Iwandered the ship for a while, waiting for the captain and his two right hands to discuss some things. It wasn’t a huge vessel, but a decent enough size for the dozen or so crew members. Everything was dank and musty, which was to be expected on a ship, I guess. A salty film had crusted over the surface of certain areas, and each deck harbored a dreadful stench, getting more concentrated the deeper I went. I finally decided that the top deck was where I liked it best, open and breezy. I stood at the side near the bow and gazed down at the hypnotizing water below.

How did this happen? How did my mother come to own enchanted things and never know? She would have loved this, minus the life-threatening situation. Just then, one of the crew members found me and approached slowly. A young man with a sweet face.

“You’re not thinkin’ about jumping, are you?” he asked me jokingly.

“Oh, God no,” I replied. “I can’t imagine how cold that water is.”

We both laughed awkwardly, and he sidled up next me, leaning his forearms on the ledge. “Are you really who they say you are?”

“I don’t know,” I answered, confused. “Who do they say I am?”

“Part of her crew.”

“You mean Maria?”

His eyes bulged, and he glanced around. “Jesus, watch what you say.”

“Is she really that terrifying?” I asked. “And, to answer your question, no. I’m not with her, from her crew, or associated with her in any way.” I swallowed hard as I realized that was a lie. We shared the same blood, after all.

“Some say she was a plague sent down to Earth to torture the men of the sea. Others say she was an abomination, something… not human. When she disappeared, there was a strange calmness that cast over the sea.”

I nodded, my gut toiling. “And now I’ve let her loose again.”

The boy frowned. “Yes, you’ve got a target on your back. I’d lie low if I were you.”

I thanked him, and he ran off across the ship.

A while later, I had taken the young man’s advice and found a spot to lie low. I sat in Finn’s hammock, the lower deck empty of crew members. I pulled Henry’s journal from my inside pocket, curious to know more about the Captain Devil Eyed Barrett. But I worried that there would be no more entries, no more evidence of Henry’s life. He was so set on ending it and so certain Devil Eyes would be the one to do it. But, if the captain had a difficult time shooting a man who tried to kill him, how could he possibly kill an innocent boy?

I fingered through the pages, gently peeling them from each other, but I found nothing but empty whiteness. I followed through to the very last page, hanging on to any shred of hope that Henry lived. But, as I turned the last blank piece of the journal, my eyes filled with tears. That was it. He was gone, and I’d never really know what became of him.

I wrapped the book with its twine and stuffed it back in my inside pocket where I would protect it until I could one day put poor Henry to rest. Maybe I could find a nice open meadow and bury it. It was the least I could do for the young man who captured my heart in a few simple pages. His pain was almost tangible. I curled up and attempted to fall asleep but a loud thump on the deck floor alerted me to someone’s presence. I cranked my head in the direction of the ladder and found Finn coming toward me.

“I’m here to fetch ye,” he told me.

“And bring me where, exactly?”

“The captain,” he replied. “To determine what to do with ye.”

I flipped out of the hammock and stood in place. “They won’t kill me, will they?” I pleaded. “I saved your captain’s life.”

“Aye, but ye cost us our cook.”

My eyes widened. “Are you seriously that ignorant? If I didn’t do what I did, you’d all be without a captain and, who knows, maybe he would have killed the rest of you.”

“Aye.”

“Aye?” I squawked. “All you can say is aye? Finn, please, surely, you’re smarter than that. I know you know I’m a good person. I mean no harm.”

He rolled his eyes and grabbed me by the arm. “Just come with me, will ye?”

I followed him to the captain’s chambers where we were met with Devil Eyes and Gus. These two really seemed to be the only ones the captain surrounded himself with and I was glad for the glimmer of friendship Finn has shown me. Maybe it would play in my favor.

Finn closed the door behind us and the captain stared at me. Gus stood off in a corner, arms crossed like a contrary child who didn’t get his way, refusing to even glance in our direction.

“Dianna,” the captain spoke, the sound of my name felt strange on his tongue. “Please, sit.” I did as told and took a chair across from him at his desk. “You’ve left us in quite a predicament, with no one to feed us. What are we going to do about that?”

“Look, I saved your life. If you can’t be grateful for that, then just kill me now,” I cut straight to the chase. “I’m dead anyway,” I added under my breath.

But he seemed to catch it, a look of surprise smeared across his face and he leaned back in his chair. Silence filled the room as the captain and I engaged in a stare down. His black eyes bore holes into my head as he seemed to be trying to read my mind or something. I just refused to be the first to look away, but it gave me a better opportunity to admire his devilish good looks. I’d like to think that his terrifying presence made him repulsive, but it only added to the allure of him. Devil Eyes was like a dark enigma, a black hole that threatened to hypnotize me and draw me into his secret.

Finally, he broke the silence. “Finn tells me you’re a cook.”

“Captain–” Gus spoke up, but Devil Eyes threw up a hand to stop him. Gus retreated to his corner in a huff.

“Well, are you?” he asked again.

I looked to Finn, standing just a few feet to my left, and he urged me with his eyes to say yes. I realized then, he must have vouched for me. While they left me down in Finn’s bunk, they must have been here, arguing about what to do with me. Obviously, Gus wanted me gone but, thankfully, Finn had a soft spot and the captain had half a brain.

“Yes,” I croaked out, “I am a very good cook, in fact.”

“Excellent,” the captain clapped his hands together, “It is settled, then. You shall take Alfred’s place as the ship’s cook as well as tend to the swab duties with one of the deckhands.” Gus was stewing, pacing behind the captain over near the stern’s large window. “Do you accept?”

“Henry!” Gus finally broke, but the name he used knocked the breath out of me.

The captain stood from his chair and turned to his quartermaster. “How dare you use that name,” he spoke with a stern warning, “I understand your concerns and have taken them into consideration. But, I am your captain, Augustus. Know your place.”

The Englishman sighed and nodded, then bowed his head in shame.

Devil Eyes came, sat back down, and began speaking to me but his words deflected from my ears. My mind was traveling down a muted tunnel and all I could do was stare at the pirate across from me with a mix of both awe and sadness. But also with a new pair of eyes. It was like a layer of him had peeled away and I could envision the sweet little boy who loved his parents. The young man who’d been captured by pirates and sentenced to a life of terror and abuse. Henry truly did give his life to Devil Eyed Barrett.

He became him.

“Dianna!” he said, his voice raised and impatient.

I snapped out of my trance. “Sorry, I… what?”

“Do you accept the role of our ship’s cook?”

Just moments before, I would have struggled with an answer. But now I wanted nothing more than time to talk to the captain. To get to know the man of the boy I read about. I had so many questions. “Yes,” I answered, finally, “yes, of course I’ll cook for you.”

I heard Finn let out a heavy breath and he stepped closer to me. “Aye, lass. Ye had me guts in a tizzy for a second there.”

“What? Why?” I asked him.

“I put me neck out for ye,” he explained. “Gus wanted to toss ye overboard. But I thought it a waste. Ye said ye could cook. I like to eat. I thought it was a good enough reason.”

I smiled at my new friend, the big and burly Scotsman. He was a hard man to dislike. Despite his massive size, Finn had a soft warmness about him. Perhaps it had something to do with his sexuality. Who knows? I was just thankful for the turn of events. If I had Finn’s favor, and now the knowledge of the captain’s true identity, perhaps I could earn their trust and convince them not to kill the Cobhams. Maybe there was a chance I could save my lineage.

“Thank you, gentlemen,” Devil Eyes said. “You can leave us now.”

“Aye, captain,” Finn nodded and motioned for Gus to follow him. After they left, I remained in my seat across from Devil Eyes, unsure of what to do or say. Or what to expect. It seemed he felt the same as we entered a strange, drawn-out staring contest.

“I assume you have questions,” he finally spoke.

I chortled. “You have no idea.”

“As do I.” He stood and made his way over to the table under the window and scooped up a tray. “For starters, how did you know I spent time aboard The Burning Ghost?” He came back to me and laid down the tray that held a silver teapot and two cups. I watched as he filled them with tea and stirred in the sugar cubes.

“What do you mean?” I answered and accepted the warm cup when he passed it to me.

“When we first spoke, you asked if I were offended by your comment about the vessel because of my connection to it.”

I backtracked everything in my mind and replayed the events of the last few days with a fresh perspective. He said he was the one who’d trapped the Cobhams in that bottle. Which means… Henry trapped them. Henry never died, he’d found a way to live with the man Maria forced him to become, and he found a way to defeat them. But to answer the captain’s question would mean trying to explain time travel, to which I had no proof.

Unless…

I carefully opened my jacket and reached in to pull out the journal. Henry’s journal. I placed it on the desk in front of me and the captain’s eyes widened in horror. Then, slowly, his face softened with acceptance.

“I wondered where it went,” he said quietly. “You had the jacket, and found the bottle, obviously.” He then turned his gaze and I followed it to the chest that floated me back in time. It sat on his bed, open.

“How did you get it open?” I asked him. “I locked it. And there’s no key.”

He grinned and picked up a large brass key from the desk. “Simple. The chest, it belongs to me.” He stood from his chair and walked over to the small trunk. “I don’t know why I held on to the key. After I escaped The Burning Ghost, this chest held all that I owned in the world. But also held everything that reminded me of her, because she’d given most of it to me.”

I swallowed hard. “Of Maria?”

Devil Eyes shot me an angry look, as if the very sound of her name pained him. “Yes, Maria. I had no idea evil could manifest in a human form as it had within her. She was a monster. Heartless. I convinced myself that if I’d cut her, if I could make her bleed, nothing but blackness would seep from the wound. Like a disease.”

“So, why didn’t you kill her?” I asked. “Why trap her and Eric in a bottle?” I couldn’t believe the words that came out of my mouth, that I was amusing the idea of that sort of magic existing.

“I wanted to, I truly did. It’s all I think about. Even now, to this day.” He sighed and came over to me, stopping at my side to pick up his journal. “But she didn’t deserve such a swift ending. She needed to suffer for eternity.”

I saw my chance. “So, why kill her now? Why not put her and Eric back in the bottle?” I looked up at the man that Henry had become and admired his strength. But I wondered why he remained a ruthless pirate. Why continue a life of piracy after you’ve defeated your enemy?

Unless he was too far gone.

“It was only by chance that I found the witch who performed the spell years ago,” he told me. “There’s no guarantee I’d ever find her again. She remains hidden. Protected.”

“But why not try?”

“You simply cannot understand my reasoning. I cannot exist in a world where she roams free.”

I glanced down at his trembling hand and he quickly slipped it behind his back.

“I think I understand a little. I mean, I read the journal.”

Stone cold silence hung between us, clinging to the walls and shrouding us in an awkward bubble and I wondered if he would kill me for what I knew.

“You think me a weak man?” he asked after a while. In that moment, the pirate I’d feared the last few days was gone and all that remained was little Henry, scared and alone.

I had no idea what compelled me to do so, but I reached across the table and softly, carefully, placed my hand over his. “No, I don’t think you are or were a weak man,” I told him with certainty. “The complete opposite, in fact. To live through what you did… to still be half a human being, functioning–”

“Nobody knows,” he said, blurting it out as if the weight of the secret had been killing him.

“You mean, nobody knows who you are?”

“They’ve no idea of my time on The Burning Ghost,” he replied and finally met my gaze.

“Seriously?” I whispered. “But, I don’t get it. What do they think is your reason for wanting her dead?”

Henry grinned, but it didn’t meet the sadness in his eyes. “My dear, Dianna, every pirate on the sailing seas wishes to end the Cobham’s reign of terror. They hunt every ship within reach. But they have a thirst for pirates.”

I nodded in understanding. “So, your crew thinks you’re just doing your duty as a pirate, what any of you would.”

“Yes, all except Gus,” Henry added. “He knows very little, but more than the rest.” He paused, and his expression changed to worry and a hint of anger, his eyes narrowing. “But not more than you.”

I swallowed hard as a cold sweat broke out under my arms, my heart straining from the stress of the constant bursts of fear. Fear for my life. The boy I read about in that journal was long gone, and I had no idea of Devil Eyes’ mental stability. He could kill me in a second. Especially now that he was aware I knew his deepest, darkest secret.

“Henry, I swear, I will nev–” Before I could finish, he grabbed me by the arm and forced me to my feet, then led me to the door. I tried to pull free, but he kept a firm hold, rough and painful with no regard for my body. “Henry, please! What are you doing?”

A forceful yank on my arm brought me close to his chest so our faces met, and the warmth of his breath splashed across my face. “Do not ever call me that aboard this vessel.” His eyes were wild with anger and desperation.

I continued to be dragged across the ship’s deck and over toward the edge where Alfred fell to his death just hours earlier. Suddenly, I realized what was happening and a fight-or-flight response set in. I struggled against Henry’s hold, but he was like a freaking bear.

“Please! No!”

It was no use. The crew came toward us, circling in and getting ready to watch the next show. Henry grabbed me by the waist, his two massive hands like a vice, and hoisted me up on the railing.

“You know too much, Dianna,” he said low enough for only me to hear. “We need to do something about that.”

My voice evaded me, so I pleaded with my eyes, to tell him that the secret was safe with me. I’d never tell a soul. I would cook their food and keep my head down. But all I received in return was a devilish grin as he leaned into my face.

“If you’re going to stay aboard my ship, then you need a bath,” he whispered in my ear, his breath tickling my skin. With arms wrapped around me, I thought, for a moment, that he was hugging me, but soon realized that Henry had tied a rope around my waist.

My eyes widened with a new fear, no longer for my life. But before I could form a response, Henry gave me a shove and I fell to the ocean below. Even though it was the middle of summer, the deep-sea water was still freezing cold and the chill hit my body like an electric shock. I clawed my way to the surface and gasped desperately for air. The force of the waves swooshed my body around as the ship dragged me along. With the breath still knocked from my lungs, I felt a hefty tug at my waist as they finally began to hoist me back up to the ship.

My stomach threatened to heave the very little it contained as the thick rope dug into me. Every tug acted like a weird Heimlich Maneuver, the last couple of yanks rubbing a little too hard against my bottom ribs. Captain Barrett pulled my body over the side and let me fall to the floor like a large fish and I coughed up the salt water I’d sucked in through my nose and mouth.

I peered up at the men who stood around me, laughing at my expense, but I stopped at the captain and narrowed my eyes. He wanted to scare me and it worked.

“You could have given me some warning, you know.”

He let out a gusty laugh. “Now, where would be the fun in that?” He strolled over to me and bent down, scooping me up like a drenched ragdoll and putting me on my feet. “Come, I’ll get you some dry clothes.” We both headed toward his quarters as he yelled to the crew, “Get back to work. We should meet landfall in three days time.”

Once inside, he closed and locked the door behind us. I couldn’t stop the shivering that took over my body and the saltwater still burned the cavities of my nose and throat.

“I’m sorry for that,” he told me. “But the men needed something entertaining after this morning’s events.” I watched as he rummaged through a large chest next to his bed. He pulled out a white blouse and a pair of black trousers, then turned to me and grinned. “And you did require a bath.”

“I thought you were going to kill me,” I replied and accepted the dry clothes from him. I tried to shrug out of Maria’s jacket, but it was soaked and heavy, and I was too cold.

“May I?” he asked. I hesitated, but then nodded, and he proceeded to peel the drenched coat from my body and then hung it on the back of a chair to dry. “And I wouldn’t kill someone without a damn good reason.”

“I just thought… because I know your secret.”

Our bodies were so close, and I was extremely aware of the cool air and the absence of a bra under my soaking wet tank top. Henry’s eyes averted to my chest, taking note of the view. I self-consciously covered my breasts with my free arm and took a step back.

“Just to be clear. I’m to provide meals for the crew. Nothing more.” Henry didn’t reply, only kept his hard gaze on my shivering body, then slowly moved his stare up to meet my eyes. “A-are we clear?”

Finally, he nodded. “Yes, of course.”

When he turned away, I quickly changed out of my wet clothing and slipped on the dry ones. They were far too big, but I didn’t care. They were warm and dry. I grabbed the key chain from my jacket and the belt from my jeans, tightening it around the trousers, then tied the bottom of the blouse together in a knot at my waist.

“You can turn around now.”

“Very good.” He straightened his jacket and adjusted his black leather hat. “I have some things to tend to, but you’re more than welcome to stay here while you finish drying and warm up. There’s fresh wine and bread on the table. But don’t take too long, the men need feeding and dinner soon approaches. You must pull your weight around here.” Before he reached for the door, his hand came up to my face and held my chin a little too tightly. “And I’m well aware that you know my secret, Dianna. Do not mistake my hospitality for mercy. If you breathe a word–”

I shook my head. “No, I won’t, I swear.”

His grip on my jaw tightened with aggression and he leaned in close, our noses touching. “Good. Because, if you do, there won’t be a rope tied around your waist next time.”