My breath catches in my chest. I swallow hard. He couldn’t possibly have known what I was thinking, and yet, it’s like he can sense my temptation to jump.
“I’m trying,” I grind out and turn towards him.
“I know you are,” he says. “But not hard enough.”
“You think I’m holding back?” I snap before I can stop myself.
Sable turns, meeting my gaze. “I think you’re scared.”
I open my mouth, then close it when the right words don’t arrive.
Of course I’m scared. I’m on a pirate ship I don’t remember boarding, I almost drowned yesterday, and now my fate depends on summoning a cursed thread of sea magic I don’t have the power to control. I don’t understand why the sea keeps me alive just to test me again. Why he keeps me alive just to test me.
I grip the railing tighter, then force myself to breathe and allow my fingers to loosen. My shoulders drop a fraction as I turn my attention back to the water. Heat surges through me like fire in my veins, my inner siren stirring beneath my skin. I rarelyallow it to surface like this. Only in the water, when I try to force my shift. Because the cook was right.
We are vicious little things.
I close my eyes and let the feeling flood me. I embrace it. Desperation follows, and I pray to the sea like I have countless times before.
Please.
When I open my eyes again, a thread of silver glides beneath the surface. My breath catches. It’s there. A line of metal-light drifting through the water ahead of the ship, as if someone drew it with an unshaking hand. The sea has finally answered my pleas.
Exclamations of surprise rise behind me.
“By the seas—”
“Glim—”
“Impossible—”
I don’t move, I don’t blink, afraid it will vanish if I look away. Sable steps up beside me, close enough that his shoulder brushes mine. Tilting his head slightly, he follows the thread, eyes narrowing as if he’s reading a language he never learned but somehow understands. Then he pulls a compass out of his pockets, flips it open, and flicks his gaze back and forth between the Glim and the needle.
“Home!” he suddenly shouts, throwing both hands in the air, and the pirates roar behind us. Sable turns, his gaze sweeping across the ship as his voice carries clean over the wind.
“All hands,” he calls. “Make ready. We follow the Glim into the Sea of Bones!”
The crew responds at once. Lines are hauled, sails adjusted, and the Noctis answers beneath my feet, turning in the water with a low groan as she gains speed.
He turns toward me, eyes storm-grey and serious, but there’s a flicker of excitement in them I haven’t seen before.
“I knew you’d be more useful alive, little fish,” he remarks with a devilish grin before striding off toward the helm, back in his element, barking orders.
I stare at the silver thread cutting through the water and realize that, for the first time, I don’t know which frightens me more.
The sea’s silence.
Or the fact that it finally answered my call.
Chapter Fifteen
Ispendthenextfewdays working alongside the lower ranks. I help cook in the galley, serve meals, sweep the decks, and carry buckets that are far too heavy for me. I do so with few complaints. Because it gives me a purpose.
Lark apparently hurt his ankle two days ago when he slipped on deck, and he’s taking some time to recover. I take over all his chores and then some. Nightglass seems to appreciate it and even paid his thanks with a slice of cheese and a comb. Another treasure I can keep for myself. Other than that, the crew stillvery much hates me. But still, I do not complain. I am still being watched and glanced at with skepticism, but I’d rather run from one task to another than risk spending another day in that moldy cell. I avoid the orlop like the plague and only go there to sleep.
The pirates down here keep their distance and even hung up a piece of sailcloth to separate me from them. Lark and Nightglass sometimes play cards with me in the evenings though. It’s difficult when you can’t recognize numbers, but I catch on quickly, and I’ve started to look forward to it once the sun begins to set.
The Glim is constantly there, guiding us through the colorful waters of the Sea of Renewal. Nightglass keeps an eye on it at all times, a task assigned to him by Sable, so of course he takes it very seriously. The ship moves steadily, but slowly. The winds aren’t very strong, and the waters are considerably shallow. I know we’re headed toward the Sea of Bones now, and even young sirens know what that means.
