The old-timershook his head. “No, I do not. And, thankfully, the captainhas other plans for you.” He frowned. “For now, anyway. A woman,you see, has never washed up on our tiny island.”
“How isthat any better?” I cried.
Heshushed me and looked to the swinging kitchen door with panic. “Becareful. The captain is unhinged. He’s easily provoked and doesn’t like to be remindedof his fate. You must pretend as though everything isnormal.”
“Pleeman!” I whispered through another cry, my eyes fillingwith tears. I glanced down at my growing belly. “What about mybaby?”
He frowned.“I’m afraid there are only two outcomes for your child, and it alldepends on what comes out of you. If you’re lucky enough to begraced with a girl, she’ll be safe. They’ll want to keep heraround.” The old man sighed then and shook his bowed head. “But ifyou give birth to a boy…”
A coldshiver slid down my spine and my limbs went numb. “No. I have toget off this ship. Off the island. I’ll paddle the damnrowboat to England if I haveto.”
He held both myarms and continued to shush me. “Dianna, dear. That’s not possible.You know it as well as I do. You’d never make it.” When I finallycalmed and looked at his face, he added, “If there were a way offthe island, don’t you think I would have found it after sixtyyears?”
Ishrugged helplessly, mouth gaping. “W-what am I supposed to do,then? Become the ship’s whore?”
He didn’t seemto have the right words and let go of my arms before turning backto the table where we prepared supper. “For now, the best you cando is get through the day.”
That wasn’tgood enough. I refused to bend. I couldn’t accept it, and I’d bedamned if I’d let the same fate fall upon my child. There was onlyone option.
I had to killeveryone on board The Black Soul.
***
The small crewof five sat around a long wooden table on the mess deck, justoutside the swinging doors of the kitchen. I could hear themcommenting on the delicious smells as they became rowdy withwaiting. I stood on the other side of the door, clutching thehandles of a large tray, willing myself to go out there and put ona show. I planned to play nice, to come across as harmless andlower suspicions.
Hopefully, I’done day get my own sleeping quarters. One that wasn’t a lockedcage. And I’d sneak out in the middle of the night to slit theirthroats. I went over the plan a dozen times in my head while Ifinished making supper. I contemplated ways I could get Pleeman onboard. It wouldn’t be hard. He’d made it pretty clear that hewanted off the ship just as much as me. My only hurdle would beBenjamin. He hardly left my side and knew me better than the rest.He’d see right through my rouse.
Just then, thekitchen door swung open. I looked to find Benjamin leaning againstthe frame. “Are you comin’, sweetness? We’re starvin’.”
I wantedto slap on my fake smile but failed immediately. I couldn’t hidethe anger I felt at the sight of him, shrouded in the darkness ofwhat I knew. Did he originally intend to bring me back to the shipto be eaten? How many poor souls had he dragged back to meetthe Pleeman’scleaver? What thin friendship had formed between the pirateand I vanished, and I was left with a deep loathing for the lot ofthem.
My eyesnarrowed at the man as I scooped up the tray with vigor. “I’mcoming.”
I strut rightpast Benjamin without giving so much as a glance at his face. Buthe grabbed my arm and yanked me back.
“What’sthe matter with you?” he whispered angrily.
I glared up athim. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
His gripdidn’t falter, and we stood there in a silent standoff, each waiting for the other togive in. Finally, he released my arm. I heard the pirate blow out abreath of stress from behind me as I made my way to the table andlay down the tray of crowberry biscuits.
“What’sthis?” the loopy captain eyeballed the stack of baked goods.“Pleeman has made biscuits before. This is nothing new.”
I bit mytongue. “Yes, Pleeman can make tasty plain biscuits. But these are baked withcrowberries and infused with wild herbs.” I tried not to sound tooboastful. “They pair well with the main dish.”
“Oh?”Captain Cook mused and quirked an eyebrow as he leaned back in hisseat. “And what is the main dish?”
I grinned,thinking of Lottie. “Stone soup with fish and hearty rootsvegetables,” I replied and headed back to the kitchen to fetch therest. I passed Benjamin, who still stood in the doorway, and heturned to follow. Once we were both in the privacy of the kitchen,he spoke.
“There’ssomething wrong. I can tell.”
I set down thestack of empty bowls and spun on my heel to face him. “Oh, can you,now?”
“Yes,” hesaid under his breath, so the others wouldn’t hear. “Did somethinghappen?”
“Whatdoes it matter?”
“Itmatters a great deal,” he replied. “Did someone do something toanger you?”
Yeah, him. He collectedme from that beach and brought me aboard the ship to be chopped upfor dinner. I wondered then, what he’d been waiting for. Maybe theywanted to fatten me up. Or perhaps they were waiting for me to havethe baby first, so they’d have two people to eat. The thoughtnearly made me vomit on his dirty leather boots.
“I cannothelp you if you don’t tell me, sweetness,” he addedimpatiently.
“Don’tcall me sweetness,” I quietly barked back. “And if you want to helpme, grab that pot of stew and bring it out to thetable.”
I didn’t givehim the chance to respond and sauntered back out to the crew ofawaiting pirates. Benjamin followed and set the giant pot down inthe center before taking a seat next to me at the end. I could tellhe was uncomfortable and on edge from the way he nervously rubbedhis hands against his thighs. I pretended to ignore him.
“Dig in,everyone,” I announced. They stared at me blankly. “Uh, helpyourselves. There’s plenty.”
Once the bowlswere full, mouths followed, as well as sounds of delight. I
