It was a single-masted thing, bobbing gently as the tide moved out, and it gleamed like oil against the sea and stone. For a moment, I wondered if it was safe with the low tide, but it was so small that maybe it wouldn’t matter.

The cabin window was dark, which probably meant Nine wasn’t here yet, and we had a long, boring wait ahead of us.

As the sun finished its descent, a few seagulls cried above, squawking irritably. Below, piles of white feathers were scattered beneath the red rocks where Crystal and LaLa perched, their stomachs round after an enormous meal.

“Well.” Ilina leaned her weight on one hip. “I see two dragons who won’t need treats for at least a decan.”

The dragons looked at each other and chattered quietly.

The piles of seagull feathers made me think of Kelsine. We hadn’t seen her since Altan found us in the dishonored camp outside Lorn-tah, but before he’d arrived, the young dragon had been playing in a rain of white feathers while LaLa and Crystal hunted for the people who lived in that camp.

Aaru was watching my face. ::I’m sorry.:: His soft quiet code came against my knuckles. ::I should have found out where he sent her.::

Before he could slip his hand from mine, I squeezed. I wanted Kelsine with me, but it wasn’t Aaru’s fault that Altan had been an uncooperative prisoner. If we were going to have a contest of taking blame for her absence, then I would win: in the tunnels, I should have made sure she was with our friends, not trying to fight on my behalf.

I clicked for LaLa, and she flew to sit on my shoulder as we rounded a bend and came along the black ship’s starboard. There was no gangplank to climb, and no other way to get onto the ship without wings. “She’s not in there, is she?” I asked Aaru.

He cocked his head and listened. Then nodded. “Cooking.”

“Oh, good.” Hristo pressed his palm to his stomach. “I’m hungry.”

I nudged LaLa. “Go make noise she can’t ignore.”

She pushed off, Crystal on her tail, and the pair began screeching and clawing at the cabin door and window, while the rest of us sat on the rocks to rest our legs. But several minutes later, Nine finally emerged onto the main deck, dodging two small dragons, and glared around.

“Some spy,” I said above the crash of water on rocks. “We could have been anyone.”

“What are you doing here?” She propped her fists on her hips. “I told you that I’d come find you when I had something.”

“We had something first. Let us on.”

She sighed and touched the railing, and a long ramp slid out from the side of the ship and settled onto the rocks. We boarded one at a time and followed her into the small cabin, then down the hatch into the lower deck.

Lights glowed along the dark walls, but they weren’t noorestones. Instead, sharp, slashing symbols carved into the metal danced orange-white, like fire. It was strange, getting used to the flickering light, but the lower deck had enough of the symbols to fully illuminate the space. It was split into three different sections: a cargo hold, a brig, and a clear area in between; the mast drove through its center and into the ship’s hull.