by LJ Andrews
Nova took a deep breath, hating to admit it was true.
“But never mind that,” he continued. “I be a merciful captain. I’d like to reward ye for yer loyalty on Mollem and returning to the Vengeance when ye had a chance to run. Name one request, Miss Nova. What can I do for ye to make the task easier?” He sat in the wooden chair and leaned back. His face was telling. Calm, but calculating. It was clear Smythe had ulterior motives and she needed to tread carefully.
“I can have anything?”
“Aye, one thing ye think could help ye on your task once we find the Island of Bones.” Smythe locked his fingers together as his grin widened.
“I…I want my dagger back,” she said quickly.
Smythe raised an eyebrow but smiled in satisfaction. “Interesting request, but I admit I’m not surprised ye would ask somethin’ for yerself.” He pulled open a large drawer in his wooden desk as he spoke.
“Isn’t that what you asked me to do?”
“I said choose anythin’ that would help on yer journey. If I’m not mistakin’ there be at least one on this crew ye wish ye could set free. I thought ye might bargain for the brig master’s safe release. But I be proud of yer pirate-like thought process. Every man…or woman…for themselves in the sky.” Smythe pulled out the dagger from the drawer and twirled it in his hands. The jeweled hilt glimmered in the sunlight and Nova watched it hungrily, anxious to feel the steel in her hands.
Smythe’s words turned her stomach. The thought to save Kale without risk hadn’t even crossed her mind, and she felt terrible for it. The only thing that had crossed her mind had been for her own gain. The inner battle inside her chest pushed away her thoughts of guilt and she yearned for the dagger.
“I wonder why this blade be so important to ye? It be of fine craftsmanship, to be sure, but why do ye need it so?” he asked, spinning the weapon in his hands.
“It’s the one thing I have left of my parents. Now hand it over,” she demanded.
Slowly, Smythe held out the weapon and without taking her eyes off the captain, Nova reached out and took the hilt. As soon as the jewels touched her hand, her lungs filled with a rejuvenation. Nova closed her eyes and relished the comforting sensation. The heavy cloud weighting her chest with darkness and turmoil spread throughout her veins until it lightened into a surge of comforting power. Her lips tugged at the corners as relief and confidence coated every part of her. When she opened her eyes again, Captain Smythe watched her with a befuddled expression.
“Something you’d like to say, Captain?” Nova said in mock sweetness.
Smythe’s eyes darkened, but he didn’t speak for a moment as if his thoughts were processing something strange. “Just remember ye’ve been given a reward for bein’ true. Don’t think I can’t take it away, or end yer worthless life in an instant, girl. No matter what those freaks in the Underbelly claimed, I can find the mountain without ye, and if yer dead who will ever find yer pap?”
“May I go now?” Nova said, flittingly dismissing each one of his words.
Smythe waved his hands, dismissing her. “Straight to the hatch, and someone’ll take ye down.”
Nova turned arrogantly on her heel and stomped from the cabin. Several crewmen eyed her suspiciously, one ran his finger along his throat as she passed, but she took no notice of their empty threats. She could destroy them like the insects they were.
Kale stood near the hatch, Master Kane hissing something at him before the first mate left him.
Kale’s eyes brightened when he saw her, but his face stayed stoic and distant. “Everything all right? You look different.”
Nova held her head high as her compassion toward Kale and his escape seemed distant, though she could sense her logic and sensitivity trying to beat through the fierce wave of power coming from the dagger. It hadn’t been so strong at the time Smythe had stolen the weapon from her, but it was intoxicating.
“I’m fine. The cockroach wants you to take me down to the brig again,” she said snobbishly, wishing she could control the arrogance flooding out of her mouth.
Kale’s brow crinkled, but he rolled his eyes and lifted the hatch. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
She took a deep breath as she passed by him down the stairs. “Thank you,” she managed to say.
“What’s going on, Nova?” Kale asked once they were safely on the brig deck. “I’m sorry if you feel guilty about Geni, but how would you have known? You saved me and I see that now.” Nova scoffed and wrapped a hand around a bar while Kale unlocked the cell. “You know I’m all right if you want to stay out of the cell for a little while. No sense in obeying orders right away.” He smiled playfully, trying to get a rise from her, but it was frustrating how difficult it was trying to show an interest in what Kale was saying.
“If you’d like,” she said.
“Well, it won’t put me out either way,” he responded, the frustration evident. “Hey wait, is that…”
Kale pointed toward the dagger against her hip. Nova smiled lovingly at the weapon like a mother would her child. “The so-called captain no longer has anything of mine. And I assure you, I won’t ever let this go again.”
Kale watched her curiously. “Why does it change you?”
“What do you mean by that?” she asked, rubbing her thumb over one of the jewels.
“You truly can’t see a difference in your behavior since you were given the dagger?”
Nova looked at him angrily, but again, the nudge of her compassion beat against her head. Finding her self-control, she took a deep breath and tucked the dagger securely in her belt. “I’m sorry. I just feel a lot better now that I was able to get this back.”
“No, there’s something more, Nova. Even Atlas knows something. He said you can do things others can’t. What is going on? I’m well aware that dagger is no ordinary weapon, but it seems to do something to you—inside,” he said pointing to his heart.
“Can’t you just leave it alone?” she snapped. “What does it even matter to you? As soon as the timing is right you’ll be gone, and you won’t have any need to burden yourself with my oddities, or struggles, or whatever you want to call them. You’ll be safe in your perfect home with your attentive fiancée and flawless father! So there’s not any need to ask questions about me, or my past, or what I feel. If you were honest with yourself, you would agree you don’t truly care. I’m a means to an end, Mr. Tucker, just as you are for me. Just a means to return us to our lives and our purposes. That’s all.”
Kale stiffened and cleared his throat. Nova held her breath, regretting the flood of truth that had spilled out. She’d been angry, and the words seemed to wrench straight from her heart with no stopping them. Kale cautiously opened the cell door and she rushed inside, not meeting his eye.
“Well, I suppose we shouldn’t disobey orders too long,” he said quietly. “I leave you to your thoughts, miss.”
When Kale was well up the stairs, Nova removed the dagger from her belt and dropped it to the floor, feeling an instant relief from the dark clutches of the power surge. It was still there, lying dormant until the next outburst, but for now, it was calm. What was happening? The words of the woman in white came back like a bag of rocks landing on top of her. What was she?
Chapter 8
The Shipwreck
Nova leaned against the hull, peering through the cannon hole at the passing clouds. The dagger was wrapped in an old mopping towel in the corner. She’d left it alone in the days since Captain Smythe had returned it, and to her relief, her inner battle remained calm and balanced. Her strength was still present, but her logic and empathy had leveled. With her emotions in order, she was also filled with fierce regret.
Kale had hardly spoken two words to her since her outrageous outburst. He didn’t seem angry, he simply had done as she’d asked. He’d become disinterested in her.
As the sun set, she heard Kale placing a tin next to the bars. Slowly, Nova turned and watched him. He nodded a greeting before heading towa
rd the stairs.
“Wait, Kale,” she said, leaning against the bars. Kale stopped and looked back at her, his face unreadable. “I wonder if you might do something for me.”
He watched her for a long, tense, moment. “What is it?”
“I was hoping you might tell the captain I need to speak to him.”
Kale’s curiosity seemed to peak, but he tried to conceal it with a bored expression. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you,” she called after him, though he seemed to rush out faster than usual.
Nova slid down the wall, hugging her knees closely to her chest as she waited. Occasionally stealing a glance at the banished dagger, she smiled as the urge for power flittered through her veins thinking of Captain Smythe descending to the brig.
Several hours passed, and Nova’s arrogance shifted to annoyance and wonder if Kale had delivered her message. When the sun was casting its final golden glow through the pillow-like clouds, a shuddering creak brought her quickly to her feet. The uneven steps pulled her lips into a smug grin. It was Smythe.
The captain appeared even darker in the dim lantern light. He peered from under his black hat with disdain.
“What can I do for the queen of me ship? It seems common practice for ye to summon me when ye have no right.”
Nova chuckled and stepped closer to the bars, keeping the dagger in her sights. “I wonder, if it is such an inconvenience for you, why you bother responding to my summons?”
Smythe’s hand curled over the handle of his long cutlass and his black teeth bit his bottom lip. “What is it ye want, Miss Nova?” he snarled.
“I’ve had a great deal on my mind since we last spoke, Captain,” she began, pacing in front of the bars. “I’ve come to a conclusion, and if you are wise you’ll agree with me.”
“I warn ye, girl. Yer crossing lines by yer insolence.”
“I’m sure I am.” She chuckled and gripped the bars, her eyes blazing intensely at Smythe. “But you won’t do anything to me, sir—I’m sure of it. Now, since we’ve crossed that little barrier, it’s time to release me from this cell, Captain Smythe.”
Smythe laughed a deep gravelly laugh. “Yer mistaken, miss. I can do things to ye and I will. Ye be a prisoner of the Vengeance, and ye’ll stay in the brig unless ye want to join yer pap in the Below.”
Nova glared at Smythe, but kept smiling. “See that’s another thing, Captain. My father isn’t in the Below, is he? Wasn’t it you who said if I’m dead there would be no one left to find my father?”
Smythe’s face twisted into an ugly expression of animosity. “That doesn’t mean—ˮ
Nova pounded her fists on the bars, feeling a surge of bitter anger toward Smythe. For once, her pure emotions showed through. Her anger was real, none of it the strange power—simply every wrong the captain had caused for her billowing to the surface. “Stop lying. I know my father is alive. And I know he’ll be searching for me. I would take a guess he could find you easily if he ever got word I was on your ship. I can sense deep down you’re afraid of my father. But that isn’t why you’ll let me out. You will release me from this cell because I’ve proven I am going to find the mountain of Dia. There is no purpose for keeping me locked up.”
“And if I refuse?” he growled.
“Then I will never help you in your search.”
“I have ways of forcin’ ye.”
Nova snatched the dagger and tore away its cover. She grew more confident and angrier at his hesitation as she pointed the deadly blade at his heart. “You cannot force me if I am dead. Either at the point of this dagger or by your throwing me overboard, either way, you are without your asset which earned the Three Brothers’ seal of approval. I will not stay in this cell another night.”
Smythe watched her, his face never moving. He stepped against the bars, so the point of her blade pressed into the folds of his shirt. Nova didn’t cower. For the first time in what seemed like ages, she felt the truth of every word she’d spoken. She refused to live another day as an animal caged from the outside world. She thought of nothing else, and Nova and the captain sat glaring at one another for a long moment.
To her surprise, Smythe stepped back and watched her as if suddenly exhausted. “As ye wish, Miss Nova. But if ye try to run, I’ll kill ye slowly, nothing merciful. Ye are close to being not worth the trouble of arguin’ with ye day in and day out. I’ll see to yer release. But I warn ye, this cell may be the safest place for ye. The other crew don’t take kindly to ye.”
“I can take care of myself, thanks,” she said curtly. “I’ll be expecting to see Kale release me soon. If not, I will be gone in the morning.”
Smythe clicked his tongue in annoyance, but stalked away quickly up the stairs. The dagger clanged loudly when it fell to the floor. She rested her forehead against the bars. Her heart hammered faster as the realization of her word came crashing down on her.
“How did that work?” she asked out loud. It was unclear how she’d allowed the desperation to overtake her to speak so freely against such a dangerous man, but miraculously, it seemed the captain bent to her will at the end.
“So, you’re free,” Kale said as he walked down the steps not even ten minutes later.
“It would seem that way. At least free to go on deck,” she answered.
He didn’t say anything as he unlocked the cell and stood back, giving her room to step out.
“Kale, I really want to apologize—ˮ
“Don’t think on it, Nova,” he interrupted. “You spoke how you felt and no one can be ashamed of that.”
Nova’s shoulders slumped. She didn’t believe that was how she felt, but Kale didn’t seem ready or willing to listen. She nodded and tucked the dagger into her belt before leading the way up the stairs.
“Simply because we’re a means to an end for one another and I still need your usefulness, I will be sleeping near you on deck. The men can’t be trusted. I assure you I will be a gentleman.”
Nova smiled and shook her head. “I would never think anything less of you.”
Kale gave a curt nod and passed her along the stairs.
“Kale,” she said softly. “I don’t want you to think you’re just a means to the end. You’ve been a friend when I didn’t deserve one.”
He stopped, pausing as if he wanted to say something. “We’d better get on deck.”
“Right,” she replied taking a deep breath, trying to cool the embarrassed flush in her cheeks.
The pirates whispered and sneered as she walked amongst them freely, but Nova’s attention was only on the sky. The peach clouds brought a sense of calm to her troubled heart. Although she’d been out a few times over her captivity in the brig, it wasn’t the same to look upon the beauty of Launi and know she wouldn’t be locked in darkness again. The vast skies swirled with brilliant sunlight and different colors bending off moisture in the clouds. Calls of sky birds lifted her spirits and the fresh, humid air filled her lungs with a rejuvenated breath. The Vengeance sailed swiftly and smoothly as a lone ship among the air currents, and there was something peaceful about the solitude.
“Well, I be takin’ cover fer all the trouble headin’ our way now ye be on deck,” Gold-tooth Taylor said from behind.
Nova smiled widely at the grumpy, old pirate. “Taylor, good to see you. How is your arm?”
The old man shrugged his shoulder and patted the dirty sling holding his injured arm. “I’ll survive, lass. Ye could do with some sun, girl. Been below deck too long.”
“Well, I haven’t forgotten our lessons and I think I could still beat you.” She chuckled.
Taylor smiled widely, his gold teeth glittering against the sunshine.
“Back to work.” Smythe’s growl spurred them into action.
Gold-tooth jumped and dragged Nova toward the cabin doorframe. “Here, help me scrub the hinges, lass. I go too slow with me bad arm.”
Nova smiled and took one of the dingy rags and helped the old man scrub the rusty m
etal along the door. Kale stood next to them, covering a hole in the deck from a royal cannon. He glanced up at the helm, and Nova followed his eyes. Atlas glanced at Kale before quickly turning his face away.
Kale rolled his eyes before returning his attention to his task.
“What’s going on?” Nova asked, dipping the rag back into the water bucket.
Kale shrugged. “Our helmsman has been acting very strange ever since we left the Underbelly. He doesn’t speak with anyone and seems to avoid me completely. I’m not sure he’s too keen on me hanging around with you.”
Nova snorted in annoyance. “Well, I think he lost his chance to have an opinion on who I spend time with when he gave Smythe my dagger.”
“Ah, ye got it back, lass, I thought me old eyes were playin’ tricks on me,” Taylor nearly squealed in delight.
“I did, and everything seems more clear,” she said kindly.
“Don’t ye dare lose that again,” he warned.
“Aye, sir.” She glanced at Atlas, who glared at the open sky before looking at Kale. “Don’t let Atlas bother you.”
“I don’t,” he responded. “The way he looks at me at times just has me a little curious is all, like he discovered some great secret about me.”
Nova opened her mouth to inquire what secrets he may be keeping, but stopped when the look-out cried loudly above them.
“Shipwreck, straight ahead! Come about.”
“Take her along the starboard side, Master Atlas,” Smythe’s commands raised above the hushed crew as the men strained over the rails to see what was left.
Atlas led the ship cautiously along as bits and pieces of a lost ship stayed afloat as the levitating manu fought against gravity. Most of the ship was gone, but a good portion of the bow still bobbed dangerously against a small bit of micro island. The point was caught between a large crevice, preventing the whole of the ship to disappear to the Below. Almost every piece of wood was charred or still burning from an explosion responsible for splitting the ship in two.