Page 52 of Escaping Pirates
“Nah, this is good exercise, this is! My mam says a sailor’s life builds big muscles, so that’s the life for me!” He flashed a grin my way, so bright and enthusiastic that it overpowered the dirt streaked all over his face. I studied him closely. The dirt was heaviest from the nose down and across his jaw, and I wondered if he intentionally left it there to make it appear like his baby face was growing facial hair.
“How old are you?”
Gil licked his lips. “Almost fourteen,” he said, eyes darting to the side.
More likely he was closer to eleven but was tall enough to pass for fourteen and wanted to seem older. “How long have you been aboard, Gil?”
“Only a couple weeks,” he admitted, then brightened once more. “So my muscles will be coming in any day now, big and strong.”
“I’m sure they will,” I told him. It was a shame that a boy as sweet as Gil had gotten mixed up with pirates.
“I can stand guard outside while you wash,” he offered, puffing up his chest and placing his fists on his hips. “Nobody will get past me!”
Anyone could get past Gil if they wanted to. He was half a head shorter than I was and half the weight of the next-lightest crewman. “That’s very chivalrous of you,” I told him and he lifted his chin in pride before exiting. Soon after, I heard him pacing back and forth beyond the door.
Part of me didn’t want to wash at all if Tyrone was around. But every inch of my skin was covered in dried salt from my extended time in the ocean, which became itchier and more irritating to my skin the longer it remained in contact. It had to be easier to escape from here than from theKraken’s Revenge. If I needed to, I could even overpower Gil and?—
I winced. I wouldn’t ever attack an innocent boy, what madness was I thinking? I gently touched my red, burned face. The sun must have scalded my brain.
I washed the salt out of my hair and had intended to stop at that point, but feeling clean again was such a blessed relief that I couldn’t stop myself until every inch of my skin had been sponged clean.
The dress that had been provided to me was slightly too large, but a far better alternative than the too-small dress that Tyrone had insisted I wear the night Harlan punched him. I was just knotting the sash when a knock came at the door again.
“It’s me, Gil!” the boy chirped brightly. “Are you done? I have food for you!”
“Yes, come in,” I called. A bath and a meal? If Tyrone didn’t make my skin crawl, I would have much rather chosen to be imprisoned here.
The platter Gil brought in held roasted potatoes and carrots next to a mound of beans and a strip of salted venison that smelled tantalizingly good. Bean juice was seeping over to pool beneath the meat. My mouth watered just looking at it, but the moment I took my first bite, I felt sick. Would Harlan have meals, or would he be starved like I was when I was first taken captive?
“Do you like it?” Gil asked, his big blue eyes hopeful. “I helped make the beans myself.”
“It’s delicious,” I assured him, forcing myself to take another bite and smile. “Did your mother teach you to cook?”
“She taught me how to make some things. She always said I made too much mess, but the cook here, he doesn’t mind! He says I’ll be a great cook one day. Try the potatoesnext.” He watched as I cut off a piece and placed it in my mouth. “Do you want salt? Or pepper. I can get that, too.”
“It’s fine as is,” I told him. His eagerness to please reminded me of a small lapdog I’d had when I was young, and I couldn’t help but smile. “So tell me, Gil, how did you end up working here?” Pirate crews were notorious for taking prisoners, but Gil didn’t seem troubled or limited in his comings and goings.
“I volunteered!” Gil puffed up his frail chest once more, jabbing his thumb against his sternum. “My mam told me that fortune favors the bold, so when I heard that Captain Renshaw was in port and had a position, I signed right up! He thought I might be too young, but I told him I would work extra hard then he said yes.” He drew in a long, rattling breath of excitement. “Can you believe my luck? He could have picked anyone, but he picked me. Me! He’s a very smart man, and we go so many new places!”
“So lucky.” I did my best to inject enthusiasm into my voice to match his energy for his sake. “How long will you stay?”
“I told the captain I would be his cabin boy as long as he sails the ocean,” Gil said proudly, beaming from ear to ear. “Unless we get eaten by krakens or sirens or something, anyway.” He paused, pondering. “But if wedidget eaten, I still would have been his cabin boy for as long as he sailed the ocean, so I would have still kept my promise.”
I let out a laugh. “Well, I hope you don’t get eaten by a kraken, and I don’t think sirens eat people. Just fish.” The knot in my stomach had loosened enough that I managed to smile at the boy and take another bite. If I could win Gil’s trust, I wouldn’t have to overpower him at all. If I could just manage to sway him to my side and have him help me escape, I would be able to offer him a position with myfather’s company, with far better prospects than what he had here. It certainly was a superior option to clubbing him over the head and sneaking off in the dead of night.
“Gil, tell me about yourself.”
He hesitated. “I actually don’t have a lot of time right now. The captain wants me to organize his desk, and I don’t want to miss that. Do you know that he hasfivedifferent telescopes? He said I could look throughallof them if I do a real good job.”
“Of course you can’t miss that. I’d like to talk again soon.”
“I’d like that too!” Gil perked up again. “If you don’t mind me talking sometimes. I like to talk, but not everybody likes to listen.” He was halfway out the door before he turned back and said, “Oh, yeah! I almost forgot! The captain wants you to have dinner with him tonight. He said to tell you, and I told him I’d tell you…now I need to tell him I told you what he told me to tell you…” his eyes flicked upward to the ceiling and he mouthed the words he’d just said before going on. “That’s a lot oftells andtolds.”
Wary as I was about sharing meals with Tyrone, I laughed. “You handled all thetellsandtoldsvery well.”
I watched the sun sink lower in the sky and slowly got ready.
“Elena, love, come in.” The captain’s quarters were lit with candles, and a sumptuous dinner was spread out. Tyrone stood the moment I entered and pulled out a chair for me. “How was your day?”
