Mutiny

Long days passed on the Lucky Star. As Sailmaker, Airi spent very little time fixing the sails. Instead, she mended piles of shirts, socks, and pants, while the storm raged endlessly on the horizon. When the ship drifted too close, the waves warned them to stay back. They were stuck in limbo, always sailing circles in a ring of death, while storm clouds hid the sky.

But life with the crew wasn’t bad. Cook’s food was surprisingly good, and she soon found herself learning the songs they sang around the lantern at night. The crew had endless stories to share about their past adventures, and Airi shared a few of her own—blatantly untrue, but everyone laughed anyways.

Once Nestor recovered, Captain gave him the name of Deckhand 2 and put him to work scrubbing the deck. On the first day, it was a bit painful, watching the child struggle to scrape the gunk off the planks with a stone.

“Why don’t you ask Captain for a different job?” Airi asked, watching sweat run down Nestor’s neck. His hands, when he reached up to rub his face, were red and blistsered. “It’s way too—”

“Deckhand 2, look at you!” Captain said. She’d somehow snuck up behind them, and her eyes gleamed with pride. “I was worried that you were a lazylandlubber at first, but you’re pulling your weight just fine.”

First Mate approached, too.

“Aye, he’s one of us,” First Mate said warmly. “He’s the kind who cares about his friends. Doesn’t think he’s too good for us, like that nasty Wendolyn who abandoned you both in the storm.”

Nestor blushed to the tips of his ears, despite his exhaustion. “Thanks.” nothing.” Airi saw him clench his hands to hide his bleeding palms.

“Keep it up.” Captain ruffled his hair.

Joy and fear flickered in Nestor’s eyes as he worked away at the planks with a newfound fervor. Now he had a whole crew to believe in him.

Night sucked the last of the light from the ship. Airi leaned forward on the bulwark. She told herself that she was just admiring the view, but her eyes scanned for a glint of red hair in the gray-black water. Irrational hope told her that surely, Wendolyn was alive. She would come back to rescue them from the storm.

Doubt overtook hope. “You’re on your own,” Wendolyn had said. Maybe she was sitting in Herringport right now, eating grilled fish and waiting for the carriage to take her back to Magisbury. Maybe she’d flown back already. “You’ll have to find someone else to defeat Charybdis—”

First Mate’s voice behind her. “Hey, Sailmaker. What are you thinking about?”

She hadn’t even heard him approach. Airi smiled, a little disconcerted, and said, “Oh, I was just thinking.”

“Care to share?”

“Well...” No.

“I bet I know. You’re thinking about what Cook’s gonna make for breakfast tomorrow. Well, it’s your lucky day, because I happened to take a sneak peek earlier.”

Airi smiled and shook her head.

“What do you think about the Lucky Star?”

“It’s great.” The practiced response slipped out of her lips, but there was an element of truth to it. It was nice to belong.

“Not so bad, being trapped by Charybdis, is it? Everybody gets used to it.”

“It’s better than being dead.”

“Well said, well said!” Grinning boyishly, First Mage said, “So, c’mon! Tell me, what you were thinking about just now. Friends don’t keep secrets.”

Airi smiled uncomfortably. “...Friends. Right.” She looked at the sea. “I don’t know. I guess I was thinking about what to do next.”

“Go to sleep,” he suggested.

“No, I mean... how to get out of this storm.” She looked at him. “I mean, we can’t stay here forever, right?”

“Why not?” First Mate said. “We’re happy to have you.”

“I know, but...” Airi thought of a certain seafoam-haired mage. She hoped the Curiosity flowers hadn’t died of neglect. “...I have to get back home.”

First Mate grabbed her left arm, making Airi flinch. His grip was just hard enough to hurt, yet light enough to be considered playful. “Aw, are you thinking of leaving us already? You know, you have a home on the Lucky Star, too.”

“Let me go.”

“Fine, fine! Who am I to keep a friend from their sleep?” First Mate said, releasing her wrist. Laughter lingered in his eyes. “But a word of caution. If there’s one thing Captain hates most, it’s mutiny. I’ve seen too many friends go over the plank and straight to Charybdis. Don’t let yourself be the next one.”

Airi swallowed. “I get it.”

She went belowdecks, filled with the sinking sensation that something was off.

“Deckhand 2, take this message to Navigator, will you?”

“Sure!” Nestor took the message between his teeth, since his hands were already full of other miscellaneous objects, including a length of rope and a pair of old boots.

“Deckhand 2, mind helping me peel these vegetables for lunch?”

“Okay, one moment!”

“Nestor, can we talk for a second?” Airi stood in the way of Nestor in his mad dash around the ship.

“One second, Airi! I have to help—”

“It’s important.” Airi held out her hand to stop him.

“What’s important?” Captain asked, leaning her arm on Airi’s shoulder.

Airi jumped.

“You don’t mind telling me, do you?” Captain said, smiling sunnily.

Mutiny. Mutiny. Mutiny, whispered Airi’s traitorous heartbeats. She reminded herself that this wasn’t mutiny. She had a right to leave.

“I was going to talk to Nestor about some... plans.”

“Plans.”

“You know, plans to... beat the monster and escape the storm. I mean, surely—”

Every head turned in her direction.

“You’re leaving?” Cook cried. “But... I just baked a blueberry pie!”

“Where are you going to go?” Navigator asked, frowning.

“Hold it. I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding,” Captain interrupted. She picked up one of the boots that had fallen out of Nestor’s arms. “Sailmaker and Deckhand 2 aren’t the type to abandon their friends.” Smiling, she placed the boot back into Nestor’s arms.

“We’re not fr—” Airi started to say.

“We would never abandon our friends!” Nestor declared.

“Of course not,” Captain agreed. “It was all a misunderstanding. You’re one of us.” She set her hand on Nestor’s shoulder and steered him away. “Now, let’s get some of that off your hands.”

Before she walked off, Captain turned her head to the side, so that Airi could see one of her eyes—slitted in a glare, directed right at Airi.

The next morning, Airi was on deck-scrubbing duty. Captain hadn’t said the reason, only: “Everyone scrubs the deck once in a while. A spotless deck means a happy crew.”

Knees aching, Airi knelt beside Nestor. The stone kept slipping out of her crystal fingers and sliding across the deck, the slats between planks were crusted with sand, and the stones were awkwardly shaped, so she had to use her fingernails in some places. At a particularly stubborn patch of gunk, she finally tossed the stone aside.

“This is pointless. Why do they need to scrub the deck? It’s not like the ship’s going anywhere,” she griped.

“Captain says it’s everyone’s job to keep the ship clean,” Nestor said.

“Have you forgotten about becoming a mage? We’re not even part of this crew.”

“Yeah, but—”

“And don’t give me that nonsense about how we’re in this together. I bet Captain doesn’t have to do anything.” Airi dropped the stone for the hundredth time. In frustration, she punched at the deck, forgetting for one crucial moment that her hand was made of crystal.

The wood splintered, leaving a gaping hole and a cloud of wood dust.

A spotless deck, Captain had said. Did this count as mutiny? Sabotage? Airi looked at the plank on the side of the ship and gulped.

“Airi...”

Nestor was pointing at the splintered hole in the deck. “I know, I know,” Airi said, grimacing. “I’ll have to cover... cover...” She frowned. Something glinted in the hole.

Jewels? No, crystals. But that didn’t make sense.

They looked at each other, realization and fear dawning—

“Charybdis isn’t a sea creature. Charybdis is the Lucky Star.”