She looked at the pot bubbling quietly on the stove and thought about Wayside. “More than I expected.”
“But?”
“But I’m going to miss this, too.” She gestured vaguely, but she suspected he understood what she meant.
Thrain eyed her. “One pirate in particular?”
Cali shrugged with one shoulder. “Bonnie’s place is on this ship. It’s her family’s legacy.” She picked at a loose thread on her cuff. “Sometimes the timing doesn’t work out for people. That’s just how it is.”
Thrain harrumphed. Cali had told her friend everything about Adelaide, and it had felt good to share her story with him as they’d swayed together in their hammocks, her on the top and him on the bottom with Bramble. He’d proven his worth as a friend by not asking too many questions, and it was to his credit that he didn’t comment on the selkie now.
“Maybe so,” he finally said. “Even if the timing isn’t right, destiny eventually steps in.”
Cali cocked her head at him. “You believe in destiny?”
“Sure, I do.” He held up a finger. “But destiny is all about the choices we make and the chances we take. Fate might shuffle the runes, but we play them.”
She shook her head, startled by the dwarf’s philosophical take on life. “You think this adventure is all part of fate’s larger plan?”
Thrain winked at her. “Guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
Cali inhaled deeply, savoring the scent of the chai. “One thing I’ve definitely learned is that this adventure has been as thrilling as any of the pirate books I’ve read.”
Thrain snorted. “Could have told you that.” He pointed the spoon at her. “I’ve seen you writing in that notebook of yours, and I’ve heard tales about your quests with the wraiths and the troll queen. With all the books you’ve read, you could probably write a book as good as any on the shelves.”
Cali fluttered a hand at him, but she couldn’t contain her grin. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
But she was still smiling when he poured her a mug of chai and extended it to her. She sipped it slowly, letting the spices roll over her tongue and the milky tea slide down her throat and warm her belly.
“Tastes like Wayside,” she sighed.
Thrain looked deeply pleased, and she was certain that Bramble smiled.
“Thanks for this.” She raised the mug as she slipped from the galley and headed for their room. Since her dwarf roommate was busy perfecting chai, she had the place to herself.She hoisted herself into the upper hammock, dangling her legs over one side, and placed the cup of chai on the flat ledge below the porthole.
She pulled out her journal, the pages worn from handling and the ink faded. Between the scuffed leather covers were tales of quests all over the Known Lands, including the journey to Claw Island.
She thought about the shelves in the captain’s quarters.The Travels and Travails of Peg-Leg Willie. The Unabridged Journals of Captain Blackheart.She thought about what Thrain had said.
You could probably write a book as good as any on the shelves.
Maybe her old adventures could be the start of her new one. Maybe the archer who’d been looking for somewhere to aim her bow had been holding the answer all along. She picked up her quill and started to write.
Thirty-Eight
Cali woke up to darkness.The journal had slid down her chest and rested in the crook of her arm, the feathered quill tucked between two pages like a bookmark. She blinked at the low ceiling of the cabin, listening to the hull breathe around her. A glance at her mug told her the chai had gone cold, and the moonlight filtering through the porthole told her she’d slept through dinner.
Cali swung her legs over the side of the hammock and dropped to the floor, leaving the journal behind as she slipped from the room and slunk along the corridor. Muffled laughter from behind a closed door meant that some of the crew were probably playing cards, and the distinctive sound of iron wool on metal from the end of the hall was a good sign that the kitchen was in the midst of clean-up. She paused outside the captain’s door and held her breath.
There was no sound from inside except the usual murmur of the ship around them, and she half expected no answer when she rapped her knuckles on the door.
“Come.”
Even though the voice was muted, Cali’s tail twitched. She opened the door slowly, peeking her head in first and half-expecting the captain to be in bed. She wasn’t.
The bed hadn’t been disturbed, but the remnants of dinner littered the round table—a dusting of breadcrumbs beside an empty soup bowl, one unused bowl, and the dusty rind of a hard cheese. The candles had burned to waxy knobs in the candelabra, their wicks drooping to one side.
Hells and cinders. She’d slept through dinner with the captain on their last night. She could have kicked herself from one end of the ship to the other.
