Page 28 of Tell No Tales
"Is it going to storm?" Klaus asked. Niall ignored him.
"Nay," Hannah called from their perch. "Picking up the trade winds. We'll be going past the Equis Islands so fast and far to the north, we might not see land."
Klaus stared at Niall, wondering if the man was going to acknowledge his presence. When he said nothing, Klaus finally spoke first. "Niall."
"Klaus." Niall glanced at him and then looked away just as quickly.
"I'm sorry you thought I betrayed your grandmother," he said, trying to find the right words to resolve the strange silence between them. Klaus wasn't able to sense Coryn's weaves, including her traps, but she'd told him of the one on Equis Island. His orders had been to claim there was a weaver on the island. Then, he was to find the innocuous chest with the trap and bring it aboard the ship instead. Once they arrived in Aquarion, he was to give it to Beatrice without warning. Instead, he'd told Captain Efren he sensed weird magic, and Vadim urged the captain on to Aquarion before Klaus could suggest a scouting party. "Vadim told Beatrice the truth, and she still wanted to see it for herself."
Niall nodded. "She said as much before we left."
"She did?" Klaus stared at him for a moment, at a loss for words. If that wasn't the reason for Niall's anger, what was?
"I'm not mad at you, Klaus." Niall met his gaze. "I'm mad at myself."
Klaus didn't understand. He'd always been the cause of their disagreements, even when they were children. Niall was always the better friend, in every way.
"Do you even remember what happened before I healed you?" Niall asked.
Klaus thought about it for a minute. He remembered being on Coryn's ship and receiving word from Vadim. "Vadim told us to escape, and you asked me to watch for Coryn's sailors. I went to the cell door, and …" his memory was blank. "I don't know what happened after that."
"You were struck by lightning." Niall's voice was so soft, Klaus almost didn't hear him over the wind whipping in the sail.
"Not on purpose, though." Hannah's voice made Klaus jump. He hadn't heard them come down from the crow's nest, and he'd been so engrossed in Niall's story, he hadn't felt their aura move.
"Lightning is volatile at best," Hannah continued. "Damn near impossible to control. I've only ever hit someone by accident or because I charged the air with so much static, it was impossible to miss."
"It wasn't on purpose?" Niall asked.
"He did want to hit me," Klaus shared. "He had good reason to hit me." Klaus turned back to his best friend with a grin. "I wouldn't blame you if it was on purpose."
"I blame myself." Niall stared down at the deck boards. The only sign of his inner turmoil was the wind gusting in the sail above them.
"You shouldn't," Hannah said, patting his shoulder. "You're getting better with wind and with water, but there's no shame in losing control of your lightning. It was the first time you had to use it in battle, and you sank Coryn's ship with it."
"I hurt my best friend!"
Klaus's chest felt lighter at hearing those words. He wished he had a way to remove the anguish in Niall's tone.
"It's all right!" He tackled Niall with a hug. It had been so long since they'd last hugged, Klaus couldn't remember. Maybe it had been when he'd come to collect Niall at the potter's shop. That seemed so long ago.
"Aww, we're hugging! I love hugs!" Hannah crushed them both in close. They were shorter than Niall, but strong, probably from climbing up and down the main mast all day. Klaus leaned back and included them, and when Niall did the same, they started singing a nursery song. Klaus and Niall joined in, and they all ended in a fit of laughter. Klaus's chest felt lighter than it had since they'd boarded the ship.
"Gods," Hannah said. "Thank you. It's been so long since I've had any fun."
"You're having too much fun!" Captain Efren shouted from the navigation deck. "Get back to work. I need eyes in the crow's nest."
"Aye, Captain." Hannah mock saluted him and tugged on Klaus's arm. "Are you afraid of heights?"
"No." He and Niall had once spent a lot of time on the roof of the orphanage, and he'd scaled half of Landale to get a better view when seeking weavers.
"Good. Come with me."
Hannah scrambled back to the crow's nest using the hand-holds Klaus had never noticed. They stuck from the sides of the mast like clipped branches. An earth weaver must have bonded the wood together or had grown the tree specifically for this purpose. There were some earth weavers who excelled at growing living trees into common household shapes. The park in Landale had living benches and tables twisted and shaped by earth weavers.
Once Klaus stood taller than the navigation deck, the wind buffeted against him and sent his hair whipping into his face. He kept going, trusting the handholds to support him the rest of the way to the platform well above the deck.
"Ah," Hannah said when he dropped to his knees on the platform, still wiping his eyes. "Here." They handed him an overlarge white handkerchief like the one on their head. "I keep a stash of 'em up here."
