Page 27 of Shiver Me Satyr

“Sorry to rouse you from your slumber,” Chub yells. He gestures for everyone to make a large circle so everyone can see who’s speaking. “The captain has an announcement.”

“Thank you, Quartermaster, and you, crew, for taking time out of your busy day. This will be brief. It’s about Hybris.” Betts waltzes into the middle of the circle.

Uh oh, this can’t be good.

“We took a contract to make him disappear from Boston with the understanding that we must make him walk the plank—” she pauses while the crew boos and jeers. At least I know I have friends, right? “—but the actual wording doesn’t specify anything beyond banishment. I would like to put the motion to the floor that Hybris joins our crew as Flint. His position hasn’t been decided, as he’s training under Chub’s guidance for now. This vote would be just to let him stay as one of us… I motion for him to become one of us.”

The quiver in her voice at the end does me in. A heart’s worth of love and promise lies in that small hitch between her words. I’m hit with the plot like a tidal wave. My parents hired these pirates to have me lost at sea. The trunks I brought were probably part of the payment, as well as free labor until they off me. Everyone’s attitudes toward me now make sense. Why save the guy from the drink or getting shot in a fight when Betts was hired to kill him? Why become his friend when his days are numbered? Why give him the chance to seduce you before you have to pull the trigger?

Why aren’t I mad?

Betts steps back into her place in the circle as if retreating from the feelings she gave away.

“Aye,” says Catalina first. She elbows Chub until he gives his affirmative grunt. One by one, the crew votes on whether I live or die. I get smiles, waves, and nods of friendship from each person I’ve talked with onboard.

Why aren’t I scared? Why aren’t I heated?

Because my parents’ plot led me here…to where I belong.

If even one of these people didn’t want me here, they would debate. The arguing would go on for days until a consensus was reached. I’ve seen them go around and around about rations, docking, music choices, and every other dumb, mundane task. Everyone gets a voice onboard. Elle gives her bird squawk in the affirmative as if her birdbrain can comprehend what we say.

I’m the last to respond. “Aye,” I whisper with tears in my eyes. Gunter wraps his arm around me and squeezes me to his side. I’m nearly knocked out by his body odor, but I appreciate the kindness.

“Then it’s settled,” Betts says with shiny eyes. She crosses the circle to take my hands in hers. “Welcome to the crew, Flint.”

Flint? Right. My nickname. Has she ever called me Flint before? It truly is a fresh start. I’m no longer Hybris Astor, shipping heir and marriage breaker. I’m Flint the pirate…part ofPatricia’s Wish’s crew.

“Now that he’s settled,” Chub says, giving Betts the side-eye as she returns to her spot. “I’d like to raise the motion of our next destination. The winds are favorable, and the weather is right for a trip westward. I say we go to Mexico.”

“We don’t have to go straight there if something catches our eye on the way,” Catty adds, stepping into the middle of the circle.

“No, we must go while the winds favor us,” Chub yells without making eye contact with his wife.

“You just don’t want me birthing on the boat! Stop being such a tosspot dairy-chaser and admit it!”

“With pride,” he says, bowing toward her. “My new family is all I have in this world, and I’ll move heaven and earth to keep you safe. Happy? Is that what you want to hear?”

“Oh, Ellis,” she whispers, taking his face in her hands. Chub dips his tall wife in his arms and kisses her soundly. As their tongues duel, the crew cheers them on.

I grow green with jealousy. Would the crew have the same reaction if I kissed Betts like that? I doubt it. To them, I’m another philanderer who is a danger to their captain—and rightly so. But what about her? Our gazes lock, and the soft smile she gave the couple slides from her face. She studies my smile, softly curving her lips inward to press them together. Is she remembering our stolen kiss at the helm, too? We haven’t breathed a word about it since, so I started to believe it didn’t happen.

It's time to make my move.

“I’d like to put a counter on the floor,” I announce, then pause to collect the gasps of the crew.

“Crew one minute and making demands the next. That’s rich,” grouses Chub. He folds his bulging arms across his chest as a symbol of how easily he could snap me in half.

Undeterred from my purpose, I step into the center of the circle. “I think we must give Chub and Catty a proper send-off—”

“We can do that ashore,” interrupts Chub.

“A proper send-off withallour hearties fromPatricia’s Wish. I’ve learned this boat’s crew is like family because half of itisfamily. When the crew fell ill, they parlayed on an island so beautiful, so peaceful, so—” With each adjective, I wander closer to the crew members I suspect were Greenhorn’s childhood companions there. I end the circle standing before the Masterof Swords, who struggles to contain his tears. He’s got to be homesick…

“Home,” finished Greenhorn, swallowing his feelings in a big gulp.

Perfect.

“Home,” repeats Eze in a whisper. My confidence soars as I count the hopeful faces in the crowd. Whether they are Chub’s hearties from his days with Blackbeard and miss the friends they left behind, or were children of the island who are now adults, three-quarters of the boat seems to agree with me.

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