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“Aye aye, Captain,” I sneered with a roll of my eyes.
Outside it was brighter than I anticipated. After a moment of allowing my eyes to adjust to the blinding Caribbean sun, I scanned the deck for any sign of McKenzie or Noah. I was surprised when I saw them near the hull by the sail rigging. Noah was sitting on the boat’s edge, and McKenzie stood listening to a crew member droning on about something.
I went to approach them, but never in a million years did I expect the crude terms that would be hurled at me as I made my way across the deck. But I don’t know why I would’ve expected otherwise.
“Hey lads, Cap’n finally let his new wench back out and off the leash. Are we allowed to share?” One crew member called, drawing attention from the others.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I uttered. “I was just drying off. I…sort of…fell…overboard.”
“I’m sure you were drying off alright.” Another pirate chuckled.
With my fingers curled into a tight fist, I shook my head, trying to shake away the flush of redness I could feel flooding my face. Storming past the ogling crew across the deck, I made my way to McKenzie.
“Where were you?” McKenzie looked at me through eyes wrought with dark circles—whether from tiredness or just running makeup, I couldn’t tell. Her voice still held every ounce of her usual sprightliness, however. Noah glanced at me over his shoulder, eating some type of jerky meat and porridge I couldn’t identify.
“Bellamy made me stay with him.” I uttered.
“Why?” An ocean breeze caught McKenzie’s bright red hair and whisked it across her face.
“Because I was wet, and he didn’t want me to get sick. I fell off the ship last night.”
“You didn’t fall,” Noah interrupted from his seat on the edge of the hull. “You jumped. I saw you.”
His forwardness caught me off guard, but I wasted no time snapping back at him.
“You’re wrong.” I tilted my head at him. “I fell.” I didn’t want them to know the truth of how close I’d almost been to leaving them behind for the sake of finding Milo. Noah already didn’t trust me.
“You and Milo make the perfect couple.” Noah looked away. I could now see he had been chewing some type of dry jerky. “Both liars and sneaky as hell.”
My shoulders dropped. “Can you not, Noah?”
“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “Maybe that was cold. But I’m just so freaked out right now. I mean where are we, and how do we get back home?”
“We have to get the trident,” McKenzie chimed. “Right, Katrina? Do you think Bellamy could take us to it?” She glanced at me for reassurance, but I didn’t even know what to say.
I looked out to the sea. It stretched out into miles and miles of nothingness, just as vast and endless as the blue sky above it. What could I possibly do from here? Could I convince Bellamy to take me to find some mythical trident? And where did that leave Milo? Even if I could find a way back, I couldn’t leave without him…
“Maybe,” I huffed, glancing down to my bare feet covered by the baggy pants. “But I wouldn’t know what to do even if we find it.”
Noah stood to his feet, tossing me a piece of jerky. “We use it.”
“Cordelia said the only way to use it is to sacrifice the thing most precious to you. Are either of you interested in doing that?”
McKenzie and Noah exchanged a worried glance.
“No one had to sacrifice anything to end up here. I’m sure we can figure out how to make it take us back. But we don't stand a chance without it,” Noah said.
“And how exactly do you expect me to convince Bellamy to deviate from his route and take us looking for a trident? We don’t know what this could do to the future. I don’t know this Bellamy.”
“Oh great, so now we’re following Back to the Future logic?” Noah groaned.
Something in me snapped. A thread of impatience that I hadn’t even noticed weakening. But I couldn’t manage the pressure crushing me like a tidal wave. How was I supposed to figure this out? How was I supposed to find Milo, get back to the present, keep us all alive, and save the world in just a few short days? Something in me shifted; darkened even.
“I don’t know what the hell we’re following!” I seethed. “If you have any better ideas, feel free to go ask Bellamy yourself.”
“Ask me what?” Bellamy suddenly stood behind me. I whirled around, cringing at the sensation of my bare feet against the grain of the wood below.
I swallowed. “If…if you could help us.”
