One of the fortune tellers.
“I want to talk to whoever saw her last,” I say. “And to Unesta and Bayla. They have the closest bunks to hers.”
“I’ll be back,” Dimella says.
“Be discreet.”
“That’s the plan.”
As I shrug on my coat, I tack on, “Also, bring me Kearan.”
She nods as she leaves.
As much as I loathe talking to the man, he’s seen this before. It would be foolish not to include him in the happenings when he might prove knowledgeable about what’s going on.
Kearan arrives first. I imagine he was on duty at the helm, closest to my room. I let him in and shut the door. It’s freezing outside, the little stove in the room the only reason I’m able to sleep comfortably at night. I dread to think what would happen should we run out of wood and coal.
I forget how big he is until he’s filling up most of the room. His eyes land on the tricorne he gifted me. Still on the floor where I left it. There’s no time to give that a second thought.
“A girl’s gone missing,” I explain.
“Who? When?”
“Cyara. We’re going to find out more soon.”
We wait in stark silence until Dimella returns towing three girls with her, the two I asked for and Roslyn.
“You first, little one,” Dimella says.
“Dimella says you want to know about Cyara? I saw her late last night. She was up in the rigging chatting with me. We didn’t talk about anything important. She went to bed before I did. Didn’t see her again before I turned in. Am I in trouble, Captain?”
“No,” I say. I turn to the other two girls. “Did you see her at all last night?”
Unesta shakes her head in the negative. Bayla says, “I think I woke briefly in the night. Saw her get up to use the privy. She has a small bladder. I fell back asleep. Didn’t see her again.”
“No one else saw anything?” I ask.
“I’ve asked around, Captain,” Dimella says. “No one saw anything suspicious.”
“Turn the ship inside out. I want every nook and cranny searched. If she’s on board, find her.”
“Aye-aye. Do you want me to tell the crew anything?”
“Tell them we’ve a sailor missing.”
The girls leave, but Kearan doesn’t move. He says, “It’s just like what happened last time I came this way. Disappeared without a trace.”
“No one just disappears. If there’s a body on board, we’ll find it.”
“You won’t find anything.”
“You think she fell overboard?”
“Trained pirates don’t fall overboard without a trace. Something is at work here.”
“We’ll double patrols.”
“That’s what we did.”
“No one will go anywhere on the ship without a partner.”
“Tried that, too. People started disappearing two at a time.”
“Do you have anything helpful to say?”
Kearan bites his lip and scratches at his beard, giving the question serious thought. “They always went missing at night. Light every lantern on the ship. Have most of the crew active at night rather than during the day. Have people watching over those who are sleeping.”
“We risk going through our oil and candles too quickly,” I say.
Kearan shrugs. “Better than going through our crew too quickly.”
Indeed. “We’ll see it done. Thank you,” I tack on belatedly.
Awkwardly.
“You’re welcome,” he says.
Then he just stands there.
“You can go now,” I say.
“Right.”
The hold is emptied and refilled; every box, barrel, crate, and nook searched. Jadine riffles through her kitchen with her helpers.
We come up empty. Not so much as a drop of blood is to be found. She’s not anywhere on the ship.
I see Kearan’s advice carried out. The day and night crew swap shifts. We light every candle and lantern we can find at night, setting them along the railings, tying them up in the rigging. There’s not a speck of darkness to be found above deck. I write to Alosa, appraising her of the situation, but I don’t turn back. We’ve a job to do. We can save more than we’ve lost at this point.
The next evening, Enwen is whistling loudly while he checks the lines on the ship. When Kearan barks at him to keep it down, Enwen completely ignores him.
Kearan doesn’t like that. I can tell by the way he tightens his grip on the helm, but he follows Enwen’s example and ignores him right back. Dimella, however, is not content to let Enwen carry on. She marches up to him and says something I can’t quite hear. When he stares at her blankly, I can tell something is wrong, and I start to head for the pair.
Dimella reaches out for Enwen’s coat, pulls him down to her level, then grips him by the ear.
“Ow,” he says loudly.
She starts parading him in my direction by the ear, and he’s helpless to do anything but follow. I meet her in the middle of the ship.
“He’s got something in his ears,” Dimella explains.
I inspect for myself. Is that … wax?
I’m about to gesture for Enwen to remove it, but Dimella has no qualms about doing it for him.
“Ow!” he says again.
“What the hell are you doing?” my first mate asks.
“My duties,” he responds.
She holds the glob of yellow-white wax up to his eyes to make her meaning clearer.
“Cyara has gone missing without a trace,” Enwen says. “Only thing I know that can do that is a siren.”
“Sirens sing men to their deaths. Cyara is a woman,” I say.
“We’re in new waters, aren’t we? Why can’t there be menfolk sirens out this way?”
“Then why would you have need to fear?”
Enwen pulls himself out of Dimella’s grip and stands up straight. “I wouldn’t presume to assume the preferences of menfolk sirens. Besides, what if there’s both out this way?”
“Alosa has a deal with the siren queen, her mother,” I emphasize. “Her ships and crews are safe. You have nothing to fear from sirens.”
“Something took Cyara, and I’ll not be next.”
“You will keep your ears uncovered so you can hear orders,” I tell him. “If you don’t, the brig is finally going to receive its first visitor.”
His eyes light up. “That’s a great idea. Nothing can sing me overboard if I’m locked up. Let’s do that.”
“Dimella,” I say, “kindly go take the helm for a few minutes and send Kearan over.”
“Aye, Captain.” She gives Enwen a disappointed look as she passes him by.
When I check our surroundings, I note that most of the crew has halted their chores and is looking on. “You may eavesdrop, but you do have to keep working,” I say to them in my stoic way.
They immediately jump into action, still casting looks this way whenever they get the chance.
When Kearan arrives, his face is blank.
“Helmsman,” I say, raising my voice, “when you passed this way on a previous voyage, did you ever hear singing coming from the sea?”
“No, Captain.” He answers loud enough for the rest of the crew to hear, too.