Scavenge the Stars (Scavenge the Stars #1)(19)

“You’ll meet me in Moray?” she asked.

“That’s the plan.” He enveloped her in a hug, and she allowed herself to be engulfed by it, closing her eyes and holding him tight. He was her best friend on these waters. Her only friend.

“Silverfish!”

They both started and pulled away. Captain Zharo emerged from the cells, screaming her name like he was a demon she had tricked out of consuming her heart. When he stormed up onto the deck, the Bugs tentatively followed, their eyes wide and fearful. When Zharo finally spotted her by the railing, he pointed a stubby, grimy finger at her, a silent summons written across his flushed face and the stiff set of his shoulders.

Roach grabbed for her hand, but she shook her head and he inched away. No doubt the captain wanted to frighten her one last time. She would not give him the satisfaction.

“Today is a big day for you, Silverfish,” the captain said, one hand lingering near his hip as he leered at her. They were situated under the gutting deck, the smell of dead fish overpowering. She doubted she would ever get the stink off her. “Or it would have been, had you not double-crossed me.”

She tightened a hand around the strap of her pack. “I don’t understand.”

Zharo bared his decaying teeth. “D’you honestly think I’d let you off this ship? After you done let a spy escape?”

Boon. He must have used her shucker to free himself before anyone had woken.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, trying to keep her voice from wavering.

“Your little catch,” he said. “The spy you plucked out of the waters. He’s gone.”

“He’s not a spy,” she said, “he’s Landless.”

“With those gold buttons? Don’t think so. And guess what, Silverfish? Your debt’s gone up again.” He hungrily licked his bottom lip, his dark eyes as heavy as a touch. “No fat pearl’s gonna do it this time. But I’m doin’ you a favor, see? You finally get to see your mama.”

Zharo took out his pistol and aimed it at her. The Bugs who had crowded against the railing behind him yelped and scampered away. Roach cursed and edged closer to her.

But Silverfish was frozen before the pistol’s black, hollow eye, sighting her right where her heart was beating a frantic rhythm in her chest. The iron muzzle glinted gold in the waxing dawn light.

Her breath came faster, rattling in her chest, but she refused to step back. “Wh-what do you mean, get to see my mother?”

He tsked. “Forgot to tell you, didn’t I? She breathed her last three years ago. A nice peaceful death, in her sleep. Or so they told me.”

A ringing started in her ears. Silverfish numbly looked around, as if seeking someone to confirm if it was really true. The Water Bugs were still cowering, Roach looking on in terror. He met her eyes and shook his head.

Dead.

Her mother was dead.

She couldn’t be. Silverfish was going to come home for her birthday. They were going to walk through the gardens of Moray and eat the fruit off the trees. She was going to become Amaya again, a girl curled up in her mother’s arms, safe from what the world demanded of her.

But the world was empty and cold, and she was alone.

She finally took a step back. Zharo chuckled and took one forward.

“I would’ve told you sooner, but you were such a hard worker,” Zharo said. The satisfied way he said it, almost like a compliment, was like a hand squeezing the nape of her neck. She shuddered in revulsion. “Was even able to scrape off the top of your earnings for myself. And I would’ve let you off this ship if you hadn’t gone and rescued that bastard. Really, you brought this on yourself.”

She had often wondered what she would do if the captain ever attacked her with serious intent, had taken to practicing the motions with Roach or when she was alone: grab his gun, hit his arm where it was weakest, force him to drop his weapon. But she couldn’t move, couldn’t send a message to the rest of her body to cooperate.

The sun was beginning to rise, deepening the thin dawn light to a fierce, burning orange. The waves caught the light and turned the sea into a roiling fire.

When the water turns orange, remember to swim down.

That was what Boon had said, after all his talk of treasure and finding out the truth about her father. Silverfish took another unsteady step toward the railing until it hit her back, and again Zharo pursued. She could hear the ocean churning below.

“Your seven years are finally up, Silverfish,” he said. He cocked the pistol’s hammer back. “Be sure to send my regards to your mama.”

He pulled the trigger.

The Bugs screamed at the bark of the pistol, but Silverfish had already launched herself over the railing. She fell for what seemed an eternity before she hit the water, knocking the breath out of her.

Remember to swim down.

Silverfish had dived for enough pearls—she knew how to swim down. She kicked her legs furiously behind her, her arms stretching, reaching toward the depths. She left the orange waves behind and swam into the gloom, the water growing dark enough to become another enemy.

Her sense of direction was scrambled; her lungs burned for air. Even as the pressure grew in her ears, even as spots flew across her vision, she kept swimming. Bubbles escaped the corners of her mouth, her chest seizing painfully.

Internally, Silverfish was screaming. She had nothing. No one. And now she was going to die because some Landless nobody didn’t know what he was talking about.