Chapter 9

The three of us were unable to respond to Captain Amelia's inquiry. "I've known you for a long time, Tam," she continued, "but if she, or any of you, places any threat on this voyage, I'll be forced to release you from my employment."

"She's in less danger from men if they think she's a boy," Drix jumped in, "and we need to throw off her pursuers."

"Who's after her? Not the law, I hope. I have a reputation to uphold."

"Two enemies," Tam replied monotonously, "but I doubt they have any idea where she is. At any rate, they're only after her and us; they won't harm anyone else."

She regarded him carefully for a moment before nodding her head in a business-like manner. Turning to me, she continued. "You won't be expected to do anything, but please help wherever possible. And steer clear of the rest of the crew. If they find out you're a girl, I'm not sure if I'll be able to protect you."

Tam put an arm around my shoulder, causing me to push it off. "We'll take care of her."

"What's all this about treasure anyway?" Drix asked, casually leaning against the wall in his usual laid-back manner.

Captain Amelia gestured for us to gather in closer. "This journey is a trip of discovery to the legendary Treasure Planet. It's the place where Captain Nathaniel Flint supposedly stored the spoils of his pirate raids. But don't tell anyone! As I mentioned before, I don't trust this crew as far as I can throw them."

"But you trust us?"

She laughed. "Your friend, Tam and I sailed together, not too long ago. There galaxy is indebted to us."

Tam grinned sheepishly. "We won some skirmishes against the Protean armada, no big deal."

"Oh, it was a very big deal. I still have scars from it."

I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned. "Show-off." Didn't he understand that no matter what he did, I would never like him in that way? Sure, he was a powerful ally and might be a good friend if he'd stop being so bi-polar, but he was no Rune. His personality was way too uptight for me and I wished he'd stop trying to woo me. I wasn't the type to fall at a cheesy pick-up line.

"Come on, Wynie," Tam urged, trying to get back on my good side. He wrapped an arm around my waist, and I shoved off, annoyed.

"I'm a boy, remember?" I smacked him upside the head and stormed out to find Jim who- with my luck- would spout out hopeless declarations of love and devotion on sight, even though I'm supposedly a guy. I'm not insinuating Jim's gay, because he eyed Tam weirdly as he was making eyes at me earlier. Note to self: Start rumor that Tam is gay. Maybe then, he'll stop hitting on me.

As I came up on deck, Jim greeted me with a groan. He leaned against a mop that was nearly as tall as he was, in the middle of a puddle of water. "Tough luck?" I asked, sympathetically. Jim only nodded and resumed mopping with an scowl etched into his features. A small pink blob zoomed to a position above his shoulder and I regarded it for a moment before figuring out what it really was. "How the hell did the Heartless find me here?" I exclaimed, grabbed the mop from Jim and wielding it like a staff.

I attacked it with a series of sweeps that would've made Drix proud, if he were watching. My blows separated smaller pieces of pink goo from the creature, only for it to reform seconds later. A cry of frustration loosed from my lips as Jim watched with a panicked expression. "Wyein, why are you attacking Morph?"

"You named it? You named something that devours your heart and turns you into a Heartless? Are you insane? Do you have a death wish or something?" Throughout the frenzied barrage of conversation, I hadn't been paying attention, swinging the mop handle haphazardly around trying to destroy the "Heartless." Finally, it contacted with something behind me. Wait, behind me?

"You daft boy!" A large hand roughly grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face a large man with a mechanical eye, a metal arm, and a metal peg leg, a cyborg. "What are you doing with that mop?"

"Defending myself from...oh." I glanced down at my left arm, which was not even faintly glowing, the mop suspended in midair. It slipped from my astonished grip and clattered to the deck. "Wow, talk about awkward."

Fortunately, Mr. Arrow interrupted the moment. "All hands to stations. Prepare to launch!" I used the distraction to climb the rigging and gaze on more time over the sprawling, fish-smelling metropolis.

"Smell you later!" I cried, enthused, waving playfully at the city and the people below as the sailors around me unfurled the sails.

"Brace yourself!" I heard Captain Amelia say and I gripped tightly to the ropes that were the difference between staying fixed to the mast or splating face-first onto the deck, making a nasty mess in the process. A sudden acceleration threatened my white-knuckled grasp on the rigging and I heard a horrendous racket from below and Drix's boisterous laughter, which usually meant something along the lines of, "Someone just got hurt; and in my opinion, it's hilarious."

"Doctor Doppler flew into the cabin wall." I glanced down at Tam, climbing to join me.

"He didn't brace himself, then?" I joked, laughter in my voice. "He's quite a character."

Tam chuckled shortly, but the laughter didn't reach his eyes. "Indeed."

"And that suit was something else." I permitted myself to glance over at him when he didn't respond. "You know, you're quite a character yourself. You're so mysterious and aloof sometimes, and at others, very personal even overbearing. And, even though you may say a lot, your words have no meaning."

Tam met my eyes and I felt a strange tremor shoot through me. His eyes were not those of a normal person. They were empty and seemed frozen over in a glassy, emotionless ice. Warmth was not possible for these eyes. They belonged to a cold-blooded killer. He hated because he was told to hate, and obeyed because obedience was expected of him. I tore my gaze away and climbed shakily down to the deck. It wasn't until I looked down that I noticed my hands were trembling. My curiosity was extinguished; he scared me enough to get one message through my head. "Forget about understanding me," his eyes had said. "My hate is senseless."