Page 68 of If I Go Down with This Ship

“What’s going on?”I ask with a yawn, wiping a hand across my face.My breath tastes abysmal, that burning liquor still lingering.I run my tongue over my teeth as Astra works their jaw.

“Our Captain is having a bit of a… just see for yourself.”They stand and cross their arms, turning pointedly.

I stretch, feeling only a slight ache in my hand from the cut as I stand and cradle it to my chest, following Astra’s gaze.Charlotte and Silas are set up across the beach, a small barrel sitting alone in the sand about twenty feet away from them, rope snaking from it and stopping at their feet.

The sight of them together makes my stomach drop.I feel sick even thinking about the look he gave me by the fire lastnight.Despite my—terrible—lying, he’d known I had heard them, and he was angry about it.And he meant to make me feel it.

He and Charlotte have a past, I can accept that, but that past is creeping into our present.Silas is becoming the man I had thought he was when we first met.Up until now, he’s done nothing but disprove that initial impression.

Now, he’s fulfilling it.

Silas snickers as he bends and lights the fuse in the sand, and within moments the spark hits the barrel, and it explodes with aboom.The small explosion sends sand and shards of wood flying everywhere, and Silas and Charlotte cackle as they motion for another.There’s a mountain of discarded bottles at their feet, and I recognize the way Silas sways.Did he even sleep?Has he stayed up all night to wreak havoc on this beach, drunk and giggly with his old friend?

Astra and I scan the beach and the water.Despite the noise, Sir is sound asleep on Pip’s chest, as unbothered as the rest of the crew.The ship bobs innocently in the bay.The foremast is nearly repaired, the sails practically finished, but Silas is making no move to leave.He is comfortable with Charlotte at his side once more, comfortablehere.

I shake my head.“He won’t listen to me, Astra.”

“Of every person I have seen Captain Night with, you are the only one he will listen to.”Astra places a hand on my arm, and it is so featherlight, I’m not certain they’re actually touching me.

“You have a lot of undeserved belief in me.I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.”

They shrug, dropping their hand.“I think perhaps you should be impossible.”

I frown.“Why do you say that?”

“Before you arrived, we were simply floating by, the wind in our sails, but directionless, and then you appeared out of nowhere and fixed us.Plus, you have this uncanny ability to make anyone enjoy your company.”There’s no fear in their gaze as they ask, “Are you a witch, Laszlo?”

“What?No, no, I’m not.”

Part of me wishes I were; I can only imagine all the problems I’d be able to fix if I had even an ounce of magic in me.A warm breeze wraps around me as I run a hand through my hair, shaking out the sand.

Astra sighs, expression blank as they watch Silas and Charlotte, and I want to say,Yeah, I feel you.Because I know what they’re thinking.Staying here reminiscing about the good ol’ times is holding us up.We stopped here to repair the ship after the storm, to fix the foremast and get a move on, but the longer we stay here, the further our lead on Astra’s ex-fiancé slips.

And that would be on me.

“I’ll talk to him, okay?”I relent.“I can’t promise anything, but I’ll talk to him.”

Astra waves a hand as if it’s nothing, but I can see what it means to them.“Thank you.You’re the only one who can get through to him.”

I turn away from Astra before they can see the blush blossoming up my neck and face.With a nod in Astra’s direction, I start toward Silas.

Most of the crew is still asleep, curled into balls, hugging their knees to their chests or sprawled out across the sand, snoring the early morning away.I tiptoe around them, careful where I step.How can they sleep through all this noise?

“Silas!”I call as I near them.

He claps as he bends at the waist, mouth open wide as he laughs.Charlotte snickers beside him, slapping him on the back as she reaches down in the sand for a nearly empty bottle of liquor.

“Silas?”I say again, stopping a few feet from them.

His head snaps up, and he glowers at me.Charlotte throws back the last of the liquor, burping as she tosses the empty bottle to the beach.

Silas’s features slacken into something neutral as he takes in all of me.I don’t know what I look like, what he sees when he stares at me, but I hope he sees my genuine concern.

After a moment, he straightens and opens his mouth as if to say something, but Charlotte slings an arm over his shoulder, grinning.“Are you joining us,Laszlo?”

“No.”Crossing my arms, I nod to the ship in the bay.“No, the ship is almost ready.We did what we came here to do.Shouldn’t we be preparing to leave, Captain?”

He doesn’t miss the way I use “Captain” and not “Silas.”