Page 77 of Tell No Tales
"Find us rooms," Vadim said to Klaus. "I'll find you."
"Rooms?" Klaus couldn't have heard correctly.
"You can finally have a bed to yourself." Vadim smirked. "Just what you've always wanted."
"That is very much not what I want," Klaus muttered, but Nola was already three doors down, dragging Martiz with her and picking locks with her water weaves. He pulled his hairpin from his shirt sleeve, where he kept it for handcuffs, and started in on the door across the hall from her.
His side of the hall was mostly used for storage. He found several mattresses, most with signs of mice. It took some digging, but he finally found three full mattresses with no holes in them. He stopped at three to consult with Nola.
"Do we need more than three mattresses? The rest might be an adventure in animal handling."
She laughed. "No. Yvette and I can share. The boys will be glad not to share a sail. You and Vadim?" She shrugged. "Up to you."
He nodded. "Good."
She grinned. "These three rooms are empty. Beyond that, they're all stuffed with junk. Looks like maybe they were getting ready for our three little ones, though how they knew about them already is beyond me."
"More enchantments?" Klaus asked.
"If so, they went down with the ship." Nola didn't look upset about that. "Let's get these mattresses set up."
Chapter 19
Vadim
The waif lying on the floor beneath the second-story window with sallow cheeks and too many bones showing beneath her skin was a girl. Her short dark hair jutted in all directions, her dress was torn and tattered, and someone had written vile words across it with lipstick. Despite the meaning of those words and what might be under the dress, Vadim saw a scared and lonely girl on the precipice of a monumental decision.
She'd found some rodent poison in the rafters of the old attic. She'd taken it in an attempt to end her life. Still, her body fought her, and Vadim wasn't willing to offer her a way out until Yvette had talked some sense into her.
"Can you hear me?" Yvette asked.
The girl moaned.
"Dammit. Why are children so fucking mean?" She glanced up at Vadim with an unspoken apology. "Honey, can you move?"
Another moan.
"Which side is stronger?" Yvette asked. "Does she really want to die?"
"She deserves to live," Vadim said. "But it's not my place to convince her." He couldn't interfere. He wanted to speak to the child's voice inside his head and reassure her that life would be better on Aquarion, but he'd experienced his own suffering there. Not for being gay, but for being a death weaver. He feared she would be seen the same way, an outcast, different.
"I don't," the girl mumbled. "I don't deserve to live."
"She speaks!" Yvette flashed a wry smile as the girl's eyes opened a small slit. It was a start. "What's your name?"
"Tripp—Trin."
"How old are you, Trin?" Yvette clasped Trin's hand.
"Sixteen."
"You've made it this far." Yvette rubbed Trin's fingers between hers, as though trying to warm them up. "You've not got far to go before you can leave this place and start a new life somewhere else."
"They're sending me to Stony Eel Island next month. I'll die there like everyone else. At least this way, I won't help the empire destroy itself."
Fuck, Trin was too smart for her own good.
"We're pirates," Vadim said. "We can get you to Aquarion."
