Chapter 20 Kaspar #2
My eyes widened. I’d known the crew was getting sick of Viper, but I hadn’t realized how bad it’d gotten until everyone around our group nodded their heads in agreement.
Seemed I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed Viper’s lack of help today, and I didn’t blame the pirates one bit for being pissed at him. He was supposed to be their leader, and he’d bailed on them.
Viper caught my gaze with a smile, and a chill went up my spine. “But the real hero is Ghost!”
Max’s eyes widened, and he stepped forward, reaching for Viper’s arm and said, “Captain, I don’t think—”
Viper ignored him. “Turns out our little stowaway is a fluxweaver, crew.” His grin somehow turned even more sinister. “Too bad he didn’t save us sooner. Then maybe Two-Toed Roch, Crusty, and Dead Eyes would still be here with us.”
Everyone turned toward me, questions and glares thrown my way, but I couldn’t hear a single one of them over the ringing in my ears.
My heart raced so fast, I was sure everyone on the ship could hear it, my throat tightened, making it hard to breathe, and my vision blackened around the edges.
I took a step, and the ship listed to the side.
Or maybe it was me who listed.
I lost my balance again, and my shoulder slammed into a hard chest. Hands righted me, but I barely noticed.
They knew.
Everyone knew.
And now they were going to hate me too.
They were going to strap me down and hook me to a machine until I became nothing but a zombie, and they’d relish in it because they hated me. They hated what I’d done—or what I hadn’t done. They hated that I’d waited too long to save everyone.
My eyes swam with tears as someone’s hands clamped on my upper arms.
I hated me too. I hated that I hadn’t been brave enough. I hated that crewmembers died when I could’ve saved them.
I hated that I hadn’t told Max sooner.
The hands on my arms steered me through the crowd, a muffled voice barking at them. The other crew members’ faces danced in front of my vision, but everyone became a blur as my breathing became more and more erratic.
I’d let their friends die, and they all knew it.
I’d been lying to them since the day they met me, and now, they knew my deepest, darkest secret.
They all hated me now.
A door slamming made me jump, and the ringing in my ears cleared with the silence that followed.
My brow furrowed because it was quiet. So flipping quiet. And we were in a space I’d never been before.
I’d thought I’d cleaned every inch of this ship, and yet, I’d never been in here.
My head whipped around, making my mind go fuzzy for a moment before everything cleared, and I found myself staring at Max, who was leaning against a closed door.
I glanced around the room, taking in a rumpled bed on one side with a window overlooking the desert, a chest at the foot of the bed that I could feel was filled with pebble-grade fluxstones, and a small nightstand beside it with a single fluxstone lamp.
There was a desk and chair on the other wall, a dresser against the third wall, several paintings of the sea, the desert, and one of a dragon family hung on the walls.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out I was in Max’s private quarters.
“M-Max,” I breathed out. “You… I… they… they’re gonna say something… About us, I mean. They’ll know. Everyone was out there, and you brought me into your room, and now everyone’s going to think we—”
“They’re not going to think anything. They saw me bring a fellow crewman in here because he was having a panic attack.”
“Is… is that what was happening?”
He lifted a brow.
I nodded. Right. Stupid question. Of course I’d been having a panic attack. Everyone now knew about me. They knew I was a fluxweaver.
My heart started pounding hard again, and I let out a strange whimpering noise before backing up a few steps and letting my ass fall onto the bed.
“Woah there.” Max was at my side in a heartbeat. “It’s okay, Kas. You’re safe, and no one’s gonna hurt you.”
A humorless laugh fell from my lips. “That… that’s the furthest… thing… from the truth.” Another horrible laugh came out. “They hate me. They… they’re gonna have no problem… letting Viper…” I couldn’t even say it. My throat constricted, my heart hammering away.
Max pulled me into his arms, holding me tight to his chest as he rubbed my back and whispered sweet nothings into my ear.
After everything, after how badly I’d hurt him, my Max was here, risking everything to comfort me.
That… that had to mean some part of him still cared about me, right? He still cared… didn’t he?
My heart hurt, and I fell apart.
A sob tore from my chest as I clung to his shirt, wetting it with my tears. My heart steadily slowed to a more normal rhythm—less panicky and more crying-my-eyes-out-pace—even as my sobs continued on.
And Max sat there, strong and immovable. My rock in the middle of a raging storm. He held me and rubbed my back and let me get it all out.
Once I felt like I could breathe again, I said, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Max. I… I never meant to hurt you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
“Shhh. Oh, Kas. Shhh. It’s alright. It’s going to be alright.”
I shook my head, not pulling away from him even an inch. “No, it’s not. I never meant to hurt you. I’m so sorry.”
He hugged me tighter and kissed my hair, pulling me onto his lap. “I’m not angry anymore.”
I snorted, although it sort of sounded like a hiccup. “Yes, you are.”
He sighed. “Okay, so I’m still a little angry, but I understand where you’re coming from, and I… I’ll be fine. I just need a little time, I think.”
I nodded against him, wrapped my arms around his waist, and pressed my forehead against the side of his neck. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing. I’ll be fine.”
I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I hoped to the goddesses it was.
After a few minutes, I said, “They captured me.” He froze, but I kept talking into his skin so I didn’t have to look him in the face.
“That’s why I ran from Sunada. Someone—my friend—ratted me out.
I came into my power when I was eight, and it’s been a safely guarded secret since.
There are people in my neighborhood who know, trusted family and friends, who I’ve been helping out as much as I could without giving myself away.
“The morning I ran away, I was at the forge, and Master Redman’s lights were nearly out of power.
I always refill them for him when we’re not busy.
He knows about me, so I wasn’t too worried about it.
While I was filling them, one of my best friends, someone I’ve known my whole life, came into the forge—the area where the public isn’t allowed.
Master Redman didn’t kick him out because he knew we were friends, you know?
Anyway, Troy said, ‘I’m sorry, Kas. I didn’t have a choice.
’ And a moment later, one of the king’s guard walked inside.
“I… I stopped powering up the light’s fluxstone, but the damage was done.
The guard saw me and ordered my arrest. I ran.
I made it all the way to my house and started packing a bag.
Kayla and Cody were home, so I quickly told them what’d happened, but we’d always planned for something like that, you know?
We always knew it was a possibility. I was going to run, and I’d send for them later. ”
I sniffled a little and hugged Max tighter.
“You made it to the ship after that?” he asked quietly, his voice soft and raspy.
I shook my head. “No. The guards caught up to me. I wasn’t fast enough.
They came to my house, knocked my door down, barged in, and literally dragged me out, kicking and screaming, with Kayla and Cody yelling at them to let me go.
It was horrible. My neighbors all came out from the commotion, and I saw…
I saw my friend, Troy, the one who gave me away.
He was crying, and one of our other friends was comforting him, like he was the one whose life was being ripped apart.
“He… he betrayed me, Max. One of my best friends, someone I grew up with, someone who’d been there for me during my parents’ deaths and so many other times, gave me away.
He didn’t even warn me. They were going to take me to the castle and hook me up to a machine for the rest of my life, and he didn’t warn me.
He just… he turned me in. I still don’t even know why. ”
Max rubbed my back, rocking me slightly. “I’m sorry, Kas.”
I sniffled a few more times. “Thank the goddesses I got away.”
“How did you get away, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I managed to scoop up a few rocks, charge them, and I made them explode in the guards’ faces.”
He froze. “How’d you get ahold of fluxstones?”
My brow furrowed, and after wiping my face a little, I leaned back to meet his gaze. “What do you mean?”
“You said you charged some stones and made them explode. How’d you get fluxstones? And how’d you make them explode? As far as I know, they’re not just lying around on the ground. I thought they only came from the mines these days?”
My mouth opened to gape at him for a few seconds before I snapped it closed and cleared my throat.
“They do mine for them. Fluxstones are the only ones that can transfer my magic into energy that powers other things, but I can charge any stone at all. Fluxstones hold onto my magic, so they don’t really explode, at least not easily.
But if I overcharge other stones, I can sort of do this…
extra boost, I guess, and it makes them explode.
” I shrugged because that was the best explanation I had.
Max blinked. “Really? Any stone?”
I nodded.
“Huh. No one’s ever said anything like that to me about fluxweavers. I guess because you guys are rare, and the Sunada royal family really keeps things quiet.”
“They don’t want anyone else controlling the fluxstone business, so they don’t let any information get out, I guess.”
He nodded, then cleared his throat. “I’m sorry you went through that, Kas.”
“Thank you.”