The captainsnapped from his daze and looked between Benjamin and I. “Yes, ofcourse. Tend to Dianna’s wound and then show her where the kitchenis. Everyone else, get back to work. This deck needs swabbin’.” Heturned a cockeyed expression to me and licked his already wet lips.“I very much look forward to the delicious meal you’llprovide.”
I triedto hide my distaste for the man. It was hard. He disgusted andunnerved me to no end. I couldn’t quite put my finger on just whatit was that turned my insides. Apparently, he was once agood man butdefinitely lost his marbles now. And the fact that Benjamin seemedto share my discomfort around his brother just solidified my gutfeeling to steer clear.
“Comeon,” Benjamin spoke to me while eying the captain.
Ifollowed him across the deck to the bottom level of the double highstern and entered a dark room. I stood by the closed door while hestrolled over to the window and ripped open the thick, bluevelvet curtains. The sunblared in, casting the room in a warm glow. I glanced around andnoted the placement of furniture; a small hand-carved table to myright, a messy bed under the window, a massive pile of books on thefloor next to it. This was Benjamin’s quarters.
“Sit onthe bed,” he ordered, and then fished around in a wooden cabinet inthe corner.
I shrugged offmy heavy jacket and did as I was told, silently, taking ineverything. I found myself shut in the bedroom of my captor, a talland rather handsome pirate. But it was the safest I’d felt sincebeing pulled aboard The Black Soul. I sat on the edge of his bedand watched as he stomped over and plunked down next to me. Thestraw mattress jostled and bent under his weight, pulling me intothe dip he created.
“What’sthis?” he suddenly asked, noting the jagged scar that stuck outfrom underneath my missing sleeve. I froze as his fingertips pokedunder the frayed shoulder of my blouse. “Good Lord, how did you getthis?”
I shrugged,trying not to give into the cold fear that came rushing back withthe memory of that horrible night. “Sword fight.”
Benjamin’s eyeswidened. “Sword fight? You can use a blade?”
Offended, Iinched away and pulled at the fabric, trying to hide the bumpyskin. “There’s plenty you don’t know about me.”
“Indeed.”
Thepirate scanned my face and a strange, awkward silence hung in theshort distance between us. I couldn’t tell his next move. Benjaminwas a hard man to read. Not as hard as Henry, and not in the sameway. His size was intimidating, and his short fuse alarming. Butthere seemed to be a softer side of the beastly pirate.A side I apparently broughtout. Suddenly, he turned swiftly, leaning over the foot of his bedto fetch something from the floor. He sat upright and tossed it inmy lap. A white cotton shirt.
“There,put that on,” he told me. “It may be a bit big, but it’s somewhatclean and has both sleeves.”
“Thanks,”I said and smiled.
He sat andwaited. Staring.
“Can younot look, please?” I finally asked when he didn’t getthe hint.
Benjamin rolledhis eyes but respected my demand and spun around so his back facedme. As quickly as possible, I removed my old, torn, and heavilysoiled shirt and replaced it with his. He was right. The thingdraped off me. I may as well have wrapped a curtain around my body.But I rolled up the sleeves and tied the bottom in a knot at theback. It would do just fine.
“Okay,you can turn around.”
The maninspected the shirt proudly. “Well, that looks better than Ithought it would.” He leaned over and grabbed a wet cloth from asmall basin of water on the floor. “Alright, give me that hand ofyours,” the pirate demanded. I placed mine in his, palm up, andwatched patiently as he took care in wiping the dried blood anddirt from the skin. “How did you ever manage to inflict such awound without noticing?”
I shrugged.“Guess I’m tougher than I look.”
His deep browneyes flicked to mine and held my gaze before the corner of hismouth turned up in a half grin. “I’ll say this much, you’re tougherthan most women I’ve met.” He began to wrap a somewhat clean clotharound my hand, securing it tightly, but not covering my fingers.I’d still be able to find my way around the kitchen.
“That’snot saying much,” I joked. “Women have changed a little since youleft the world behind.”
Benjamin’s grinfaded, and his shoulders heaved. But he still held my hand. “Howmuch time has passed?”
I chewed at mylip. “Are you sure you want to know?”
He sucked in adeep breath. “Yes. I tried to keep track at first. But the yearshave melded together.”
“It’s theyear 1707. Late November,” I told the man. His eyes widened andglossed over. “A lot has happened. The world is a differentplace.”
“My God,”he whispered and released my hand as he stared off intonothingness. “Nearly a hundred years.” He leaned forward and beganto laugh, a sad and lonely sound. “A hundred damn years stuck onthis wretched boat with my brother.”
“Is thatso bad?”
“I can’timagine a worse fate,” he told me with a stern sincerity. “Mybrother is not the man he used to be. He’s hardly a man atall.”
“It’s notfair that the rest of you have to pay for what he did,” I said. “Itshould have been him, and him alone.”
We sat insilence for a few moments before Benjamin replied, “Yes, well, atleast I have you to keep me company now.”
I didn’t knowwhat to say. His words came from a sincere place, but it made thereality of my fate sink in deeper. If I didn’t find a way off theisland, I’d be stuck there on The Black Soul for the rest of mylife. It’d been days since I washed ashore. Days of not knowingwhat happened to my crew, and to Henry. My eyes swelled with tearsas I finally admitted one possible fate. I hadn’t wanted toconsider it, convinced myself that he was strong enough to survivethe storm. That they all were. But I never found a single piece
