Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

And She's In

"I think it will be fine," Cooker chuckled as she and Theo stood outside of Xyra's door.

"You say that even after you saw how angry she was earlier? Is there any way we can make her think it's her idea and then we pretend we never said anything to Ava? We would have to coordinate our stories but I'm sure Ava would be willing to lie so we don't get yelled at," Theo tried to reason, staring at the X marked on the cabin door.

"There is no we in this situation. You asked Ava to interview for quartermaster before running it by Xy," Cooker reminded Theo of the situation they were in and Theo crossed her arms in thought.

"What if..." Theo trailed off then groaned and hit her head against the wood in the hallway, "I've got nothing."

Just then the door opened and Xyra walked out with a small cigarette hanging from her lips, a dirty undershirt, and flowy pants. She looked both of them up and down and narrowed her eyes.

"What happened?"

Neither of them said anything they just looked at each other and then back at Xyra. Finally, Theo cleared her throat and rubbed her neck, "Nothing's going on. Just wanted to check on you."

"You look guilty," Xyra pointed at Theo and then over at Cooker, "and you look like you came along for a good show."

Cooker ducked her head to hide a silent laugh and Theo shoved Cooker causing her to stumble a bit.

"I might have some news but you seemed busy so we can just wait until later," Theo said dismissively, shrugging her shoulders.

"Not busy. I was just going out for a smoke," Xyra said.

Theo stepped forward with a frown and snatched the cigarette from Xyra. She rolled her eyes and turned to Cooker, cigarette pinched between her fingers.

"Oi, don't look at me," Cooker said, "I don't sell sard. Shit's useless."

"It's not sard," Xyra said and took the cigarette back, "It's ravci. Thanks to a certain someone, sard is banned on the ship and anyone that has it won't sell to me."

The certain someone was Theo. Sard was a nasty tasting plant that when smoked produced a fruity aroma. The drug had little to no effect on the user but it was addictive. It was a common drug in Nefriti to socially use with friends and it had been Xyra's vice for lengths. The drug had no negative effect on the brain but it was known to sometimes cause a rare disease in the stomach that caused death within months. Theo's first action as captain was to ban the use and the sale of it on her boat, specifically to prevent Xyra from using it.

Theo huffed and said nothing, trying her longest to stall. Her plan of lecturing Xyra on smoking sard to avoid coming clean had failed and now silence was her only option.

"Can you move along with the news so I can go smoke and be in peace?" Xyra asked, irritation growing with every passing second. It hadn't been more than a few hours since her fight with Morgana and she was clearly still testy from that.

"I might have asked her if she wanted to be quartermaster," Theo rushed out under her breath.

"Come again,"' Xyra asked, not having caught what the captain had said.

"Morgana brought up her name for quartermaster and I thought maybe it was worth a shot. So I offered her an interview for quartermaster and she said yes," Theo stated firmly that time. Chest puffed out and my head held high.

"Who are we talking about?" Xyra asked, in the rush of things Theo had forgotten an important part of the story.

"Ava."