Twist stared back at Tasha in amazement. “You don’t owe us that.”
“Of course I do,” Tasha said. “You are my friends. I know that you and I like to squabble from time to time,” she said fondly to Jonas, “but I would never wish you any harm. Besides, I am not a Rook. I only consult for them. I don’t trust Aden, and I never have.”
“Bloody hell,” Jonas said, astonished as well, but smiling now. “Tasha, you’re a wonder. I’m sorry I said you were boring.”
Tasha chuckled and took his hand to give it a friendly pat. “Don’t worry, dear. I never listen to a word you say. I know your heart isn’t in your words. And you’re a much better man than you claim to be.”
“Am not,” Jonas snapped, though the smile didn’t quite leave his face.
“Of course,” Tasha said, chuckling again. “But seriously,” she said, pushing her mirth away, “you two must be very careful until we can get you away from Aden. I would advise you not to threaten him directly nor try to attack him openly. Your best chance is to let him believe that you have forgotten your anger and are resigned to being civil.”
“I’m awful at that,” Jonas said, shaking his head.
“I’m not,” Twist mentioned, drawing his attention. “I’m actually quite good at swallowing my anger long enough to get away.” He could easily remember many such situations in his past when he’d worked for the same people—and dragons—who’d wanted to kill him. He’d survived every one.
“Yes, I believe you are,” Tasha agreed. “Well, there you have it, Jonas. Just follow Twist and try to keep yourself from killing Aden until it’s safe.”
“Easy as pie,” Jonas said bitterly. Twist offered him an encouraging smile. Jonas gave a shrug. “Fine. I’ll do my best. But I can’t make any promises.”
“That’s the most anyone can ask,” Tasha said, her tone somehow not even slightly chiding. “Has Aden said how long you have to stay in this circle?”
“Until he leaves,” Twist answered on a sigh.
“Well, that’s going to be a while yet,” Tasha said with a thoughtful frown. “Here, why don’t you two stay with me for the rest of it? Sure, he might have told everyone that you can see the future and mended a fairy tale, but I’m actually famous. It shouldn’t be too hard to keep people’s attention on me. And I don’t mind the attention at all.”
“That would actually be quite helpful,” Twist said gratefully. Standing beside Natasha Samara, the beautiful and charming Sighted magician, usually rendered one practically invisible.
With the new arrangement made, the three of them wandered through the crowd from group to group for the remainder of the circle. Tasha had no trouble drawing all attention to herself while somehow not making it look as if she wanted to. Whenever a conversation would turn toward Twist or Jonas, a quick mention back to her seemed to distract nearly everyone. For those few times when people would not be deterred, it was easy enough to make an excuse and leave the conversation entirely to join another.
They caught Aden’s attention once or twice, but although he’d have clearly rather they moved about independently, he never actually complained. Meanwhile, Twist found that Tasha’s aid was a great relief to his battered will. He realized later on that without her, he would have surely fallen to pieces long before the end of the circle.
Twist dropped himself, fully clothed, onto his bed and let his arms and legs fall where they willed. His entire body was heavy from tension and fatigue, and his mind felt as if it were filled with cotton and buzzing gnats. He closed his eyes and reveled in the delicious emptiness and silence that the action brought. Desperate for the relief of peace and quiet after their ordeal, he and Jonas had returned to their cabin alone, without running into anyone they knew along the way. Silence fell over the room like a warm and heavy duvet when Jonas closed the door.
Twist drew in this peace as deeply as he was able. No one was trying to talk to him. No one was poking at tender fears and pains, knowingly or otherwise. Twist wasn’t forcing himself to be polite to people he couldn’t care less about. No one was glorifying the greatest threat to his happiness. And no one was threatening his friend either. In this moment, Twist’s entire world was silent, still, clean, and empty. A delighted sigh escaped him in that luxurious haze of attentionless bliss.
He vaguely noticed that Jonas had moved to the other bed and heard something that might have been boots hitting the floor. Then, he heard nothing at all for a long pause. The sensation in Twist’s neck smoothed into a calm so quiet and peaceful that he could hardly even feel the buzzing anymore. Intrigued by this deep and pervasive change in his friend’s spirit, Twist let his attention waft gently around Jonas. In a moment, Jonas’s breathing deepened and slowed, creating a barely audible sound not unlike waves on some far-off shore.
Curiosity opened Twist’s eyes, as he couldn’t believe Jonas had dropped directly asleep in the middle of the afternoon. Jonas wasn’t lying down. He sat on the bed with his spine perfectly erect, his legs crossed, and his hands lying relaxed on his knees. He’d taken off his jacket and waistcoat, and his feet were bare. His eyes were closed, but his head was held high. Not wanting to intrude, Twist closed his eyes once again and left Jonas to himself.
With nothing but the soft sound of Jonas’s regular breath to snatch at his attention, Twist’s thoughts began to drift back to the Sight circle. Uncomfortable moments replayed with exaggerated detail, forcing Twist to focus and shove them away. Each one he pushed away was swiftly replaced with another until Twist began to feel as if he were fighting water with his bare hands. He finally took his watch out of his pocket and held it tightly in his hand, pouring his Sight into it.
His attention wound comfortably around the familiar gears and springs, banishing all other thoughts until Twist felt himself relax once again, and he heard a faint ticking sound begin to waft through the silence in the room. Twist remained in that soothing space for what felt like a long time, not caring to leave it for anything in the world.
Jonas’s breathing changed with a deep exhale, catching at Twist’s attention. Twist glanced to his friend again to find him bending his neck gently to one side, his eyes open once again. Jonas look to Twist with eyes that looked remarkably like their natural sea-green hue.
“I feel better,” Jonas announced, his voice soft in the quiet. “How are you?”
Twist sat up, stretching his back, and slipped his watch back into his pocket. “All right, I guess,” he answered. He looked to Jonas hesitantly. “What were you doing?”
Jonas bent his neck the other way now. “Just a little meditation I picked up from a yogi.”
“A what?”
“Never mind,” Jonas said, shaking his head. “It’s just a nice way to calm down.”
“Yes, I could tell,” Twist said. “You seemed very calm indeed.”
“Maybe I’ll teach you to do it sometime,” Jonas said, reaching down to grab his boots from the floor. “But at the moment, I think we should go find Myra. She’ll be seeing people leaving the circle if she hasn’t already. Considering the way we left her, she’s bound to be worrying.”
“Oh yes, good point,” Twist agreed as he got back to his feet.
Guilt stung at his heart for having been too exhausted to think of her until now, but he tried not to chide himself too much. He still felt rather exhausted.
He and Jonas ventured back out into the ship while the last stragglers were leaving the lounge up above. Myra wasn’t in her cabin, so they continued down to the ship’s open floor. A quick glance at the dining hall showed that while a few small groups of people had gathered there to chat, Myra, Kima, and Niko were all absent.
Running out of other places to look, Twist and Jonas made their way back toward the lounge. There they found the place nearly empty, save for a few groups that had yet to leave in search of other entertainments. They had left Tasha the moment Aden had descended the stairs, freeing them to follow, but she too seemed to have left by now. Twist’s eyes sudd
enly caught a gleam of copper in the afternoon sun. He and Jonas hurried to where Myra and Kima were standing together at one side of the lounge.
“I hope he’s all right,” Myra was saying to Kima when Twist and Jonas approached from behind.
“I’m sure he is,” Kima offered before she turned to look over the room and spotted Twist and Jonas just a few steps away. “Oh, look! Here he is now.”
Myra spun with a gasp to see Twist stop before her. She leaped into his arms, drenching his Sight in her relief. Twist held her close, letting her calm at her own pace.
“Oh, darling,” she said in his ear. “We came to find you, but you weren’t here. I can’t believe Aden treated you so unfairly. Are you all right? I was so worried for you!”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Twist said, desperate to soothe her rising fright.
Myra pulled away to study his features, gently stroking his cheek with her cool copper fingertips. “But you said you hate Sight circles.”
“I do, but I survived,” Twist said.
“See?” Kima said, smiling to Myra.
“Yes, you were right,” Myra admitted sheepishly.
“Besides, poppet, I kept an eye on him,” Jonas offered.
“Yes, I’m sure you did,” Myra replied, finally seeming to truly calm. “Thank you.”
“Tasha helped us too,” Jonas said. “You were right. She’s really not so bad. But we have other issues to worry about now.”
Myra’s expression chilled at this.
“Are you going to battle Aden over this?” Kima asked quietly.
“Not while we’re all still at his mercy,” Jonas answered. “But don’t worry, Kima. This is our problem. He hasn’t done you any wrong yet. You can stay under his care if you want to.”
Twist followed Jonas’s implications easily. Since leaving her Cypher-controlled village with Storm, Kima had been living on a Rook compound in Australia. Now, Storm was being held prisoner by the Rooks, and Kima herself had few options before her. It would have been quite unfair to not recognize the fact that she might still need Aden’s favor.
“You were his friends, but he threatened you when you didn’t do what he wanted,” Kima said, her expression darkening. “That’s not comforting. I’d rather stay with you.”
Jonas smiled slightly at this but only nodded in response.
“That’s good to hear, Kima,” Twist said earnestly, while Myra nodded her agreement.
Kima shrugged, mirroring their pleased expressions.
“But what are we going to do now?” Myra asked.
Twist looked to Jonas.
“I agreed with what Tasha said, actually,” Jonas replied. “As hard as it’s going to be to not wallop Aden every time I see him, I’d rather he fell into a false sense of security. If he’s suspicious, it will be harder to get the jump on him later.”
“I agree,” Twist said with a nod. “But we can’t be too friendly, either, or he might be suspicious of that.”
“So,” Kima offered, “you play at being bitter for a few days and then pretend to forget all about it.”
“That sounds as good as any plan,” Twist said.
Jonas nodded as well.
“But I’m angry with him,” Myra said with a frown. “He was very unkind to you, dear. I don’t want to be friendly, even if I am pretending.”
“Neither do we,” Twist said gently to her, silently pleased by her loyalty.
“Someone’s coming,” Kima said, nodding toward the stairs.
Twist turned to see a woman in a yellow sari approaching them with an expression of clear anxiety. He immediately recognized her as the one who had been with the man who’d said he could see Twist’s true name.
“Excuse me,” she said, “but have any of you seen Ranjit? You met him last night at the ball,” she added to Twist.
“Yes, I remember him,” Twist said. “But I’m sorry, I haven’t seen him since last night.”
Her face fell into saddened distress. “No one has seen him,” she said in a moan, biting at a fingernail as if absently while she looked over the nearly empty lounge. “He never came to the circle. I didn’t even see him at breakfast. Oh, I’m sorry to bother you,” she said, seeing the surprise on the faces of Twist and the others. “Thank you. I’ll ask the porters again. He couldn’t have left the ship, after all. It’s just not like him to disappear…”
“Yes, I’m sure you’ll find him soon,” Myra said as the woman began to leave.
She gave Myra a weak smile over her shoulder as she hurried away and then vanished down the stairs.
“That’s odd,” Jonas mentioned.
“It’s too bad Arabel didn’t come along,” Twist said. “She could find him in a moment.”
“Who is she looking for?” Myra asked curiously.
“Oh, yes, you hadn’t arrived yet,” Twist said, remembering. “I met him while I was waiting for you at the ball. He said his Sight showed him people’s names before they’d been introduced. But when he spoke to me, he called me by the wrong name.”
“Well…” Jonas added uncertainly, “if we’re to believe him, he was calling you by your real name.”
Myra’s face washed over with amazement. “Your real name? Darling, what did he call you?”
“Now, now,” Jonas said, holding up his hands. “Mama said not to say it.”
“Oh, you can’t possibly not tell me,” Myra said.
“He said it was Tristan something,” Twist said before Jonas could stop him. He glanced around the room, noting the complete lack of attacking evil fairies before looking back to Jonas with a smug expression.
Jonas shot him a glare. “You be careful,” he said, pointing at Twist’s nose warningly.
“Lots of people are named Tristan,” Twist said back. “Lots of Frenchmen, anyway. And it might not even be my name at all.”
“Well, I kind of like the sound of…that name,” Myra said, ending in a whisper and a devious delight. “Not that I don’t like ‘Twist,’ of course. I like them both.”
Kima glanced at Myra with a knowing smile and shook her head.
“Thank you, dear,” Twist said to Myra. “But I fear you would say you liked any name I told you.”
“Of course I would,” Myra replied. “As long as it’s yours, I’d love it.”
“Holy hell…” Jonas muttered, appearing sickened. “If you’re going to keep that up, I’m going for a walk or something.”
Kima chuckled at this, while Twist and Myra both shot Jonas an unhappy look.
Once they were together again, Twist and his friends found no reason to leave the now mostly empty lounge. The late-afternoon sun poured in through the glass dome, reflecting off the wood. The plants stood primly in their pots beside a few small cases filled with books, which Twist hadn’t noticed before in all of the excitement. One lady in a yellow cotton dress sat in a high-backed chair beside a bookcase, sipping at a teacup and flipping through a large tome on her knee. Curiosity brought Twist and his friends to the books as well, to see what the ship’s small library had to offer.
“This is all fiction,” Jonas mentioned, glancing over the titles.
“And what’s wrong with fiction?” Twist asked.
Jonas gave a shrug.
“I sometimes hear people talk about fiction,” Kima said thoughtfully. “They call it something like fairy…fairy stories.”
“Fairy tales, maybe?” Jonas offered.
“That’s it,” Kima said, looking over the books. “Are any of these books about fairies?”
“Oh, you mean about the very same creatures that are after us?” Twist asked, suddenly following her reasoning. “You know, I never realized that fairy tales could actually contain useful information. But they might well.”
“Now we’re going to take fairy tales seriously?” Jonas moaned.
“I’m a fairy tale,” Myra pointed out with a pout. “You don’t take me seriously?”
Jonas grinned at her. “I am so very tempted to be a scou
ndrel right now.”
“Don’t,” Twist grumbled.
“Oh, you!” Myra said, swatting at Jonas purely for the implication.
Jonas laughed as he dodged her, clearly enjoying the trouble he’d gotten himself into. Despite herself, Myra had a fondness to her eyes. Twist turned away from his silly friends and back to the task at hand, starting to look the books over.
“Well, these here are mostly seafaring adventures. Perhaps there’s another section.”
Jonas gave a sigh. “I seriously doubt we’ll find much here.”
“There’s no harm in looking,” Twist countered.
“I’m bored already,” Jonas grumbled.
Kima silently turned away to look over the books before her, clearly unhindered by Jonas’s comment.
“You’re very easily bored,” Twist pointed out to Jonas.
“Fine, you two have fun with your fairy tales,” Jonas said flatly before offering Myra the crook of his arm. “Come along, Myra. Let’s leave them to it and find Twist a nice cup of tea.”
“Oh!” Myra gasped in delight, her previous annoyance instantly forgotten as she took his arm. “Yes, let’s! We’ll be right back, darling,” she added sweetly to Twist.
Twist waved back to her as she and Jonas left them, finding it endearing that she made such a show of leaving him—waving and looking back over her shoulder—even when she would only be gone a few minutes.
“Twist?” Kima said softly, once Jonas and Myra were out of earshot.
Twist gave her a mildly questioning tone in reply, and when he looked to her he found an expression of mild concern on her face.
“Is everything all right with Myra?” Kima asked, her tone careful.
Twist frowned, surprised by the question. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Kima began, taking a thoughtful breath, “the whole time you were gone, at the circle thing, Myra was really upset. She kept talking about you, about how worried she was about you, and she kept watching for you to come back. I tried to make her feel better, but I didn’t really know what to say. I mean, I know she loves you and all, but it was a little…odd. She almost looked frightened. I think Niko got annoyed, and he left us pretty fast.”
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