That was his voice, but he was dead.
“Did you hear that?” Rose tilted her head.
“Hearing voices ain’t a good sign unless it’s the best sign,” he said again.
I moved closer to Rose, pulling her into me.
“It’s the mist,” I said.
“Yes, but it sounds just like my grandmother before she died,” Rose said.
Dilly nodded, staring straight ahead.
“I hear my father,” she said, taking a step forward.
Fuck.
The witch below might have given a little more warning.
“Earplugs in! We sail by sign.” I ordered.
I reached for Rose, but she was already pulling out the cotton swabs we all carried in case of sirens or worse.
“Only the prepared survive the deep, boy.” Billy’s voice was just as it had been the first time he brought me on a ship.
I hesitated longer than I should have. How cruel of the sea to taunt with the sounds of the dead. It was easy to see how themist claimed its victims. There was a part of me that would have followed that sound anywhere.
Before I could think better of it, Rose reached into my pocket and withdrew the swabs, shoving them into my hand with an expectant stare that was as much a reprimand as a command.
I did as she asked, and soon the world went perfectly quiet. No voices and nothing to indicate my ship wasn’t on fire. This would require me to trust that my crew was with it enough to follow orders. If someone was at risk, I wouldn’t hear what my eyes couldn’t see.
Taking in the state of the Wraith, there was nothing preventing us from withdrawing except for the lack of visibility. Oscar was at the helm, watching me, waiting for the signal.
I lifted my hand, and he nodded.
I hated not hearing the Wraith’s groan as she moved. It was a little bit like losing my other arm. Working with only half when I was used to being whole. Just as I’d learned to adapt, I did so now.
Val was nowhere to be seen, but I knew where she was. Seeing to Kit and making sure he did not become the mist’s next victim.
We moved through the mist on instinct. Rose came close to me and slipped her hand into mine. Her hand was slightly clammy–the only tell that she was anxious. A captain in her own right, she knew hearing was important to leaving port.
Communication meant not steering too close to an island that meant putting us underground.
Still, Oscar never waivered. A far cry from the man I’d first met. I’d always been good at reading people. It was a matter of survival, and I learned from an early age. When I first met Oscar, I should have only seen a spoiled aristocrat who was bored with his life. Instead, I saw a man who was born for something more with tenacity and a silver tongue.
His charm and quick thinking were responsible for my continued breathing many times over.
Inu stood behind him, keeping watch.
If ever Rose tired of this life and asked me to live on land, I knew where the Wraith would land. On a night of mist and calm, I saw a future I’d never considered.
Inu and Oscar were made for the sea. If that day came, I would bend.
Without hesitation and without incident, Oscar sailed us through the mist and slowly it released its hold on us. Its tendrils slowly receded until moonlight illuminated glittering black beneath us.
I unplucked the cotton and was greeted by a chorus of cheers, Oscar’s beaming smile at the center of it.
A legacy worth watching.
