Page 51 of Escaping Pirates
My eyes stung so badly from the salt water and sun that they burned even while they were closed. I’d never beenmore exhausted in my entire life. Not even on the day that Blossom and Sugar had made me scrub every square inch of the deck while they sipped drinks in the shade. My grip on the crate slackened as I wavered between sleep and consciousness. There was no way I’d ever be able to make it through the night. The ocean would claim me as yet another of its nameless victims.
“Man overboard!” The faint cry pulled me from my stupor. How much time had passed? The crimson sun’s dying rays were still casting their velvety glow in streaks across the sky. The shout of “Man overboard!” came again, and I rolled my head around to follow the sound.
A ship, a blessed ship, was bearing down on me, coming closer by the second. I tried to shout, but the noise came out as a strangled gag, so I attempted to wave instead, still keeping a tight hold on my life-saving barrel. I didn’t care what country the ship had come from or where it was going. My eyes were so sore and bloodshot that I couldn’t even make out what color of flag flew from the mast, nor did I care.
I was saved.
A rope splashed down. I tried to grab it, but my fingers were so stiff that I couldn’t grip it.
“It’s a girl!” I looked up to see a thin cabin boy leaning over the bulwark, staring at me floating in the water below. “Send me down! I’ll pull her up!”
“Your toothpick arms would snap if you so much as rolled a barrel,” someone else laughed. “I’ll do it.”
There was a colossal splash as someone dove into thewater beside me. A bearded head popped up next to mine, and strong sailor arms latched around me. For the first time that day, I relaxed and allowed myself to be heaved out of the water. The moment we were aboard, I collapsed onto the deck, too tired to do more than keep my eyes half open. The skinny cabin boy, whose blond hair jutted out from beneath his cap, squatted next to me so that his dirt-streaked face was all I could see. He couldn’t have been more than fourteen years old; he didn’t even have facial hair yet.
“Should we tell the captain?” he asked, peering into my face with bright-eyed interest.
“He’s already asleep for the night. Let’s stick her in the infirmary. Gil, you be in charge of her.”
“Why me?” the boy squawked. His voice cracked at the end of his question, earning him a few snickers from the men all clustered in a circle around us.
“Because you’re the youngest, least intelligent, and no one considers you a threat when it comes to women. Not even women consider you a threat.”
“Awwww,” the boy groaned, but then good-naturedly stooped down to pull one of my arms over his shoulder. If I hadn’t been so sick to my stomach and exhausted, I would have laughed. The other sailors had every right to doubt this boy’s strength. Emaciated as I was, I was still probably heavier than this tiny young man.
“Come on,” he grunted, laboring to support my weight as he led me to the infirmary. I could tell he was struggling, but none of the larger men around us made any attempt to help. It was as though they enjoyed watching the cabin boy try to prove himself a man.
Soon, I was able to lie down in a hammock that cradled my body, supporting me in a way that had been grosslylacking while I had been confined to the brig in theKraken’s Revenge.
“I’ll bring you something to eat soon,” the boy said.
“Thank you,” I managed to groan. The room didn’t smell as sour as the brig, but I wouldn’t have cared if it smelled worse. Within two minutes, I’d fallen fast asleep, but my slumber was disturbed by dreams in which Harlan was drowned at sea.
CHAPTER 19
“Well, well, well. This certainly is my lucky day.”
At first, I thought that the oily voice was a mere continuation of the nightmares that had plagued me all night long. But as I pulled myself from my deep slumber, the voice came again.
“Pleasure to have you aboard my ship, Elena. I must say, you’re the best thing I’ve ever fished out of the ocean.”
How did they know my name? Had I told someone then forgotten? I blearily cracked my eyes open, and Tyrone’s face filled my vision. “No,” I whispered softly. My nightmares had become a reality.
Tyrone had seated himself on a stool beside my hammock. “Now, is that any way to thank your savior? It seems that my nieces got tired of you after all. How fortunate for you that my crew found you before another, less savory, person did.”
I tried to lift myself up, but every muscle in my body shrieked its protest. Tyrone placed a hand on my shoulder to hold me down. “There, there, you mustn’t strain yourself.You’ve been through quite an ordeal. You need to rest.” Tyrone’s greedy expression gave me no comfort.
I wanted to slap his hand away. I wanted to spit into his face and run. But more than anything, I wanted Harlan nearby so I would feel safe.
Tyrone stood up. “Take a few days and recover. My crew have their orders to give you whatever you want. I shall check in on you periodically, and you’ll have our new cabin boy, Gil, at your disposal. I assure you, he’s no threat.” He bowed low with an elaborate flourishing of his hands. “You shall be our guest of honor.”
After he left and shut the door, I heard a key scrape in the lock. The hammock cradled my body, but instead of feeling secure, I felt trapped. I was no guest of honor. I was a prisoner once more.
What had happened to Harlan? Was he still aboard theKraken’s Revenge, whipped and alone? What would Harsh do to him now that he knew Harlan and I had feelings for each other? Had he told Sugar and Blossom about the romance to disenchant them? What if they discovered Harlan’s true identity? Endless questions chased themselves around my head so much that I pressed my hands against my eyes, wishing I had answers.
Gil came to check on me throughout the day. He brought me fresh clothes to replace the stiff, salt-crusted ones I’d been wearing, and several buckets of rainwater. Another man would have been able to roll a barrel of rainwater to my quarters, but the boy was so small and spindly-armed that such a task would have proved impossible for him.
“Do you need help?” I asked him at one point, watching as he struggled to lift a full bucket of water and dump it into the wash basin with a grunt of exertion.
