I jumped when something soft and heavy was dropped on my shoulders. It was one of those blankets from the bed. I turned to my right as the captain took a place at the railing. The man once more wore his pants and shirt, though the shirt was open and the sides flapped in the wind.
He grasped the wood and stared up at the night sky. “They’re wonderful and terrifying, aren’t they?”
I blinked at him. “What is?”
He nodded at the sky. “The stars. They guide the sailor through the darkness, but are fickle mistresses. They’re chased away by the moon, and they hide their face behind the clouds.”
“Don’t you have a compass or maps to use?”
“Those are always at our disposal, but no map can best the parchment above our heads, nor can a compass show us the vastness of the sea ahead of us.” He draped his arms over the railing and leaned over them. “It’s a majesty that eclipses everything man or beast has made.”
I studied the sky, and my face drooped. “I don’t know any of these stars.”
He turned his face to me. “How many do you know?”
I shrugged. “Only the Big Dipper and some of the planets.”
The captain lifted an eyebrow. “Big Dipper? Planets?”
My heart sank, as did my shoulders. “They’re just, well, familiar things in the sky.”
He studied me with that bright blue eye. “I see.”
I wrapped the cloth tighter around myself. “Thanks for the blanket.”
The captain chuckled. “I couldn’t let my guest freeze.”
“Could you give your guest a bed of her own?” I suggested.
He turned to me and leaned his back against the railing, where he folded his arms over his chest. “What will you give me in return?”
My face drooped, and I stretched out my arms. “I don’t have anything. I don’t even have my clothes right now.”
His eye twinkled. “Are you offering me something other than your clothes?”
I wrapped my arms tight around me and glared at him. A particularly loud snore from one of the men caught my attention. It sounded like a trumpet. That gave me an idea. “I could sing for you.”
His eye lit up. “Does my caged canary sing?”
“I do it for a living.” Kind of. “Anyway, will that do?”
“I’d have to hear the singing first.”
I closed my eyes and cleared my throat. This would be my most important concert. Tim’s new song would do the trick. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth. The beautiful words and tune flowed out, dancing around us in crystal-clear sound.
The captain’s command cut through my song. “Open your eyes.”
I continued singing, but opened my eyes. My singing ceased when my mouth fell completely open. The chilly air had been given form as crystals that danced around us like sparkling jewels. At the silence that followed my shock, the crystals ceased moving and clattered to the deck.
The captain pushed off the railing and knelt on one knee. He plucked a crystal from the deck and studied the frozen jewel as it melted in his hand. “I take it you haven’t always been able to conjure such magic?” I dumbly shook my head. I dropped the remains of the crystal on the deck and stood. “You have an interesting gift, Miss Larkin.”
I swallowed hard, though my eyes remained on the melting shards. “Did I. . .did I really make those?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” he suggested as he folded his arms over his chest. “Sing again.”
I wetted my dry lips and sang my song, but my voice was shaky. The air vibrated and the crystals formed, but they weren’t the beautiful creations from before. Their forms were more distorted. Cracked. They danced around at the call of my irregular rhythm.
I stopped my horrible warbling and they clattered to the deck, joining the melted pools of the previous crystals. My heart pounded in my chest as I grasped my hands together in front of me. “H-how can I do this? What am I doing?”
