Reva peers at me with those gorgeous hazel eyes. “When was the last time you drank alcohol?”
“Or slept,” Torin adds.
I think for a moment, struggling through the mess of my memories until I find one that sticks. “I last had alcohol a few months before I left home,” I say. “My mother used to make moonshine and sometimes she’d sell it at the market. We always had fresh vegetables from the farm, so she was forever testing out new types.”
I remember our harvest was terrible right before I left, things weren’t growing how they should have been so most of what came out of the ground was only fit for soup or moonshine.
I should probably find some way of contacting her to let her know that I’m alive. Although, whether she’ll want a son who's been accepted into the fold by a bunch of outlaw pirates is debatable.
“You should teach Bones how to make your moonshine. The stuff he makes always winds up tasting like toilet water,” Dagger says from the doorway.
“I will, if I can remember how she made it.”
“We should get more vegetables the next time we’re on a supply run,” Dagger adds before downing the potion I made. He grimaces and gives a dramatic shudder. “Or maybe you should feed this to everyone and it’ll put us all off drinking for life.”
Reva snorts. She looks so relaxed and carefree tonight, not carrying any of the pain she’s been trying to hide over the past few weeks.
She’s also still holding my hand, although I’m not sure she realises.
“Did you want me for anything?” I ask.
“Nothing important.” Torin claps me on the shoulder, nearly sending me flying into the wall. If it weren’t for Reva’s hand in mine, I might have tripped over my own two feet.
“Shit, sorry.” He peers down at me. “Not sure you’re fit for dancing, lad. You look like you could fall asleep stranding up.”
I feel it, too.
“We came up for two reasons,” Reva says. “First, we wanted to draw you out of this room as apparently you’ve barely been eating or sleeping up here. And honestly, join the club, we can be tired and slightly miserable together.”
She squeezes my hand again, which is the point I realise that she hasn’t forgotten at all. She’s actually choosing to continuestanding with our fingers interlinked, something that has my chest going all tingly and warm.
“Yeah, fellas, that’s definitely our cue to head back to the party,” Dagger says. “Who wants to bet they’ll have their kit off in the next ten minutes?”
He gives a little wink as he heads out with the other crewmembers, leaving just the three of us in awkward silence.
“And what was the other reason?” I croak out.
“Torin’s hands have disappeared,” Reva replies.
For a minute, I imagine I’ve misheard her. But then she grabs one of Torin’s arms and wiggles it around and even through my bleary eyes, I can see she’s right.
“Woah, where are your hands?” I grab his hand and yank it up to my face, poking myself in the cheek with one of his fingers. “Oopsie daisy.”
Some of the fuzz in my brain clears as I inspect his hands again. I sway slightly and then stumble backward before deciding it might be a good idea to sit down. The floor is nice, safe, it doesn’t keep trying to trip me over. I pat it appreciatively before remembering I’m supposed to be inspecting Torin’s invisible hands. Tugging his sleeve, he slowly lowers himself beside me until he’s sprawled out on the floor.
“Huh.” I twist them this way and that and then roll one sleeve up to reveal his very visible wrists. “Uh huh. Interesting.”
“I’m not sure this is the best time for this,” he says. “We should probably do it later, after you’ve slept and eaten.”
“Or maybe this is the best time,” I say. After Reva translates for me, Torin stares me down but I ignore his intense gaze. “How’d it happen?”
“It started in the labs. My hands were covered in that black stuff and they started to just... disappear. I thought there was something wrong with my eyes to begin with but then they disappeared entirely.”
“And can you switch it on and off?” I ask.
“It doesn’t seem like it. Do you think it’s going to spread?”
If I was more sober, I’d probably answer differently. But I’m not, so I find myself shrugging. “Possibly. Probably not, though.”
