(Dyn)

  Dyn blinked, raising a hand to cover his eyes from the harsh light. It took him a few moments to adjust. Now it was time to returupid hat a some sleep. The ded was still stationed just outside the brig.

  Dyn walked up to him and asked, “Do you know where I find First Mate Echo?”

  The ded shook his head. “Sorry, captain, he’s harder to peg down than a springline in a storm—could be anywhere.”

  Dyn didn’t know what a springline was and o get rid of the hat before he got too distracted.

  “I see. Thank you. Also, A’liyah isn’t going anywhere, so—”

  “A’liyah?” the ded asked before Dyn could finish his thought.

  Dyn poio the brig. “That’s what she’d like to be called.”

  The ded nodded. “I’ll let the crew know. What would you have me do instead of guarding the brig, sir?” That was a good question, one Dyn didn’t have an immediate ao.

  “Uh, go rex? Wait, do you guys rex?” He’d assumed mprians slept, but A’liyah corrected him on that assumption. This was another example of why he shouldn’t be the oo wear the hat.

  The ded rexed his staurning to face Dyn again. “Aye, captain, we work in shifts. But mine’s not do. Would you like me to find someone who needs a hand?”

  “That… sounds good to me,” Dyn said, taking off the hat. “Holy, I don’t know the first thing about running a ship, which is why I o find First Mate Echo. The captain said to give him the hat when I was doh it.”

  The ded suddenly grew tense, his skull focused on Dyn as he asked a pointed question. “Not back to her?”

  “Right?! Seemed odd to me, too.”

  The ded quickly gnced down the hall toward the rest of the ship, and then said, “I could fetch the first mate for you. If you’d like?”

  “That would be really helpful. I’ll be in my .”

  “Which , sir?” the ded asked, tilting his skull slightly.

  It took Dyn a sed to catch his meaning. The Captain’s Suite robably meant for him, but he had no i i or the suite. His rinky-dinky room suited him just fine.

  “The small one in the passenger se,” he said. “The old captain and the first mate fight over who gets the big one.”

  “Right away, sir.” The ded gave him a curt nod and took off jogging down the hallway.

  Dyn watched him go and figured he should get back to his rht away. No reason to keep the future captain waiting on him. He slipped o and started toward the passenger quarters.

  He’d almost made it to his room without running into ahe crew’s impressive work ethic preoccupied him. Then he wondered how much they were getting paid, sihe ded mentio was the highest in the world. They’d earned every penny too, as far as Dyn was ed.

  “I wonder if they’re hiring?” he asked himself, pursing his lips to the side. “This sounds like the craziest charter the Everafter’s been on. And, I mean, if I survive this ohe rest would just be a walk in the park.” He furrowed his brows. “One of those European parks, not the Ameri kind—those are terrifying at night…” He sighed. Too bad he wasn’t a mprian.

  His pace came to a halt in the middle of the hallway as he rubbed the back of his neck. It felt warm to the touch, probably sunburnt like the rest of him.

  “Do I even need a job if I get in with the guild?” He frowned, having so many unanswered questions. “Are guilds like college where you graduate when training is over? Or are they like Boy Scouts, where you usually stay on to take a mentorship role?”

  Then he groaned, “Ugh, maybe it’s just another ‘job’ where you get treated like ‘family’.” He hated those the most. It was just an excuse to step all over your personal boundaries and ask you to do things you shouldn’t.

  “Oh gosh,” he gasped. “What if it’s just a cult? Like one of thions where you join and ’t leave—”

  Dyn noticed one of the Tome & Key members as they came around the er. He absently waved at P’reslen, easily fetting about his test accessory.

  The fident drai slowed his approach. “Dyn?”

  The mention of his name snapped him out of his doom spiral. He looked up. “Yeah?”

  P’reslen squinted down at him, pointing to his head. “Why are you…?”

  Dyn’s eyes rolled up toward his head before he realized what he was wearing. “Oh, that…” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s just temporary.”

  “You should probably give that back before—”

  P’reslen’s mouth snapped shut with a p. He stopped talking and walked past Dyn as if their versation had never happened.

  “Dyn?”

  He heard Ru’s voice behind him, her words ced with surprise and accusation.

  He slowly spun around, swallowing hard when he saw her. “Oh shit,” he said, holding up his hands. “I—I expin…”

  She raised an eyebrow, and when he didn’t respond fast enough, she added, “I’m waiting.”

  He didn’t want to tell her the truth—that he’d made the captain quit. But lying wasn’t an optioher. Instead, he went with something that was true.

  He frowned, dropping his hands to his side. “I—I ’t expin…”

  She sighed, a sound that made her thinning patience clear, and crified her question as she narrowed her eyes. “How’d you get the bloody hat, Dyn?” The iio on his old him he was in trouble.

  His eyes went wide as she pced a hand on her hip—a clear sign he was running out of time.

  “She… gave it to me?” he replied, an octave higher than usual. To be fair, he’d been asking himself that question since he’d left her… his… the Captain’s Suite.

  “Give it back,” she said ftly. “We’re about to leave, and I don’t want you messing around. We need a real captain.”

  “I know, I know. I just o borrow it for a little bit. But I’m on my way to give it back right now,” he said, which was all true.

  She closed her eyes for a moment and gave him a final warning. “You better not be wearing that hat the ime I see you.” She’d gone easy on him this time, but he wasn’t about to point that out—for her sake, more than his. While he could use the stro boon, she didn’t need any more stress right now.

  “I uand, ma’am.”

  Having more important things to deal with, she tinued past him down the hallway.

  “Why are you wearing that hat?” Hay’len’s voice came from behind him.

  Dyn turned back around, exhaling sharply, to greet yet another of his fellow passengers in the middle of the hallway.

  “I’m giving it back,” he said defensively. If he could just get back to his …

  They gave him an appraising gnce, head to toe. “Looks rather fetg on you. The feather matches your skin tone,” Hay’len said, paying him a pliment.

  “Thanks?” Dyn replied awkwardly. Usually, it was the other twin hitting on him.

  “Yeah…” he said, gng down at his sunburn. “I’ve been outside every day since I got here. Fot my suns ba Earth.” He chuckled at his own joke, holding up his hands. “And now I’ve got lobster arms.”

  Quinten quietly peered over Dyn’s shoulder and asked, “What’s a lobster?”

  Dyn jumped at the closeness of his voice. “Jesus, you scared me!” he said, pg a hand over his rag heart. “Lobsters are a delicious crusta we’ve got ba Earth, goes really well with butter.”

  “Don’t tell that to Ostello. Blokes got a thing for seafood. , by the way.” Quinten fshed him an easy smile.

  “I’m giving it back…” Dyn sighed as he tried to expin again.

  “Maybe not so fast,” Quinten said, raising an eyebrow. “Might be just the thing to impress a princess…” He let the suggestion hang in the air.

  Hay’len turo him excitedly and smiled. “So you do like Eury!”

  Quinten ughed until something caught his eye. He covered his mouth, mock-coughing, then quickly ducked his head and pushed past them both.

  Dyn started to ask after the easygoing elf. “Are you—”

  “What about me?” Eury asked, having heard the tail end of their versation. Then she was distracted by something else. She walked over to them, pointing at Dyn, and asked, “Why are you wearing—”

  Dyn tered with a question of his own before she could finish. “Why is everyorying to use this hallway right now?”

  W’itney appeared from behind Hay’len as if they’d just performed mitosis, and said, “Because it’s the only way in and out of the passenger se…”

  Dyn shut his eyes at his obvious ht. He took a deep breath to ter himself, opehem again, and pushed past the group toward his .

  “Wait, is that the captain’s hat?” W’itney asked, as they moved out of the way for Dyn. Their fusion curled into a grin. “Because that’s kinda hot.”

  Dyn didn’t stop, rushing to get around the er before someone else could slow him down.

  “I ’t help it,” W’itney said with a shrug. “I like a man in uniform…” They jogged after Dyn.

  Dyn could finally see his door, but stopped when he heard the outgoing drai chasing after him. He spun around and said, “W’itney.”

  “Oh yes, my captain,” they said in a sultry voice, waggling their eyebrows.

  Dyn’s hand flexed into a fist, his knuckles crag with the motion. He didn’t want to hurt the young drai’s feelings, but he o set some boundaries.

  “W’itney, I’m not going to sleep with you.” Dyn spoke firmly, his voice tempered with as much kindness as he could manage.

  W’itney frowned, clicked their tongue, and then asked, “Is it because I’m not a princess?”

  “What is it with everyone and princesses?”

  “I wonder if Eury would let me borrow her tiara…” W’itney muttered to themself.

  He opened his mouth to tell them not t Eury into this. “No—”

  “Captain?” First Mate Echo’s voice came from behind W’itney, a wele interruption.

  The outgoing drai gave the first mate a side-eyed g stepped back, tent to watch the ‘captain’ in a.

  “Yes. I mean no.” Dyn quickly pulled off the hat and held it out to the first mate.

  The first mate’s skull tilted down tard the hat, but he didn’t make a move. Instead, he lifted his skull to focus ba Dyn and asked, “You wao see me, sir?”

  “Yes, please take the hat.” Dyn shook it at the first mate.

  “No thank you.” The first mate respectfully pushed it back toward Dyn.

  “What do you mean, ‘No thank you?’” He looked down at the damhered hat still sitting in his hand.

  The first mate shook his head. “I don’t want the and, sir.”

  “Well,” Dyn said, gng down at the hat and then back to the first mate. “I’m not fit to wear this thing.”

  “A you do,” the first mate said with a nod.

  “Not anymore,” he said, shoving it back toward the drai skeleton. “Take it.”

  “I’m sorry, sir. I refuse.” The first mate stood there with a crimsoher poking into his ribcage.

  Dyn pursed his lips, thinking. He lifted his gaze, narrowing his eyes at the bleached skeleton, and asked, “Would you take it if I made it an order?”

  “No, sir. I’d see myself to the brig for insubordination.”

  Dyn dropped his arms to his side, removing the hat from what he assumed was the mprian’s personal space. “But why not?”

  “Because I’ve no desire to and this ship, but I am a loyal servant.” The first mate csped his hands behind his bad stood at attention.

  “I don’t think you uand how bad of ahis is. I shouldn’t be in charge of anything. I couldn’t even keep a suct alive, and I don’t want to talk about Goldilocks…”

  “Goldilocks?” W’itney leaned in to ask. They were just as curious as Dyn, but usually about other people’s past, present, and future romantic experiences.

  “She’s my pet goldfish. Well, was…” he answered, but then caught himself on the first sniffle. “I said I don’t want to talk about it.” He dabbed at the er of his eye, quickly ging the subject.

  “Fine.” Dyn stared at the stupid hat in his hand. “I’ll just give it back to Captain Echo. It’s hers anyway.”

  The first mate’s frame shrank, his skull l uhe weight of an unspoken burden.

  “That…” The first mate hesitated. He straightened himself and said, “I’m afraid that won’t be possible, sir.”

  “Why not?”

  “May we have a word, sir?” He turned his skull toward W’itney. “In private.”

  W’itney clutched a cwed hand to their heart, feigning a dramatic, personal affront, and then ughed, “Oh, it’s fine. Go do your little captain chores, or whatever it is captains and first mates do.”

  “If you’ll follow me,” the first mate said as he took the lead down the hallway.

  Dyhe hat off, holding it in his hands while he followed the first mate to the Captain’s Quarters—the inaccurately named meeting room.

  First Mate Echo held the door open for Dyn, who stepped into the barren room. The crew had removed everything, only the discolored spots on the floor and walls hi the furniture that had once filled the space. With o sit, they both remaianding to tiheir earlier versation.

  “Why ’t she take the hat back?” Dyn asked. “Is this like a magio-take-backsies rule or something?”

  “No, sir,” the first mate said, shaking his head slowly.

  “She’s been the captain this whole time, and it didn’t look like she had any troubles bossing people around. I don’t care if she wants to quit. She do that after we’re back. Until then she’ll just have—” Dyn was getting into it when the first mate interrupted him.

  “She’s gone.” His words were soft, and Dyn almost missed them.

  He narrowed his eyes at the first mate. “What do you mean, ‘She’s gone?’ Where the hell did she go?”

  “Here.” First Mate Echo lifted his hat and handed Dyn an opened envelope.

  Dyhe sepia-colored paper suspiciously. He was still dealing with the fallout from the st two times he blindly accepted things hao him.

  The first mate wouldn’t even look at the unsealed envelope as he waited for Dyn to take it. Relutly, Dyn did and found a letter i was written in a nguage he didn’t uand.

  “I’m sorry, but I ’t read this.” Dyhe to the first mate.

  “I don’t want to read it again.” The first mate’s words were thick with desperation. “Please, don’t order me to. I’d…” His voice trailed off, avoiding what Dyn could only guess ainful experience.

  “Permission to be dismissed, sir,” he said, pointing a cwed, bony fi the letter. “That’s written in Criterion. It’s a universal nguage—anyone in Nightshade read it to you.” His skeletal frame vulsed with tiny bursts as he held back sobs, waiting to be dismissed.

  Dyn saw how overwhelmed the mprian was. He knew grief when he saw it. “It’s okay, go on,” he said, watg the drai skeleton quickly leave the room and shut the door behind him.

  He looked down at the folded paper in his hand and cursed.

  “Fuck.”

  Judging by the first mate’s rea, the tents of the note shouldn’t be shared with just anyone. Supposedly, it would tell him where their former captain was. He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. Then he made his way back down to the passengers’ quarters to show the o someorusted.

  Dyn stood in front of the door, hesitated, then khe captain’s hat heavy in one hand and the folded note iher.

  ---

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