Zara looks me up and down, amazement glinting in her eyes. “You’re an automaton. An animated automaton.”
I try to push down the panic, but it’s already crawling all over me. I can’t move without killing Karis. Only I have to move, before they find my tome and give me an order I can’t disobey.
“Where’s its tome?” Zara asks.
I flinch, but Karis presses her lips together. Even Dane doesn’t move.
Zara cocks the weapon. Karis sticks out her chin, but it quakes. “Last chance.”
Even with that weapon pointed at her, Karis is still keeping my tome a secret. Both of them are. I never thought anyone would try to protect me beside my father.
“It’s up on the ridge,” I say. “Hidden in the rocks.”
At my voice, every person in the crew starts. Zara stares at me, something glinting in her eyes. She turns to Karis. “It just talked. How did it talk?”
Karis simply glares the pirate captain down.
Zara’s eyes narrow. She jerks her head at one of her crew. “Go find the tome.”
Karis flashes me a worried look. I stare miserably back. What else could I have done?
One of the pirates, a dark-haired woman, leaves. We wait in silence until she comes back, pulling my tome from the satchel. My seal flares in my chest as she holds the book out to her captain. It takes every bit of willpower I possess to stop myself from reaching out and snatching it back. It’s happening all over again.
“Cover the girl and the boy,” Zara says. Men step up to them, grabbing them and placing blades against their throats. Karis squeezes her eyes shut. Dane’s face is twisted in fury. All I can do is stand there, bare and exposed.
Zara takes my tome and opens it. I try to cling onto some slim hope. She’s nothing more than a seafaring ruffian. Surely she won’t know how to use the tome or what runes to write.
She pulls out a hunk of charcoal and dashes it across the page. A rune flares on my legs and they give, without my permission, making me kneel. My insides turn hollow.
“Stop it!” Karis says. “Alix isn’t some mindless automaton. You have no right to take his will from him!”
Zara scoffs. “You make it sound like it’s alive.”
“He is not an it.”
I can hear Karis defending me but I can’t so much as lift my gaze from the floor. I’m too ashamed. Everything that makes me who I am has been taken from me by a few strokes on a page. No matter what I do or want, I’ll never be what they are. This is exactly what father said would happen.
I am nothing to this pirate.
“Captain,” one of her men says. “There’s something else here in the pack.”
I wearily lift my head and see the man pull a piece of parchment from Karis’s pack. Matthias’s record.
Karis stiffens.
Zara takes the paper, her eyes flitting over the words. She turns to Karis. “Who’s Matthias?”
Karis doesn’t answer, pure stubbornness painted on her face. Dane gives her a warning look.
Zara steps closer, waving the paper. “You want this back? You don’t want to die in this cave? Then tell me who Matthias is.”
Karis glares at the pirate captain. “He’s my brother. We were separated when we were sent to the Scriptorium on Tallis. I’m going to Valitia to find him.”
Zara studies her. There’s a long pause before she says, “If you’re going to the Magistrate’s Library, you might not like what you find.”
Karis stills. “You know it?”
Zara looks at her, and for the briefest moment something exposed passes across her expression. Then it clears, and she grins. “You have no idea what I know, Scriptorium.”
The crush of running feet through the forest sounds a moment before a new man comes barreling into the cave. “Captain, I...”
He cuts off as he sees me, his eyes widening. I look away.
“What is it, Aiken?” Zara asks.
“Uh...it’s a Scriptorium ship, Captain, off the far point of the island. She’ll see us if we don’t leave soon.”
I hadn’t thought this terrible day could get worse, but it did. No matter what these pirates might make me do, the Scriptorium could do worse. They know more.
Zara looks at us. At Karis and Dane, and then, surprisingly, at me. She writes something in my tome and my legs unlock.
I stare at her, then scramble to my feet.
She...freed me?
Zara’s eyes give nothing away. “Well then.” She snaps my tome closed, tucking it beneath her arm. “We had best be off.”
* * *
We make a silent procession as we head toward the ship. I can feel my tome in Zara’s hands, a piece of me that’s been displaced, but I don’t go for it, not with the knives prodding into Dane’s and Karis’s back. At least I’m walking of my own free will.
The bay, empty before, now has a ship bobbing on its waters. The Crimson Streak; that’s what Zara called it. Its sails are such a deep, ominous red in the dark, they look stained with blood. I have no idea what awaits us on that ship. I had only ever read about adventure. I didn’t expect it to feel like this: uncertain and overwhelming. If only my father was here. I need his guidance, now more than ever.
Two smaller boats wait for us on the beach. Karis and Dane are pushed into the first one, and Karis stumbles, catching the edge of the boat to stop herself from going over into the water. She glares at the man who pushed her. “I can get in a boat by myself,” she snaps.
Another pirate tries to shove me in, too, but his hands bounce off. He clearly doesn’t know what automatons weigh. I glance at him and he shrinks back. A twist of anguish buries itself into my chest.
“Get in,” Zara orders, lowering herself onto her own bench.
I climb in, settling next to Karis. She hesitates for a moment and then her hand finds mine, her fingers wrapping around my own. I look at her, surprised at the touch.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “For coming for us, back in that cave.”
I blink. “Of course. I wouldn’t have left you.”
Something I can’t quite read enters her eyes. “No, you wouldn’t.”
The men shove our boat deeper into the water before clambering in and taking the oars. When I rowed, our progress on the water had been haphazard. These pirates expertly cut us forward through the dark bay, toward the Crimson Streak. It blocks out the moonlight, creaking and rocking ominously on the waves.
Before my long sleep, I didn’t have many chances to see ships. The docks were too far from my father’s villa. I saw them once, though, the night I fled. They were long and narrow, with rows of oars like insect legs. Their front prows were hard and crafted for ramming, with ghoulish eyes painted on either side.
This ship is different. A figurehead is carved into its front. It’s a woman, her arms spread out as if embracing unknown horizons. A rune decorates her chest, written in a red ink that matches the sails. It’s blockier than the runes I’m used to, geometric in a way that reminds me of the print on Zara’s dress.
There’s a shout from on deck and a rope ladder is lowered. Zara gestures me up and I go, the ropes straining beneath my weight. As I come over the railing, the pirates back away, eyes wide. As if I’m some creature, barely restrained. I shrink in on myself.
Zara gracefully hoists herself up over the railing, followed by Dane, Karis, and the other pirates.
“Ava,” she calls. “Finn.”
Two of the crew, neither of them much older than Karis or Dane, separate from the crowd. They must be siblings. Both have mops of hair in a vibrant shade of red I’ve never seen before, spilling around pale, freckled faces. The one on the left, Ava, has knives hung at each hip. Finn seems to be unarmed.
“Take our new guests to the brig,” Zara says.
Finn nods. “Of course, Captain.”
/> “You’re just going to lock us up?” Dane growls. “You can’t.”
Zara’s already turned to go, but now she raises an eyebrow. “I can’t?” She steps closer, so close their chests are only a hand’s breadth apart. She tilts her head back, her grin wolfish beneath the shadow of her hat. “This is my ship, soldier boy.” She reaches out and plucks the sword from his belt, giving it a lazy twirl before its tip comes to lightly rest at the base of his throat. “I can do whatever I want.”
Dane’s jaw works for a moment but nothing comes out. With a smirk, Zara turns on her heel and strides away, his sword still in hand.
“Come on, let’s go.” Ava prods Dane, who glares daggers at the captain as she leaves. My eyes stay on her, too, as we’re led across the deck, flanked by the two pirates. I can still feel my tome in her hands, an invisible tether that connects us. Every step I take away from it makes me feel a little less whole.
Zara hands my tome and the sword off to one of her crew before pulling a slim green ledger from a pocket in her dress. She writes something in it, and runes flare into sudden life along the sails and riggings, a shimmer of gold racing through their lines. In one graceful movement, the sails billow out, their ropes snapping tight like sailors at attention. A gust of wind catches the fabric and Zara gives the wheel a spin, taking us out.
I stare. The runes are actually woven into the fabric, their lines written in thread. It’s not the power of automatons, but something different. Something new.
We reach a ladder and Finn swings onto it, disappearing into the hatch. “Down,” Ava says, gesturing to me.
I look skeptically into the dark hold. It brings back memories, of a dark cave and a long sleep. I take a timid step away.
Ava pulls a knife, nudging Karis with it. Karis scowls and I half expect her to try to knock it away.
“Now.”
I swing myself onto the ladder. It’s another world down here, all creaking wood with everything shifting beneath my feet. The little light that leaks down is weak and sick, throwing harsh shadows against the ceiling and walls. A pungent scent hangs like a dead thing in the air. Most of the time I’m glad that my father gave me the ability to smell.
This isn’t one of those times.
Karis and Dane touch down beside me, followed by Ava.
“This way,” Finn says.
We’re led to a corner of the hold that’s hemmed in by dark bars, not even seven paces across. There isn’t much inside: a ratty blanket in one corner, a bed of straw piled in the other, everything indistinct in the gloom. It’s the grungiest place I have ever seen.
We silently step inside.
“G’night,” Finn says before locking the door with a final clang.
10
* * *
KARIS
We’ve been captured by pirates. Of all the possible outcomes I considered when I used to lie on my pallet dreaming of my escape from Tallis, this was one I never so much as imagined.
Ever since I was a child, I’ve heard the stories; the unbelievable tales from my friends when I was young and still had a home, and then the just as unbelievable but more terrifying stories from the street kids. Tales of bloody, greedy people who’d snatch you up if you so much as looked at them and who’d sail off with you across the seas until the shore was nothing but a speck in your imagination.
The stories were bad, but they don’t compare to actually being on this ship. None of those tales can grasp the fear that comes from being hemmed in by dark bars in a rotting corner of a ship. Can describe what it feels like knowing your only escape is to throw yourself into unforgiving waters, where sharks and sea monsters and who knows what else dwells in the deeps.
I twist Matthias’s paper in my fingers, trying to focus on the feel of the parchment in my hands as I fold it into creases. At least Zara gave the paper back. This one piece of my brother to hold close.
“I’m sorry.” Dane’s quiet voice sounds across the cell. He sits against the bars, hands hanging limply between his knees. It’s dark down here, but a bit of moonlight slanting through the porthole high on the wall hits his face, showing the exhaustion and regret.
My hands fall into my lap. “This isn’t your fault.”
“I was the one who suggested we stay there. I should have known better.”
“We all should have known better. It wasn’t just you.” You forget things when you’re locked in one little place for too long. You forget how dangerous the world is outside its walls. Like a wild bird that’s been handled too much. Maybe I don’t have what it takes to survive out here anymore.
“But I’m the soldier.” He fingers his sash, now muddied and torn but still showing the seal of the Scriptorium woven into its end. “Or at least I was.”
I want to say something to comfort him, but I don’t know what. Even if he escaped from this ship, went back to Tallis, the Scriptorium would just clap him in shackles, throw him into a cell not so different from this one. Because of me.
I lean against the wood of the wall behind me, the cold of it pressing into my spine. The Streak rocks back and forth, the movement so constant it makes my stomach lurch. Suddenly I’m so unbelievably, unbearably tired. We’re a sorry band of adventurers.
“What’s that?” Alix asks.
His eyes are dim candles in the dark. I follow his gaze down to my hands, at the paper flower now sitting on my palm. I hadn’t realized that’s what I’d been folding. “Just a poppy,” I murmur.
Alix glances from it to me in a silent question.
I gently brush the petals. “It’s my favorite flower.” Just like it was my mother’s favorite before me. Or maybe because it was my mother’s favorite flower before me.
It’s one of the few memories I have of my parents: my father bringing bunches of them home when he traveled away from Heretis, out to some of the meadows that lie far off on the island, the vibrant red blooms spilling from his arms; my mother laughing as she slipped them into a vase, her dark hair curling from under her himation. “My brother used to fold these for me to cheer me up. He did it mostly by feel, of course, so they were always unique, something only he could create.” Mine just looks sad in comparison. I never had enough patience for paper folding.
“What was he like?” Alix asks.
I’m not used to people asking. No one did on Tallis. Dane because he knew better. Everyone else because they didn’t care. I used to think that if I just gave it enough time, the memories would stop being so painful, but that was never true. Some holes in your life don’t ever go away.
But maybe a part of me is tired of just holding him in.
“He was stubborn and far too curious,” I finally say. “He wanted to explore every place we set foot in. And he wouldn’t ever back down.”
Dane nudges my foot with his. “I can think of someone like that.” The smile on his face is barely there, but it’s the first one he’s given me since I tore him away from Tallis. It makes this easier.
“Matthias was always the one thinking two steps ahead and we never found a place that he wasn’t able to get us into. He even learned to pick locks out there, something I could never get the hang of. He used to joke that with my eyes and his ears, no one would ever be able to sneak up on us. And he was so smart. He worked up this system, these phrases I could say to him when I had to guide him through a place and we didn’t want anyone to know what we were doing. Look lively was turn left. I don’t see it was come forward.” I shake my head, a smile tugging at my lips at the memory for the first time. “I hate it when you’re right was turn to the right.”
“I hate it when you’re right?” Alix asks.
“He always loved making me say that one. My brother had a strange sense of humor.”
I realize what I’ve said a moment too late. The happiness turns to ice in my chest. “Has,” I say quickly. “I mean has.”
&nbs
p; Dane leans forward. “We’re going to find him, Karis.”
My hands curl around the flower. I’ve never slipped up like that before.
“Karis,” Dane says gently, but I shake my head. I should have just kept my mouth shut.
Footsteps come toward our cell and we scramble to our feet as the two ginger-haired pirates from before step up to the cell door. Dane glares at the two of them, somehow managing to look every bit a soldier despite the fact that he’s dirty and stinking and on the wrong side of the bars.
“Rise and shine,” Finn says. “The captain’s ready to see you all now.”
I tuck the poppy into my belt purse. “Did we outrun the Scriptorium ship?”
Finn just flashes me a shrewd grin before pointing at Alix. “You, don’t even think of trying anything.”
Alix stiffens. He doesn’t say anything so I’m the one who snaps at the pirate. “He has a name.” Dane frowns at me, but I’ve had an exhausting two days, and I don’t have any patience left to give.
“He’s an automaton,” Ava mutters. “What does it matter what we call him?”
I glare at her. I don’t know what it is about Alix, but every time someone insults him, I find myself getting so angry. He just always stands there, looking so helpless.
Finn shoots Ava a dry look. “Play nice. Fine. Alix, don’t try anything.” Finn unlocks the door, opening it with a squeal.
I follow the other two out, the hold rocking beneath my feet. At least it’s easier to breathe outside of those bars.
“Since we were never really introduced, I’m Finn, and this is Ava. She’s a she. I’m a they.”
Dane pauses. “They?”
Ava takes out her knife and twirls it around her fingers. “You got a problem with that, Scriptorium?”
Dane scowls. “No.”
“Good.” Ava flashes a grin that’s all teeth. “Then we’ll get along swimmingly.”
Finn snorts.
The two of them lead us up onto the deck. Morning has broken, and after being below for so long it’s startlingly bright out, wind rippling the sails up above us. I didn’t notice the night before when it was dark, but there are strips of iron running along the railings, circling the masts above us, even set into some of the planks of the deck beneath us. The metal flashes blindingly hot in the sun. It makes the Streak a stitched-together creation, beautiful and strange.
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