"It all started right when he came here, really." Kal was perched on the railing of the deck, one foot on the beam and the other dangling back and forth. He rested his mechanical arm on his knee as he spoke, his eyes on the horizon. "I knew something was off about him the moment his flying contraption fell through the Passage." A frown came to his face. "He just felt...evil."

I can't help but scoff. "A lot of people are evil, Kal."

"Yeah, but his was almost palpable on the air. I know you've noticed. You've never liked him." His gaze leaves the water and turns back to me. Leaning against the railing, the mug between my hands long empty, I shrug. "You've seen how he is with Willa, yeah?"

Oh, I'd seen it. He spoke to her like she was a bug underneath his boot. The first time I had witnessed it, I'd nearly slit his throat before Willa put a stop to it. She forbids fighting in her establishment — not that that stopped me most of the time. Growling low, I shook my head. "I should've killed him long ago."

"We both should've."

The defeat in his voice is what causes me to look at him. His brows are pulled tight, as are his fists. I don't understand his sudden bought of weakness, perhaps even guilt. What in the Triangle does he have to feel guilty for? He didn't bring Heinrich here. We're not the enforcers of the endless sea; it's not our job to put down a rogue man. I don't know what comes over me, but I'm suddenly feeling the need to comfort him. Something inside of me doesn't like him looking so defeated. "It's not our job to keep the Triangle safe from crazed men like him."

Kal looks at me, frown still on his face. But this time there's something else in eyes. It's not the guilt from before but I'm not sure I can place the emotion. Or if I even want to try. "That doesn't mean we can't help. We're two of the most capable pirates in this damn place. If we can't stop a psychopath with more minions than brains himself, who will?"

Grabbing the mugs off the railing, I turned back for the door. "Still doesn't mean it has to be me." Charlie flies into the room through one of the open windows, perching himself in his nest. He curls up, hiding his snout under his wing. Apparently, he's deemed Kal to be no threat anymore. First, my ship goes looking for him and now my dragon is no longer hissing in his face. Traitors, the lot of them. I've just set the mugs in the metal tub that acts as my sink when Kal walks back into the room.

"Come on, Elsie. Aren't you tired of doing the same thing day in and day out? Isn't robbing the dock guards getting a little old?"

Could it be possible that the damn witch gave Kal more than just a metal arm when she saved him? Could he read my thoughts too or had I simply become that easy to read. Rolling my eyes, trying hard to act like his words meant nothing to me, I turned to face him. Had he always been standing so close? He was only an arms length away now. I hadn't heard him walk that far into the room. Squaring my shoulders, I hold his gaze. "I just said I want to keep the Triangle just the way it is. Why would I be bored?"

He shakes his head, a few loose strands of hair fall into his eyes. He has the same dark blond hair his father had but the slight wavey texture to it came from his mother, I knew without a doubt. I wondered if he knew those little details or not. He took a step closer to me, causing my brows to pull down at the close proximity. "Can we please stop this game you play? You're not as ruthless as you want people to think you are. I know you care. You cared about those mer-children in those nets."

"You don't know anything about me, Rackham."

He scoffed, annoyance clear as day on his face. He pointed out of the windows towards the bay, where the Revenge sat, and further out into the open sea was his own ship. "Oh please, Elsie. I've been in this damned place almost as long as you have. There's a hell of a lot I know."

"You know nothing, Kallum Rackham. I've built everything I have here on my own with no one's help. I don't need yours now." We're so close now. When did I take a step away from the sink? Or did he come closer to me? I could feel his breath on my face as I glared up at him. His chest was only inches from my own; I could feel his body heat like it radiated off like a fire. Jabbing a finger into his chest, I sneered. "Don't forget that I'm the only reason you're even still breathing. You would've bled out on the beach if I hadn't found you."

Pushing against my finger, he got right into my face. I tried to ignore how hard his chest felt underneath my finger. Or the way my heart was pounding inside my chest. The last person I had ever let this close to me was Willa and she only gave off comfort. Kal was something else entirely. "So you keep saying, but why you keep holding this against me, I'll never know. You don't want anything to do with me. Isn't that right, Elizabeth Bonnet?"

Whatever I was feeling evaporated like the dew on the grass in the morning when the sun hit it. Putting both hands on his chest, I pushed him away from me. He only stumbled back a couple steps, not near far enough for my liking, but it would do for now. "Don't ever call me that again or I'll cut your tongue out myself." Grabbing his jacket off the chair where he had tossed it, I thrust it into his chest, pushing as I did. "Get out. We're done with this stupid conversation. You want to play hero? Fine, go ahead. Don't haunt me when you die by your stupidity." He didn't move right away and that only proved to make me angrier. Grabbing my pistol — it was closer to me than my cutlass — I leveled it at his head. "Get. Out. And don't make a habit of coming here ever again, either."

Shaking his head, he fisted his coat in his hand before stomping towards the door. "Don't come crying to me when you need help and no one will offer it. You can't ignore the problems forever, Elsie. At some point this fight will reach your little island and then what?" He stopped at the door, turning to look at me over his shoulder.

I raised a brow. "I'll cut down whoever dares set foot in my bay. Don't you worry your pretty little head about me."

Sighing, he shook his head once more. "Goodbye, Elsie."

I waited until I could no longer hear his boots on the wood before I turned to the window closest to me. I watched as he boarded his rowboat and made his way back out of the bay. Charlie squawked from his nest. Looking up at him, his tail was flicking back and forth like it did when he was annoyed about something. "What?" I sounded harsh to my own ears and apparently, Charlie agreed. He took off from his perch, out the window, and down to Rev. Growling, I slammed my fists on the windowsill before turning for the room that held my bath. Time to restart my morning off on the right foot and forget the fact that Kal Rackham even exists.

~~~

It's midday by the time I reach Tortuga and my mood is just as sour as it was since Kal's rude awakening. I didn't even want to leave my bay and come out to be around people but the little voice in the back of my head got increasingly loud as the hours passed. Blast it all, starting with Kal, but my curiosity had been peaked and I needed to know more about what Heinrich's been planning. All along, apparently.

Trudging up the docks, I didn't even bother telling off the dock guard for this or that. He looked just about as shocked as I felt when I stormed passed him and up the dock. I didn't have the energy to waste it on him today. The town itself was back to its boisterous self, with the ladies and gents at Madame Gothie's sticking their heads out of their windows to lure in their next client. I didn't see any of Heinrich's men around, nor was his ship in port, but one could never be too sure these days. Not with full grown men simply disappearing before your eyes. Turning a corner, I headed straight for Willa's. I needed her ever-sound advice, preferably that didn't involve speaking to Kal Rackham.

One step into the building and it took everything in me to not just turn around and walk right back to The Revenge. Kal sat at the bar, an easy smile on his lips, as he spoke to Willa about gods only knew what. Probably making fun of how he'd got all the way onto my dock before I even woke up. Sighing, I squared my shoulders and headed for the duo. I was not about to let him push me out of the only decent establishment in the Triangle. And Willa was my friend first.

Willa caught my approach if her raised brow in my direction was anything to go by. She rested her elbow on the bar top, eyeing me as I stopped in front of her. Ignoring Kal mere inches to my left, I inclined my head towards the kitchen door. "Can we talk?"

She glanced at Kal, before sighing heavily. "I really think it's you two who need to talk—"

I scoffed. Scrunching my nose, I barely cast a glance at Kal. "I have nothing to say to him."

"And I've got nothing more to say to her, either."

Kal's voice was bored and held just enough snark in it that it took far much more willpower to not snap back at him than I'd like to admit. Instead of going down that road, which would surely end up in a fight in Willa's dining room, I pushed away from the bar and headed for the kitchen. Thankfully, Willa followed and Kal was remarkably smart enough to stay behind.

Grabbing a meat pie off the tablet where they had been set to cool, I took a giant bite before spinning on the heels of my boots to see Willa. She still had a single brow raised, her arms crossed over his chest like she was waiting for an excuse or an apology. Swallowing down the food, I gestured to the door we had just come through. "What the hell is he doing here?"

"Believe it or not but you aren't the only pirate who frequents Black Beard's." Running a hand down her face, she sighed. "Elsie, I know you don't like him, for whatever reasons only known to you, but he is the best person to speak to about this."

I set the half-eaten pie on the work table so I could throw my hands in the air, "You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"You were going to complain about Kal being at your home this morning. You were going to say what a horrible person he is and how much you want to run him through with your cutlass. You were—"

"Okay, okay. I get it." Crossing my own arms over my chest, I leaned back against the table. "So what? You think Kal and I should work together to stop Heinrich? I could do it on my own, you know."

Some of the fight bled out of her as her shoulder drooped. Coming to my side, she put a hand on the back of my neck, her fingers digging into my hair. "Yes. You could. I've never doubted you, Elsie. But this whole thing is much bigger than just one man and his warped sense of justice. You'll need help. And as much as you hate to hear it, Kal is the best person for the job." Her fingers squeezed my neck comfortingly, "You two would be an unstoppable team, if you'd simply give him a shot."

There was little else in the entire Triangle that made me want to pull my own hair out quiet like Kal Rackham did. But I also knew that Willa was right — he was a formidable pirate, good with a blade and an excellent shot with a pistol. His irritating attitude would be something he'd have to work on or I'd just cut his tongue out. Well, that doesn't sound so bad. Sighing rather dramatically, I stood up from my slouch and stepped out of Willa's hold. Meeting her gaze, I tried to ignore the way her lips quirked up ever so slightly in the corners. "Alright, fine. I'll give it a try. But if he so much as breaths near my bay again, I'll—."

"Yes, yes. You'll run him through." Willa was smiling now, not bothering to try and hide it. Patting my shoulder, she steered us towards the door. "Now, how about you two have a drink together, hm?"

I really didn't think mixing rum into this equation was a good idea.