Chapter Two

 The sun was climbing over the blue horizon in shades of gold and red, and the sound of the waves crashing against the side of the boat created a calm and rhythmic harmony. The warm breeze pushed the little boat along, farther out into the unknown.

Gracy opened her eyes and looked around; the blinding light pierced through her head and each lap that touched the boat sounded like she had stuck her head into a drum. She looked around, not sure if last night had been a dream. Ace was leaning over the side, looking down into the water, his hat pushed down so far, his face was hidden completely.

    “Ace?” She whispered, still afraid that she was dreaming.

    She slid a little closer, scared that if she rocked the boat he would fall out “Ace?”

    The pain in her head was a firm reminder that she was really there, in a boat, somewhere in the middle of the ocean, far enough out that there were no birds. She placed her hand on his shoulder, unsure if he was still alive.

    “Damn! What a night…”  he shouted, she jumped back startled and sent the boat bobbing up and down, and he dove further over the side.

    “Thanks for that” He sat a bit further up, “Think I may have overdone it a bit. What about you?”

    “I do have a hell of a headache…”

    “Aye… But I think my stomach and head are enacting a mutiny against me…” He leaned over the side again.

    “Umm… Do you need something? Food, maybe?”

    “No! God, no. No, no, no… Not a good idea-“

    She sat, trying to look somewhere else. ‘What was it that Jiro did when one of the girls was up like this?’ she scrambled through her bag, desperately looking for something that could help. A ginger cake rolled out across the deck. ‘Perfect,’ she though.

    “Ace! Here, eat this. I swiped it from the bar. The girls used to use these when they needed to clean themselves up. It seemed to work for them.”

    He sighed and turned around, slumping against the side of the boat.

    “I really don’t think…”

    “Please?” she begged. “It always worked back at the Parlor. Just try?”

    “Can’t make any promises…”

    “Please?” She pushed it at his face.

    “Fine,” he sighed, “if you think it’ll make it stop…”

    His face was a ghostly white; his dark hair and freckles stood in a stark contrast. He took the cake down in one bite.

    “You tryin’ to kill me?” he choked out, spinning back around, sending the boat bouncing across the next wave.

    “I never said it was good. I know what kinda cook Jiro is. I said it would work,” she pouted. “It’s some weird Ginger cake, it always worked before. Jiro swore it could cure any hangover… If I didn’t think it would work, I would have tossed it overboard!”

    He slid down and lay across the bottom of the dingy.

    “You really are something, aren’t you?” He dropped his at over his face “I’m gonna try to sleep it off. If something happens, or we change direction, wake me up.”

    “Yes, sir.”

    “Don’t call me that, makes me feel weird. By the way, Red, I had the strangest dream about you…”

    “What dream?” she asked, but no answer came. “Ace? Hey!” His soft snore broke the silence.

    “How can you fall asleep so fast?” she huffed, leaning back into the bow.

    Looking across the water, she wondered if the answers really did lie out across the endless sea. She reached into her bag, pulled out the envelope, carefully slid the paper out, and unfolded it. The round, mischievous face of a handsome young redhead stared up from the bounty her mother had kept, the only picture of her father she had ever seen.

    ‘I wonder if he is even alive?’ she thought, letting her mind wander…

    “Oh, Gracy, look at those curls! You look so much like your father.” Her mother whispered, sitting down on the beach. “Mama? Where did he go?” She looked up at her daughter and smiled, green eyes sparkling. “Home, sweet Gracy. He never belonged here.” “But, Mama, Didn’t he love you?”
“He did love me, and I like to believe he still does. But, Gracy, he was married to the sea, and I was only a mistress. His master is the wind, and when it calls, he must follow.”
“But, Mama, I hate him! He makes you cry!”
“No, no, it isn’t like that. I don’t cry because he left. He would have let me go with him, but my place is here. You see, the wind is a cruel master, and the water is cold at heart, and someday when they have taken all he has to give he will come back. If I had followed him, there would be no place for him to return to when his heart is finally free… Please understand, I don’t cry because he left. I cry because he never got to meet you, you who are so much like him.”

    A sudden gust of wind shook the boat and brought her back to the present. In the distance, the clouds were building up in billowing black towers. She shoved the poster back into her bag.

     “Ace, wake up,” she called, he was still sleeping deeply. “Ace! Wake up!” she yelled, shaking him, but he didn’t seem to notice.

    She snatched the hat away from his face, reached over the side and scooped water up in the hat. She dropped it back over his head, soaking him.

     “Damn it! WAKE UP!”

    “What the Hell!” he jumped, looking like a half drowned puppy .“You could have been a little nicer.” Fury filled his eyes, as a deep crimson spread across his cheeks.

    “Sorry, but you said to wake you if something happened, and it looks like there is rain coming this way.”

    “Well, I’m already soaked, so I really don’t care!” he growled.

    As he looked in the direction she was pointing, his expression softened from anger to frustration.

    “Right, then. That looks a bit more serious than a little rain; you should have told me that before. Don’t know how much farther to the next island, so let’s lower the sail and dig in.”

    The wind was growing more vicious, and it took all their strength to pull the sail down into the bottom of the boat. A frantic seagull cried from somewhere overhead.

    “Hey, look!” Gracy pointed.

    “Well,” sighed Ace, “It does look like there may be an island just over the horizon. So, I guess we put the sail back up and hope we beat the storm.”

    “But, we just got it down!”

    “We want to beat the storm, right? Look at it this way, if we buckle down here, the best thing that will happen is we get soaked, and then at least we’ll be even. But, there is a greater chance that the storm will overpower the boat.” He was trying to pull the sail back up the tiny mast. “Hey, Red, or Grey, or whatever the Hell your name is… I don’t suppose you know how to swim?”

    She grabbed the rope, hoping that the wind didn’t send them flying through the air.

    “About that…”

    “Are you crazy? Why would you get on a boat with a total stranger and head off to who knows where, if you don’t even know how to keep your head above water?” His face was growing red with what she hoped was frustration “Do you want to die? And what about me? If you are my first mate, I have to know that you got my back. What happens if I get drunk and fall over?”

    “Then don’t get drunk, Idiot! It’s not my fault you didn’t even think to ask before now. If it’s such a big deal, why don’t you just swim off and let me sink? Why do you have to rely on me to pull you out? And why would you want me to be on your crew? Hell! You don’t even know what my name is.”

    He paused for a moment, before pulling the rope taut; he seemed to be turning the thoughts over in his head.

    “Tie that down, if you know how,” he muttered. “And I couldn’t let you sink, even if I wanted to. We are comrades now, and that means that no matter what, I can’t let you die.”

    “I don’t know how, but I can hold the rope taut. Here,” she grabbed and pulled down with all her might. “Anyway, how can you trust me, if you don’t even know my name? You don’t know anything about me!”

    He gave one final tug at the knot and grabbed her by the shoulders.

    “I don’t have to know your name to know you. I know that we are both broken. I will do whatever I have to do to hold you up, as long as you can do the same for me.”

    His expression was dark and serious. His hair clung to his face as the rain began to pour down.

    “Promise me that you will hold me up when I am drunk, and hold me back when I am stupid? Can you do that?”

    The rain was falling harder, and her clothes began to stick to her skin. He was looking into her eyes, and it almost felt as if he could see all the way into the darkest parts of her soul. She could feel her cheeks burning.

    “I promise, if you will do the same for me. I will answer honestly, if you ask, and I will stand by your side, even if we are pulled into hell. But that means that you will not abandon me, no matter what happens.”

    He pulled her into a firm embrace, knocking her onto the deck.

    “Ace! What are you doing?” she cried trying to push him away.

    “You can’t swim, right? Well, if I am to keep my word, I can’t let you fall overboard then.” His grin was back, “Do me a favor, though, and grab my hat. I am rather attached to this old thing.”

     “Um, Ace? How will we know if we are getting closer to land or farther from it, if neither of us can see where we are going?”

    “Guess we will just have to wait and see-”

    He was interrupted by a loud crash; he sat up slowly, looking around. “Well if you can help me get the sail back down, we are now on dry land!” He announced, as if this had been the plan all along, and started lowering the sail.

    “I fail to see the dry,” she retorted, following his lead.

    They packed the sail down beneath the benches and pushed the boat up onto the shore.

    “We really need something a bit bigger, don’t you think?” he mused, stepping back to admire his handiwork.

    “Ya don’t say…” she mumbled.

    “Hey, I’m gonna go look around a bit. Maybe we can find some place that isn’t totally soaked. Up to you if you wanna come.”

    “Well, I sure don’t want to stay here. Maybe there is something to eat around here too…”

    “Now you’re speaking my language!”

    He laughed, slapping her across the back, knocking the air out of her, and stomped off into the underbrush of the island.

    ‘At least he’s enthusiastic’ she sighed, following him.

     

    As they ventured farther into the dense forest, the sky began to lighten and the rain fell softer. Thick vines climbed from tree to tree, weaving through the branches, creating a web between thick foliage. 

    “Ace? Do you think we should go back out to the coast?”

    “Nah, that wouldn’t be any fun” Ace said, stomping a path through the ferns and grass that carpeted the ground.

    “Do you think there is a town around here?”

    “I wouldn’t know. Guess we’ll find what we find.”

    They came into a large clearing where a small clear pond sparkled, reflecting back the sunlight that pushed through the clouds.

    “Well, isn’t that just perfect!” he laughed. “Come’ere, quick” he ran to the very edge “Look!”

    As she leaned over to see what he was pointing at, he grabbed her by the waist and threw her into the middle.

    “How deep is it?” He asked laughing.

    She kicked hard, trying to keep her head above the surface. She couldn’t reach, or even see, the bottom.

    “Look!” he laughed, kicking off his shoes and setting his hat on the ground, “You haven’t sunk yet, so either you are swimming, or it isn’t as deep as it looks”

    “I’m gonna kill you!” she choked, still not sure of what was going on.

    He jumped in beside her with a big splash. “Do you always kill the people who are trying to help you?” he asked, raising one eyebrow slightly.

    “What is wrong with you?” she growled

    “What?” he asked. “I’m teaching you to swim.”

    “Like Hell! Have you ever taught anyone before? Or did you kill all your students?”

    “Nah, if you are gonna be my first mate, I need you to know how to swim. And what if I forget how to swim? Or maybe something happens that I can’t swim.”

    He laughed as he sank down under the surface, pulling her down behind him. She kicked hard and pushed her way back to the surface, gasping for air.

    “You are trying to kill me!” she shouted. He came up laughing beside her.

    “You got to hold your breath, ya know? Breathing water really isn’t as easy as it looks” and he ducked back under.

    She spun around, trying to find him before he pulled her down again.

    “You do realize” he said popping up behind her “you are swimming, right?”

    “What?”

    She looked around. She was still in the center of the pond, her head above water, and nothing to speak of beneath her feet.

    “I am! Ace Look! I’m swimming! I’m swimming!”

    “I know” he grinned “You’re a regular old fish, ain’t ya?”

    “Ace? Umm… Now, how do I get back to the shore? I really want to take off my boots…”

    “Come on” he grinned, reaching out “Take my hand and lean into it. Keep kicking like you have been, but this time kick behind you, not below you. And I’m not gonna pull you down this time, promise.”

    She reached out and let him pull her forward.

    “Okay, kid, ready? I’m gonna let go.” He started to loosen his grip.

    “Wait! Please, not yet!” she grabbed on even tighter.

    “Relax, you’ll be fine. I promised I wouldn’t let you go down, remember?” and he let go. 

    “Look? See you can do it. You sure your dad wasn’t a fish?” he laughed, “Or maybe you are a mermaid?”

    She was shocked. ‘Does he know?’ she wondered, and suddenly felt herself sinking. The sun was dancing through the water as she scrambled to find her feet. Suddenly, she could see sky as she felt his firm grip on the back of her shirt.

    “I told you it isn’t that easy to breathe water…” he said, helping her to steady herself.

    “Ya can’t breathe water, stupid,” she spat. The water burned as it ran out of her nose and down the back of her throat.

    “You could if your daddy was a fish,” he mused.

    “Well he’s not,” she snapped, “and mermaids aren’t real.Even if they was, I wouldn’t be one!”

    “Well it sounded better then ‘merlad,’ don’t you think?” he teased. “What’s say we get you back to dry land?”

     

    As they sat on the side of the pond, watching the thin white clouds sail across the sky, the sun began to sink lower on the horizon.

    “What are we doing for supper?” she asked him, looking around at the trees.

    “Dunno” he muttered.

    “If we’re sleeping on the boat, we should really head back that way...”

    “Dunno.”

    She sighed. “I’ll look around and see what I can find to eat”

    “Dunno.”

     

    She stomped off into the underbrush, not entirely sure what she was looking for. Her stomach growled. The meal from last night had long since given way to hunger.

    ‘What is he thinking, is he gonna rely on sheer luck his whole damn life?’

    She wandered, looking for some kind of fruit, taking careful note of the trail so she could find her way back. The light was shifting through the trees in red and green as the sun set, revealing a deep ravine that cut through the earth, blocking her path. She followed it along a little ways, looking at the strange trees and flowers, wondering if she was ever going to find food.

    The dirt gave way to a cobbled stone pathway overgrown with moss; it wound through the trees and into the dense jungle. Her stomach growled, reminding her that food came before curiosity. Looking the other way, there seemed to be a bridge across the ravine. Though it was cracked and overgrown with small trees and vines, the stone seemed strong as she picked her way across. On the other side, she found the path was lined with trees that bowed under the weight of a small, orange fruit. Smaller, and softer, but they bore a close enough resemblance to oranges that she figured it was worth trying. She gathered up as many as she could carry and started back to the pond.

    ‘He better still be there,’ she fumed, picking her way back along the path.

    The last rays of light faded as she approached the edge of the clearing. A deep orange light danced on the surface of the water, and, as she stepped out of the brush, she could see that Ace was sitting beside a small fire, watching as several fish roasted on a makeshift spit.

    “Welcome back!” he beamed. “How was the hunt?”

    “Not bad, I guess” she said, laying the fruit out on the ground. “What did you mean, earlier, when you said that you might forget how to swim?”

    “Oh, that,” he sighed.  “I was being an idiot, like you said”

    “But that doesn’t make any sense.”

    “I’ll tell you someday,” he said, poking at the edge of the fire with the tip of his knife.

    “Ace?” she whispered, but, not sure what to say, she just looked down and started peeling one of the fruits.

    “Hey, I gotta call you something, so are you ready to give me your name? Or, should I keep calling you whatever I feel like at the time?” the light from the fire danced across his face. His expression was solemn, and his hat hid his eyes. “If you don’t want to answer, then don’t, but just remember you swore to tell the truth, if you ever decide you want to answer me.”

    She swallowed hard, fearing that if she broke the silence now, if he found out that everything he saw was all a lie, he would abandon her at the next port. It was frustrating, the plan was to abandon him, so why this sudden fear?

    “I don’t know what to say. I guess-“

    “Look” he said, looking further down, the shadow of his hat hiding his face completely “I don’t know anything about you.”

    She could feel tears starting to form in the corner of her eye, imagining what he was about to say.

    “But,” he continued, “I have not told you anything about me either. So I have a proposal, for each thing I share, you have to equal it. Likewise, if you tell me something, I am obliged to give up something about myself.  Think you can agree to that?”

    She nodded, her voice caught in her throat.

    “Then I’ll start. I have a brother back home. To be honest, I have to make a big deal as a pirate. I want word to reach him. I want him to be able to say, ‘That’s my Brother! He is amazing, just like Father!’ And someday, I want to go back for him, bring him along. He just has to grow up a bit first, and, to be honest, I need to have some clue about what I am doing before I put him in danger. I don’t have the strength to go through that again”

    “I suppose I’ve never had anyone that I ever really worried about. At least, not after mom passed” she sighed. “I know they let me stay at the Devils Parlor, and I guess they treated me pretty well, letting me clean and do laundry, and prep food in the kitchen. I got the cast offs, so I was clothed. I was allowed to stay in the attic or the kitchen when things were in full swing, so I was fairly safe. I was never hungry, and I learned a lot about medical stuff. I learned to do stitches, make some medicines, and I even helped with delivering babies. But, I really didn’t like them, and they really hated me.”

    She pulled her knees up close to her chest, hanging her head.

    He looked at her from the shadow of his hat; she could feel his eyes measuring every inch of her.

    “Maybe I’ll call you Stray. Ragged, little, and the only treasure you really want is a home.”

    “I suppose it fits me” she mumbled, as she resumed peeling the fruit.

    “You know, my parents were both pirates.” He said, his teeth shining in the firelight, the rest of his face still masked by shadow. “And both reached the end of their luck, leaving me to the care of a crazy old lady.”

    “Well,” she hesitated, trying to think of something to say about herself “My father is a pirate. I have his first bounty poster… I don’t know that it will help me find him though. He left before mama had the chance to tell him about me.”

    “You know I had a crazy dream about you,” he said, his smile twisting into something even more devious and sinister. “Can you guess what it was?”

    He picked the fish off the fire and passed one across to her. “No.” She shook her head, scared of what he might say. She waited anxiously while he finished off his fish, taking as long as he could to peel away the meat.

    “Nah, I guess it’s a little ridiculous, never mind.” He tossed the bones off into the bushes and lay back. “See you in the morning”

    She sat picking at the fish, wondering just how much he knew, or what he was wanting her to tell him.

    The fire started to fade and smolder, and the moon rested high in the dark sky, bathing everything in a surreal and majestic light. Gracy finished off the fish and lay down. The cool night air started to grow uncomfortable, and she curled tighter, hoping to block out the cold as she drifted off to sleep.

     

    When the sun finally crested the treetops, she snuggled closer into the pillows, the warmth… She bolted upright, remembering that she was sleeping in a clearing on an island, who knows where. She looked down and saw that Ace had wrapped her in his shirt. He sprawled on his stomach a few feet away, snoring loudly, the drawstring of his hat gripped firmly in his hand. She noticed several thin white lines scarring his back as she carefully draped the shirt across him. She turned her attention to the cinders that were still smoldering from last night. Gathered what wood she could find, she began trying to build the fire back up.

    ‘Why is it so much harder here?’ she wondered, fanning the tiny sparks.

    Finally the fire took.

    She set a line, hoping that fish would come, but, after a few minutes, she decided it was better to try her hand at hunting. After an hour passed, she had only found empty eggshells. She resigned herself to gathering more of the orange fruits.

    As she started back towards the camp with a small armload of the fruit, she was feeling helpless. How could she bring him this? All she had managed to do was lie about everything, and then cause trouble. Jiro was right about her being useless. As she climbed over a fallen tree, something caught her eye. There in the ravine was a wooden crate she had managed to miss the day before.  Placing the fruits against the base of a tree, she began to climb down towards her discovery. Reaching her foot down onto a ledge, she started to lower herself, shifting her weight a little at a time. Just as she let go a sigh of relief, the rock gave way, sending her sliding the rest of the way down. Her head made contact with the ground and the world began to spin away, fading into darkness.

     

    She felt something cold and wet trickling through her hair as her vision started to return to normal. The green light shifting through the leaves made everything seem like she had fallen into an alien world. Tall mossy stone climbed up towards the narrow sliver of sky. She sat up slowly, looking around the gully, her head spinning. The crate she had seen was only a few feet away. It was approximately knee high, and, based on the amount of moss that was growing on it, it had to have been there for a long time. As she reached up to wipe the dirt away from her face, she felt something thick and damp. Blood! Her hand was covered with blood! She took a deep breath closing her eyes.

    “If I panic now, then I’ll lose everything. Ace has no clue where I am, and I still have to figure out a way out of here” She said, trying to calm her nerves.

    She opened her eyes and looked back at the crate. The mystery of what was inside was far too much to bear. She crawled over to the crate, picking her way carefully across the shifting ground, trying to keep her eyes open. Running her fingers along the edges, she searched for a clasp, or a hinge, but to no avail. The pain was becoming unbearable, blood dripping down her face as she groped around desperately for something to leverage the crate open. She couldn’t return empty handed. Her fingers finally bumped something hard. A rock, or maybe a brick? She smashed the top of the crate with all her might, a crack started to form between the slats. She pried at it with her fingers, but it didn’t budge. If there was some way… Her head was spinning out of control, when something caught her eye. Some type of blade, reflecting back the sunlight from the thick mud. She grabbed the blade and jammed it into the crack, pulling against it with all her strength. The metal cut into her hands, leaving deep gashes. The board snapped, sending her sprawling back across the muddy ground. Everything was fading into a blur as she stumbled back to her knees, using the crate for support. She reached in pulling out a handful of… paper? All of that for a useless box of paper? The pain in her head was excruciating, her fingers where throbbing, slowly going numb. She leaned back against the stone cliff, exhausted. If she just closed her eyes for a minute…

     

    “Hey! Kid. Hey!” Someone was yelling at her…

    “Wake up, damn it! What were you thinking? Here...” Something cold was dripping on her face.

    “Please, come on. You have to wake up.” The voice was so familiar…

    She opened her eyes to see a shadow looming over her. “Hey, are you okay? Gray? Hey. Come here, we gotta get you out of this place.”

    “No.” She pushed away, trying to free herself as she remembered the crate. She had to know what was inside of it, there was no way she was going back empty handed.

    “Stop. We need to get you out of here. Whatever it is can wait.” The voice was fading away again.

     

    The waves beat against the shore, washing away the stains in the sand. The sun crested over the deep blue ocean, the smoke and glowing embers from the attack faded and smoldered. A deathly silence hung over the ruins of the town, broken only by the sound of the seagulls searching for scraps. The town that, only hours before, had been filled with music and laughter had been silenced. No life was spared, no mercy was shown.

    As the sun rose, it bathed the ruins in a hellish red light, illuminating numerous bodies. Women and children, young and old, nothing remained but their corpses. The seaside town of Eaux Reve had promised sanctuary, for many years, to the men of the sea. A safe haven for pirates, marine deserters, and bounty hunters alike. It was a town of dreams, where anyone could escape and start anew.

    Amongst the smoke and ruin, crows pecked at charred flesh. A lone desperate cry sent the birds circling into the sky. A single shadow fell across the ground; Gracy stood amidst the ruin, tears leaving white tracks in the soot that stained her lily white skin. Dirt and debris tangled through her red curls. She stood alone, spared only because her mother had hidden her, sacrificing her own life, that her daughter might live.

    She opened her eyes to see the stars spread across a dark blue sky. The back of her head was throbbing, and her vision was blurry.  She could see a shadow moving to her side, framed by a soft orange glow.

    “Mama?” she called. “Please, don’t go…” and the light began to fade again.

     

    The sound of birds and the smell of smoke surrounded Gracy as she opened her eyes. Her head was sore, and she felt faint. As she looked around the small tent, she struggled to remember what had happened. She pushed herself up and crawled out onto the grass. The sun was high in the sky and reflected off the water of a pond. The pond where she had just been swimming with Ace.

    “ACE!” she called, hoping that she had not imagined it. She looked around and saw him leaning, back against a tree, hat in his lap.

    “Ace?” she tried to stand, but stumbled back down on her knees.

    “What in the name of all the ocean are you doing?” He had jumped to his feet and was running towards her.

    “What happened?” she asked shaking her head, trying to clear her mind.

    “You’re an idiot! That’s what happened. What were you thinking, trying to climb down there by yourself? Do you have any idea how hard it was to find you? I woke up and you were gone! What in the Hell were you trying to prove?”

    He was shouting. His face was red, his eyes like ice, staring through her. Tears rolled down her face, she had done it again, another disaster.

    “Will you stop feeling sorry for yourself? We are partners. You don’t have to ‘prove’ anything to me! I am about as clueless as you are. Got it? Don’t ever run off like that again. If you want to leave, then fine, go, but at least let me know. And for crying out loud, don’t ever do anything that stupid again!”

    He sat down beside her; she could see his hands shaking.

    “I really thought you were gonna die. You know that?” He sighed “I really thought…” He clinched his fist and punched the ground.

    “How long-”

    “I’m not really sure, maybe a week? What were you dreaming about? You kept calling out.”

    “My mother.” She sighed

    He sat back and exhaled. She could see the tears running down his face.

    “Guess you’re pretty hungry, huh? Stay put.” He stood and walked away.

    “Ace?” she barely whispered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. Please...” The tears were streaming down her face. He came back and sat beside her.

    “I know. I shouldn’t have yelled like that, it’s just…” He sighed. “I don’t ever want to lose anyone like that again. I don’t know what you were up to, but that crate you found was something else. I think we could trade it for a real ship. Hey, eat up.” He handed her some kind of bird.

    The tears only came faster “I had wanted to find some kind of breakfast. You had to have been cold, I just wanted…”

    “Stop, just stop” he put his hand on her shoulder “I never did figure out where you got those fruits. I have been looking all this time! And as for the cold, I wasn’t cold, but I also wasn’t in wet shoes. Remember?  Your boots were still wet, your shirt was wet, and you looked like a drowned rat!” he shook his head “you really are as stupid and reckless as my brother”

    “Ace? Teach me to fish. Please? I don’t want to be useless. I want to help you!”

    “You have helped me, a lot! What are you so worked up over? Do you have any idea what was in that crate?”

    “It was paper” she hung her head remembering the crate of yellowed paper that started this entire mess.

    “No. It was packed in paper. It’s some kinda jeweled box. I haven’t managed to open it yet, and I didn’t want to break it, but I bet it’s worth a ton! Let me know when you are feeling better, we need to move on, maybe find a crew.”

    He stood up, stretching his back.

    “If I give you a bag, will you please get some more of those fruits? Those things are awesome, and I can’t find them anywhere.”

    “There’s a bunch of them on the other side of the ravine.”

    “How did you get across?” he crossed his arms “Because if that’s how you fell, I don’t want them.”

    “No, there’s a bridge. And a road that leads into the jungle. I didn’t follow it though; I had planned to go back later.”

    “Well, eat that, and I’ll get you something to drink. You’re gonna need your strength if we are going to find out where that road leads.” He grinned. “Did it look used? Maybe there is a town on this island after all.”

    She shook her head, trying to swallow the meat “it was so overgrown I almost didn’t see it.”

    “Well, maybe there’s something useful along the way. Rest up; we’ll check it out tomorrow”

     

    She woke the next morning and crawled out from under the canopy Her head was much clearer, though it still ached a little. She ran her hand along the back of her head, dried blood caked her hair. She shuddered at the idea, and stood to look around. At some point, Ace had drug the sail over to form the makeshift tent. He seemed to actually care about her, the time and trouble he was taking. Leaving was going to be difficult.

    “Ace?” she called, but he was nowhere to be seen.

    She made her way around to the other side of the pond, looking for a place with some privacy. She found it on the far side of the pond, where a tree had fallen. Its roots held on to the damp earth, as if the tree was refusing to die, it’s branches still flowering, forming a curtain. She laid her clothes on the bank, staying close to the trunk, hoping that Ace was somewhere on the opposite side of the island, or even back at the boat.

    The water stung as she slipped down beneath the surface, slowly working the blood and dirt away. If Ace had discovered she was a girl, he didn’t seem to care, and why was she so worried about it anyway? He was her ticket to freedom, right? She was only going to follow him to the next town, and then she could start over.
She knelt in the water so that her nose was only just above the surface. Why was she so scared he was going to abandon her, when she had planned to abandon him?

    “Grey?” His voice echoed across the water.

    She felt safe when she was with him, and he actually seemed to care what happened to her. As she struggled into her clothes, he called out again. She made her way back around the pond, waving at him, hoping he didn’t notice her emerge. If they were going to be staying any longer, she wanted to keep that place a secret for as long as she could. 
As she approached, he grinned, pointing to a small deer. It seemed he had a successful morning.

    ‘Maybe’ she thought, remembering her mother’s smile, ‘this is what it was like to have family’