Chapter 24 Kaspar
Kaspar
Max had been acting strange since yesterday.
He’d been watching me even more closely than before, which I didn’t think was possible.
And last night, when I’d snuck into his room, he’d kissed me like he thought it’d be the last time, like he was afraid I would disappear if he didn’t keep me close enough.
He’d been shaking a little, and when we made love—because it was definitely more than sex—he’d been so tender it broke my heart a little.
And after, he’d held me tight, tighter than usual, all night long.
I could feel his worry coming off him in waves.
Even now, when he was on the other side of the ship, I could feel it.
Shaking my head, I turned back to the knot I was tying.
Moonie was actually letting Willy and me help with the rigging today, and I had to admit I was excited.
Never thought I’d be excited about something like this—never thought I’d be on a pirate airship to begin with—but it felt like I was being promoted. And I was proud of that.
Of course, I still had to swab the deck before the day was done, but I didn’t mind the extra work. I liked helping and staying busy.
Butcher, Maneater, Puffypants Pete, Toothless Jimmy, and the Hunter were all working on one of the sloops on the other side of the main deck, which was odd.
There was no reason all of them needed to be repairing that small sloop at the same time.
And truthfully, other than in the galley at dinner on occasion, I didn’t think I’d ever seen the entire group together.
Butcher typically had one or two of his minions with him, but never all of them, not when there was always so much work to do on the ship.
Butcher’s eyes caught mine, and the big man glared at me, sending me a sneer to end all sneers. Holy phoenix tails, he really hated me.
Shaking my head, I glanced back at the rigging, concentrating on my new—and very fun—job.
“You almost done, Ghost?” Willy asked, giving me his usual sunny grin.
I nodded. “Yep. Just about… got it! Okay. We’re good.”
We shared a smile before getting back to it.
A few minutes later, I glanced up from my work when I felt eyes on me, and surprise, surprise, Max was staring at me.
He gave me a look that I was clearly supposed to interpret.
But I didn’t know what he meant until I saw Viper tell him something, and a moment later, Max was moving toward the ladder.
That look meant watch it and stay with Ariella and Willy while I’m gone.
Not a hardship since I liked hanging out with them.
As Max descended the ladder, Ariella moved closer to me. Normally, she did her windweaver thing from the aft quarterdeck, but since Max had taxed her with being my babysitter, she’d taken to working her magic from wherever I was standing. And Willy hadn’t left my side either.
Even Hawk-Eyes was keeping a close eye on me from her place in the crow’s nest. Since we were out of the wastelands and getting closer to populated areas, she’d been keeping a keen eye out for other ships in the air.
So far, we hadn’t come across anyone, which was a good thing—for the other ships and for us after the kraken.
The ship was mostly repaired, but there were still a few little things that needed fixing, so getting into another battle right now would be a bad idea all around.
And everyone on the ship knew that Viper would jump on the chance to attack any ship we came across because he was a greedy, selfish, rotten piece of kraken excrement who didn’t give a single damn about anyone on this ship.
He’d let us all die if it meant he could take home another trophy or a boatful of gold.
Butcher’s lot laughed really loudly, catching my attention again, and I had a feeling they weren’t actually working at all over there. With Max down below, they could get away with not doing anything since Viper was useless and didn’t seem to care what they did.
If it was anyone else messing around like that, he would’ve thrown them overboard already, or at least threatened to multiple times over.
“You two good?” Ariella asked when she was close enough.
“Yep.” I shot her a grin, ignoring the nasty pirates across the ship. “I’m fine.”
Willy gave her a small grin, but it didn’t meet his eyes, and he didn’t reply to her. Ariella frowned at him, looking curious and a little sad herself. He was usually so happy to see her, but after he found out she’d been spreading rumors that he and I were a thing, he’d been upset.
Because it was so obvious how Willy felt about Ariella, except to maybe Ariella herself.
I was honestly surprised anyone believed the rumor, but at least it pulled some focus off of Max. Although, it wasn’t working as well as Ariella thought it would.
Now the rumors were getting all jumbled up, and people thought there was some weird love triangle happening between us all… or a love square? Was that a thing since there were four of us?
But Willy’s feelings were hurt, not because he cared if anyone thought he liked me personally, but because now he felt like he couldn’t pursue Ariella because he didn’t think she liked him back. And he wanted to ask her out on a date so badly.
Just last week, he’d asked me if I thought she’d want to go somewhere with him once we got to Asteris. Now, he didn’t want to mess anything up, and he was unsure if she liked him back. As he kept saying, if she liked him, then why would she pretend he was with someone else?
It was a mess, and I had no idea how to fix it.
He honestly thought she’d done it to put him off, and I felt terrible. Before I left the ship, I was going to have to tell him the truth.
Max and I might’ve had a great relationship thus far, but we were still new, so I was absolutely not an expert in romance, but I still wanted to help my friend.
“Anyway,” I said with a strange laugh, trying to break the tension. “Are you doing okay, Ariella? Viper’s not pushing you too hard, is he?”
She shook her head. “Nah. I’m good. He hasn’t been too bad lately.”
“Probably because he thinks he’s gonna have Ghost plugged in soon so we don’t have to worry about running out of energy.” Willy shook his head in disgust.
“You know what’s the most annoying thing about that?
” I asked them. “Even if he doesn’t plug me in, I’ll still have to do whatever he wants, you know?
It’s not like I’ll be able to say no if he wants me to charge a bunch of engine-grade fluxstones so he can sell them or whatever.
Idiot.” I sighed. “He’ll still have absolute control over me… over my magic.”
“If he could control me by plugging me into a machine and making me a mindless zombie, he would’ve done it a long time ago,” Ariella said with a sad sigh. “I’m sorry there’s even a way to extract your magic, Ghost. Those machines shouldn’t even exist.”
I gave her a nod. “We can definitely agree on that.”
After a few minutes, Willy asked, “You can really just charge as many fluxstones as you want?”
I shrugged and looked down at the rope in my hands. This wasn’t something I typically talked about with others, but… I trusted these two. With my life.
So I took a breath before speaking. “I’ve never run out of magic, at least not completely.
I’m sure I have a limit—especially because charging the engine-grades the other day wore me out.
But I’ve never used so much it drained me empty.
Yeah, I wasn’t in great shape, but my magic surged back quickly.
I maybe could’ve charged more a little while afterwards…
maybe. I never tested it because I was hiding it before now, you know?
I didn’t really go around charging every fluxstone in sight. ”
“Makes sense.”
I hesitated before deciding I may as well keep telling them about it.
About my magic, my most guarded secret that wasn’t a secret at all anymore.
“Sometimes, if I don’t use my magic often enough, it sort of builds up, and I have to release it.
I can push it out into a regular rock—it doesn’t have to be a fluxstone—but that rock wouldn’t be able to power things. ”
“Huh.” Willy stared at me for a few seconds before shooting me a grin. “I’d like to see you use your magic sometime.” His eyes went wide, and a blush formed on his cheeks. “Wait. That was rude. Was that rude? I mean, I would like to, but only if you don’t mind.”
His nervousness made me offer a smile back. “I wouldn’t mind showing you. Everything on the ship’s charged up right now, but the next time I charge something, I’ll let you know.”
I’d gone through the entire ship the other day and charged all the fluxstones—it was something I’d wanted to do the entire time I’d been here, and now that I could, I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Every time someone—mostly Sage and Max—ran out of power, I recharged their fluxstone right away.
Honestly, I really loved being able to help them.
Ariella tilted her head to the side. “Uh… aren’t you leaving once we get to Gearhart? We’ll be there in a few days. You… might not have time to show him.”
Her words felt like a punch to the gut. “I…” I trailed off, unsure of what to say.
Was that the plan? Was I supposed to stay in Asteris? Yes.
Did I want to leave? No.
Could I stay? I… didn’t think so. Not with Viper being a threat to my well-being. Not if I wanted to get my sister and nephew out of Sunada and into a better life.
I cringed and looked away, not wanting to talk about it anymore. I kept making plans in my head of things I wanted to do in the future with the crew, with Max, and I hated the reminder that none of it would come to fruition.
Willy patted my shoulder, offering a sympathetic grin. As he opened his mouth to say something that would likely break me out of my sudden bad mood and make me laugh, he was pulled away from me.
My brow furrowed in confusion as I watched Hunter pull Willy back and raise his fist as if to punch him right in the nose.
“Hey!” I yelled, lurching forward and grabbing the man’s giant fist to stop him.