“I think you’re getting it now,” Captain Viper said. “I need a new trophy. I have the perfect place for one right there.” He held his hands up as if placing a picture on the wall, gesturing to an empty spot beside the sea serpent before he faced me and pointed at my chest, that creepy grin on his face again. “Monster bait.”
I blinked.Monster bait.
I looked down at my chest where he was pointing before it finally clicked.
Iwas the monster bait.
Ohfuck.They were going to use me as monster bait! I was going to be eaten by a freaking monster!
“Sir—” Reaper was cut off.
“It’s decided.” Viper clapped his hands together, turning to walk back behind his desk. “Time for a little adventure, Reaper. We’ll get down low, tie the boy to the end of some rope, throw him overboard, and wait for our prize to come chomp him up. Fishing with live bait is always best, you know that.”
My body began to quake, and I noticed Reaper side-eye me before dropping his hand and taking a small breath, approaching the captain’s desk.
“Sir, you know we lost Old One-Tooth and Cutter in Sunada. Those two did a lot of the cleaning. We could put the boy to work. The deck needs cleaning, the washroom needs a good scrub down—even after only a week, it needs it bad. I have some other odds and ends he can—”
“I want that damn trophy, Reaper.”
Reaper paused for only a beat, and I had the feeling he was reigning in his own temper. “Sir, we can always use another body on cleaning duty. Cutter used to clean up all the dead rats Sprocket killed, and I’ve already found several lying about the lower deck.” He glanced back at me with a sort of grimace on his face. “If the kid doesn’t work out, we can always use him as monster bait later.”
The captain frowned at Reaper before turning his attention to me, staring at me hard for several beats.
I held my breath, afraid to move and praying he’d listen to Reaper.
Please don’t make me monster bait. Please don’t make me monster bait.
Finally, Viper sighed, sounding put-out and frustrated. “Bah. Fine, fine. Take him away, Reaper. This bores me.” He narrowed his eyes at Reaper. “But he’s your responsibility. If he makes one wrong move…” The threat hung in the air, and I sucked in a breath. Was he actually threatening his first mate if I did something wrong?
“He won’t put a toe out of line.” Reaper sent me a hard glare, and I shrank back a little from him.
“Now get outta my sight before I throw you both overboard.”
The captain waved us away, and Reaper grabbed my shirt to pull me along again, but this time, I rushed ahead of him, eager to exit that horrible room.
As soon as the door was shut behind us, Reaper turned quickly and pushed me against the wall, his face only inches from mine. He looked absolutely pissed, but at least he didn’t have a blade to my throat this time.
“If you so much as breathe wrong, I’ll throw you to the sea serpents myself.” He pushed me a little and backed off. “Now get your ass to the lower deck and clean the washroom. It better be spotless.”
I nodded and started to walk but stopped halfway to the ladder. “Um, where are the cleaning supplies?”
He let out a growl and cursed under his breath before heading to the ladder himself, muttering the whole way about stowaways, sea monsters, and pains in his ass.
I followed him without a word, determined to earn and keep my spot on this airship until we landed in Asteris. I wasn’t about to give them any reason at all to use me as monster bait before we got there.
After a few more paces down the corridor, Reaper stopped and turned to face me. I found myself distracted by a golden hoop through his right ear, glinting in the light.
“What’s your name?”
My mouth went dry. What should I tell him? A fake one? Would he check somehow? Though surely pirates didn’t actually care about all that…
Reaper’s eyes narrowed at my hesitation, then something in his expression shifted. “You know what? I don’t care.” He jabbed a finger into my chest, but there was something almost gentlein the gesture despite his harsh tone. “Your crew name is Ghost. Because you’re as pale as one.”
I blinked at him, caught off guard by the sudden christening. Ghost? Well, it wasn’t the worst name I could’ve ended up with on a pirate ship.
“Thank you,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure if I was thanking him for the name or for saving me from becoming monster bait. Maybe both.
Reaper’s lip twitched, almost like he might smile, before he schooled his expression back to stern. “Don’t thank me yet, Ghost. You haven’t seen the washroom.”
