Chapter Three
The way back to the top deck was simple and I gulped down the fresh ocean air once it hit me. Steel was walking around examining his crew as they worked. I remained in the hallway as I watched him. Nobody was talking and Steel wore a harsh look that twisted his handsome face. His body was tensed as he moved and it made him look like an animal ready to pounce.
A huge, bald-headed man appeared out of nowhere, grabbed my arm, and jerked me towards him. “A pretty little thing like you shouldn’t be hiding. Why don’t you come join the fun?”
He dragged me until we were standing next to Steel. Steel met my eyes and shook his head.
“What part of staying in the room don’t you understand?” he asked.
“I thought you were discussing my fate, so I wanted to hear the verdict myself.” I kept my chin up.
“I say we throw her overboard.” The bald man’s fingers dug deeper into my arm.
“I can swim, you idiot,” I snarked.
“Stan, let her go. You don’t want to piss Poseidon off, do you?” Steel narrowed his eyes at him.
“Poseidon? He wasn't the one who created sirens,” said a dark-haired pirate.
I recalled him from last night. He was one of the guys getting the captain some food. Now, I realized it had been for Steel.
A muttering broke out about where sirens originated from and I was unable to hold my tongue. “Who are you to deny who created us?”
“The stories my Uncle Willie used to tell me always involved Persephone, not Poseidon,” the dark-haired guy replied.
“And is your Uncle Willie a siren?”
“Well, no, he’s a drunkard who spends most of his time in a brothel.”
“Then, his words hold no truth when compared to an actual siren.”
“But he learned the myths of sirens from the Greeks himself.”
“The myths of sirens. Not the truth.”
Gregor came running onto the deck before anything else could be said. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were wide. “Captain the girl is—”
He cut himself off when his gaze landed on me.
“Yeah, thanks for the heads up, Gregor,” Steel said with a hint of a smile.
Gregor stood straighter. “I’m sorry captain. I don’t know how she did it. She was in the room and suddenly, I was tied to your chair and she was gone.”
“Looks like you were telling the truth after all.” Steel turned his attention back to me. “Let her go, Stan.”
“I ain’t scared of no gods. What have they ever done for us besides try to sink our ship?” Stan moved me away from Steel and closer to the water, tugging me along with him.
“This is my ship and it’s still floating as you can see, so release her before I take your arm.”
“Are you sure you’re not going soft because of her pretty face?”
“Do you all remember what happened to Black Heart and his crew? They captured a mermaid and filleted her like a fish. It angered King Triton and he killed every person on that ship, except one. That way his message could be passed along to the next sailors who think about capturing a mermaid.”
“But she ain’t a mermaid.”
“She’s still a creature of the sea and her death could lead to ours. Remember what also happened to the crew on Poseidon’s Whore? I’m not willing to risk that. Is anyone else?”
A chorus of “no’s” broke out and Stan reluctantly released me. The look he gave me said this wasn’t over and it made my skin crawl. I reacted by moving closer to Steel.
“Seems as though you weren’t lying about what you are.” Steel clapped an arm around Gregor’s shoulder. “You, my friend, have just been bested by a siren.”
“Holy Hades, why are we all alive then?” Gregor asked as he faced me.
“What do you mean?” I raised my eyebrows at him.
“Why haven’t you forced our ship to crash and kill us all?”
“You’ve already asked me this and my answer isn’t going to change. I don’t want to kill you guys. I only used my siren voice on you because I felt like a prisoner and didn’t like it.”
That and I discovered it didn’t work well under stress, but I wasn’t going to let them in on that tidbit.
“Now that you’re not going to kill us and we’re not going to kill you, can you get back to the room? You’re distracting the men from their work and I like my ship to be cleaned with soapy water, not drool.” Steel turned a glare onto the men who nearly ran into each other while trying to get back to their stations.
“Only if you’ll allow me time out of it.” I crossed my arms.
“If you change out of that thin and exposing piece of fabric first, then you can come out while most of the men are sleeping. Maybe you’ll even get a tour of the ship.”
“Fine.”
I allowed Gregor to direct me back to Steel’s room, even though I wasn’t ready to give up the fresh smell of open water. He closed the door behind us and eyed up Steel’s chair like it was going to attack him.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to tie you to it again.” I sighed as I sat on the bed. “I’m sorry about that by the way. You’ve been nothing but nice so far and it was wrong of me to do that.”
His gaze was still cautious as he sat in the wooden seat. “You’re nothing like I imagined a siren would be.”
“That’s because I’m not your average siren. I’m part human. It’s only a quarter but that’s enough to grant me the human weakness of compassion.”
“What are the other sirens like then?”
“Dark and evil. They enjoy killing humans.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re on this ship.”
I retold the story about being hunted by the other sirens. His mouth was set in a deep scowl once I was finished.
“That’s terrible,” he said. “But you have to know that humans aren’t that innocent either. People, like Stan for example, would rather see you dead than aboard this ship. So, just because you’re safer from the sirens up here, death is still hiding around each corner. That’s why Steel wants you to stay in this room unless one of us is with you.”
“Is Steel really as superstitious as he says?”
“Yes. It’s probably the only reason you’re still on this ship. He’s usually one to swing his sword before thinking unless it’s something that would anger the gods. He’s worried the Underworld is calling for him sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t try his patience though. He doesn’t have much of it and holds a short fuse.”
“Um… I have an awkward request… I have to relieve myself.”
“Oh…” He cleared his throat. “That’s… we usually urinate over the side of the ship, but you’ll have to use the head. It’s where we… yeah it isn’t pretty in there so you’re going to want to hold your breath and be quick. We aren’t used to having a lady on the ship.”
Gregor’s cheeks reddened as he led me back out and he didn’t say anything as we walked. His shoulders were stiff as he moved and I could tell I wasn’t in for anything pleasant.
“That’s… um… it.”
It was a hole and smelled foul. I thought the room’s scent was bad but it was nothing compared to this. Nothing could ever compare to this.
Gregor turned his back to give me my privacy. My food threatened to come up, but it wasn’t like I had any other choice. I did my business as fast as I could and was—for once—happy to be back in Steel’s room.
We didn’t speak of the head again. In fact, Gregor could barely look at me as he excused himself to stand guard outside for a bit. With his absence, I crawled under Steel’s covers. They smelled of him and I was shocked to discover that it calmed me. My eyes closed, but it would only be for a moment because I couldn’t go to bed. Not yet.
***
Steel woke me up before I even realized I’d fallen asleep. He was climbing into bed while trying to push me over.
So much for me staying awake.
“What are you doing?” I groaned and still felt half-asleep.
“I’m coming to bed. What does it look like?” He grunted. “Move over.”
“Not with me you’re not.”
“Then, feel free to get out of my bed.”
He slid under the covers and that was when I noticed he was shirtless. I launched over him and toppled to the floor, bringing the blanket with me. It revealed Steel without his pants as well. There he was, in all his glory, and I shamelessly couldn’t look away.
“If you like it so much you should get back into bed.”
My cheeks burned. “No way. I’m staying down here and I’m keeping the blanket.”
He shrugged. “Suit yourself. It gets hot anyway so feel free to keep the covers. I don’t need them.”
He rolled onto his stomach and began snoring within a few minutes. I stared at him flabbergasted. I couldn’t believe he was going to let me sleep on the floor. As uncomfortable as the hard wood was, there was no way I was sleeping next to Steel. I didn’t trust him and hated sleeping in his room let alone his bed. That certainly was never going to happen.
Why am I still staring at him and his butt?
I threw the blanket over my head and wrapped it around my body to maximize the chance at some comfort. Sleep didn’t come to me as easy as it did to Steel, but I drifted off eventually.
* * *
“Mom,” I called to her in the darkness.
Mom was the only thing visible and she beckoned me towards her. No matter how fast I ran, the distance between us never closed. It only grew and the adrenaline quickened my heartbeat and my breathing as I began to panic.
“Don’t leave me.” Tears cascaded down my face and when I thought I would finally reach her, I started plummeting down into nothingness.
A sudden jerking had me bolting upright and Steel’s room came into focus. It had been a dream. Mom was dead and there was nothing I could do to save her.
Something kicked my leg and then landed on me. The impact knocked the wind out of my lungs and Steel’s curses filled the dark room.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Stay here.”
Steel rushed out of the room while trying to tug on his pants. Without thinking, I followed along and pulled the blanket tighter around me. The nightmare unsettled me and I didn’t want to be here alone.
On the deck, I was forced sideways by the rocking boat. Steel had somehow remained standing and yelled, “Where’d this storm come from? Why wasn't I warned?”
“It came out of nowhere, captain,” someone replied loudly.
“It’s her fault.” Stan stood over me and pointed a finger in my direction. He was breathing heavily and his eyes flashed along with the purple light in the sky.
The lightning struck overhead and eerily illuminated his face. He bent towards me as the thunder clapped, but was knocked out of the way.
“Get back to your post. We need to get the sails back under our control,” Steel commanded.
Stan ground his teeth, but did as he was told. Steel picked me up by my arms and shoved me towards the hall.
“Get back to the room if you want to live.”
And then he was gone.
I was already soaked from the rain and knew there was nothing I could do to help. My feet were knocked out from under me a few times and it was disorientating. By the time I made it back to the room, the only thing I wanted to do was cuddle into a ball. Unfortunately, the blanket was soaked along with my pink dress.
Fighting the shivers, I changed into the nightgown Steel had brought in earlier. It was thin and white, but it was dry and comfortable. The bed was still warm when I sat on it and I relaxed into it.
Not much time had passed before the ship settled and Steel returned to the room. He still wasn’t wearing a top and his muscles were tensed. He appeared to be deep in thought and jumped when I asked if everything was okay.
“I forgot you were here for a moment.” He moved his wet bangs out of his eyes. They left beads of water on his forehead. “The storm came and went so quickly. It’s strange. Is Stan right? Can sirens control the weather?”
“No, that would be really cool if I could though.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“The blanket is soaked.”
“It’s okay, I have extras.” He pulled two blankets out of a compartment and threw one at me. “Man, my pants are soaked.”
Steel began struggling to get them off and I knew that if I continued to watch, I would see all his glory again. I gulped hard and threw the fresh blanket over my head. I got back on the floor and twisted myself within the covers again.
Goosebumps covered my arms and I rubbed at them. My throat was dry from the knowledge that Steel was undressing. There was no way I was coming out from under these covers until he was fully dressed in the morning.
I heard Steel’s footsteps make their way around me and back to the bed. “Goodnight, Sera,” he said with a chuckle.
“Goodnight.” My voice was small, but his laugh told me he’d heard.
Steel’s nakedness made me forget all about the nightmare about my mom and I fell asleep much quicker this time.