Santiago felt the captain’s total lack of feeling. There was not an ounce of sympathy in him. He had no use for it. “I was the one who gave you words in the first place, Wiley,” the captain said. “I have every right to take them away.”
Wiley wept like a child. “My words, my books!”
Brocco put a hand on his shoulder, frowning, then took it away. He glanced nervously at the captain. “I don’t mean to question your judgment, Captain,” he said cautiously.
“Then don’t, Brocco,” the captain said.
“’Course not. Wouldn’t think of it. But I was just curious, how will we plan missions without Wiley’s reading? Wiley planned half our missions from his library.”
“Honestly, Brocco, do you really think I need any of this in order to carry out my missions?” Captain Vincent said, gesturing to the library. “Do you think I need any of you?”
Brocco made an audible gulping sound. “N-no, Your Majesty,” Brocco stammered, “but we still want to help you. We’ll do anything for you, anything at all, won’t we, Wiley?”
Wiley made no response. He was still crying, collapsed over a stack of books.
Brocco took off his hat and placed it over his chest. He got down on one knee and bowed his head. “We will be your most faithful, most loyal subjects.”
Santiago hissed. Santiago most faithful! But no one paid him any mind. Not even the captain.
“I’m sure you’ll do all you can to assist me,” the captain said. “It was my own mistake to go after the Hudsons when I did. I’ll admit to that. I was greedy. I wanted to witness them falling apart. I wanted to see it with my own eyes, the looks on their faces, the knowledge of their lives and their love draining from them, but we can’t get too emotional about these things. The goal comes before showmanship. We only need to find one Hudson to stop them all. I’ll stop them before they even start.”
A vision of a plan raced through Santiago’s mind, where they would go, who they would unravel, who would stay.
“Clean yourselves up,” the captain said, “and prepare for travel.”
Brocco helped Wiley up off the floor, still crying and clinging to a pile of books.
Santiago could not feel sorry for him. Captain Vincent could have done much worse to him than take away his books. Wiley should consider himself lucky. They were all lucky to be part of the captain’s crew. Wiley was especially lucky he had not been discarded. So what if he couldn’t read? Clearly the words had done nothing but muddle his senses.
Santiago scurried after the captain. He climbed up his leg and perched on his shoulder. He squeaked in his ear.
“I quite agree,” the captain said. “He got exactly what he deserved. Everyone does, you know, one way or another. The Hudsons will get what’s coming to them.”
Santiago squeaked again. It wasn’t that he disagreed with the captain’s plans, but he had his concerns. One in particular.
“I’ve told you before, Santiago. Mateo is not the enemy. You will see soon enough. So will the rest of his family, I believe. They’ll come to see he’s not really part of their family at all. And then they won’t even be a family anymore.” He laughed and then he looked over at Santiago sitting on his shoulder.
“Ugh, Santiago,” the captain sneered. “What have you done to yourself?” Without any warning, the captain shoved Santiago from his shoulder, and he fell to the wooden floor with a thud. He squealed as he wriggled on his back. The captain looked down at him with pure disgust.
“You’re filthy,” he said. “Don’t show yourself again until you’re clean.” He turned on his heels and walked away without a backward glance.
Santiago finally righted himself. He hissed at the captain’s retreating back. Mean captain. He turned his head and saw how his coat was matted and sticky, no longer white but a dull gray. Bits of peanut butter and cheese puff were stuck in his fur. The captain was not wrong. He was a mess, but still . . . he did not think his filth warranted such brutality.
Santiago nibbled on some of the cheese puff bits stuck in his dirty fur. He was still hungry.
12A Few Answers
It was 3:00 a.m. and Matt was wide awake. He’d had the nightmare again, the one where all his family disappears, and now he couldn’t go back to sleep. So he just lay there in his bed, holding on to his compass. It still wasn’t fixed. After the conversation at breakfast yesterday, he’d retreated to his bedroom and worked on it almost all day. It felt pointless, if he was being perfectly honest, after the things Albert had told them about Captain Vincent’s plans, and what would happen to them all. To Matt. Still, he couldn’t just sit around. He had to do something, fix something.
Everyone else had been in a sort of haze, ambling around like zombies with a dark rain cloud hanging over their head. Jia had mainly kept to herself, reading the book Pike had left on Blossom. She seemed to be avoiding everyone, especially Matt. Things were weird between them for some reason. He wished they could just go back to their easy friendship. He couldn’t tell if he was the one being distant or if she was, but there was something blocking the way of their friendship. Was it him? Or was it what had happened to Pike? Or was it just everything? Maybe there were some circumstances where you just couldn’t be easy with each other. They had to be soldiers right now, not friends.
Gaga and Haha seemed to
