Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
After the incident in training, I avoid Weston like I avoid my father, and it seems he does the same.
Days pass without a single word exchanged between us.
Instead of using the healing salve from the island, he walked around the ship with a bandage wrapped over his forearm; his sleeve always rolled to his elbow, as if he wanted me to have a constant reminder of what I’d done.
Otherwise, he pretended it never happened, and so did I.
I never apologized for hurting him, and he never apologized for his behavior.
But his message was well received.
I have not let my guard down once since our fight, since he growled the warning in my face. If anything, I am on guard more now than ever before, even if it is mostly around him.
There hasn’t been another opportunity to escape. Dawnlin locks me in the room at night, and there’s never a moment alone on this damn ship. I’m trying to blend in, to seem like they are growing on me and I’m accepting my position among them, becoming a Castaway.
That will never happen.
I won’t stop trying to get back to Dane, bringing all my knowledge with me and finally righting the wrong Weston has inflicted on the island.
A dull ache settles in my chest when I think about Dane, remembering how he was wild with concern when I was missing as I searched for Fin. The memory of us standing in the clearing, worry etched on his face as he confessed it all to me, flashes in my mind.
I can’t let anything happen to you. You’re too important.
I miss him, and if he was going crazy back then, I can only imagine how he is feeling now. All the more reason I need to get home to him.
It isn’t just missing Dane that is bothering me, though.
I spent every day for months with full reign over the island, able to go anywhere and do what I please, but now I’m stuck.
I’m trapped on this floating prison, and even though I’m no longer in the brig, not being able to see anything but wooden walls and glaring sunlight as I work is starting to get to me.
The Castaways come and go around me, but no one has given me any indication of when or if I will ever be let off the ship. Sig mentioned I would, but she hasn’t brought it up again, at least not since training.
Is keeping me under constant supervision another punishment for besting him?
At least I’m grateful my strength is rapidly improving, and my body is becoming used to the tedious chore.
I’m finishing faster each day, leaving the rest of my afternoons open to sit in the lounge, or chat on the deck with Stassia and Auralie.
Sometimes Sig and Jorn join us if they aren’t on shift.
I still haven’t figured out what that means, and no one says anything about it. They just…go.
No matter where I go on this ship, or what I am doing, I am constantly listening, waiting for someone around me to give up a piece of information I can bring back to Dane.
Back at camp, we often talked about the Castaways, the only other regular topic besides finding the cure, but it doesn’t seem like anyone here talks about the Voyagers.
So far, besides my conversation with Jorn about the helio, I’ve discovered nothing new, so I need to bide my time.
When they trust me enough, they will at least tell me, and hopefully include me, in whatever is going on here, so I have another chance to get out.
I’m trying to stay patient, but something gnaws at me.
Will the rest of my life, all of eternity on this island, be spent scrubbing the deck and fighting with Weston?
Today, I decide it won’t be. I’m going to make the best of it, spending time with the one person on this ship who brings me joy.
I stow the bucket and brush away in the supply closet before heading below deck to find Fin. His feet kick up and down, as he lies on his stomach playing with a set of wooden blocks he has constructed into a castle.
“Nice castle you built there,” I say as I plop down next to him, folding my feet under me.
“Do you like it?” he says, his face brightening with a smile.
“It’s great. Is it like the one in your kingdom?”
His shoulders touch his ears in a shrug. “I dunno. I’ve never seen it before. I want to! I bet it is huge!”
I chuckle softly. “Yes, it probably is,” I agree, setting a block down on top of a tower.
“Have you ever been inside a castle, Lennox?”
I nod once. “I have.”
“Really? You have? How come? What was it like? Did you see the king and queen?”
If only Fin knew.
I am more familiar with the walls of a castle than the outside world.
He looks at it with a sense of wonder, and I see it as the same kind of prison that I’m locked in here, run by a tyrant who doesn’t care about me, only wants to control me.
I’ve kept my title a secret this long, and I don’t plan on letting it slip.
Fin doesn’t need to know me as anything other than Lennox. That’s who I want to be while I’m here.
“That’s a story for another time,” I say, watching his face drop slightly. “I actually had a different question for you.” I lean in closer and whisper loudly, “Do you want to play?”
The light in his eyes is back in an instant, and he jumps up off the floor, knocking the castle down and sending blocks scattering.
“Yes! Yes! Let’s play!” He jumps up and down with each word, a huge grin on his face.
“Let’s clean this up first,” I say, reaching over to pile the wooden blocks into an empty basket next to the crumbling castle.
Fin is still bouncing with excitement once the floor is clear and immediately launches into initiating the game.
“You can hide first, Lennox, since you haven’t played before. I should go tell mister Weston so he can play too!” He runs for the steps, but I stop him.
“No, Fin, how about it’s just you and me today?
” I still want to be as far away from Weston as possible during waking hours.
Fin hasn’t picked up on the coldness between us, but it is obvious everyone else has.
As soon as Weston and I are remotely close to each other, whoever happens to be around gives us a wide berth.
“Alright!” he yells and hops off the step.
“Tell me the rules,” I say.
“I have to count to one hundred, and while I’m counting, you go hide somewhere. You have to stay real quiet until I find you.”
“What happens if you don’t find me?” I ask.
“That won’t happen!” he giggles. “Mister Weston always finds me. That’s how the game ends!”
I try to hide my smile. “When can I come out if you don’t find me?”
“You can’t. I have to find you.” His eyebrows crunch together, like he can’t fathom the game ending any other way.
I guess I am not moving all day.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
“Ready, set, go!” Fin dives face first into one of the cushions and covers his eyes. Numbers ring out into the room as he counts.
“Seven, eight, nine, twelve, eleven, fourteen.”
I stifle a giggle and tiptoe out of the lounge. There will be plenty of time before he searches for me, so I don’t rush.
Spending time with Fin isn’t my only motivation behind the game today. Searching for a place to hide gives me a perfectly innocent reason to wander around the ship. Sig said nothing was off limits, but there has to be something more they aren’t telling me.
I can’t shake the feeling they are hiding something. Whether it is physical, or just being elusive about their motives and plans, I don’t know. But there’s a secret somewhere. If there wasn’t, I’d already know everything about having a shift.
The Castaways are mainly on deck today, or tucked away in their quarters.
Not many are roaming below deck, and the few I heard are in the mess.
Checking over my shoulders to make sure I am still alone, I pull open a door in the hallway and peek in, only to find a small supply closet.
I continue looking behind every door, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary.
Closets, supplies, tools, bedding. Everything is neat and tidy, and I wonder if it is someone’s ship duty to stock them, or if the island does it.
The bottom floor with the brig wasn’t included on Sig’s tour, but I don’t want to go back down there yet.
I spent enough time down there for now. I can check it another day.
Heading back toward the lounge, I can still hear Fin counting.
His numbers are quickly approaching the end, so I need to think fast.
The infirmary is the closest door to me, so I quietly turn the knob and slide in. Choosing somewhere so close to him puts me at risk of being discovered quickly, but it’s fine. It’s only the first round.
The room is small, with only a stool and rectangular table, I assume for injuries that may require someone lying down to be treated.
Looking around for a hiding place that will give Fin a little challenge seems of no use in the sparse room until I spot a tall cabinet door on the wall.
I peek inside, finding enough room to sit comfortably, so I climb in quickly and shut the door behind me.
Fin’s counting drifts through the air, and I listen as he finally finishes.
“I’m coming!” he shouts loudly, and his footsteps pound on the wood as he climbs steps to the first floor.
So much for thinking he was going to find me quickly.
I sit inside the small cabinet, and it is the first time I have truly been alone with my thoughts since being let out of the brig.
There’s no Weston, or Sig, or even Fin, to distract me from the tidal wave of emotions and thoughts about how my entire situation has changed.
With all of my time spent plotting a way to escape or fighting with Weston, I have barely had a chance to process everything and let the change settle over me.
The weight of my situation feels like it is crushing me in this small, dark corner of the ship. Everything I came here for, I’ve been denied, and everything I found was taken from me. I have no healing waters, no friends, no family. No Dane.