Chapter 9: : Chapter 8

The girl was as wobbly as Eric. He led her down the beach, their arms looped together for balance. They couldn’t use the rocky path he had taken down to the beach because of her bare feet, and Eric wasn’t strong enough to carry her. Instead, he led her toward the city, trying to corral her and Max every time they spotted something interesting. The girl had nearly lost him when she went chasing after a flower seller.

After he found her staring at a bookshop with a hunger in her eyes Eric usually saw only in scholars, he had asked if she knew how to read and write in Vellonian or any other languages. She didn’t, but that didn’t make her less interested in the books.

“Here,” Eric said once he was able to tear her away from the shop. He helped her down the street, back toward Vanni’s. “This should be easier to walk on.”

The girl took a few hesitant steps on the flat surface and stumbled into his arms, knocking them both over. She let out a breathy laugh. He held back a sigh.

“Up we get.” He struggled to his feet, chest aching, and helped her up. The sailcloth and rope were quickly coming undone. He kept his gaze fixed on her left ear. “So here’s my plan—we visit my friend nearby, borrow some clothes from his sister who’s about your size, and then figure out what else you need. Sound good?”

She nodded and tightened her grip on his arm. The streets weren’t crowded this time of day, and most of the people on them were too busy working to notice Eric rushing past with the girl. She looked at everything with wonder, hesitating in front of a cobbler’s and nearly slipping away from him as they passed an apothecary. It took half an hour and three stops to reach Vanni’s. Eric had to close his eyes to keep from snapping. His head ached so badly that his teeth felt like they were shifting with each step, and he knew if Grimsby checked on Eric and found him gone, Eric would be dead by sunset. It wasn’t the girl’s fault, though.

“You can look around Cloud Break later,” Eric said, and told Max to stay by the door to Vanni’s. He needed to get back to the castle to rest enough for Grimsby not to balk when he started researching the Blood Tide and his curse. “But today’s not a great day for it.”

But she was too taken with the stalks of wheat in a large bottle outside the door, touching the kernels and rubbing the leaves between her finger and thumb. She tapped the tall glass bottle with her nails.

“You’re not listening to me, are you? If you’ve never been here before, I can’t blame you.” He laughed and buried his face in his hands. “All right, definitely going to get murdered by Grim for being away too long.”

He touched her elbow and nodded her into the store. Vanni didn’t even look up from his cleaning as they entered.

“Vanni,” Eric said, “I need a favor.”

“I just got here. What trouble could you have possibly found on your walk?”

“I doubt her name is trouble,” said Eric. He glanced at her, and she shook her head. “To be fair, I haven’t fig-ured out what her name is yet.”

“Her name…” Vanni’s face scrunched, and he looked up to see Eric and the girl. His gaze dropped to her bare feet, took in the sailcloth, and ended on her openmouthed looked of wonder at the dough on the counter. Vanni dropped the cloth he’d been holding and covered his mouth with a soapy hand. “You found her?”

The full meaning of Vanni’s words were like a punch, and Eric was disappointed all over again.

“Ah, no. This isn’t ,” he said. “I found her”—he gestured at the red-haired girl next to him—“on my walk. She doesn’t speak. I was hoping she could borrow some of Lucia’s clothes so she didn’t have to walk through the bay in a sail.”

The girl looked up at him and tugged at her makeshift dress, covering her chest with her arms.

“Ignore him,” Vanni said, wiping the soap bubbles from his face. “If it had sleeves, no one would know the difference. Let’s get you some more comfortable clothes.”

He gestured for her to follow him, and she glanced back at Eric. Eric smiled.

“I’ll wait outside the door for you,” he said. “Once you’re dressed, we can go up to the castle and figure out what to do.”

She nodded. Vanni grabbed some clothes from his sister’s room and led them to a small storage area separated from the main room by a thick curtain. Eric stayed a good ways down the hall and leaned against the wall while the girl changed.

“I need to be able to call you something,” he said. “Any hints as to what your name is?”

She stuck her head out from behind the curtain, scrunched her mouth up to one side, and mouthed something he couldn’t make out.

“Emma?” he asked.

She shook her head.

He hummed. “Snow?”

She shook her head so hard her hair smacked the wall, and Eric laughed.

“All right, all right. Change.” He whistled a bit, trying to think of a way to make it easier. “We need to figure out a better way for you to say yes and no before you break your neck.”

Her breathy laugh was so quiet he nearly missed it, and he smiled.

“Something people can see and hear,” he said. “Any ideas?”

There was a rustling of canvas, the scrape of a rope being undone, and a thoughtful little huff. Quietly, she knocked on the wall once.

“You all right?” he asked.

She stuck a bare arm out from the curtain and held up a single finger. Then she knocked on the wall once again.

“Is that a yes?” he asked, relaxing when she did it again. That would work and be easy for others to pick up on. “One for yes and two for no. That’s a good system, Ruby.”

She slapped his arm twice gently through the curtain, and he nearly choked. He had moved closer to the curtain without realizing it. It didn’t seem to bother her, but he was far too close for propriety’s sake. Eric backed up a few steps.

“One knock is yes, two is no, and three is I don’t know,” he said. “That way we have the most pressing answers covered.”

She clapped once. He waited in silence after that, letting her change in peace. He hadn’t considered that her normal clothing might be different from Vellona’s, but she hadn’t asked for clarification yet. Eric waited another minute before clearing his throat.

“Regina?” he asked. “Do you need any help? We can get one of Vanni’s sisters if you want.”

Two knocks rattled the wall.

“Good, good,” said Eric. “So, Regina, how did—”

She rapped twice, hard, against the wall directly next to Eric’s ear.

“Point taken,” said Eric, chuckling.

The curtain rippled. The girl peeked out, blue eyes nervous behind a fringe of red hair. Eric stepped back, curious to see her out of the canvas and realized immediately why it had taken so long. Statuesque Lucia, who was two years younger than Vanni and whom Eric had a hard time picturing as not the little sister he had always seen her as, was far taller than this girl. The collar hung too low on her chest, and she had rolled the top of the trousers too many times to count into a thick band. The rolling, at least, kept the trousers on her waist and the hem off the ground. Her bare toes tapped against the floor.

With the low neckline, Eric couldn’t help noticing the freckles—pale, barely-there things—dusting her shoulders. One was even nestled in the hollow of her throat. Eric felt himself blush and looked away.

“Okay,” he said, clearing his throat. “One last thing.”

Kneeling, Eric pulled the slippers from her hands and gestured to her feet. She held up one of her feet and let him slide the slipper onto it.

“I know everything is a touch too big, but do you think it’ll be all right for the walk to the castle? It’s about another half hour away.” He took her other foot into his hands.

She tapped him on the shoulder once for yes, and he couldn’t help leaning into her touch. Looking up, he caught her staring at him, and she flushed. Eric dropped her foot and stepped back. He couldn’t quite pull away from her gaze yet.

He was not used to the heat in his chest.

“Good. Great. Let’s thank Vanni, and then, ah, then we can head out.” Eric swallowed and forced himself to look away. He darted back to the storefront. “Vanni? Thank you, and thank Lucia for us, will you? I’ll have the clothes returned tomorrow.”

Vanni scoffed. “Don’t worry about it.”

The girl let out a little breath and darted to the counter, where Vanni was still working. He had finished cleaning and was kneading a spring-green ball of dough on the countertop. Vanni’s family sold bread and buns and all sorts of yeasty, tasty things, but it was his grandmother’s pasta most people bought. A fine veil of flour glittered in the air, and the girl looked on transfixed as the dough came together. Eric chuckled.

As a child, Eric had watched Vanni’s grandmother cook with an ease he usually associated with master art-ists or fencers, and at some point when Eric wasn’t looking, Vanni had taken on the same ethereal quality.

“Never seen pasta before?” he asked, understanding her obsession with Vanni’s movements perfectly.

She tapped the counter twice.

“Definitely not from Vellona, then,” he said. “Are you rested enough to leave now? I need to get back before Grimsby notices I’m gone.”

There wasn’t much time left for him to find the Isle of Serein and break his curse.

She nodded slowly, as if she hadn’t quite heard him. Meanwhile, Vanni cut off a small knob of dough and dragged a knife across the top of it, rolling the dough up into a curved shape. A smile spread across her face, and she tore her eyes away from the food long enough to stare up at Eric and touch the rim of his ear before pointing at the dough. Heat pooled along his ribs.

“It does sort of look like an ear,” he said, and she turned back to Vanni’s work. Eric swallowed, trying not to stare at her. Vanni, hands never missing a beat, smiled at Eric over her head.

“You’ve got flour in your hair,” he said.

Eric smacked the hair near his ear. “Shut up.”

“You’ve got something red on your face, too,” Vanni said, wiping his hands on his apron and stretching across the counter. He pinched Eric’s cheeks. “Just here.”

The girl giggled, and Eric closed his eyes. He should’ve just carried her to the castle.

“How do you feel about the sea?” Vanni asked the girl.

She broke out into a wide smile and tried to speak. Her hand clutched her throat.

“That’s a yes, then,” said Vanni. “Want to see Cloud Break’s specialty?”

Vanni didn’t wait for her answer. He pulled a cloth from a small ball of black dough and showed her one of the wooden stamps. Every town on the coast had its own flag now to let sailors know where they were when they were close to land, and Cloud Break Bay’s three-masted ship above a twisting octopus was more exciting than the bird that represented all of Vellona. Eric waited for her to finish fawning over the detailed picture stamped into the dough before he touched her arm. She frowned.

“I’m sorry,” Eric said, “but we should really get ba—”

Her stomach rumbled loudly.

He couldn’t make her walk across the bay on an empty stomach, not after finding her washed up on the beach. He didn’t even know how long it had been since she last ate.

“Okay.” Eric laughed and dropped his arm. “Vanni, could I bother you for food?”

“It’s hardly a bother. You’re watching me cook,” said Vanni. He leaned against the counter and eyed the girl. “You like soup?”

She blinked at him and nodded uncertainly.

Eric leaned over to Vanni and said, “Thank you. I’ll pay you once we get back.”

“If you insist.” Vanni left for a moment and returned with two small bowls of soup on a tray with fresh bread and oysters, and he set one before Eric with a stare. “Eat it. I survived a shipwreck. I’m not dying because Carlotta’s furious at you for not resting.”

Eric laughed and shrugged. “Fair. Thank you.”

They could spare another half hour. It wasn’t like he was going to solve the mystery of his curse and the Blood Tide within the next hour. The ghosts would still be ghosts and the Isle of Serein would still be in the same place once she had eaten, probably. Nora’s information, even, could wait a day.

Especially if Eric had imagined his savior. That definitely meant he should take a day off from thinking about it. He could practically hear Carlotta fussing.

The girl turned to him, stared up at his expression, and tilted her head to the side.

“Sorry. Lost in thought,” he said, and groaned. “I keep thinking of you as ‘the girl,’ but it sounds terrible. Is there a nickname you would like me to use until I figure out your name?”

He glanced at her. She looked up, nodding, and the sun caught her eyes. They glowed a pale bluish gray, like stormy morning light glinting off the sea. They ate in silence, her studying everything around them, and Vanni suggested nicknames every few minutes. The girl mostly swirled her spoon in her soup, nibbling on the pasta as if she’d never had anything like it before. The mussels and oysters on the half shell she avoided.

“How about Sea?” Vanni asked.

She rolled her lips together and shook her head.

“Something to do with the sea?” Eric had finished eating a while back, but rushing her would have been rude. “Or would you prefer something else?”

She knocked twice against the counter, looking around, and then pointed at one of the untouched oysters.

Vanni screwed up his face. “I don’t think that’s…”

It was perfect. And seeing her smile made the waiting worth it.

“Pearl,” Eric said and smiled. “You want your nickname to be Pearl until we figure out your real name?”

She clapped once and beamed up at him through the fringes of her mussed red hair. Eric shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from tucking the escaped strands behind her ears.

“Then,” said Eric, bowing, “it is lovely to meet you, Pearl.” He rose and winked at her. “I’m going to keep guessing, though. Lacey?”

She knocked her knuckles against the back of his hand twice.

“Well, Pearl, I look forward to finding out your name.”