Page 69 of Dance Practice, Marooned: Part 2

Needing to move, I walk up onto the deck and just watch as we get closer and closer to the ship. I can see two men standing, watching us with binoculars, too. Adrian has been keeping as much communication going as possible, telling them we can see them, we’re unarmed. We can only do so much to hide that this is a pirate ship, and we can only hope that we will get the chance to tell our story before they react.

My fingers curl around the railing as I just watch, closer and closer we drift, until eventually I can see the two men clearly. The ship makes ours look small, but if you were to put it next to a cargo ship, or any kind of cruise ship, it would be nothing more than a blip. It is old, the outside run down from weather and sea water.

The bow of the other ship rises and falls, blunt as a battering ram, and everything about it feels heavier, more serious and somehow less real than our own patched-together escape pod. The rails are slick with sea spray and rust, and the two men up top do not wave or call out. They just watch us through those glinting lenses, stone-faced. It’s almost a comfort, how unwilling they are to fake any friendliness.

At some unspoken cue, everyone gathers on deck. Kellen and Zeke help Adrian up the stairs, which he grumbles about but accepts. I stand next to Ace, arms folded tight around my middle, and try not to shake. We keep drifting closer to the fishing boat. Now I can see the men’s faces. The one on the left is older, with a salt-and-pepper beard and deep-set blue eyes that look like they’ve spent decades squinting into crosswinds.

The other man—the captain, I guess—is maybe mid-thirties, but hard to tell because he’s got the kind of bone structure that belongs to a Greek god. His skin is olive, his hair black. His arms are bare and covered in tattoos that rise up to disappear beneath his collar. When his eyes swing in my direction, I can see they’re as green as the island jungle leaves. He’s utterly breathtaking.

Zeke throws out lines and they catch them without a word, tie us off, and bring the ships together until the hulls thud side by side. The world narrows to the gap between the boats, the creaking ropes, and the sky. There is a pause, maybe ceremonial, maybe for effect.

The older man calls out first, voice guttural and accented. “Who is captain of your vessel?”

Adrian, who’s done all the communication, stares around and then slowly raises his hand. “I am the one who called through. We don’t really have a captain.”

The captain studies us, gaze sweeping the length of our makeshift crew.

“We are sending five men onto your vessel, to check for weapons. We can’t risk an attack. Please stand where we can see you, nobody move.”

We do as he asks, and from the depths five men appear, all different ages. They jump across, like old pros, and then go down below. Tati is still down there with Rachel, and I know they’re going to get the fright of their lives when those men show up, but we were told not to move, so that’s exactly what we’re doing.

I hold my breath for what feels like minutes, and eventually, the men return and give the captain a nod. They have our guns in their hands, and one by one, they throw them over to their ship. Ace glances at Zeke, but neither of them protest.

“Injured girl downstairs with one other, no one else on the ship,” a man reports.

The captain nods in our direction, a signal that it is time to cross.

Kellen and Zeke get right to work while Kaylee and Rachel prepare Tati for the move. They lay two wide planks across, bracing them with ropes. For a second, I picture all of us tumbling into the ink-black water, but Kellen makes it, Zeke makes it, and then the captain says, “Bring the girl next. We have doctor. He is ready.”

We get to work preparing Tati.

More planks, all the men, a sheet to keep her secure.

Watching is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed.

Ace takes the lead, but I can see how utterly terrified he is. One wrong move, and Tati is in the ocean. The men surround her and wait for the ocean to settle a little. Then, they start crossing the planks. I have never been so scared in all my life, and that’s saying something considering what we’ve been through. But seeing just how far she could fall, and how catastrophic that would be, is a feeling that has my heart pounding right against my chest.

Step by step they move, all of us afraid. Even these men, these strangers, look like they’re about to scream purely from the fear gripping them.

But they make it.

We follow closely behind.

The deck of the fishing boat is wet from ocean spray, and painted a bright blue that is cracking all over. The captain steps forward, gives us a brisk once-over. His green eyes are inhumanly bright, almost like a wolf’s. It’s hard not to stare at him, he is so mysterious and dangerous, carrying around an edge that makes it feel like he could snap at any given moment.

“My name is Cassius Ashton Torres. Call me Ash,” he says. His English is flawless. “This is my uncle, Luis. Care to tell me how you ended up out here on a pirate ship?”

“You know it’s a pirate ship?” Aggie blurts, and then her cheeks go red as Ash turns, taking her in.

“I could tell a pirate ship from a fuckin’ mile away, so I ask again, do you care to tell me how you ended up on it? You lot sure as hell don’t look like pirates.”

Ace looks at me and then answers. “There was an accident. We were going on vacation, the yacht capsized and we ended up on an island. There for a long fuckin’ time, pirates figured out we were there and well, we did what we had to do.”

Ash nods, unbothered by our confession.

That tells me a lot about him.

“Pirates will destroy anything in their way, hell, they’ll destroy shit just for the fun of it.”