Seabound (Seabound Chronicles Book 1) (22 page)

“Not the water
itself, but getting the salt out of it.” Esther spoke slowly, wondering if the
woman was a little dim. “I work on our desalination system, when I’m not doing
engine maintenance.”

“Engine
maintenance?” June said blankly. “Doesn’t the crew take care of that?”

“I guess we’re all
on the crew. Everyone does what they’re best at to keep the ship afloat. I’m
good at mechanics.” Did the woman not realize what it took to keep a ship
operating?

“It’s not terribly
ladylike,” June said.

Esther had no idea
what “ladylike” meant, but fortunately Henry launched into a lengthy monologue
on the energy problem. It was clear he didn’t know much about the practicalities
of energy storage. Esther responded as best as she could while surveying the
room.

Most of the diners
appeared to be over fifty years old. They were the old guard, the aristocrats
who must have been leisure tourists on the
Galaxy
ships. Everyone wore formal clothing, making Esther grateful for Marianna’s
dress and heels. These people were staid compared to the fancifully dressed
crowd at the cabaret performance. She could see why Dax didn’t dine here often.

The table on the
dais had filled up. All eight captains had arrived. Apart from the woman who
reminded her of an older Judith, the captains were male. Most appeared to be in
their sixties and seventies, except for the younger man she’d seen at the
cabaret. His raven hair didn’t show any gray. Esther twisted her napkin
anxiously under the table but heeded Dax’s advice to stay put until after dinner.

Dax leaned in to
whisper details about the captains. “The one with the black hair is Boris. He’s
mean, but girls seem to like him. The woman is Veronika. She’s mean too. She’s
the captain of the
Diamond
, where my
parents used to live. The fattest one is Philippe. He’s captain of the
Mist
, but he almost never stays there.
All the captains have suites on the
Crown
.”

“And the one in
the middle is Captain Ryan, right?” said Esther. “With the white hair?”

“Yeah, he’s the
captain of the
Crown
and the
Galaxy
founder. I guess he’s not too
bad. He’s real charming, you know?” Dax shrugged.

Captain Ryan’s
rich laughter reached them over the murmuring of the diners. He was Esther’s
best hope. He seemed so generous and personable.

“Why aren’t any
captains of the smaller ships here?” Esther asked. “There are more than eight
ships in the
Flotilla
.”

“The cruise
captains are the only ones that matter,” Dax explained. “The others are like
middle managers. They don’t sit at the same table.”

“What are you too
whispering about now, Desmond?” Dax’s mother leaned in conspiratorially.

“Nothing, Mother.”
Dax tugged at his hair.

Then the food
arrived on rolling trays pushed by waiters in black collared shirts. For a
moment, Esther forgot all about the captains, the
Catalina
, and even
that she was supposed to be pretending to be sixteen years old. The plate before
her contained real asparagus. She remembered how her mother used to make her
finish a helping of asparagus cut from her father’s garden before she could
watch cartoons after dinner on Friday nights. She’d complained until it got
cold, and then it had tasted even worse. But after a sixteen-year diet of fish,
seaweed, and the occasional canned vegetable, the three asparagus spears were
pure heaven. She savored each mouthful, deaf to the conversation around her.
When she finished, she was still hungry, but if she hadn’t just spent nearly
two weeks with the
Galaxy
,
she’d have called it the best dinner
she’d eaten in years.

She was just
scooting back in her chair to speak to the captains when someone came up behind
her and took away the plate, replacing it with a second, larger plate.

“Oh, I heard a
rumor we’d have a special main course today,” June said, picking up her fork
eagerly.

“Main course?”
Esther inspected the new plate, wondering what fish would produce fillets that
looked that brown.

“Yessiree, we’ve
killed the fatted calf for this one,” Henry boomed.

Calf? Could this
round, thick portion in front of her be real beef? She whispered the question
to Dax.

“Yeah, it’s beef,”
he said. “It’s rare, even for the captains, to kill one of the cows. It’s a
special occasion, though.”

He grinned and
picked up the knife beside his plate. Esther imitated his movements. She rarely
used a knife to eat, what with all the fish. Last time she’d eaten steak, her
dad had still been cutting her meat for her.

Esther wanted to
cry at the first bite. She chewed for a long time, living through the moment a
dozen times over. She didn’t know whether to eat the rest of the steak quickly
or savor it. She settled for cutting quickly and forking the bites into her
mouth so she could prolong that earthy taste for as long as possible. It tasted
of iron and blood. It was a solid taste, making her think again of land.

When the creamy,
cold dessert arrived, she didn’t want to erase the lingering taste of beef from
her mouth. She simply looked at the quivering substance on her plate.

“You don’t like
panna cotta?” June said.

“Huh?” Esther
looked up.

June was staring
at her. Everyone else at the table had finished eating. “Your panna cotta,”
June prompted. “You don’t like it?”

“Oh, no, sorry, I
do.”

Esther ate the
shockingly sweet dessert quickly, afraid the captains would leave the table
before she could talk to them. She clawed her way through the fog the food had
created in her mind—far worse than any whiskey. She saw why people could
just ignore their problems on the
Crown
with food like that!

Fortunately, the
captains lingered over dessert. They had just opened a new bottle of the bubbly
alcohol.

“Would you excuse
me for a moment?”

Esther didn’t give
her dinner companions time to react. She stood and strode toward the dais. She
didn’t look around, hoping no one would step into her path. She tripped over
her boots, catching herself before she fell, and felt a sting in her heel.

She took three
steps up to the dais and stood at the edge of the table. The woman who reminded
her of Judith sat on her right and the youngest man, Boris, was on her left.

“Excuse me, um,
Captains, sirs. Could I speak with you for a moment?” she said.

“And who are you?”
The woman turned in her seat. Her nose was hawkish, and on closer inspection
she didn’t look much like Judith after all.

“I’m Esther
Harris. I’m from the
Catalina
.”

“The what?”

“The
Catalina
,
Veronika. You know the little stranger ship?” said Captain Ryan from across the
table. He didn’t acknowledge that he’d met Esther before, but his smile was
indulgent.

“The loner? What
of it?” Veronika’s voice was haughty, and she looked at Esther as if she were a
sea slug.

“The
Catalina
,
my home, is in serious trouble,” Esther said, fighting down her nerves.

“Well, that’s
unfortunate. At least you’re here, and at a
Crown
dinner no less,”
Veronika said, looking around as if trying to find the culprit who had let
Esther in.

“My friends and
family are low on fuel and water and they need your help,” Esther said.

Veronika waved her
hand dismissively and turned back to her glass.

Esther faltered,
but pressed on. “Our desalination system was badly damaged before the storm. We
desperately need parts to repair it.”

Captain Ryan gave
her a smile that didn’t seem entirely unkind. “We have our own vessels to look
after. Your people should move onto
Galaxy
ships. We could show them an
extravagant way of life here. We’re building a new civilization on the sea, you
know.” He raised a glass to his lips.

She addressed her
plea to him. “They can’t. They were lost at sea in the storm. I need you to
send a search party after them. You have smaller vessels to spare.”

Veronika rolled
her eyes, and one of the others, Philippe, chuckled before turning back to his
plate.

Captain Ryan
continued in the same kind though condescending voice. “Why would we risk one
of our ships to go searching for a lost vessel? You’re welcome to stay, of
course. I’m sure you could find something to do on one of our cruisers. Or maybe
a cargo ship would suit you better.”

Esther put her
hands on the table and leaned forward. “I’m responsible for the people on board
the
Catalina
. They need help. Please let me trade something or work in exchange
for your assistance.”

Veronika arched a
very thin eyebrow at her. “You sound like your captain. Judith, is it? She was
so persistent. Got rather tiresome at our dinners.”

“What if we
promised to stay with the
Galaxy
?”
Esther said. “The
Catalina
can add
manpower and resources to the
Flotilla
if you send a ship after her with water and fuel. You’d have another cruise
ship in your flotilla.”

It was what the
captains wanted anyway. Esther would deal with the consequences of such a
promise later. They had to help her.

For a moment,
Captain Ryan seemed to consider her offer. His eyes glittered, no doubt tempted
by the prospect of adding another ship to his empire.

Then the man on
her left with the raven hair spoke for the first time. “I know who you are.”
His voice grated like a pipe being dragged across the deck. “You’re the
mechanic girl David Hawthorne was telling me about. Quite persistent, aren’t
you? I hear you’ve been sneaking around the oil tanker. Isn’t this her,
Hawthorne?”

Esther turned to
see David standing beside her. He wore a black shirt like the ones the waiters
were wearing.

“Yes, Boris, this
is her.” His expression was unreadable.

“Did he tell you
what I need?” Esther asked, praying David hadn’t sabotaged everything. Her
heart crashed like waves against a hull.

“He said you were
. . . tenacious. But he didn’t tell us you’d be bothering us over dinner
tonight. Or did it slip my mind, Hawthorne?”

The look Boris
tossed over his shoulder at David was barren and dangerous, despite his smile.
His teeth were very straight and as white as Captain Ryan’s hair.

“I didn’t know
she’d be here,” David said. He stood stiffly, as if he were part of the
structure of the ship.

Esther felt numb.
“You can’t just let them die!” she implored.

“We don’t owe you
or your friends anything,” Boris said. “It’s their own fault if they couldn’t
adapt to life on the sea.”

Captain Ryan
looked back at his glass and shrugged. Veronika pinched her lips tighter.

“Come on, Esther,
I’ll show you out.” David reached for her arm.

She wrenched it
away. “I’ll show myself out when I’m ready. Look, we’ll do anything. What will
it take to buy your help?”

“We’re not
interested in anything you have to offer,” Boris said. “Forget the
Catalina
.
They’re lost already. Hawthorne, would you mind?” Boris was already turning his
attention back to the dessert.

David took Esther
by the arm, his grip stiff. She fought against him, but the unfamiliar shoes
and her injured foot prevented her from pulling away. Before she knew it, he
had her by both arms and was carrying her off the dais. Blurry faces turned
toward them from all across the restaurant. The Morrisons and Dax’s parents
stared at them, openmouthed. Dax hunched beside them, looking miserable.

David’s hands
tightened on her arms as she struggled all the way to the door. “Stop fighting
me, Esther. I’m trying to help,” he hissed.

“Like hell you
are. Put me down.” White-hot anger had replaced the ice in her chest.

When they reached
the double doors, David pushed her through, and she scraped roughly against the
intricate gold design. He put her down as soon as the door swung shut behind
them. She turned around and slugged him in the face. He staggered, and she
almost got past him, but he leaned back against the doors and caught her arm as
she swung at him again. For a moment, their eyes met, their faces nearly nose
to nose, then she kneed him in the balls.

“Ugh, Esther, I
have a plan. Oh God.” He crumpled to the ground but leaned against the doors to
keep her from getting back into the restaurant.

“You could have
let me try without stepping in like that,” she shouted. “What’s it to you if
they help me?”

David tried to
speak, but he was still wheezing.

“It’s my fault the
Catalina
is in trouble,” she said, choking back the lump in her throat.
“I won’t stop until I save them, so you should just stay out of my way.”

She considered
kicking him, but he was already down—and she didn’t think she could
balance on her precarious shoes long enough to do it properly.