Page 12 of Escaping Pirates
“I told you she wasn’t hygienic,” Blossom sneered. “Do you think she even brushes her teeth?”
Sugar tittered. “She can’t now or her teeth will fall out. We should call her scurvy girl.”
“Or Scurvyella!” Blossom proposed. “Let’s call her Scurvyella!”
“Yes!” Sugar squealed. “Scurvyella, get us our tea!”
“But wash your hands first!” Blossom ordered. “I don’t want blood tea.”
In a numb trance, I scrubbed my hands and prepared their afternoon tea, my mind reeling from the realization of my condition. I’d heard of scurvy before, but as I had never expected to be aboard a ship for any extended period of time, hadn’t paid much attention to the treatment. How I wished I could go back and redo my education. If I could, I would hang onto every word.
Blossom and Sugar had continued chattering. “Did you hear what Daddy was telling the crew about the krakens yesterday?” Blossom was asking Sugar when I brought the tray over.
“No, what?” Sugar clutched at her pillow.
“He said that there have been more kraken sightings recently. Can you imagine if they attacked us?”
“No,” Sugar breathed. “What do you think,Scurvyella?”
Weighing each word carefully to make sure I didn’t offend either of them, I answered, “I thought that siren hunter Treva killed the kraken. She lives in Haven Harbor, too. I’ve seen her a few times.”
“Yes, but big krakens can have baby krakens,” Sugar explained as if I were three years old. “And now the baby krakens are growing up and getting bigger.”
Blossom smoothed her skirts. “Word is that part of the siren’s treaty with the humans is that the sirens are supposed to hunt down the other krakens before they grow big enough to sink ships.”
“Do you think a kraken would attack us?” Sugar asked her sister, eyes wide. “What would happen?”
“If it’s little, probably nothing. I think they are like little friendly menaces.”
I let out a soft breath of laughter as I refilled their cups. “That’s quite an oxymoron, isn’t it?”
Blossom flushed bright red. “How dare you!” she shrieked.
“What?”
“I’m not an oxora moron! Daddy!”
“No! No, that’s not what I…”
Too late.
Captain Harsh flung the door open.
“No, please,” I begged, my wrists already screaming in pain from what they knew was coming. I’d barely been released; I couldn’t go back.
“I’ve really had it with you,” he snarled. “All I want is a few minutes of peace, and you can’t resist teasing my girls, can you?”
“I wasn’t…”
“I have quite enough to deal with! There’s an enemy ship within sight and I have to deal with this? Back to the brig.”
“No,” I whimpered, hating how broken I felt. “I’ll be quiet. I won’t say anything.”
Sugar swirled her tea with her spoon, holding her pinkie up as she did so. “Hold on, Daddy, how long until the other ship is within firing range?”
“An hour at most.”
“I can put up with her for another hour.”
