“Will you tell me what he says?”
“Of course. And if your father’s out there, we’ll keep looking for him.”
“And if he’s dead?”
I shrugged. “Then my job is done. I report back to my client.”
“My mother.” He said it flatly, with neither disdain nor affection.
“Yes.”
After that, he was silent. As we approached the Red Cow, I scanned the rail for any sign of Dorsal Finn. I wondered if I’d ever see him again.
I must’ve dozed, because when I tried to shift my position, every joint in my body protested, especially the cut on my shoulder. When I was Duncan’s age, I never woke up achy after a fight. Marteen was still singing in the background. Then from inside the room, a familiar voice said, “Your pardon, Cap’n.”
The pillow was still over my head. I slowly pulled it away. I knew what I’d see. I also knew the cabin door was locked and there was no other way into the room.
Dorsal stood against the wall, hands behind his back, one foot twisting on the floor. He looked like any other kid caught in a lie, except his lie crossed the veil between life and death.
I studied him closely as I sat up. He looked exactly like a little boy. The light from the flickering lantern fell on his skin, and when he moved his foot, I heard his callused toes scrape faintly on the floor.
I said at last, “You’re a ghost, aren’t you?”
Eyes downcast, he nodded.
The urge to try to touch him, to see if my hand would go through him, was overwhelming. I thought about all the times I’d seen him dodge around people or slip through doors just before they closed. I thought he was just being discreet or sneaky. Now I realized he was hiding his true nature. “You could’ve told me.”
He shrugged.
“Okay, so you’re dead. Why are you still here, then?” He looked up and met my eyes. There was nothing otherworldly in his gaze. “Cap’n Clift needs me. Especially with Cap’n Jane around. He feels like me dying was his fault. Like he should’ve paid more attention to how sick I was. But it wasn’t nobody’s fault, things just happened. I know that. When he realizes that, I won’t need to watch him anymore.”
I nodded. That made as much sense as anything. “But he can’t see you and I can. Why is that?”
“I didn’t show myself to you. You just saw me. You must’ve crossed the line once yourself. You died, and then came back. Otherwise, you’d never have seen me, either, unless I’d wanted you to.”
“Yeah,” I said, and felt a tingle in the scar over my heart.
“Besides, you’ve met this lot. If I showed myself to any of the crew who knew me, I’d scare them to death. They’d go screaming over the side like parlor maids with their hair on fire. You just thought I was the cabin boy. I missed that. Cap’n,” he added deferentially.
I nodded, then yawned. My catnap had been a tease. I rubbed my eyes, and when I opened them again, Dorsal wasn’t alone.
I jumped and hopped back on the bunk. Now a little girl, younger than him, stood beside him. She wore a simple sleep gown and had curly brown hair. In one hand, she carried the same doll Jane had fished from the bilge on the monster ship.
“This is Aggie,” Dorsal said. “Her father was Captain Verlander of the Vile Howl.”
My mouth was dry, but I managed, “Hello.”
“You look like my daddy,” the girl said. “He has a beard, too.”
Like Dorsal, there was absolutely nothing about her to give away her supernatural status. “I’m sure he’s very handsome,” I said.
“I can’t find him,” she said sadly, and looked down.
“The monster on that ship killed him,” Dorsal said. “And her, too.”
A chill that came from somewhere other than a fear of ghosts ran through me.
“The mean captain found me hiding,” Aggie said. “He made me go down into the bad ship. He told me my mommy and daddy were there, but they weren’t, at least not anymore. The monster ate me.” She paused. “It hurted a lot.”
Her round little face was impassive as she said this. It made the horror of her words that much more vivid.
“She’s too angry and scared to move on,” Dorsal said.
“I can imagine,” I said. “I’d be angry, too.”
“She has a favor to ask.”
He nudged the girl. She asked, “Is that the mean captain I hear singing?”
“Yes.”
Without looking at me, she said, “Can you kill him for me?”
I was speechless for a moment. Then I said, “No, not in cold blood. I’m not that kind of guy. He is, but I’m not.”
She nodded, as if it was the answer she expected. “I’ll just wait for him to die, then.”
“Why?” I asked.
“When he dies, I can hurt him. I was innocent. He was evil. Over here-” Then she looked up and smiled, a sweet expression made terrifying by her words. “-I have more power than he does. I can hurt him back. Forever.”
I swallowed hard. I really didn’t need to know this much about how the universe worked. I’d already encountered a goddess masquerading as human and a face-changing sorceress. That was far too much cosmic insight for a simple guy like me.
Then I had an idea.
“Look… Aggie… I can’t kill him for you. It’s not that I don’t believe he deserves to die, because I do. But it’s not my place to do it. Can you understand that?”
She nodded.
“But… he knows something I need to know. He won’t tell me. I’m not sure we can make him; he’s pretty tough. But I think you can.”
Aggie wiped her nose as if it could still run. “How?”
“Just go see him and tell him what you told me. That you’re waiting for him, and what you plan to do to him when he does cross over. Can you do that?”
She looked at Dorsal. He nodded. She looked back at me and said, “Yes.”
“And afterwards… I think it’ll be okay if you go on to your father and mother. I know they’re waiting for you.” I didn’t, but under the circumstances, it seemed a little enough fib.
“Okay,” she said.
Dorsal looked at me. “Thank you, Cap’n.”
“You can go, too, you know.”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Captain Clift would want you to. He’d be very sad if he thought he was the reason you stuck around.”
His little face creased with concentration as he thought about that. At last he said, “I’ll ponder on it.”
“Wait a minute first, though,” I said. “Marteen’s got a bag on his head. I want him to be able to see you.”
I stood, and they scooted away from the door just like any real, corporeal people would do. I went past the sleeping guard and into the captain’s dayroom. When he heard the door, Marteen stopped singing.
“Well, what brilliant trick do you plan to try now?” he said mockingly. If possible, he smelled even worse. “Or do you have a request for my next number?”
I yanked the hood off his head without a word and went back out.
“An attack of conscience?” he yelled after me. “You’ll never make it as a pirate, you know that? You’re soft as a cookie fresh from the goddamned oven, that’s what you are!”
I went back into Jane’s cabin. It was empty.
I sat on the edge of my bunk and waited.
It didn’t take long.
