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She smiled. “Are you going to shore with me?”
“Too dangerous.”
Raising her brows, she headed in the direction of the ramp where the passengers disembarked for shore excursions. “Vlad said he’s going.”
“He may be. But your tour has been canceled.”
She turned and stared at him. “What?”
“I thought maybe you’d like to watch the staff prepare ice sculptures, or—”
“My foster parents paid for my excursion.”
“The money has been refunded, credited back to their card.”
Her mouth gaped, then she snapped it shut.
Taking her hand, he led her to the ship’s railing and pointed to the hillside. “This is how many of the people live.”
“You canceled my tour?”
“It’s not safe.”
Frowning at him, she pulled away. “You had no right to cancel my tour.”
He waved his hand at the hillside again. “It is not safe for you here. I couldn’t allow any harm to come to you.”
Trying to curb her annoyance at his actions—though she couldn’t help but like that he was always so concerned for her welfare—she stared at the goat trails winding around the steep hills, hovels built against the earthen terrain. “There are no roads.” Studying the land closer, she frowned. “What’s glittering all over the hills. It…it looks like crystal.”
“Trash. The people dump trash outside of their homes. It remains where it gets tossed. No garbage pickup.”
The sound of firecrackers popped in the distance. She glanced in the direction of the noise. “Fireworks?”
Levka leaned against the railing, but didn’t say a word.
“I’ve read newspaper accounts where people say they’ve heard what sounds like firecrackers popping, but it’s really gunfire,” she said.
Taking a deep breath, Levka nodded. “But the ship’s crew will tell you the sound you hear is from firecrackers. Did you know the city was founded as Santiago de León de Caracas in 1567 by Diego Losada?”
She leaned against the railing. “You’re starting to sound like Stasio. But go on. I find history fascinating. Besides, I missed having a tour guide give me the history, so you’d better do a good job.”
A slight smile curved his lips. “English pirates ransacked the place.”
“Pirates, beastly characters.”
“The city was burned, and earthquakes have ravaged the area.” Levka motioned to the slum dwellings. “Recent mud slides have forced inhabitants to build these hovels. The city itself sits in a lush green valley surrounded by mountains. A tropical paradise encircles the city, but like many large cities, it’s noisy, filled with millions of inhabitants, has terrible traffic jams, and...” Levka glanced at Caitlin. “…dangerous slums, the stark contrast between those who have, and those who have not.”
Caitlin turned her attention back to the hillside. “It’s really sad.”
“It is. There’s a lot of wealth to be had, but most of it is kept in the hands of a few.” He ran his hand over hers. “Do you want to get something to eat?”
Facing Levka, she asked, “What happened to Vlad? He was bugging me about inviting him in, and the next thing I knew, you were standing at the door.”
Levka gave her a devilish smile and took her hand. “He decided to bother someone else for a bit.”
She wondered how Levka and his friends had convinced Vlad to leave her alone, as she was sure they had, but she forgot all about asking him when she saw some of the crew carving ice sculptures. Dragging Levka, she hurried him over to see the one a bearded man was carving of a mermaid.
But just as she was to remark about the beautiful detail the man cut into the mermaid’s tail, Levka turned his head as if someone had just startled him.
