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“This way,” I said, taking Darla’s hand and gently placing it on the ladder. She sighed in relief and began to climb while I followed closely behind.
It didn’t take long for all of us to exit, and while the area we emerged into was indeed dark, I could see a faint silhouette of light marking the exit.
“Here, let me just shut this up while you take another listen,” Aodin said as he closed the secret exit we’d arrived through. “Let me know if you scent any shifters. There shouldn’t be any on the crew.”
Another minute or two passed before the three of us gave approval, then Aodin lifted a latch, and we stepped out into a dingy looking storage shed. Turning back, I saw that we’d just stepped out of several crates stacked on top of each other, complete with some cobwebs on them, as if they hadn’t been disturbed in ages. Huh, the fae really did think of everything. I’d had no idea that they were so skilled in subterfuge.
“Here, there should be dock worker uniforms over on this shelf. We put these on, grab something, and walk onboard like we belong. Our contact will meet us as soon as we’re on deck.”
It was a simple plan, at least compared to everything we’d been through so far, and we put on the uniforms as soon as Aodin produced them. They were baggy on Darla and me, though short on Kai and Oren, but none of them were ostentatiously ill-fitting. Once we were all secured, we grabbed some random boxes and some equipment, then headed out the front door of the shed.
This time, my eyes needed to adjust to the light. Although the sun was setting, it was still much brighter outside of the small space we’d been in. But I did my best not to stumble, or have my eyes water too much, following Kai and using his scent as more of a guide to keep myself steady.
Thankfully, the discomfort didn’t last for long. One, because shifter eyes did tend to adjust quite quickly, but also because we were up on the dock without so much as a hiccup. I was sure that a single guard didn’t look in the direction of the boat, let alone at us, as we boarded.
“Ah, there you are,” a woman’s voice drifted over as soon as we stepped on board. Despite my eclectic life, I’d never been on a large naval vessel before, and I was thrown off by the gentle sway. I wasn’t so naïve that I’d never heard of sea-legs or sea sickness before, but I didn’t think it was an effect I’d notice right away. “I’ll show you where you can put all that.”
I kept my head down and followed her down a set of stairs into the boat’s underbelly.
“In here,” the woman said, stepping to the side and gesturing into a dark room. I finally got a look at her as we shuffled forward, and she looked like any other human. She had auburn hair, dark eyes, and an even darker complexion. It helped her blend into the deep tones of the wood behind her, the lights overhead too dim to provide a stark outline for much of anything.
Once we were all in, she shut the door as several things happened at once. First, I felt the slightly itchy magic of Aodin’s glamour wash off us in an instant. One moment it was there, a discomfort on the edge of my senses, the next it was gone. The next thing I noticed was that the woman’s appearance had changed, her hair going from a standard and wavy auburn, to thick and highly decorated locks of blonde and brandy brown. She wore them in an impressive mane with spiral clips holding them back from her pointed ears.
Ears that looked just like Aodin’s.
Huh, so she was a fae, too. I wondered why her disguise was necessary. Was she a wanted fugitive too, or just being proactive? She was a smuggler, so probably the latter. She stood out in a crowd, even in the extravagant capital.
“This room is soundproof, scent sealed, and has all sorts of spells to not allow any magical influence from the outside. While you’re here, you will be completely safe. Now, I have a few things I need to show you: where you can hide if we’re raided, how to pull your beds out, and how to unlock the hidden door to the restrooms. You’ll be able to wash and relieve yourself.”
I hadn’t thought of such things, but I’d been concentrating so much on getting onto the boat, it was all my mind had room for. Going by ocean wasn’t exactly a quick mode of travel, compared to car over land at least, so we’d be guests on the ship for a while.
“You think Camdaria are going to have aquatic checkpoints?” Aodin asked, already all business.
“It’s hard to say for sure. The whole kingdom is in quite the tizzy. You made a real scene, you know.”
“We are aware,” Kai said.
“Oh, where are my manners. Prince Nikolai, this is—”
“No names, please,” the woman interrupted, holding up a hand. “It’s bad enough you’ve seen my true face. No offense, but you lot are here because of Aodin. I owed him one, and that’s it.”
“Fair enough. I guess you can finally call us even.”
“It’s about time,” the woman said. “Seven years of debt was about six too many for me.”
“Eh, we’ve had fun with it.”
“Speak for yourself.” It should have been mortifying to see from the outside, but her behavior reminded me of my own when I had to be so guarded with my curse. Had I been so easy to see through? The woman’s desire for Aodin was written all over her face as clear as day. “Good riddance.”
“Aw, you know I’ve managed to crawl my way into that heart of yours.”
“You w—”
“Shh,” Darla blurted suddenly, her face deadly serious.
“What is it?” I asked. “Is something wrong?”
“You said this room was sealed from magic, but what about those with any extra sensory perception?”
