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“What’s this?” An unyielding male voice shouted from far up on the ship. “Shipwrecked castaways? Well, bloody sink me! Throw the line.”

A rope hit the water in front of me with a thud. Noah took it, handing it first to McKenzie, then looking to me to grab onto it second. I furrowed my brows at him in hesitation. He glanced out to the sea at our side.

“He isn’t here. He’s...he’s gone.” I was surprised when he looked down. “I’m sorry.”

I nodded, my voice seemingly spent as nausea and dread rose in my stomach. The ocean all around me became mist as it spun in circles around me. Like mixing paints, the sky and sea became one blur, and I knew if I was standing, I’d be wobbling. The water around me was the only thing holding me upright in place.

“I can’t leave him…I’ll stay. You go.” I sucked in a breath. “I’ll stay.”

“Look, I get it, but you can’t stay here in the middle of the Atlantic.”

I thought of what might happen. I could stay here. I could wait for him. Noah didn’t know what I was capable of. If I stayed in this water long enough. If I dove down deeper…

“Hurry up or we’ll leave the lot of you to drown!” A crewman called from the deck, manning the rope we were climbing up.

“Come on, Katrina,” Noah tucked his arm through mine, pulling me with him as he gripped the thick rope. “You know you have to.”

I could no longer tell if my eyes burned from the salt or from the tears I was fighting back. But I couldn’t argue with him. I knew I couldn’t stay, and I took hold of the rope, too. But my body wouldn’t let me go on without my heart.

Clutching the rope as it hoisted us upward, I felt my hands slipping. Water cascaded off my body as we rose, but with each thought of abandoning Milo, my grip weakened. I felt my senses fading, and the sea pulled me back.

I could see only blurry figments of reality. I looked up at the giant ship towering over me. The sounds I heard were muffled, but I could make out a voice just well enough to catch the last bit of someone calling to the crew.

“Damnit, I didn’t just scupper that galleon just to be playing rescuer. Get her up or leave her.”

Someone dove in for me—it was Noah, I think. He wrapped the rope around my waist and then called back up to the men on the ship.

“She’s just in shock!” He shouted. “Pull us up!”

I felt my weight sink into the rope as Noah supported the rest of me. My vision cleared slowly as I passed the wood carvings on the ship. The side was scuffed and scratched from cannon fire, but still the cedar siding looked sturdy, the armored hull just as carefully crafted as the mermaid bow ornament carved from the same wood. She faced outward toward the ocean, with both arms behind her as though she was cutting through the water with ease. But she wasn’t as free as she looked. She was bound to this ship. And now so was I.

Noah helped me over the hull, and McKenzie rushed to my side as I gathered my senses. A few small coughs escaped my lungs, spitting up water I didn’t realize I’d swallowed. In an eerie silence, I could sense the bodies standing around me. Heavy boots reverberated against the wooden floor. Wood creaked. Sails flapped.

“A woman aboard is bad luck they say.” A calm but unwavering voice carried across the deck as footsteps neared. The crew around me parted as a man walked closer, his long black coat drifting behind him like a cloak. The captain, I imagined. He went on, his voice smooth and stern. I recognized it all too well. “But fortunately for you, I’m not superstitious. Because it looks like I’m your last hope, love.”

I squinted, looking up at the brazen blue eyes staring down at me through locks of raven black hair escaping from beneath a leather captain’s hat.

“Bellamy?”

11

Welcome Aboard

Katrina

Ishook the water from my hair and face, blinking in disbelief.

“Captain Bellamy, lass. Good on you that you’ve heard of me. Saves me the explaining.” He looked me up and down, as if disgusted or confused. I couldn’t tell which as he glanced away from me and toward my two friends.

“Do you lubbers have names?” he asked with an arched brow above kohl-smudged eyes.

“Is anyone going to explain what the hell is going on?” Noah shouted after an awkward pause.

“We rescued ya.” A gruff crewman watching beside us spoke up. “What more is there to explain?”

Bellamy cocked his head with hardened eyes. “Aye, we did. You’d think these castaways would be a little more grateful.”

“No, we are,” McKenzie uttered, her voice shaking tenderly. “We’re grateful. But we just don’t know where we are.”