We made it back to the Revenge in record time with Charlie flying ahead of us, squawking loud enough to alert any nearby creatures we were coming — he didn't care that no animals lived on the island. Only when Rev moved away from the island, the gangplank slowly moving back into its compartment, did I turn to regard Kal.

The palor of his skin had lessened with the hike, a healthy flush to his cheeks. But that didn't take away the haunted look in his eyes or the way his body seemed tenser than I'd ever seen in any battle. Just the sound of Charlie's wings rubbing against the main mast had Kal jumping like a shot was fired. Guilt weighed heavy in my chest, crushing any other feelings I may have had towards the man. I had wanted to poke some fun at him, watch him squirm a little uncomfortably. I hadn't planned on this.

He moved across the deck like a man who had just seen a ghost, his boots dragged across the wood. At the freshwater spout, he scoop his hands into the small tub and splashed the water on his face and neck. Closing his eyes, he rested his hands on the basin as I stood watching.

"Kal." He hummed, barely registering that he heard me. But then he sighed and opened his eyes, meeting mine a few feet away. I couldn't believe what I was about to do but I couldn't stop the guilt from closing my lungs and making it hard to breathe. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that she—."

"Was literally my worst nightmare in human form?" My mouth snapped shut at his words. No, I hadn't considered that. I hadn't even taken the time to think about it. He shook his head harshly as he pushed away from the water basin. "Elsie..." His eyes were full of a sadness I wasn't sure I had ever felt myself before. "I've never regretted that you saved my life that day but you have no idea what the witch did to me when you left me here."

Guilt turned to a need to defend myself. I wasn't his babysitter. I didn't have to save his life on that beach, finding his body bloody and missing a limb. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you needed me to hold your hand. I got you to the one person who could save you."

The muscles in his jaw jumped as the sadness was overtaken by irritation. "I didn't need you to hold my fucking hand, thank you. I'm just saying you don't know what that crazy woman does in order to save someone. You don't know how I got this arm only that I did and you've never asked."

Crossing my arms over my chest, I looked out over the starboard bow, anywhere but at his face. "Didn't realize I needed to. You were alive. That was all I cared about."

"Fuck, Elsie. At least act like you care! Otherwise, you never needed to save my life in the first place."

"You're right. I didn't need to."

"So why did you?" His voice rose enough to startle Charlie from his perch in the crow's nest.

Throwing my hands in the air, I turned back to him without bothering to hide the emotions I could feel trying to choke up my throat. I have never wanted to have this conversation, that's why I never asked. And yet here we were, stuck on my ship with nowhere to run to. My eyes landed on the medallion around his neck, the one he never took off. The same one that had been on his bloody body the day I found him on the beach after his Crossing. "Because your mother was my best friend! I couldn't let her son die! Not when there was a way for me to save him." The anger in my veins blew away with the breeze, leaving me feeling raw and exposed. My voice was soft when I spoke again, barely loud enough to be heard over the sound of the water. "I knew I would never see her again. The least I could do was save you."

I could see the moment the fight left him, too. His shoulders sagged and the pinch in his brow shifted. We were both silent for a few moments, clearly neither of us knew what to say. Kal looked away for the first time, turning his eyes to the waterline. A brief chuckle left his chest before he turned back to me, a small smile on his lips. "You don't need to keep reminding me you're older than me."

A surprised laugh left me before I could stop it. Shaking my head, I returned his smile with a tentative one. "I'm still sorry." Nodding, he looked at me like he had so much he wanted to say but all he voiced was a soft thank you.

Another few moments of silence stretched out between us before I cleared my throat. "Right, okay." Tapping my boot in the deck, I looked out over the forecastle. "Rev, set a heading for the Barrier Islands. Stay cautious." The grumble he gave me was as clear as if he had spoken in words. "Yeah, I know. I'm not thrilled about it either. Let's just get this over with, yeah?" The thrusters hummed beneath our boots as the ship turned towards the West. It would be hours before we reached our destination. We'd have to sail through the night. I only hoped we wouldn't meet one of the Triangle's deadly storms.

Turning towards the stairs under the quarter-deck, I glanced over my shoulder at Kal. "We should eat something and get some rest." It was a good thing I had kept one of the old bunk rooms as a bedroom or Kal would have nowhere to sleep. He sure as hell wasn't sleeping in my cabin, storm or not.

~~~

Somehow we made it through the night without encountering a storm. The sun was barely rising as I made my way up the stairs and to the wheel. Light streamed out from behind clouds and flashed in and out of the masts and sails. Rev was coasting at a nice leisurely pace, which he tended to do during the night when visibility was less than perfect and I was asleep in my cabin. Patting the railing, I fixed my jacket a little tighter around me. It was always a little colder in this area of the endless sea, especially without the sun awake to warm everything up. "Almost there, Rev, and then you can take a break."

The horizon was still just a line against the sky, light breaking across it in bright yellows. There was no sign of the Barrier Islands yet but I knew they couldn't be far. Wood creaking to my right made me turn to find Kal walking up the stairs, two steaming mugs in his hands. Huh, maybe I could get used to having someone bring me my morning tea. He set it down on the railing beside me, not letting go until I had my fingers around the lip.

He hummed as he took a sip of his own. "Gotta say, it sure is different sleeping on a boat without a crew. It was eerily quiet last night. I don't know how you do it."

Watching the steam from my mug fly away on the breeze, I shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah, I guess it takes some time to get used to." I couldn't really remember what it was like having a crew, it had been just me and Rev when we arrived in the Triangle and didn't find Charlie for a while after that. If I thought back hard enough, to the days of sailing the seas with my father and his crew, I did remember how it was seldom really quiet onboard. I didn't let myself think that far back very often. Or ever.

"I could sure get used to not having to battle my way into the galley first thing."

I could hear the amusement in his voice, bringing a lilting fashion to his words. When I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, I could see a content smile on his lips. At least our visit to the witch yesterday didn't seem to damped his spirits too much. At least on the surface level. I didn't tell him that I had heard him last night, wandering the ship at all hours. I knew based on how little sleep I had gotten, that he had gotten even less.

Focusing on the horizon again and not on his face, I cleared my throat. "Yeah, that is a nice feature of a self-driving ship. No need for anyone to be on board."

"Not sure that would be the only reason to need people on board." His voice was quieter when he spoke, gentle, like he was afraid to start a fight so early. "You must get lonely out here all on your own."

Rolling my eyes, I cast him a glare before heading for the stairs he had just come up. I wanted something to eat and I was tiring of this conversation very quickly. "You sound like Willa. I'm perfectly fine all on my own."

His voice followed me down to the main deck. "Oh, trust me, we both know that. Doesn't mean you have to be."

It took a lot of energy to not roll my eyes again. "Fuck off, Kal. Or I'll through you over the railing and you can swim the rest of the way."

"Oh, touchy. You sleep okay?"

I could hear the smirk in his voice as we descended the stairs. The main hall of the ship was only big enough for one person to walk normally; the ceiling low and curved at the top. I didn't have to bend my neck awkwardly to walk but I knew Kal did. It brought a small smile to my lips, knowing how uncomfortable it must be. Passing the room Kal had spent the night in and rooms that held more food and weapons storage, I pushed open the door to the galley.

It was a small space with one long table in the center and the kitchen proper to the other end. I didn't always like the new technologies that fell into the Triangle but some things, like refrigeration, were so helpful that I didn't dare turn away. Having fresh food that would keep for days over the seas was still a novelty. One that I wasn't about to argue with, especially as it meant pulling out a pot full of Willa's stew. Setting it on the stove, asking Rev to heat it up for us, I turned to find Kal sitting at the table with a smile on his lips. It immediately irritated me.

"What?"

"Nothing."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Then what's the smile for?"

"Willa's stew."

Now that was a blatant lie. "Keep it up, Rackham. I'll make good on my word to throw you overboard."

His smile only grew. "Well then—."

A loud bang shook the ship, rattling the pot on the stove and sending me scrambling to grab onto something. The whole ship teetered to the starboard side harshly before righting itself again. Rev grumbled loudly, clearly displeased. "What the fuck was that?" Neither Kal nor I took the time to wait for an answer from my ship. We quickly made our way up the stairs and onto the deck. I ran to the railing, leaning over to try and see what Rev must have ran into. A sunken ship, maybe, but I didn't see anything. All I saw was a calm sea for as far as my eyes could make out.

Kal came to my side, his brows scrunched tight. "Something hit us."

A sinking feeling hit my gut. I did not like how he said that. We may have missed the storms that plagued this part of the sea but it was clear we hadn't evaded one of the other dangers. Closing my eyes, I gripped the railing so tightly my fingers ached. "If you say sea serpent I swear to the gods, Kal—."

The ship rocked violently again and a piercing screech filled the otherwise quiet air.