“An apprentice, yeah.”
“Hmm.” He hummed to himself, but Two-Toed Roch came over to grab a bowl from him, and I didn’t want to be anywhere near her.
So I said, “Thanks, Sage,” and rushed over to the tables where most of the crew was already seated and eating.
There didn’t seem to be any empty seats, so I stood, frozen, for a few seconds, debating what to do and where to go—should I go back to my hammock and eat alone like I’d been doing, or should I take a chance and sit at a table? Hawk-Eyes noticed me and waved me over, so I sat across from her, grateful for her intervention. For a moment there, I thought about running away to eat alone in my hammock or possibly even in the hold.
But despite my hesitancy toward these people, I was kind of sick of being alone all the time. I wasn’t used to it. I was used to working with Master Redman at the smithy, helping customers when they came in, visiting friends and neighbors in the evenings and on weekends, and going home to my sister and nephew. I wasn’t used to so much isolation.
And I’d been alone this entire time even though I was almost always surrounded by people.
But it wasn’t the same. They didn’t talk to me, not the way my sister and nephew did. Not the way my friends did, or even my customers and neighbors.
Goddesses, I missed my family. So damn much.
An ache built in my chest at the thought of Kayla and Cody. I knew—hoped and prayed—they were okay without me. Kayla was a badass and an amazing mother to her son, and Cody was the sweetest kid on the planet. By the time the extra money we’d saved over the years ran out, I should be set up in Asteris and able to send for them.
They’d be fine without me there, right?
They would. They had to be.
But that ache in my heart grew a little more every day I was separated from my family, and I couldn’t wait for the day we were together again.
“How’s your arm?” Hawk-Eyes asked, pulling me from my dour thoughts, thank the goddesses.
I glanced down at the wound in question with a small grimace when I noticed some new blood on my skin—it’d probably opened up from lifting things in the hold.Sigh.
I said, “It’s fine. Stitches took care of it.” She’d had to put in about fifteen stitches when Reaper noticed it hadn’t stopped bleeding an hour after the raid, but all in all, it wasn’t too bad. “What about you? You hurt your leg, right?”
“Took a knife to the calf, but Mom fixed me up too. Wasn’t too deep.” She shrugged.
It took me a second to remember that Stitches was her mother, and then I sent her a small smile. No wonder she was the only other person on the ship who was nice to me. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
She shrugged, but there was a pleased smile on her face.
A hand slapped my shoulder so hard, I almost toppled over, and for a split-second, I thought I was being attacked. But when Mad Murray sat beside me, I relaxed a hair. I didn’t know the pirate well since he spent most of his time in the engine room—he was the fluxstone engineer, so that was where he worked, and he apparently fiddled around with other mechanical things down there—but he hadn’t been unkind to me yet. He hadn’t exactly been nice, either, but he hadn’t played tricks on me, tripped me, or called me names, so I’d call that a win.
I glanced at him. Mad Murray had multi-lens goggles that all had different tints or magnification powers. He looked like a mad scientist, hence the name, and he always seemed to forget he was wearing them. Like right now. Most of the lenses were pushed up so he was only wearing the first lens, but it made his eyes look huge as he stared at me. It was kinda freaky.
Before I could comment, Hawk-Eyes sighed, saying, “You forgot your lenses again, Murray.”
“What?” He reached up and startled as if he really hadn’t realized they were there. He removed them from his face,carefully folded them up, and tucked them in his collar, then sent me a laugh. “No wonder you looked like you were sitting way too close.” He gave me a friendly push that almost had me flying out of my seat, and the man laughed even louder.
He was a big guy who didn’t know his own strength, and he had the loudest laugh I’d ever heard in my life, but at least he was being friendly. Well, minus all the pushing.
“Heard you have some sword skills I need to see,” the man said far too loudly for my liking as he dug into his food. I didn’t need everyone in my business, but that was out of the question when speaking to the loudmouth of the ship.
“Um, I guess?” I said with a shrug before taking a bite of my own food.
“You guess? Psh.” Hawk-Eyes shook her head at me. “You’re better with a sword than at least half the people on this ship. You guess. So modest.” She shook her head again. “You need to own that shit.”
I snorted and covered my mouth before I let my food fall out. After swallowing, I cleared my throat. “You really think I’m that good?”
Her eyes went wide. “Hell yeah, I do.”
Murray elbowed me, making me wince a little. “I heard it from three different people. You’ve got skills, and you saved our first mate. Everyone’s sayin’ it.”
I sent him a small smile, appreciating his words even though I was cringing inside. I didn’t love the idea of everyone talking about me, but I guess that was better than them talking about the stowaway who’d stolen food from them. Did saving Reaper mean I’d be in the crew’s good graces now?
