AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Turning her back towards the door that was now closed over the cell, she pressed the button on the kindle and stared. There was an entire library before her, causing her to look back over her shoulder once more at the confusing man that she’d just spoken with.
The captain was a half-decent, fascinating person below the disguise.
… And I want to know more, she realized in surprise and bewilderment.
7BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES
CALISTA
Calista spentthe afternoon reading secretively on the forbidden kindle, enjoying the breeze from the porthole she had open, and hiding the technology by keeping her back towards the door of her temporary jail cell.
The captain was a curious man with a vast library of books, ranging from seafaring books on navigation and Dante’s Inferno, to works by Chaucer and Michael Creighton. The captain even had her collection of books on here, but none of them read. Did he just purchase them? That surprised her and made her wonder again at the man.
She was currently indulging in Jurassic Park – the original version, not the movie adaptation.
“Chow time!” a voice called out knowingly – and she looked up to see the man with the single eye, Jared. His eyepiece was pulled low and had a bit of something dusted on it.
“Thank you, Jared,” she said politely, and tried to hidethe kindle beneath her skirts slowly to keep it from being seen. “You’ve got a bit of flour or dust on your eyepatch.”
“Ah, thank you, miss,” he began and hesitated, looking past her – shocked. He then looked to her, back at the kindle, and back to her. “Where’d you get that?”
“What?” she said innocently – only to see his face darken perceptibly. The man had a fierce grumble when he was angry, and it was a little off-setting. She had been the recipient in the dinghy… and was the focus of it once more now.
“You think I don’t recognize those stickers on the back?” he snapped. “No electronics, per the captain… and if you stole his things? Then I’ll be taking the spare key back. Immediately!”
“I didn’t!”
“You most certainly did!” Jared snarled, opening the door and walking inside. He set down the plate on the trunk and pushed her over on the bunk bodily, surprising her by his strength… and physically took the kindle from her.
“Hey! No, please… just give that back…” she sputtered in shock, trying to sit up, but the corset was preventing her from twisting slightly from where she’d been flopped over bodily by the big man.
Yeah, corsets were not her thing in the slightest.
“I can’t believe you actually stole the captain’s kindle… you, you, wench!”he hissed angrily, snatching it and hiding it under his loose shirt. “Where’s my other key?”
“I didn’tstealanything,” she snapped angrily, glaring at him as she finally managed to sit up in the infernal contraption. “And you can have your blasted key if you think I’m some thief!”
Reaching under her pillow – she stood up and slapped the key in his hand, not backing down from him.
“I’m many things, but never a thief… nor a wench, you louse.”
He turned and walked off, using her key to lock the door behind him.
“Wait!” she called out in a sudden panic. “Jared – wait! You said I could have that in case the ship took on water, remember? I seriously have a fear of drowning and… Jared?Jared!”
The man literally walked off and left her locked up there, alone, unable to escape if the ship suddenly went down. He took her only source of entertainment – and her only chance at freedom.
At that moment, a few droplets of water splashed into the open porthole, landing on the wooden plank floor before her, causing a paralyzing surge of horror to seize her bodily. The ship was rocking to-and-fro, swaying heavily in the waters that were getting rougher… and she felt real fear.
“I’m gonna drown…” she whispered aloud, climbing onto the bunk and curling her knees to her chest despite the corset, holding back the her panic gripping her. “Oh my gosh… this cannot be happening…”
She ended up whispering that single statement repeatedly over the next few hours.
It was sometime later,she heard a noise, and another broken sob emerged from her as she pulled her head from her knees where it had been resting, feeling decimated and bereft.
She had been sitting there in the darkness, trying to keep calm, and failing miserably. At least the shadows hidthe sprinkles of water through the porthole, and would keep her from letting her imagination go amuck.
“Orange?”
