Page 42 of Shiver Me Satyr

I run up the stairs to the main deck and continue onto the sterncastle deck. If she’s injured, I’ll never forgive myself for collecting meaningless stuff instead of coming here first.

The wheel is gone…so is Bettina.

The dots on the beach scatter and collect in little bunches. It's harder to see who is who from here than on the surface. One of them better be Bettina. Gunter’s makeshift craft meets the foamy waves. Little dots rush out to greet him. They will have tents for tonight out of those sails…if Magda lets them stay.

Magda! Do they realize that in less than an hour, they will be face-to-face with a vampiress? I hope Chub is with them…or Eze…if she remembers Eze. I doubt she would remember Greenhorn, as he was a younger child than Eze when he left.

Oh, my prickly Bettina won’t get along with Magda. Like two queen bees forced to share the same hive, there will be a clash of stingers. I must collect Bettina’s treasures and get to the beach before nightfall. My heavy hoof stomps through one of the water-soaked sterncastle stair steps on my way to the main deck. It’s too soon for rot, so it must have been a weak plank before the crash. Just as I fall through the floor into the map room…the sun falls below the horizon.

The map table creaks from catching my weight; maybe Betts and I shouldn’t have made love on top of it so often. The legs are about to give out. Ooh, I’m tempted by the collection of maps and books in this room. I’d love to save every sheet of paper, but without a boat, I’d risk exposing them to water as I swam. If they stay here and the ship holds its shape, I can return with the dinghy. Maybe the gift of her old maps and journals will keep Magda from eating Bettina.

A satyr can hope.

Betts

“Is it Flint? Is it Flint? By the Gods, one of you nutmegs better answer me! I don’t have my boat, but I still have my sword!”

“It’s Gunter,” Gretta cries as she runs for the surf.

Their heartfelt reunion brings tears to my eyes. She swims to his raft of supplies and kisses him soundly. As mehearties drag the raft onto the shore, I can’t help but analyze what Gunter rescued. There are fresh produce barrels of some fruit, sails to make tents, and enough wooden items to keep the craft afloat. I’ve known Gunter for months and trained him myself. There is no way he designed that craft. He doesn’t have the brainpower to collect the items or the mechanical skills to make it work.

Flint.

“Gunter! Gunter!” I yell as I charge into the crashing waves where the crew drags Gunter’s craft aground. “Gunter, did you see Flint? Was he on this craft? He made this, right?”

“Hey! This sail is full of limes! What’s tucked into the folds!” Eze yells in my ear.

“Buss my cheeks about the blasted stuff! Gunter, I must know. Is Flint alive?!”

“Captain, please, he just—”

“Gunter, I’ll hang you by your nutmegs and peel them like bananas if you don’t answer me!”

“Ohhhh, violence after my own heart. I love a ruthless woman,” says a voice behind me. A chill whispers under my shortened hair. The newly exposed fuzz on the back of my neck stands on end. “I had thought this was dinner delivery, but I suspect we might be great friends. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Magda, Vampiress, Pirate Captain, and Island Queen. Welcome to my home.”

21

Betts

Magda.

Her name strikes fear in the hearts of men twice my size and four times my strength. She’s taller than I expected, probably a touch over six feet. Her black hair reaches her hips, making me self-conscious about my self-hacked locks. Of course, she’s stunning, with porcelain skin and ruby lips. She’s a vampiress who depends on seduction and violence to survive…but doesn’t everyone on the high seas?

“Who’s in charge of this wench?” She asks the crowd. My crew mumbles to themselves, but luckily, nobody speaks up. I love each member of my crew and don’t want them in the claws of this monster.

Where is Chub when I need him? Right, at the hut of a witch doctor, welcoming his child into the world, because I lost control of my crew’s vote. That’s the problem with depending on Chub. Everyone needs him for a million different things at all hours of the day and night, and he is just one man. I knew there would come a day when I would have to stand tall without him. Today is that day.

No Sabrina, no Chub, no Flint, it’s just me.

“This wench is Captain ofPatricia’s Wish.”

“Patricia’s Wish?Patricia’s Wish? This ragtag group of misfits is the crew sailingmyboat! Where is Teeth? Where is Chub? When I find them, I’ll drain them dry for this!” She balls her fists at her sides and stomps her foot like a child.

“Teeth gave the boat to me,” I reply coolly.

“I don’t believe it,” she sneers, advancing toward me so I must crane my neck to maintain her gaze.

“He bequeathed the captaincy and the boat to me at his wedding.”

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