of the ship.
I can make men see things that are not there. I can put thoughts in their heads.
I can make them promises they’ll believe. I can get them to do anything I want.
All I have to do is sing. I’m not sure I should tell him any of this, though. Even if I do believe my father will capture this ship soon.
“If I choose to, I can feel what men want. I know their every desire. And I use
that to get what I want. It’s something I can turn off and on at will.” And lose myself in, if I go too far.
Riden freezes at that. Wait, no. There’s a flash of black. Of fear. I stop where
I am and look around. I passed the center of the ship, where the mainmast extends into the air.
“Is that why you act the way you do?” he asks. I think he’s trying to distract
me.
I take a few steps toward Riden, back toward the mainmast. “What do you mean?”
“The whole time you’ve been on this ship. Everything you’ve said and done.
Have you been reading me? Giving me what I want? Is that why I feel the need
to protect you? Or did you get in my head? Force me to feel things I’ve never felt before?”
That stops me short. “Riden, the only thing I’ve ever made you do is sleep. I
have not played with your mind or acted a certain way to toy with you. I only used that on Draxen once to try to find the map. Whatever it is you think and feel
—it comes from you. I didn’t do anything.”
The light around him turns blue.
“You’re confused,” I say. “Why?”
He narrows his eyes. “Because I don’t understand you. And I don’t know what to believe.”
“You can choose to believe what you wish, but I speak the truth. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a map to find.” I look upward. “The crow’s nest, eh?” I
ask. That must be where Riden’s hidden it.
Riden cocks his head at something behind me. “What are you doing up here?”
I was so focused on Riden’s reaction to my moving about the ship, I didn’t realize someone was coming up behind me. I’m about to turn when I feel a sharp
pain at the back of my head and fall into darkness.
* * *
Everything is hazy. I can make out a couple of forms, but mostly I feel the rocking—the rocking of a boat on the sea.
“She’s waking,” someone says.
“She heals faster than I thought. Hit her again.”
Blackness greets me once more.
* * *
Cold.
Everything is cold. I feel it at my cheek. Clinging to my fingers. Seeping in
through my clothes.
My eyelids are heavy, but I manage to open them. They’re met with bars. Am
I back in my cell?
No.
Beyond the bars is not the interior of a ship, but sand and trees. I hear the rolling of waves not far off, though I can’t see the shore.
I am alone.
The trees rustle in the wind. I shiver through the cold. Creatures slither and crawl on the ground, making their way through the undergrowth. The sounds of
the night do not frighten me.
No, it is the cage that frightens me. I am without song. Without my lockpicks.
Without any company at all.
For the first time in a long time, I am truly afraid.
* * *
It is morning before anyone approaches me.
I do not recognize the man. He’s tall, though not as tall as my father. Bald on
top of his head, a brown beard on his chin. Five gold hoops hang from his left
ear. His clothes are fine, yet roguish. He has a sword and pistol at his hips.
Though I can’t imagine he has to use them often. He looks as though he’s built
out of solid muscle, but I bet I could take him were I not locked up.
He pulls something out of his pocket, an orb of some sort. Ah, it’s the map.
He tosses it up in the air and catches it lazily. A show for my benefit.
“Do you know who I am?” he asks. His voice sounds exactly as I would expect—deep and demanding.
“Am I supposed to care?” I ask indifferently, as though I’m not trapped. I’m
proud of myself for my tone. It masks completely the coiling of nerves in my stomach.
“My name is Vordan Serad.”
I hide my surprise. I have been kidnapped by the third pirate lord, and this time my capture is not planned.
At least not by me.
I try for faked confidence. “Do you know who I am?” I ask in return, matching Vordan’s air of authority.
“You are Alosa Kalligan, daughter of Byrronic Kalligan, the pirate king.”