Chapter 53: Following Destiny
Troy
Duck was bounding up the beach ahead of us, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth and slapping his snout as he ran. Robbie was sulking behind me, his feet shuffling in the sand.
“Come on, man. We have to go back for the girls, you know,” I said, looking at him over my shoulder. He huffed audibly, like an animal, but refused to keep in step with me. Robbie hadn’t wanted to leave Dianny. He had met someone, but refused to talk about it to anyone, which was probably because Myla would tease him relentlessly if she found out.
Oh, Keaton was going to have my head over the Myla situation.
I could already see him storming down the beach towards us, his face twisted in anger.
“Where is she?!” he bellowed from several yards away, his voice booming over the sound of the waves lapping against the sand. I waved at him.
“Nice to see you too!”
“Shut up, Troy. You useless,” His words were drowned out by the sound of the waves crashing over a large rock as we passed by. High tide. I turned my head to look over at the Persephone. Its masts were mended, and people were climbing the rat lines to help hoist the sails back into place.
“She’s fine. She felt she needed to stay back with Maeve and Pete,” I said, stopping short of Keaton, who was fuming with frustration.
“Fine? You’ve been gone for three days, and all you have to say to me is that she’s fine?” He crossed his arms over his chest, cheeks reddening. “And… at least a dozen complete strangers show up at our camp saying they’re going to fix our ship with nothing but primitive tools,”
“Looks fixed t’ me,” Robbie said with a chuckle, tilting his head towards the Persephone. Keaton reddened further, his eyes glazing over with righteous fury.
“What exactly are you doing back here? Hmm? Without the women? You brought this useless dog but not- Keaton pointed down at Duck, who interrupted him by licking his hand and leaving a trail of slime along the cuff of Keaton’s coat. “Ugh!”
“There’s a lot to explain,” I said, running my fingers through my hair. How the hell was I supposed to explain everything that had happened?
“Obviously! And what’s wrong with you, Rob?” Keaton stepped forward, giving Robbie a quizzical eye. It was unlike Robbie to sulk.
“Robbie has a girlfriend”
“I found my mate.”
I nearly snapped my neck turning to face him. Keaton and I stared at Robbie, jaws slack in communal shock.
“I’m
stay behind.” Robbie tucked his hands into
looked at me, and we broke into peels of
But Robbie wasn’t laughing.
tear from his eye, his face falling as Robbie’s
tightening to a knot. Robbie had been markedly absent during most of our stay in Dianny, but
Her name is Alison. And she won’t leave Dianny. I’m gonna stay back while you guys,
what? Wait a minute–”
going through the southern passage. All the way through.
forward. “You’re staying behind? And you–” He turned
never. “And if we don’t
die.”
do with the Persephone
out and grabbing his hand, folding his pointed finger back into place, All hell is
reared back, dodging his blow, and then bent my head to rush
holding us at arm’s length by the collars of our shirts. He slammed us together, my nose cracking against Keaton’s forehead. “I’m staying,” he said calmly as
in pain. I straightened up, happy to be the first to regain my composure as Keaton continued to try
was hoping you were abandoning this treasure hunt, Troy!”
a bit. It’s even more imperative that we find the
Treading water in the southern channel is one thing, Troy. Going
will,” I said quickly, “We don’t have
Robbie, squinting into the sun to
up, planting his hands on his hips.
blacklisted from doing any type of business in the
fault is that?” Keaton said, his
could even open my mouth, “We should have never gotten into business with Damian
a glance at Keaton,
us would’ve met our mates had it not been
Maeve
tossed a bag into the boat, looking over his shoulder at the group of onlookers standing along
lake.
boat and sitting down on one of the benches. She ran her hands along the wooden hull, admiring the craftsmanship. Pete scowled, picking up the last bag
my head. It had been a full day since Troy and Robbie left to go back to camp. Robbie had returned in the morning, relaying a message from Keaton and Troy that Troy would be waiting for us at the beach instead of coming to fetch
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