Corvus (Stars and Sails, Book 1)

Thirty-six (Part 1 of 2)

Silas Noble's disappearance was the best and the worst thing that could have possibly happened. Now, Jade was the Captain, but rather than feel any pathetic, selfish elation at all, all Jade could feel was bitterness.

She had wanted the control, but now that she had it, she felt as useless as ever. When someone called her Captain Harris, she couldn't help but remember that she was just a hurt and broken girl trying desperately to fill her father's shoes. She didn't think anyone else realized what a mess she'd made, but she knew it was there, growing.

Grinding her teeth, she organized the map chest in the Navigational room. It was technically Rafaele and his scrawny little apprentice's job, but that didn't matter. Jade wanted to keep herself from feeling restless. She'd do anything busy.

She filed away some of the miscellaneous maps. They had gotten a little mixed up, so she arranged them back into a way that made sense. The regional maps together, some of the land maps that they had stashed away went in the very bottom. The locked drawer caught her eye. Maybe she could have another look at that blueprint. Maybe it was meant to tell her something. She fingered the key in her pocket and opened the drawer, revealing the blueprint. She ran her finger across it, tracing over the hidden mechanisms and the length of stairs.

The door creaked open. Jade quickly closed the drawer and locked it up. She looked over her shoulder. Sabik closed the door behind him. Barely acknowledging him, Jade raked her tongue across the roof of her mouth. Her mouth was feeling dry as if all of a sudden she just didn't know what to say. His hair was frizzy, his skin shiny. His eyelids were a dark, dull color. Jade looked back at the drawer and started organizing more charts. "Good afternoon, Doctor." She paused. "You look terrible."

He said nothing, only moved across the room. Jade sighed. It was hard to concentrate on organization. He put her on edge, so when he took a deep breath, Jade turned to him, fast enough to surprise him. He placed his hand on the work table, stopping it from wobbling on the moving ship. "You are on the night watch, no?" he asked.

"Yes, but I don't sleep during the day. It makes me disagreeable."

"Disagreeable," Sabik pushed his tongue into his cheek like he was feeling the word. "That would be a great tragedy for you, I am sure."

Jade scratched her forehead, closing her eyes in resignation. "You came here looking to get into a fight."

His face twitched the tiniest bit, his eyebrows settling in. "This room," he said, looking around at the walls and the ceiling. "Your uh, ibbatah...your...how do you say it?" He pressed on his head.

"My what?"

He waved his hand in front of his mouth. "Ibbahtah, ibbahtah! Ah, chiiyi." He ran his hand across his face, sighing. "Leon Harris."

"My father?"

"Yes. Yes, thank you." He moved around her, forcing her to turn around. He examined a painting on the wall of rolling hills under a star-filled sky. "Your father—he had his fun with this room."

Jade paused. "Are you okay?"

"I am not a native Tranan-speaker." His eyes narrowed. "I am fine. Just stupid, hm?"

Jade stepped back, crossing her arms. "Extraordinarily." The room was different. It was the only cabin that seemed like it didn't belong to the modest Coronis, but more like it was stolen from Fairburn's vessel. The walls were papered in a royal blue and gold paper. On the ceiling, there was a little chandelier made out of wooden balls painted to look like planets—one of her father's proudest late-night creations. Jade cleared her throat. "He liked the stars. But I really don't want to talk about him."