Her eyes narrow. “I knew he was an utter shitstain. I’d heard enough stories. Blackbeard never liked him, and I think Anne tried to kill him on more than one occasion. But she does that to all her husbands.”
“Wait, they’remarried?” I feel like my mind’s been blown too many times to still be intact.
“Yeah, like I said, she’s been gunning for him for years.” She smirks. “But Hook is the one who finally sent him to the deep. No one could’ve predicted that even if they had a ship full of crystal balls coated in fairy farts.”
I laugh.
Her smirk turns into a smile as she pulls me into her arms. “I’m glad you’re all right.” She lowers her voice. “I wish you could’ve seen the look on Hook’s face when he found your rope hanging out the window. Work of art, that was.”
“Oh, shit. He knows I left?”
“Aye.” She pulls me back at arm’s length. “He stormed out of the cay cursing Blackbeard and his mother for a whore. I barely had enough time to throw in with him before he hightailed it back to the Jolly Roger and took off after you.”
“Why’d you do that?” I peer into her eyes. “I mean, why’d you leave Blackbeard and go with Hook? I don’t presume it was for me.”
“Not entirely, no.” She shrugs. “I suppose I felt the call of adventure. When I joined Blackbeard’s crew, we were only at sea for one season before he decided to retire and settle down with Huran. I didn’t sign up to be a cook in a grand house. The sea called to me then, and it called to me again when I saw Hook racing off to the water.”
“So now you’re a pirate on the Jolly Roger. Is that a promotion?” I have zero clue how pirate rankings work. I assume there’s a clear hierarchy, especially since there’s a captain.
“I’d say it’s a bit of a sideways move as I’m hired on as a boatswain, but there’s a whole heap more fun out here on the water. And damn, it felt good to strike down some of those goddamn whoresons on Calico Jack’s sloop. They had it coming, the lot of them.”
She’s so fierce. Even now when she’s bruised and dirtied from battle, her braids hanging in disarray and her clothes torn and damp—she’s still ready to do some damage.
“I wi—” I stop myself before I say the dreaded ‘w’ word. “I mean, I would love to be like you,” I admit.
She cocks her head to the side. “Come again?”
“Just look at you!” I scoot around the table and sit on the bed.
She plops down beside me. “I’m a mess.”
“You fought! You went out there and like—I mean I saw you kill people!” I look down at my silly cinched belt and my aching leg. “I couldn’t even fight him off,” I say softly. “I tried, but I couldn’t stop him. If Hook hadn’t …”
She takes my hand in hers. “Can I tell you a story, Moira? I know that’s your forte with the Neverland lot, but I have one I think you may understand more than most.”
I nod. “Please.”
She gives me a decisive nod and takes a deep breath, and I can’t help but notice that she looks away as she begins speaking. “I wasn’t always a pirate, which I suppose you can tell with my limited pirating resume. Before I joined Blackbeard’s crew, I was in service to a big house on the mainland. It was huge and grand—room after room—most of them empty save for art and bits of ornate furniture we weren’t allowed to sit on. I worked in the kitchen under a cook who could blister you raw with nothing more than a look. She was a dragon, one who taught me everything I know.” She says it with a ghost of a smile. “I loved her like she was my ma. She wasn’t, of course. My ma died when I was born. Anyway, that great house belonged to a great lord. He was polite, though the sort that never really paid attention. I think that’s how all rich people are. If everything’s handed to you, does it matter where it came from or who worked to make it? No, I don’t think it does. The owner would throw lavish parties. We’d watch from hallways and loiter with serving trays. It was so overwhelming, especially me being so young.” She squeezes my fingers. “Like you are now.”
“You’re young. You’re what, 25?” I ask.
She winks. “Neverland and the waters around it do strange things with time. Don’t forget that. I may look 25, but I can promise you I’ve lived a whole lifetime in here.” She taps her chest.
“Is that why Hook and the others look young, too?”
She nods. “Aye, he’s been in these waters longer than anyone else. He’s aged but little, they say.”
“That’s …” I try to fit in that information with what Peter told me about the island losing its power. That’s how he explained his aging. But how does that explain Hook’s?
“One night, the party lasted well into the wee hours. The cook tasked me with staying up late and fetching any requests from the guests. I waited in an antechamber. I wasn’t supposed to sit on the furniture, but it was late, and I was tired. I decided to rest on a small sofa, ready to jump up if someone should ring or the door should open. But I fell asleep.” Her tone darkens, and she looks away again. “And when I woke, I wasn’t alone.” She clears her throat. “I fought them, too. Same way you fought Calico Jack. But I wasn’t strong enough. Not then. I couldn’t stop it. And after, when none other than the master of the house found me lying broken on the floor, he fired me and instructed the entire household to never speak of me again.”
“Widow.” I have no words. Nothing I could say would ever be enough to dull the pain of her memory. I wrap an arm around her, giving her silent support.
She takes a deep breath. “I was dumped in an alley in the town nearby. They treated me with as much disdain as the lord did. I was kicked and spat upon, called a whore and worse. I managed to drag myself into a stable and laid down in a pile of hay to die. But I didn’t. A milkmaid came through the next morning, found me there, and she helped me. Even though she knew who I was, knew what the lord had said about me—she helped me. I survived because of her. Sarah was her name.” She smiles, real warmth spreading across her face and making her look youthful and happy. “She was an angel, I think. An angel of mercy.” She turns to look at me, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “Because of her, I became an angel, too. One ofvengeance. I recovered for a month, regained my strength, and when the lord threw another lavish party, I dressed in my old clothes and snuck in through the service entrance. I kept my head down and stayed in the areas where the guests were. There, no one would notice me. The men who’d hurt me were there, drinking and laughing with the lord.” She reaches across her body, her fingers toying with the grip of her cutlass. “I picked them off one by one. Lured them through that stunning estate’s rooms until I had them where I wanted them. They thought they were going to have their way with me.” She grips the hilt of her blade and pulls it free. “I gutted each of them and left their bodies on the fine furniture.”
“Holy shit.” Is it weird that I want to applaud? I think it probably is, but it’s a visceral reaction. It’sreal.
“I was messy.” She shrugs. “After that, I realized I needed to work harder, to study up on the many, many ways to kill a man. I did just that. And once I was ready, I realized my destiny lay on the sea. It led me here. Led me to you. Will lead me on to more adventures.” She leans against me. “So maybe you weren’t strong enough with Calico Jack, but next time?” She hands me her cutlass, the blade balanced on her palms. “Take it.”
