Smoked Out
Chapter thirty-one
The smell of smoke should have woken Lucianna, but it did not. No, she only caught the scent after being jostled awake. In the haze of half sleep, she reached for her dagger beneath her pillow. A strong hand caught her wrist and gripped. She began to thrash beneath her assailant.
“We don’t have time for your dreadful attempt at killing me, little thief,” Finnick rasped. “The ship is on fire.”
Lucianna stilled. Her eyes flew open and met her husband’s blue irises. Thick black smoke wrapped around him like a shawl. She dropped her dagger and blinked to gather herself. Her eyes began to burn.
Finnick jumped up and hauled her with him. He dragged her to the stairs, and she tripped over her bare feet following him.
“Fire!” Finnick bellowed as they reached the top of the stairs.
Lucianna stumbled into him as he came to a stop. She squinted in the early morning light, still not fully awake. Kaiden rushed toward them. Smoke began to billow up out of the opening that led below deck at an alarming rate. One that indicated there was no hope of putting the fire out.
“Where is it?” the captain asked with frantic eyes.
Finnick shook his head. “Don’t know. I woke up to smoke and ran out.”
He looked around, scanning the ship. Lucianna followed his gaze. Castien and Wren stood up from the table they had been occupying. Kelwin looked down from the crow’s nest. Petals started for the cabin entrance. Where was—
“Miss Cora is down there,” he stated. “She was working in the galley.”
He said nothing more and did not ask for help or permission. Simply dove into the smoke with abandon.
Lucianna’s chest began to rise and fall rapidly. If there was a fire, they might have to abandon ship. She looked at the eerily calm waters. Recalled the gaping jaws of the vermi. Her heart thrashed in her chest.
Finnick’s hand squeezed hers. She turned and met his gaze. In it was a promise, one she was not sure she deserved for him to keep.
“Kelwin!” Kaiden shouted. “Begin untying the row boats.”
On either side of the ship were small boats with a pair of oars.
Enough space to split their crew between them.
Perhaps a few days’ rations if they could even retrieve them from the galley.
An anxious sob clawed its way up Lucianna’s throat.
She whipped her head back and forth looking for something to do.
Kelwin scrambled down the shroud. Kaiden went to the port side and began unknotting. Lucianna wasn’t sure she could still her hands long enough to be useful in such a task.
Castien crossed the deck and went into the captain’s quarters. Wren drew closer to Finnick, who wrapped his free arm around her protectively.
“He’s gone to get what little supplies we have in the room,” Wren murmured.
Finnick nodded, then looked to the stairs where Petals had disappeared. Lucianna looked from him to the smoke. Noted the determination in his gaze.
“Finn, no,” Wren whispered.
Finnick let go of Wren first, then passed his thumb over Lucianna’s hand once before dropping it. He took a step toward the stairs, only to halt when a large figure emerged in a cloud of darkness.
Petals cradled a wide-eyed Cora in his arms. Her bright red curls were frizzy and mussed, and there was some sort of powder smudged on her pale cheek.
“I’m so sorry!” she cried out. “I-I was working on a smoke pouch that Castien asked for. It needed to create a lot of smoke, he said. So I packed the pouch full, but it—well it burst, you see. And—”
Finnick interrupted her. “There’s no fire, then?”
The disheveled alchemist rapidly shook her head.
“No fire. I would not experiment with open flame in an enclosed space,” she said with conviction.
Finnick heaved a sigh and raked a hand through his hair.
“False alarm, Captain!” he yelled.
Lucianna turned to see the captain pause his efforts. Slowly, he faced the rest of the crew.
“No fire?” he confirmed.
Cora shook her head. “Just smoke. I’m sorry, Captain.”
Kaiden stared at them in a way that suggested he was contemplating tossing them overboard.
“Retie the boats, Kelwin,” Kaiden called across the ship.
“Aye!” Kelwin shouted.
The two went right back to work. Castien emerged from the captain’s quarters.
“Did I hear you say there’s no fire?” he asked, relief evident on his face.
“Yes, I—” Cora paused, tipping her head back to look at Petals, who was still holding her. “Could you put me down?” she asked quietly.
Petals’s cheeks turned pink. He quickly set her on her feet and took a few steps back.
“Apologies, everyone. I should have paid closer attention to the dimensions of the pouch. I was splitting my attention between it and the vermi blood, which I know is not the practice of a good scientist, but it was so fascinating. The creature must have had poisonous properties, because I discovered a compound in its blood—”
Lucianna called upon her Gift.
“Cora,” she said. “Perhaps you should wait to share your findings for another time.”
The alchemist blinked and looked around at her crewmates. If they felt as Lucianna did, then they were each coming down from the rush of adrenaline that came with the notion of abandoning ship. She nodded once.
Kaiden stalked over to their group.
“When will the smoke clear?” he asked.
Cora tugged on the hem of her linen shirt.
“In an hour. It would usually disperse faster, but since the space is so enclosed with little ventilation . . .” Cora warily met the captain’s narrowed eyes. “It will take longer.”
“Any experiments that involve smoke or fire are to be done above deck,” he growled, then stormed away before Cora could reply.
“He hates me now, doesn’t he?” She wrung her hands.
“If it helps, I don’t think he ever liked you in the first place,” Finnick replied.
Lucianna glared at him. Wren smacked his shoulder.
“What?” he asked. “Makes me feel better. Nowhere to go but up from here!”
Wren let out a laugh, and Lucianna covered hers with an eye roll. The beginnings of a smile began to form on Cora’s lips.
“Ever the optimist,” Castien said wryly.
“Someone has to be.” He clapped his hands together and grinned. “Well, that was a fun way to wake up. My heart is racing! What say we put this energy to good use?”
“What did you have in mind?” Wren asked, though something in her expression told Lucianna the princess already knew.
“How about a round of sparring?” Finnick suggested, looking at his cousin. “Can you spare some time to lose to me, or are you too busy?”
They had several more days ahead of them at sea and did not know what all they would face when they arrived on the shores of Grimhaven. Finnick spoke of sparring as though it were a game, but Lucianna saw the benefit in keeping up their training.
Castien must have too, because he chuckled and said, “I will not lose.”
“I will take that as an acceptance of my challenge and go retrieve my sword from the smoke.” He turned to Lucianna, mischief sparkling in his eyes. “Would you like me to fetch your vault of weapons, little thief? Perhaps we could spar once I best my cousin.”
Lucianna fought a smile at his unbridled confidence.
“You may retrieve them. My long sword is propped behind my trunk.” A smirk bloomed across her lips. “I will fight whoever wins.”
Finnick’s grin widened.
“Very well. Wren, perhaps you could pen a letter for Castien while we duel? That way, when he loses, he has something to soothe his wounded ego.”
Castien shook his head at Finnick’s antics; meanwhile, Wren laughed.
“I will do no such thing, because he shall best you. I have seen him do so many times.”
Finnick smiled as he backed away.
“Yes, but never have the stakes been so high.” He gestured to Petals and Cora as he walked. “You are welcome to spectate. Choose a side and place bets. It is going to be a fine show!”
Cora looked skeptical.
“I suppose I cannot work until the smoke clears, so I have nothing better to do.”
“That’s the spirit!” Finn cheered, and Lucianna couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her.
Her husband spun on his heel before he could tumble down the stairs and melted into the smoke.
“Has he always been so dramatic?” Lucianna inquired.
“Yes,” Castien and Wren replied at the same time.