Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
When I finally emerge he gives me a look of exaggerated impatience and grabs my arm just when someone runs halfway down the stairs and yells, “Bones! You better come look at this!”
He looks at the door to his chambers, probably calculating how long it will take to put me away, then decides against it and brings me over to the stairs and up them to where Cruz, his first mate, is.
“What is it?” the captain asks as he brings me up to the deck and Cruz hands him a spyglass.
“We spotted them,” he says.
“Spotted who?” I ask, but no one is paying me any attention. Instead, most of the crew are all huddled on the foredeck passing another spyglass around.
The captain takes me over there and the crew parts for him. They all give me a passing glance as we slip through, not unkind, just curious. I’m suddenly very aware of how awful I must look, dirty and smelly, apparently, and how clean and well-put together they look by contrast.
“Where are they?” the captain asks the man already looking through the spyglass. He lets go of me and rests his elbows on the rail beside the man and puts his own spyglass to his eye.
“Straight ahead,” the other pirate says.
I look around them, scanning the horizon and trying to see a ship but I don’t spot anything. The horizon is an unwavering line, the sea calm and as blue as the sky above, only deeper.
“I see,” the captain says.
“See what?” I ask. I’d wager I have better eyesight than anyone in the crew but no spyglass can make a ship appear where there isn’t one.
“The princess asks too many questions,” one of the crew says, which makes another one laugh.
The captain lowers his spyglass and looks to the man beside him. It’s only now that I realize how similar they look. They could be brothers. In fact, he did call that boy from earlier his nephew.
“We should be able to catch them at the islands, providing they make a stop,” the captain says.
“You know they have to stop there,” the man says gruffly. “The sea witch always keeps them on a short leash.”
“Sea witch?” I say my heart nearly stopping.
Finally the captain looks at me. “Are you going to stop?”
I raise my brows. “Now that you’ve uttered the words sea witch, no I don’t think I will. What sea witch? What’s her name?”
The captain balks as he eyes me. “Her name? What a strange question.”
“It’s Nerissa,” the woman pirate speaks up. “The island is her home. It’s how she controls the skeleton crew.”
I turn to her in gratitude. “Thank you,” I tell her emphatically. “Nice to be on the same page.”
She shrugs. “I’ve been in your shoes, lass,” she says. “This lot of pigheads love to ignore a woman, even when they’re balls deep inside her. Or especially so.”
Both the captain and the other man turn around to stare at her aghast.
“What?!” the woman exclaims with a heavy sigh. “It’s true. Except for you, luv.” She gently taps her boot against the other pirate’s calf. He rolls his eyes in response.
“You don’t seem too surprised about sea witches,” the captain comments. “Or a skeleton crew, for that matter.”
“I’ve heard of sea witches,” I say carefully. “But I’ll admit I don’t know what you mean by a skeleton crew.”
“It’s a long story,” he says. “And a story the likes of you would never believe.”
“You should try me,” I say.
“I like the mouth on her,” the woman pirate says, her admiration obvious even to me, and I glance at her pretty face. “Look here, lass. There’s a lot that you won’t believe while you’re on this ship, the least of which are witches and skeletons. But they aren’t even the most fantastical things you’ll hear of. There’s one thing that they have that this crew wants more than anything else.”
“And what’s that?” I ask.
“A mermaid.”
CHAPTER 11
Maren
“A mermaid?” I ask dumbly. If my heart stopped at the idea of sea witches, I feel like I’m going to drop dead at the mention of mermaids.
“Like I said, lass,” the woman says, “it’s all fantastical. But time will prove to you how much magic really exists out here at sea, once you know how to look for it.”
A mermaid.
A Syren.
“What…why do you want a mermaid?”
Silence fills the air. There’s only the sound of the bow sluicing through the water and the steady beat of wind in the sails.
Finally the captain clears his throat and turns to face me, looking relaxed as he leans with one arm on the railing. “Mermaids are valuable, darling. Very valuable.”
“To the world at large or just to you?”
He barks out a laugh. “Astute. The world at large doesn’t believe in mermaids, don’t you know that?”
“But you do.”
“Aye we do. It’s not a matter of belief, you’ll soon see to that. They exist. But I’m not about to argue the points of nature with you,” he says, giving me a dismissive wave.