” the orc bellowed over the howling storm.
“Sailor’s Graveyard?” Bonnie called back as she made her way up to the quarterdeck, the salty spray slicking her hair to her face in dark slashes.
Gert relinquished the wheel with a grim face. “Not for another several leagues.”
“Then this is a storm that came out of nowhere?”
Her quartermaster gave her a side-eye glance. “The sky was clear and the water was calm.”
The women exchanged a knowing look that made Cali think this wasn’t entirely unexpected.
The bow of the ship reared back, the ropes flailing and the hull shrieking, before it slammed back down and knocked almost all the sailors off their feet.
Only Bonnie remained standing, and that was because she had an iron grip on the wheel.
Cali stayed on all fours for a beat, her soaked hair dripping brine into her eyes. She smoothed it back as she used the quarterdeck railing to heave herself up, blinking hard as the salt burned her eyes.
“Maybe Arabella wasn’t as appeased as we suspected?” Gert said, as she staggered back to standing, her hands braced on her knees.
Bonnie’s lips were a white line as she shook her head. “This isn’t mermaids.”
“Then what?” Seraphina called back, her long fingers curled around the ship’s rail like tentacles.
“Or who?” Bonnie said, her gaze landing on Cali. “If I had to guess, our siren friends are impatient.”
“They can control the weather?” Cali asked.
“If it’s close enough to their domain,” Bonnie shouted over a crack of lightning. “It’s one way they get ships into their clutches.”
Gert expelled a torrent of curses as the ship’s bow climbed up another wave, crested it, and dropped hard enough to rattle Cali’s teeth. If she’d known that all the creatures in the sea were moodier than a troll who’d missed a meal and more vengeful than a wounded goblin, she would have never come.
A groan from behind made her turn to see Thrain braced in the entrance to the stairs leading below deck.
“Grognick’s beard,” he mumbled, holding a hand to his mouth. “It’s worse up here than down below.”
Bonnie made a point of avoiding Cali’s gaze, as she jerked her head toward the dwarf and then elbowed Gert in the ribs. “Tie him up.”