Page 113 of The Sky Pirate's Stowaway
Seemed I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed Viper’s lack of help today, and I didn’t blame the pirates one bit for being pissed at him. He was supposed to be their leader, and he’d bailed on them.
Viper caught my gaze with a smile, and a chill went up my spine. “But the real hero is Ghost!”
Max’s eyes widened, and he stepped forward, reaching for Viper’s arm and said, “Captain, I don’t think—”
Viper ignored him. “Turns out our little stowaway is a fluxweaver, crew.” His grin somehow turned even more sinister. “Too bad he didn’t save us sooner. Then maybe Two-Toed Roch, Crusty, and Dead Eyes would still be here with us.”
Everyone turned toward me, questions and glares thrown my way, but I couldn’t hear a single one of them over the ringing in my ears. My heart raced so fast, I was sure everyone on the ship could hear it, my throat tightened, making it hard to breathe, and my vision blackened around the edges. I took a step, and the ship listed to the side.
Or maybe it was me who listed.
I lost my balance again, and my shoulder slammed into a hard chest. Hands righted me, but I barely noticed.
They knew.
Everyoneknew.
And now they were going to hate me too.
They were going to strap me down and hook me to a machine until I became nothing but a zombie, and they’d relish in it because they hated me. They hated what I’d done—or what I hadn’t done. They hated that I’d waited too long to save everyone.
My eyes swam with tears as someone’s hands clamped on my upper arms.
I hated me too. I hated that I hadn’t been brave enough. I hated that crewmembers died when I could’ve saved them.
I hated that I hadn’t told Max sooner.
The hands on my arms steered me through the crowd, a muffled voice barking at them. The other crew members’ faces danced in front of my vision, but everyone became a blur as my breathing became more and more erratic.
I’d let their friends die, and they all knew it.
I’d been lying to them since the day they met me, and now, they knew my deepest, darkest secret.
They all hated me now.
A door slamming made me jump, and the ringing in my ears cleared with the silence that followed.
My brow furrowed because it was quiet. So flipping quiet. And we were in a space I’d never been before.
I’d thought I’d cleaned every inch of this ship, and yet, I’d never been in here.
My head whipped around, making my mind go fuzzy for a moment before everything cleared, and I found myself staring at Max, who was leaning against a closed door.
I glanced around the room, taking in a rumpled bed on one side with a window overlooking the desert, a chest at the foot of the bed that I could feel was filled with pebble-grade fluxstones,and a small nightstand beside it with a single fluxstone lamp. There was a desk and chair on the other wall, a dresser against the third wall, several paintings of the sea, the desert, and one of a dragon family hung on the walls. It didn’t take a genius to figure out I was in Max’s private quarters.
“M-Max,” I breathed out. “You… I… they… they’re gonna say something… About us, I mean. They’ll know. Everyone was out there, and you brought me into your room, and now everyone’s going to think we—”
“They’re not going to think anything. They saw me bring a fellow crewman in here because he was having a panic attack.”
“Is… is that what was happening?”
He lifted a brow.
I nodded. Right. Stupid question. Of course I’d been having a panic attack. Everyone now knew about me. They knew I was a fluxweaver.
My heart started pounding hard again, and I let out a strange whimpering noise before backing up a few steps and letting my ass fall onto the bed.
“Woah there.” Max was at my side in a heartbeat. “It’s okay, Kas. You’re safe, and no one’s gonna hurt you.”
