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“Shut up, you bastard! Keep my father’s name from your lips!” As young Milo screamed in anger, another crew member of Valdez appeared to dispose of my father’s body. He rolled his corpse into the water, kicking him as though he was no more than a bag of wet sand.
I had to look away. I forced myself to take another step forward. I couldn’t bear it here another moment longer. And I needed to find a ship so I could get the hell off this cursed island and find Katrina. With my mind raging like the sea unchained, I thought of her. I wanted to tell her how she was worth every one of these painstaking memories. If it all brought me to her, it was worth it.
I kept the thought of her in the forefront of my mind. If—when—I found her, I would kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. I would hold her so tightly Poseidon himself couldn’t tear her away. She didn’t want me to protect her, but I would never be able to let her go if I saw her again.
Just then, the sound of a different kind of bell caught my attention. It was the signal sound of a ship coming into port. It shouldn’t have been a cause for me to notice. It was a sound I was used to hearing more often than not. But for whatever reason, this time, I turned to look.
The ship came in fast, and the sails were finally folding to slow her down. She was nearly rolling in waters far too calm for the strength at which she barreled into port. I wondered what the hurry was. Because this was one memory I didn’t recall. Of course, I was being pulled to the gut of Valdez’s ship by now, so who was to say what I might have forgotten in the fray.
It was a ship smaller than Valdez’s galleon, but still mighty enough. I might’ve even considered it as a vessel with potential to commandeer, but by the battered sides of the hull, it was clear she’d been through a recent cannon exchange or two. So much for that idea. I hoped there was a good carpenter aboard for the captain’s sake.
I watched as the anchor dropped and the crew rushed to close the sails and secure the rigging and everything else necessary before they came ashore. I counted a small crew of around fifty men as they flooded the docks, eager to step foot on land in who knew how long. But it was the captain who made me second glance.
My eyes narrowed as I strained to see in the blinding sunlight glittering on the harbor. The confident, brooding young man stepped out in a hurry, turning his head every which way as if he was looking for someone. His long blue coat fell to his boot-clad calves with an air of regality as he strode off his ship with an arrogance I could sense from here. I could hardly believe my eyes when he turned enough that I could see it was Bellamy. I had to resist the sudden urge to call out to him, remembering he wouldn’t have known me yet. But it was the three passengers walking behind him that made me pause, sucking in a breath that caught in my chest.
I almost didn’t recognize them. They were dressed as though they belonged on a ship as good as any. But the gleam of McKenzie’s red hair, the sulking demeanor of Noah gave away their identities immediately. And then there she was. Katrina. She looked like a pirate herself, dressed in her own tunic and breeches and boots—delicate and fierce all at the same time. Her dark hair flowed behind her, full and tangled by the sea winds, and her eyes widened in wonder as she looked around at the harbor, taking in the sight of an entirely new world.
Of course, she didn’t notice me. Not as I hid in the background waiting in the shadows. I wanted to run to her and show her my face. I needed her to know we’d found each other again. I desired so much that she knew how close I was to her. But I’d need to wait until she was closer, free from any influence of Valdez on the situation. Drawing attention could be dangerous.
I knew this Bellamy wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He was always a hothead, but he’d never mistreat a woman. I briefly recalled our interactions after becoming part of Valdez’s crew. Bellamy was the first one who spoke to me without commanding me to do something. He asked me my name and told me he was sorry for what happened to my father. Being five years my elder, he treated me almost as a brother for that first year on board Valdez’s ship. He taught me to wield a cutlass as well as he could and showed me how to brawl like a sailor and raid ships like a pirate. I was sure it was only because he felt sorry for me. But my mind liked to pretend that he truly enjoyed my company. And I wished our ending had been better.
“Stay true north, and you’ll never wander,” he told me once over a shared bottle of rum. He was just intoxicated, speaking carelessly out of his ass, but those words never left me. And they finally made sense, three hundred years later.
When it came time to hunt sirens, he never seemed at ease in his conscience about it much more than I did, but he always convinced himself—and me—that it was necessary. Because like me, his duty was to Valdez. For obviously different reasons, of course.
I watched Bellamy saunter across the docks, making his way to the shore with Katrina and her friends in tow. But he veered around at the sound of his father’s voice as Valdez greeted him from the docks.
Bellamy uttered something to Katrina, an almost threatening look on his face. She nodded and turned to walk away, but Valdez called out something that made me step closer. I tensed, ready for whatever strange thing may come next. My identity be damned.
Valdez slowly approached Katrina with an observant look in his eye. I wanted to react. To run and grab her, to rip her away from his filthy gaze. But I remembered Katrina’s words that seeped like poison into my soul.
“You don’t need to protect me…Haven’t we been through enough for you to realize sometimes I have to fight my own battles?”
So, I restrained myself impatiently, waiting to see if maybe she had some plan up her sleeve.
Valdez circled them, studying Katrina up and down. The way his eyes moved over her made me want to rip his head from his body and toss it in the sea with my father’s corpse. Any longer and I’d have to do something.
Valdez leaned forward and said something to Bellamy so lowly that I couldn’t hear. But I fought with every voice in my head telling me to rush in and pull Katrina away. But where would that leave McKenzie and Noah? Did I even care? I only wanted Katrina.
But then I saw the way she was looking at Bellamy. Her eyes never left him, and she moved close enough to reach for his hand as Valdez continued speaking. And she clung to his arm like he was the last person in the world. And then she finally looked away from him, and then straight towards me, as if she knew I was there the whole time.
I ripped back the hood to show her my face, in case she couldn’t see me well enough. But she hardly looked at me longer than a second before casting me aside through an indifferent gaze that stung like venom. No warmth. No welcome. Nothing. Then she drew her eyes back to Bellamy.
“You don’t need to protect me.”
Perhaps I truly didn’t. Perhaps she had all the protection she needed in the arms of Bellamy. She seemed content enough. And seeing that I was alive clearly didn’t matter to her. And what could I offer her at this point? I couldn’t get us out of here. And I would have a bounty on my head soon enough, and it would only make things worse for her. Perhaps I was a fool for standing here hoping things would ever be the same between us again. Our ship had started sinking before we’d even set sail, but I didn’t expect it to go down so quickly.
I shook my head, unable to think properly anymore. And the longer I stood by, the greater the urge to crush the compass beneath my boot and burn down every ship in the harbor grew. Ducking my head, I withdrew myself from the scene, my swift strides carrying me back into town where I escaped into an alleyway.
After I caught my breath, I looked at the nearest tavern, just meters away. It wasn’t even noon yet, but I’d say I’d seen enough in the past hour to excuse my choice of remedy. It wasn’t like me to act so rashly, but I no longer cared. Everyone I cared about had failed me. And I was tired.
27
Tidal Wave
Milo
Idowned the first pint as though it was fresh water after a week in the desert, and I immediately demanded another. The tavern keeper slid down another drink, as the bards sang shanties and the women danced around the tables of sailors immersed in their gambling.
