Free Seaswept (Seabound Chronicles Book 2) by Jordan Rivet

today. I’m not going to
sit here in the cold.”
    She tossed her
thick hair and flounced up the gangway into the ship.
    It grew colder.
Esther wrapped her arms tighter around her legs. The sounds drifting from the
bazaar had gone from bustling to raucous. The sky changed from feather gray to
charcoal.
    Esther was
fiddling with the rubber rim of her storm goggles when she heard a series of
giggles, one high, one low. Cally and Dax must have returned at last. Two
figures came closer to her and stopped to smooch in the dim lighting. Esther
was chilled and stiff by this time, and she wished they’d get it over with. She
was just about to interrupt their tryst so she could go back inside when her
father and Penelope Newton came into view. Penelope let out another giggle like
a schoolgirl. Esther scowled at them as they crossed over to the ship, but her
father didn’t even notice her sitting in the shadows. Why can’t they go back to having a secret romance?
    And still Esther
waited. She was starting to worry. She didn’t think Cally would venture to the
darker parts of the Amsterdam , the
corners around the old drill, where some of the more illicit activities took
place. She didn’t know much about them, but Frank had always warned her to keep
to the bazaar.
    Lights had started
to frost the oil rig with patches of illumination when David appeared. He
staggered across the dock to the Lucinda ,
steps weaving. Esther stood as soon as she saw him, the sweets she had bought
clutched in her hand. Was he injured? Then she realized he was leaning against
a slim figure with flowing copper hair. She tried to make out their
conversation, but the hiss of the water against the ships swallowed their
voices. From what she could tell, their words were friendly as they tottered
down the gangway and disappeared onto the Lucinda ’s
deck.
    Esther paced in
front of the Catalina ’s own gangway,
trying to sort through the tangled ropes of her feelings. David was bringing a
woman back to his ship. So that was it. He was someone who picked up strangers
and took them to his cabin, nothing more.
    Esther thought of
her own visit to David’s cabin on the Galaxy
Mist , her belief that they’d shared a connection. Stupid. The ships creaked, metal against metal. A handful of lights
burned through portholes. Lucinda drifted up and down in the restless water. Esther shook her head at the shifting
gangway, pushing away the knot in her windpipe. If that was how it was, then fine . At least she knew the truth. She
opened the bag of chocolate-covered squid and popped the first chewy sweet into
her mouth.
    It was pitch black
by the time Cally and Dax finally appeared, and Esther was in a foul mood. She
was halfway through the second bag of sweets. The teenage couple ran hand in
hand toward the ship.
    “Esther! We lost
you!” Cally said, her face flushed pink like a sunset cloud. “You won’t believe
the day we’ve had!”
    “I don’t give a
rusty damn about the day you’ve had,” Esther snapped.
    “But—”
    “Don’t even start.
You were supposed to stick with me and take notes. It’s your duty— salt , Cally, you’re making me sound like
Judith.”
    “We have something
to tell—”
    “Get on board and
get to bed. We have work to do tomorrow, and you’d better be up bright and
early. And Dax, you should stay on the Catalina tomorrow and make yourself useful.”
    “But Esther, it’s
about David—” Dax began.
    “I don’t want to
hear it. Onto the ship. Now.”
    Cally and Dax hung
their heads as they crossed the gangway and headed toward the main doors.
Esther felt a little sorry for snapping, but it was cold, and David’s guest
hadn’t left yet.
    Cally and Dax were
the last Catalinans to return, so Esther hauled the bucket of shells back onto
the ship. Instead of going to her cabin, she stomped up to the Mermaid Lounge
and joined Zoe, Anita, and Toni at their booth.
    Zoe and Toni
talked over each other about their encounters from