“But you’ve got to have family somewhere.”
“Yeah, but they don’t much care for me,” he said.
“Are they…like you?”
“You mean, can they talk?” Huck said. “Yes.” He paused, his head cocked, as if searching for the right way to explain. “I come from a place a lot like the one you came from. My kind has lived there for generations. But my kin, they thought it was time to go. See the world. They dragged me off for my own good. That didn’t go well.
“They wouldn’t much like me hanging around with you. I’m not supposed to talk to your kind, you see. Still, like I said, I’ve got a good feeling about you. And so, I’m staying close. But I certainly wouldn’t mind if you decided—of your own free will—to head someplace less exciting…”
Tress tried to imagine it. A land full of talking rats? It sounded exotic and interesting. The twelve seas were a strange and incredible place, full of wonders. Huck kept talking, telling her about life as a rat. And there was a calming sense to his voice. It soothed her, and she found herself relaxing, her eyes tracking the carvings on the ceiling. Someone—perhaps her predecessor—had taken a lot of time to carve them. In fact…did those bursts of crossing lines look like…stars?
Tress sat up, cutting off Huck. He scampered along the bed railing over beside her. “What?”
Stars. Carved in little bursts. A single star there, then two stars close together next to it. Then three…all across the wood of the ceiling, as if someone had stood on the bed with a knife and used the point to scrape them.
No groupings of six stars, she thought.
“What?” Huck said. “What are you staring at?”
“Nothing,” Tress said, flopping back down. “I thought, for a moment, that Hoid had said something important.”
“You’ve been listening to him? Tress, I thought you were smart, for a human. Hoid is…you know.”
“He said something about six stars,” Tress said. “But there are no bunches of six.”
“I can see that,” Huck said. “I told you he’s a lunatic, Tress. No use in trying to figure out what he means.”
“I suppose,” she said.
“Besides,” Huck noted, “those look more like explosions. The stars are under the bed.”
Tress froze, then leaped off the bed and pulled herself underneath. The bottom of the bed frame was carved as well—and with patterns that were indeed more starlike. There was one patch of six stars. Feeling like she might be submitting to lunacy herself, Tress pushed it.
Something clicked, and a small latch opened on the side of the frame. Inside, Tress found a small aluminum container the size of a matchbox. Huck climbed onto her shoulder as she pushed it open.
In it she found midnight-black spores.
THE PREY
So how did I know?
Well, I believe you’ve been told. I’m an expert at being places I’m not supposed to be. I have an innate sixth sense for mystery. In my current state, I might have thought vests with no shirt underneath to be the absolute height of fashion, but I was still fully capable of a little constructive snooping.
Tress’s breath caught. Huck hissed softly.
Midnight spores. Somehow, Weev had gotten ahold of midnight spores. She was reminded of what the captain had said, that all sprouters were—to one extent or another—crazy.
Weev, she thought, might have been a little extra so. （Tress was being generous. I’d have called him crazier than a nitroglycerin smoothie.）
“Put those away,” Huck said. “No, better, spread them over the silver. Kill them, Tress. Midnight spores are dangerous.”
“In what way?” she asked. “What do they do?”
“Terrible things.”
“All spores do terrible things,” Tress said. “What do these do specifically?”
“I…don’t know,” Huck admitted. “But I feel like you’re way too relaxed about holding them.”
Perhaps she was. But danger is like icy water; you can get used to it if you take it slowly. She tucked the little box of spores safely back in its hidden compartment. She’d have to see if Ulaam knew—
She jumped as the bell rang up above. Three quick peals, a warning to everyone on board. A ship had been spotted in the distance, and the captain had decided to pursue.
Tress scrambled out of her room, but then stood in the hallway, not wanting to crowd the Dougs as they hastened to the top deck. It was excruciating to wait, as she didn’t want to miss anything.