I glared back at him. “Do you enjoy scaring me?”
Ramaro puffed out his chest and grinned. “Yes.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, the minute you stop scaring me is the minute I stop tossing you off the bed.” I paused, and my heart skipped a beat. “Where’s the captain?”
“He was on deck hours ago,” Ramaro told me as his tail swished from side to side. “Some humans don’t sleep for twelve hours.”
My eyes widened. “Was I out that long?”
“At least.”
I cupped my head in my hand and furrowed my brow. “Twelve hours. Am I sick?”
“Nothing a good beating couldn’t fix.”
I dropped my hand into my lap and glared at him. “What are you even doing in here, anyway?”
“You’re wanted on deck,” he announced as he crawled headfirst down the sheets and scurried across the floor to the door. He turned to face me and nodded at a chair placed close to the bed. My old clothes were draped over the back, while the ones I wore were all wrinkled from the long nap. “Immediately.”
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, but paused and frowned at the lizard. “Turn around.”
He twitched his snout. “Why?”
“Because you’re a guy and I’m not getting dressed with you watching.”
His tongue flicked out. “I am not ‘a guy,’ I am an-”
“Agama, and you still need to turn around,” I insisted.
He lifted his nose, but obligingly turned tail toward me. “Alright, but only because you remembered what I was, and not some ‘lizard.’”
I wrestled my way free of the sheets and hurried over to the chair. I was halfway through my dressing when my ears picked up on a sound, or rather, a lack of sound. “Did the captain stop pushing us through the ocean?”
Ramaro let out a heavy sigh. “Of course. We’re not in the ocean anymore, we’re on the outskirts of Azur Bay. It would be very stupid of him to use his magic in such shallow water.”
I perked up at the warning. “What would happen?”
His tail clapped against the boards. “Are you still dressing?”
“Almost done,” I assured him as I resumed my chore. I was soon finished and hurrying over to the lizard. “So what happens to the bay if he uses his magic?”
“Bad things,” Ramaro quipped as he crawled up the wooden door and pulled the handle. “Now come on. The captain’s waiting.”
Ramaro led me out onto the sunshine-filled deck. I had indeed slept through the morning, and the afternoon had taken hold of the day.
The crew hurried hither and thither, manning the sails and securing the anchor rope. More than one gave me a sharp glance as the lizard led me through their number to the bow, where the captain stood. I couldn’t help but wonder if he ever stood anywhere else.
He half-turned to me with a smile as bright as ever. “Good afternoon, Miss Larkin. I trust you slept well.”
“I could ask the same thing of you,” I mused as I looked him over. “Are you alright?”
He flashed me a grin. “Better than ever. Doc’s hands work wonders when he’s sober.”
“And when he’s not?”
“Then he works wonders, but not on muscles.”
Ramaro climbed onto my shoulder, and his tongue flicked out. “You didn’t call her out here to talk about drink and the doctor.”
