I was missing so many details. There were so many questions I wished I had the courage to ask.

Where am I going?

What am I going to do?

When can I go home?

But all these questions felt unwieldy. Their answers would be large enough to crush me. I wasn’t ready for them.

“Is the Beholder your ship?” I asked instead.

Captain Lang’s mouth quirked. “No. It’s yours.”

The curve of his thin lips made something in my chest flutter. I gave my head a slight shake. “Beg pardon?”

“Well, it’s Potomac’s, anyway.”

“Oh.”

Alessandra had been so determined to get rid of me she’d bought a ship.

“Have you been a sailor long?” I cocked my head to one side. “You look so young.”

“I’m twenty.” The captain’s jaw tightened, and his eyes grew sharp—not on me, or at me, but clearly I had touched a nerve. “There would’ve been more competition for this job if it hadn’t—” But Lang broke off.

My stomach sank a little. “If it hadn’t what?”

Lang shook his head. “I should let Perrault do the explaining. You’d do better to hear the plan from him.”

I swallowed hard, at once scanning the deck for the protocol officer and his folder and afraid to spot him.

I needed to find out what was coming. I wanted to hide from it.

“Have you been where we’re going?” I asked carefully.

“Europe?” Lang shook his head. “Never been on that side of the Atlantic. But I’ve done a lot of jobs up and down the Misi-ziibi.” He scrubbed a tanned hand through his hair. “A few years back I sailed the Pacific from the Koniag Archipelago, way up north, clear to the west coast of México. That’s where I met Skop—in Koniag. Before this, I was in Zhōng Guó for over a year, running cargo for their national government.”

Europe.

I was going to Europe.

“That’s so much traveling.” My voice sounded young in my own ears. I suddenly felt a little embarrassed by the awe Lang must have heard in my voice. I cleared my throat. “How’d you hear about this . . . job from so far away?”

Job. The word felt odd on my tongue. This was my life that had been turned inside out in the span of one night.

“Ports, pubs, passing ships. News about work travels.” Lang flicked another glance at me. “Especially work like this.”

“I’ve never gone anywhere.”

“Well, you’re going somewhere now.”

I watched his face, where a spare grin hovered beneath his upturned nose, and something flickered in my chest, like kindling catching a spark. “Ready or not,” I said, not taking my eyes off him.

Lang didn’t look away for a long moment. “Skop!” he called.