^“Very good,” Zach compliments me after I finish washing up all the dishes from lunch. The meal was surprisingly quiet, and I learnt that three times a day, they sit down to have a meal. Three meals a day is a lot, and it’s hard to get my head around how much food they have. They don’t waste food, though. They always manage to eat all the cooked food, and I helped Zach put back the extra food. In some ways, it makes it that bit easier to accept. They all spoke to me a little over the meals, and they mainly asked about Onaya. I was thankful they seemed to stay away from asking about my family or the mark.

“That barrel is moving,” I point a finger at one of the barrels which is shaking from side to side. I really hope they don’t have rats here.

Zach stomps over and pulls the lid open, reaches in and pulls out a big red cat. The cat is huge, with a large stomach and bright-red fur. I’ve heard of cats and seen drawings of them in books, but there weren’t any on the islands. The cat meows loudly and starts hissing. I wouldn’t say it is friendly at all but very handsome for a cat.

“Salty Sam, how many times have I thrown you off this ship, and you keep coming back?” Zach says, and the cat meows again as he swipes a paw at him, catching his shirt. Zach puts him down on the floor, and he runs out of the room. Zach mutters a few things under his breath as he looks down at the scratch holes in his black shirt.

“Salty Sam?” I ask with a small smile, Zach just laughs.

“I thought we had left that cat on Sevten the last time we were there,” Zach says and shakes his head.

“How did he get back on board?” I ask him, sucking in a breath when Zach pulls his shirt off. Zach’s chest is muscular on the top, and his stomach is flat, with toned muscles dipping down into his trousers. He doesn’t notice my staring as he pulls a drawer open and gets out a small metal box. When he turns around, I hold in my gasp. Zach has scars all over his back. They must have been so painful and look like they have been done with a whip. Zach turns to look at me, his eyes watching me closely, and I don’t say a word. I know that must have been the punishment for killing his parents.

“Don’t ask, that cat appears everywhere, and is always eating the food,” he says, quickly changing he subject, and I laugh a little, but my laugh dies off as I look at all the barrels.

“There are so many starving people on Onaya,” I say, and he nods as he sits on one of the barrels. I watch as he opens the small box and pulls out a needle and some string. I watch him wondering if he will take the gloves off to use them.

“You met Dante on Onaya, right?” he asks me as he threads the string through the needle perfectly, even with his gloves on.

“Yes,” I say.

“I was with him and Chaz. We had just given ten barrels of food to the orphanage. Onaya is worse off than a lot of the islands, so we try to help,” he tells me. I wondered what Dante was doing on the island, and now that I think back to it, it makes sense. There was no need for them to be on the island. These pirates just keep shocking me. I look back at the barrels of food as Zach stitches his shirt back together. All the things I’ve been told about pirates is coming back to me.

The seas are lost, pirates are death.

Always kill a pirate.

Pirates rule the sea and don’t welcome strangers.

Pirates have black teeth and evil eyes from the deaths they have caused.

These are all the things I’ve been told more than once in my life. Yet, every one of them is untrue for these pirates.

“Maybe you should go for a walk,” he says, nodding a head towards the door. I know Zach suggests this because I’ve stood staring at the dozens of barrels of food for way too long, and I look back at him; my eyes travelling over every part of his skin I can see. There aren’t any scars on the front of his chest or his upper arms. Only a lot of muscle and smooth, tanned skin. When I look up to his face, it’s to see him staring at me.

“You’re a very handsome pirate,” I say and grin at him when he looks at me in shock. I don’t think he expected me to say that. I didn’t expect me to say that either, but it’s true. Zach is very handsome. I turn and walk out of the kitchen, feeling my back burning with his gaze, but I don’t turn to look. I walk down the corridor, not seeing anyone else and loving the noise of the ship. Growing up in a silent house and everything being so quiet was never something I liked. I like the noise, and the sound of the ship as it sails through the ocean is soothing in a way. I quickly run up the stairs leading to the outside of the ship, wanting to see the ocean.

I bump into a woman when I step outside the doors to the deck. She tumbles over, and I quickly reach a hand to pick her up. 

“Don’t touch me,” she screeches and scurries across the wet floor to get away from me. I recognise her as the woman sitting by Ryland last night. The woman has long, brown hair, in a complicated plait. I would place her as a little older than me. Her blue eyes watch me in fear.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I say, and she gets up on her own. She just stands there as the ship rocks from the waves, and she stares at my mark. I don’t know what she is going to do, but I simply just watch.

I hear laughing, and I turn to look at the man who spoke. I find Hunter leaning against the main mast of the ship. It’s annoying to see his smirk as I glare at him. I didn’t even notice him there.

“No, the changed one is just here to sprinkle flowers and happiness on the ship. Don’t run from her or you might hurt her feelings. Then everything could go boom,” Hunter says and makes a show of doing a big clap with his hands. The woman’s eyes widen in fear, and she runs away, straight to the stairs that are next to me. She moves so slow next to me, and I go to say something but decide against it. Anything I can say to her will just scare her more. So, I just take a step back, and she quickly goes down the stairs and pulls the door shut.

“Why did you do that?” I ask, turning to Hunter. My tone is sharp and annoyed.

“I was only informing the poor woman about you,” he says with a dark chuckle.

“What do you care, anyway?” I ask, putting my hands on my hips.

“Nothing, little bird. I care nothing about changed ones,” he sneers out, and I glare at him as I walk away. I walk straight towards the glass doors that lead to the captain’s room. I just want to get away from him and hopefully someone else will be in there.

“Little bird,” Hunter says and turn to see him standing only a step away from me.

“Get lost, Hunter. Don’t you have someone else to be cruel to?” I say, crossing my arms. Hunter just laughs darkly as he walks over to me, I walk backwards until my back is pressed against the cold, glass doors of the captain’s room. He stops right in front of me, close enough that I can feel the warmth of his body. I lift my head to stare into his eyes, debating if I should kick him again, but instead, I can’t stop looking at his eyes. Hunter has dark-blue eyes, like a dark, stormy night. A weird shade of the darkest blue that almost seems a dark-grey. So dark and enchanting. Much like his personality.

“Why haven’t you run?” he asks me after a moment’s silence. I’m surprised that his words are soft, unlike every other time he has spoken to me. I go to answer when the door is opened behind me, and I fall backwards. Hunter goes to catch me but just misses, and I slam onto the floor. I blink my eyes open to see Ryland looking down at me with a confused expression. He offers his hand, and I let him pull me up.

“You alright?” he asks me.

“Yes, I was just talking to–” I say, turning to see Hunter, but the space where he was is now empty. Hunter has left me here, and I’m not even a little bit surprised.