Page 15 of Kit
It was only as they climbed up steps and came out on deck that Nick realised how musty it smelled below. He squintedagainst the sunlight as he sucked in deep breaths of air, the fresh sea salt breeze reminiscent of home. The sick feeling receded as Nick turned his gaze to his surroundings. He glanced briefly across the deck. There was another cabin on the opposite side of the ship, the shape indicating it held rooms above deck rather than below. Nick moved his focus beyond his immediate surroundings, turning in a slow circle to examine the full stretch of the horizon line.
Kit waited.
After Nick finished his look around, he met Kit’s gaze, seeing something ashamed in Kit’s blue eyes before they darted away from Nick. That shame clued Nick in to the fact that Kit, very intentionally, wanted him to see that there was no land in sight.
“Any better?” Kit asked politely.
“Asshole.”
“Your colour has improved,” Kit said, as if Nick hadn’t spoken a word. “I believe you are naturally pale? An affliction common to students.”
“I’m Irish. It’s in my genes to be pale, nothing to do with me being a college student –” Nick cut off. His wrist burned, his sentence had been a mix of English words and others.
“Irish. Genes.” Kit repeated, eyes bright with interest. “Where is Irish?”
Nick didn’t get the chance to answer, not that he was going to. A young woman—a girl, really—stepped up to them, looking at Kit.
“Evie,” Kit acknowledged her.
“Lady Desre wants you,” she said.
The brightness evaporated from Kit’s eyes. “I was told not to disturb her.” It was Kit’s turn to be pale. His skin had a natural tan, but it all seemed to leech out of him, leaving him grey.
“She will speak to you through the door,” Evie said.
Kit stiffly nodded. “Very well.”
Evie trotted away, going to where Captain Hin was examining ropes at the base of the tallest middle mast.
“I cannot make her wait,” Kit said. “You can find your way back to the room alone?”
Nick had been a shit since he woke, but the urge to continue that behaviour snuffed out. Hecouldcause a scene. Hecoulddelay Kit and make him late to meeting Desre. But he didn’t want to do that; he didn’t think it would go well for Kit.
Nick nodded, and relief filled Kit’s face. By the time he’d turned and began walking across the deck, the relief was gone, leaving behind an uncanny blankness.
Chapter Eight
Nick got ‘lost’ and found rooms crowded with hammocks, storage rooms, a med bay where Anna was treating injured sailors—Nick ducked out before being spotted—a kitchen, and then he’d stumbled upon the livestock.
There were birds that looked somewhat like chickens, if chickens were half the size and a few generations closer to dinosaurs.
They had fluffy black feathers like Silkies, little mohawks atop their heads, stumpy, scaled legs and disproportionally huge eyes. But the oddest part of all was attached to their back-ends: a scaled tail, pencil thin and three times the length of their body.
Nick sat on the straw ground to watch them, not minding the animal smell. A few laid eggs, clearly not bothered by his presence. He found a sack of seeds stored in the room and threw out titbits, seeing how close he could lure them.
Kit burst into the room, a panicked look in his eyes. His gaze swept over Nick roughly, suspiciously, but it was relief that settled over his expression. Several hard breaths gave way to softer ones as Kit steadied himself. He looked over Nick’s pilfered sack of seeds and the half a dozen birds he’d lured into grabbing distance.
“What are you doing?” Kit asked.
Nick gestured to the birds. “I’ve never seen these before.”
Kit’s eyebrows shot up. “Chickens?”
It irritated Nick that the word—whatever it was—translated to chicken. Because they weren’t chickens, and that clued Nick in that the symbol on his arm wasn’t completely accurate in its translations.
“Cousins of yours?” Nick asked.
Kit’s tail lashed, black as the dinosaur chickens, and they all squawked and scattered. He fixed his bright eyes on Nick, his jaw tightening.
