Page 17 of Reign of Light
Despite being completely unprepared and far too tired to be berated by one of Stassia’s rants after such a late and emotional night, I set my shoulders and brace myself to ask.
“Who’s a fucking asshole, Stass?”
Waves of fury ripple off her as she yells across the quiet deck, and I am surprised I didn’t hear her before.
“Dane! That piece of shit just left us all here! He used it all, and just took off! Isn’t he the one who is supposed to be guarding the island? But he just abandoned it! Abandoned us! Why the fuck did the island let him do it?”
My jaw slackens, and I grip the rail tightly, trying to squeeze out the uncomfortable feeling squirming inside me. How did she find out?Stass can be unpredictable, but after the night on deck when Weston told everyone that the dust was running out, she was more…sad. This is a level of absolutely pissed that I’ve never seen on Stassia, and now I know why.
Taril’s focus remains on the deck and dragging the wet mop over the wood. I watch him for a moment before looking back up at the quarterdeck. Veck still stands before Weston, looking just as serious as Stass does. With one arm crossed over his chest and the other holding his resting chin, he listens as Weston speaks soundlessly in the distance.
“How did you find out?” I ask. Stass spins on her heel and continues her pace toward me.
“Captain’s been meeting with each of us individually since first light. He started with the collection crew, for obvious reasons.” Her voice is calmer than a moment ago, but I can still sense she’s holding it all back. “He wanted to be the one to tell us, so he’s having us send the next person up once he answers every question we have.”
My chest squeezes as I look back toward Weston to find the mask of the strong, unbothered Captain firmly back in place, shielding his crew and taking the brunt of the damage as he always does. He wants to give them the news gently and wants it to come directly from him.
I swallow hard and turn back to Stassia.
“For whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry,” I say, my voice breaking as I try to get the apology out. “If I hadn’t tried to steal it, he might still be here.”
She points a finger at me, wagging it back and forth. “You didn’t force him to use it, Lennox. He did that on his own. Don’t think this was your fault.” She drops her hand and lets out an angry groan. “Guardian my ass!”
Last night, Weston assured me that no one in the crew would blame me for Dane’s abandonment. While I heard what he said, the guilt still eats at me, and hearing Stassia fall in line with Weston’s expectation despite her clear and potent fury, I have hope for everyone else.
“I swear to the gods,” she grunts, “If this was all a trap and the Voyagers think they’re going to get the upper hand in this meeting, they better be prepared to go to that clearing in camp, because we have nothing to lose anymore.”
She’s right. We have nothing to lose anymore. Dane took away our future, our hope, our purpose. But everyone who remains here is still people we know, we care about. They’re our friends, all of whom are being manipulated by Dane. I don’t want to hurt any of them. I want to help them see the truth.
A weight drops in my stomach as I remember wanting to fight them all on the beach the day they took me captive. I wanted to rage against Sig, and beg her to explain how someone who showed me such kindness could choose to help the enemy.
But now I understand exactly how Weston and Sig felt, exactly why they put themselves in danger to seize anyone who found the waters. They kept the new Castaways on this ship and helped them see the truth. All they wanted was for everyone to understand. Surely now, if we tell them what Dane has done and said to get what he wanted, they wouldn’t hurt us.
“It’s not their fault either, Stass. Dane’s the one that should be punished.”
“And Mara for going along with everything. She tried to kill you, Lennox! Don’t even get me started on Storm trying to hunt every single one of us. Why? What did he want?”
I let out a sigh. “I don’t know, and I can’t figure Mara out, either. Last night, she looked…broken. Her face when she held out the empty pouch is the only thing giving me hope it isn’t a trap. It doesn’t change the way she attacked me and tried to kill Sig, but I don’t want to give up on her. Not yet.”
“Captain doesn’t trust her.”
“Weston doesn’t trust anyone,” I say. “Not when it comes to all of us.”
“Ugh, I just want to get this over with,” she says, turning on her heel again. “I don’t know how we’re going to work everything out.”
“We’ll figure out a way. It might take time.”
She huffs a laugh. “We’ve got plenty of that.”
If everything is as Mara says, and we can start to mend the relationships between the Voyagers and the Castaways today, would it actually take a long time? Would they truly believe what we have to say about Dane? Or would the same sort of war continue between us, keeping us isolated on the ship for fear of their retaliation?
I’m not able to think about it for long before tiny footsteps pound to my side. Fin sprints up the stairs and flies out onto the deck, spotting me immediately and running over with a wave.
“Hi Lennox!” he says with a cheerful smile. “You’re up early today. What are you doing?”
Stassia’s lips purse as she continues to pace, turning her face away from Fin so he hopefully won’t notice how angry she is.
“Just talking with Stass. Why?”
