For once I kept out of sight as instructed. If any of the deckhands saw me, they didn’t say anything while Charlie and I rushed through the corridors and up the stairwells labeled Deck B. Every surface, pipe, and floor piece was painted a bright, endearing red. The color was only made more spectacular by the aggressive sunset. Once we were there I could already see the orange globe making its way to the end of the horizon and working its way to retirement into evening. Everything, even the lowliest machine, was paved in a wave of pink and gold.
I sighed and breathed in the ocean. “Is it always this nice?”
He laughed at me. “No. Sometimes the weather gets real bad. You can have an entire trip where it does nothing but rain or it’s real cold. Other times other ships bother ya, people lookin’ to steal your stuff.”
I laughed as he struggled to light his cigarette through the wind that whipped off the ocean. Finally fed up, I covered the flame of his lighter with my hands. He glanced up at me; again my actions seemed to surprise him.
“You mean pirates?” I could hardly contain my excitement.
“I s’pose.” I noticed his effort to blow his smoke away from me.
“That’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?”
He looked at me curiously.
“Thieves stealing from thieves…”
“Everybody steals from everybody, Addie. That’s the natural order of things.”
I laughed. “Don’t be so morbid.”
“It’s true,” he said. “You know, survival of the fittest and all that.”
“I don’t think Darwin intended the laws of evolution for crime.”
“It’s all the same.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree.”
He began meandering about the deck, mostly staying close to the handles. And although I was reluctant to just blankly follow him, I did so because I was anxious to be left alone in a place that was so strange. But on another level that I wasn’t quite ready to admit, I also enjoyed spending time with him in a way that went beyond companionship.
Distracted by his movements, I felt my feet slip on the deck. I swore under my breath and clasped onto the railing.
“Be careful,” he called from behind his shoulder. “Gotta watch out for oil, seaspray, grease… everything ‘round here is slippery.”
I grabbed him by the wrist. His laughter stopped, but mine had just started.
“If I’m going down,” I giggled, “I’m taking you with me.”
He rolled his eyes. “Promises, promises…”
I stared out at the waves while the darkness rolled in. Slowly, he reached out and touched the bruises around my neck. I cringed at the reminder of the familiar wound and closed my eyes against the memory of it.
“Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” I could barely get the words out, though we both knew it was.
He rested his weight against the wall of the deck and puffed. “Yeah, it is,” he laughed. “But I’m still sorry.”
“You heal real fast.” His tone was tight. “That cut on your foot is probably all but gone.”
I scanned my memory trying to think of when I had told him of that. I knew I hadn’t. In actuality I had been extremely careful to conceal that small detail while in the abandoned house. But he had warned me about the dangers of being a stowaway, so if there were medical professionals onboard, it may not have been wise to enlist their help anyway.
“You-you looked after me wh-when Wallace tried to kill me, didn’t you?”
He said nothing and stared into the waves.
I looked over at him and poked the flesh beneath his black eye, our hands still attached. “Hey, I want you to know I’m almost sorry I did that to your face.” I heard myself laugh slightly as he smiled and rubbed his hand along his nose. It was as though he was trying to wipe away the bruise of his ego instead of the literal pain I had caused him, though I doubted it could have been much.
He laughed. “Been a long time since somebody got the better of me like that.”
“It’s not like you didn’t deserve it.” I was beginning to feel smug.
“I ain’t gonna lie…you’re not the way I thought you’d be.”
I shrugged. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
Staring back out at the waves he smiled and said, “I forgot how to be surprised.”
I smiled back. “Well, you’re welcome then.”
Chapter 8
When I woke up, the feeling of confinement overtook me. I had the need to open a window or a door, but there was no way to relieve