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“Straight ahead,” the other pirate says.
I look around them, scanning the horizon and trying to see a ship but I don’t spot anything. The horizon is an unwavering line, the sea calm and as blue as the sky above, only deeper.
“I see,” the captain says.
“See what?” I ask. I’d wager I have better eyesight than anyone in the crew but no spyglass can make a ship appear where there isn’t one.
“The princess asks too many questions,” one of the crew says, which makes another one laugh.
The captain lowers his spyglass and looks to the man beside him. It’s only now that I realize how similar they look. They could be brothers. In fact, he did call that boy from earlier his nephew.
“We should be able to catch them at the islands, providing they make a stop,” the captain says.
“You know they have to stop there,” the man says gruffly. “The sea witch always keeps them on a short leash.”
“Sea witch?” I say my heart nearly stopping.
Finally the captain looks at me. “Are you going to stop?”
I raise my brows. “Now that you’ve uttered the words sea witch, no I don’t think I will. What sea witch? What’s her name?”
The captain balks as he eyes me. “Her name? What a strange question.”
“It’s Nerissa,” the woman pirate speaks up. “The island is her home. It’s how she controls the skeleton crew.”
I turn to her in gratitude. “Thank you,” I tell her emphatically. “Nice to be on the same page.”
She shrugs. “I’ve been in your shoes, lass,” she says. “This lot of pigheads love to ignore a woman, even when they’re balls deep inside her. Or especially so.”
Both the captain and the other man turn around to stare at her aghast.
“What?!” the woman exclaims with a heavy sigh. “It’s true. Except for you, luv.” She gently taps her boot against the other pirate’s calf. He rolls his eyes in response.
“You don’t seem too surprised about sea witches,” the captain comments. “Or a skeleton crew, for that matter.”
“I’ve heard of sea witches,” I say carefully. “But I’ll admit I don’t know what you mean by a skeleton crew.”
“It’s a long story,” he says. “And a story the likes of you would never believe.”
“You should try me,” I say.
“I like the mouth on her,” the woman pirate says, her admiration obvious even to me, and I glance at her pretty face. “Look here, lass. There’s a lot that you won’t believe while you’re on this ship, the least of which are witches and skeletons. But they aren’t even the most fantastical things you’ll hear of. There’s one thing that they have that this crew wants more than anything else.”
“And what’s that?” I ask.
“A mermaid.”
CHAPTER11
Maren
“A mermaid?”I ask dumbly. If my heart stopped at the idea of sea witches, I feel like I’m going to drop dead at the mention of mermaids.
“Like I said, lass,” the woman says, “it’s all fantastical. But time will prove to you how much magic really exists out here at sea, once you know how to look for it.”
A mermaid.
ASyren.
