The only personal belongings I had were already strapped to my belt, so there was no packing to do. I left the room and walked down to the beach. I bathed in the sea before pulling on some clean clothes Michelle had given me.
Then I rounded up Evie and Kai, fastened them to my little boat and navigated it to where Saira had told me the main ship was anchored. I soon caught sight of it towering overhead. The ship was as I had remembered it and looked quite unscarred—Saira had told me that they’d left The Cove just in time before the hawks took over. It was made of dark brown wood, and at its stern and helm were carvings of dolphins. The sails were made of a deep orange fabric. Leyla, we called it—in memorial of the first dolphin that had ever served us.
In front of the stern, a group of two dozen dolphins were already gathering. Henry, one of our werewolf crew members, organized them into harnesses. Abandoning my boat, I led my own dolphins over to join the rest.
“Thanks, Mona,” Henry called to me. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
I nodded and walked to the entrance of the boat. Members of the crew were already milling about, preparing everything for departure.
I headed straight to my room on the lowest level of the ship, avoiding speaking to anyone on the way. I arrived to find the door of my cabin slightly ajar. The captain sat on my cot. He encouraged me to call him by his first name, but most of the time I preferred to keep things formal—as I did with everyone—and addressed him as ‘captain,’ or Captain Matteo.
A smile spread across his handsome face as I entered.
“Saira told me you’d be joining us again,” he said. “I’m very glad you’re all right, Mona.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. I inched away, feeling uncomfortable. He knew I didn’t like being touched, but I guessed his relief to see me safe again had made him forget that request of mine.
I smiled back faintly.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“How did you escape? Saira didn’t tell me much…”
I really wasn’t in the mood for recounting that wild escapade now. I just wanted to put it behind me and forget about it. But he would keep asking until I’d told him, so I gave him the briefest recap I could of what had happened.
“You were exceedingly lucky to have met that vampire,” he said. “Kiev, you said his name was? Now, that’s a funny coincidence! I met him on a walk along the beach just last night. Seemed to be an amiable fellow.”
Eager to change the subject, I asked, “So how have things been with you? What happened? Saira filled me in on some things already. She told me you had to leave The Cove because of the hawks, but I didn’t have much time to talk to her last night.”
“Yes,” he said, sighing. “They came suddenly and we had to act fast. You understand why we couldn’t wait for your return.”
“Of course,” I said. “So what’s the plan now?”
“We head back to our island,” he replied. “And start planning our next attempt at getting our hands on a witch.”
“What?” Heat rose in my body. “You can’t seriously still be considering trying to storm The Sanct—”
“No, no. Not The Sanctuary,” he said. I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Sorry, I forgot,” he continued. “This is a development that happened while you were still in Aviary. The vampires of The Black Bell have three witches captive on their island. Each of them can wield magic.”
I winced. I hardly needed that last piece of information; I’d never heard of any powerless witch other than myself.
I didn’t need to ask him why he wanted the witches. It’d been a subject of discussion ever since we’d formed our crew. We suffered every day on our island not having adequate protection, constantly at risk of other pirates trying to plunder our resources. We’d had to build a large wall around the island, but even then, we needed guards to keep us safe. We could never all leave the island at once; even now, only half of us were on board the ship. The situation was distressing, especially for the vampires of our group, who were forced to live in underground tunnels during the daylight hours. The werewolves were lucky in that respect; they could be exposed to daylight at all hours, and at night, they’d have their transformation.
It was unfortunate that The Tavern had never been an option for us to make our home. Individuals were allowed to live there, but never groups as large as ours.
“But The Black Bell,” I said, “You can’t seriously be considering taking on that ship? Those vampires… It would be disastrous. They’d rip you all to shreds.”
This entire subject was a painful reminder of my uselessness. I had no magic to help them when they needed it most.
“I agree,” the captain said, nodding his head. “But you can understand why it’s hard for us to just sit still knowing that The Black Bell contains three witches who would change our lives immeasurably. We only need one witch.”
“How do you even plan to do this without getting yourselves killed?”
“We don’t know yet.” The captain rubbed his forehead. “We know they have an island, and the witches have cast upon it a protective spell of eternal night. I’m still discussing it with Saira and the others. I just thought you ought to know.”
His face relaxed as he saw the look on my face. “Look, don’t worry about this now. You’ve been through enough trauma. I’m sure you’re still recovering and want time to yourself. We probably won’t attempt to do anything for a few months anyway.” He stood up and motioned to leave the room. “Oh, but speaking of news, our cook has been really honing his skills recently. He makes a marvellous seaweed dish. There’s some left over from breakfast. If you head over to the kitchen I’m sure he’ll be happy to oblige…”
“Thanks,” I muttered, and Matteo left the room.
Now that he’d mentioned food, I couldn’t deny that I was hungry. It had been too long since I’d eaten a cooked meal. I unstrapped my belt and placed it on my dressing table. I left my cabin and headed toward the kitchen.
I almost collided with Saira as she came dashing down the corridor.
“Mona,” she panted. “Are you sure that vampire wasn’t a friend?” In her human form, she was a short plump woman with bushy brown hair. Her grey eyes looked down at me with concern.
“Uh, yes,” I said, looking at her with annoyance. Being old enough to be my mother, Saira would often try to look out for me as one. I knew she meant well, but I wished she would just leave me alone. There was a reason newcomers called her “Mother Wolf.” She’d lost her only daughter and seemed to overcompensate by lavishing attention on others, regardless of whether or not it was wanted.