Page 91 of Found at Sea
I heard laughing as I reached the bottom step.
In front of the cell, Fletcher sat cross-legged on the floor and Alek sat the same way on the other side of the bars. They were tossing a pebble back and forth and seeing who could catch it on their flattened palms and then laughing when the pebble popped the other in the face.
Aye, the guilt absolutely came from my regrets at putting Alek down there. He didn’t deserve it.
Horace looked up and quickly stood from his chair. “Cap’n.”
“You’ll no longer be on prisoner duty,” I told him. “Alek has been down here long enough. I believe he’s learned his lesson.”
“Aye, sir.” Horace walked over to the cell and unlocked it.
Fletcher stood and waited for Alek to come out before throwing his arms around him. They hugged before Fletcher leaned back and crinkled his nose. “Hey, Al? I think you need a bath.”
Alek chuckled before playfully rubbing himself all over his friend. “That’s what six days as a prisoner does to a man, Fletch.”
Fletcher smiled at me before jogging over and wrapping his arms around my waist. “Thank you.”
Alek stood several feet away. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
I wondered if he felt ashamed for what he’d done, or if he only looked so awkward because he thought I was still angry with him. He might’ve been angry withmefor it, which I’d understand. It didn’t matter either way. He was free now, and if any man aboard the ship had any issues with that, they’d have to go through me to get to him.
We walked back up the stairs, and once we were on the main deck, Alek closed his eyes and slowly inhaled, stretching his arms out. The day had become even chillier than it’d been earlier, but he didn’t seem to register the cold. All he seemed to care about was he was breathing fresh air and not the stale and musky air from below deck.
“Alek,” I said, and he opened his eyes and focused on me. “Given recent events, you will be staying in my cabin until I say otherwise. Understood?”
If the men still carried a grudge against him—which I was certain they did—I didn’t want him in harm’s way. Staying in mine and Fletcher’s quarters would be much safer and allow me to keep a watchful eye on him.
“Yes, Captain Flynn,” Alek responded.
He and Fletcher started to walk back below deck, to retrieve his belongings from his bunk I assumed, but I stopped them.
“Oh and Alek?” I waited until his blue gaze met mine. “Clean yourself up. You really do stink.”
The last thing I heard before they disappeared down the stairs was Fletcher’s laugh.
While they were preoccupied, I went to my study and poured myself a generous amount of rum. Something on my desk caught my eye, and I moved closer. The map that I’d planned our course on wasn’t how I’d left it. It was slanted sideways and placed on top of my books instead of in the center of the desk like I’d had it.
As if someone had looked at it in a hurry and forgot to put it back.
***
To say the men were displeased with my decision to free Alek was a vast understatement, but they eventually respected my decision. For the most part. The only one who still seemed peeved was Byron. He’d always been thickheaded, though, and I suspected his irritation came more from the fact that he’d been denied his kill, rather than solely focused on Alek.
It was my fault. I shouldn’t have ordered for the nymph to be killed. I’d done so out of the fear of repercussions for letting him live, and I regretted it.
Fletcher was still upset at me for that mistake, but he no longer held it against me. I think a part of him understood why I’d done it.
We’d left Wintervale two days ago, and within those two days, the weather had shifted even more. The once slight chill was now a more bitter cold, and the water was more temperamental. Waves cut at the surface, but they weren’t big enough to do anything. But still, it told me that we were, indeed, heading for dangerous waters.
As my mind whirled with possible threats, I fidgeted with the ring on my right hand.
The band was a thin gold, but in the center was a rare, crimson stone. Fletcher had said we’d need to offer something of value to the goddess Ran in exchange for the shell, and I hoped the ring would suffice. The seer had implied I’d have to sacrifice Fletcher, but the goddess might accept the ring as payment. It was rare because it’d come from a treasure chest that’d been buried for hundreds of years.
“You’ve never told me the story about your ring,” Fletcher said, coming to stand beside me. He was bundled up in a heavy, wool coat that engulfed his small body and his cheeks were pink from the cold. “I see you twisting it on your finger sometimes. It’s how I know something’s bothering you.”
“Let’s go inside,” I said, motioning to the cabin. “You need to warm up.”
Together, we went to our cabin, and as he stripped out of his warm coat, I poured us a drink.
