“Well, that settles it. Gotta love her when she lets that fire rage.” Janet laughed and took off after her sister. Netto looked at Montihan.
“I'm not okay with this,” he said. “Is there another way?”
His host looked old, older with each passing day, and Netto wondered if there was something more plaguing the man besides stress.
“We can always take another ship, but Rylie is right, the one we’re on now is the best. I gave her ownership on her twenty-first birthday, nearly seven years ago. She lives on that boat. It's her home away from home. She would never let it go out to sea without her on it.”
“She's afraid of the sea beasts,” Netto said.
“She's not afraid of much but she suffers from social anxiety and hates the unfamiliar. Unlike Janet, Rylie respects the ocean for what it is, and that respect comes with fear but also with love. I should have never given her that boat.” He chuckled softly, the sound a throaty rasp.
Netto had seen some of those creatures long ago and they were monstrosities that he did not want Rylie to see. “It'll be dangerous.”
Montihan sighed. “Yes, even if the seawall isn’t broken. The nights alone, so far away from land, will be bad enough. How will you know?”
They trekked back to the watership, which had since been unanchored and hummed with life.
“Know what?” Netto asked.
“Know if it's broken? And even if you knew that, how will you know where?”
“I’m a Cyborg.”
Chapter Eleven
***
The day moved on insilent preparation. Rylie brimmed with anger and she knew if she wasn't, she would be brimming with fear.
How could he keep it from me?She glared at her da.I wish he had more faith in me. When did everything change?
Everything had changed, but it had been too slow to fully realize, and now that she looked back on the past several years, the changes were obvious. What were once merely inconvenient incidents now blasted through her memories with lightning bolts of clarity.
When the first lots died. When they didn’t renew several contracts. Her objections when her da accompanied her on many of the hauls. When the disappearances began. The deaths.
Rylie spent the afternoon cleaning the ship, hoping that the work would keep her mind off the Cyborgs and off the deep blue sea. It helped, but it didn't last long when her sister joined her and insisted on talking.
