Twenty-Two

TWENTY-TWO

“He’s got ’em!”

Hamish’s voice calling from the window made me drop the quill on the table. I slid out of the booth and went to the doors of the tavern, propped open to the street. Paj was walking up the cobblestones with three rolled parchments under his arm, his collar pulled up against the bitter wind. He shoved past a group of men headed for the merchant’s house, almost knocking one of them over.

Clove had volunteered to be the one to go to the mapmaker, not trusting Paj to do it. He hadn’t hidden the fact that he didn’t think our navigator could get the Marigold to Yuri’s Constellation and back again. But I’d had other errands for Clove.

I looked out to the street again, watching for any sign of him. He was late.

I slid my hands into the pockets of the new trousers Willa had begrudgingly gone to buy for me. It felt good to be out of that ridiculous frock and back in a pair of boots.

Paj was barreling through the doors a moment later. He made his way to the booth where we’d set up and dropped the maps haphazardly on the table. He didn’t bother looking at me. In fact, none of them had so much as glanced in my direction all day.

West ignored Paj’s display of indignation, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. “All right. What have we got?”

“Look for yourself,” Paj grunted.

“Paj,” Auster warned, raising an eyebrow.

Beside him, Willa looked as if she approved of Paj’s protest. She huffed, stirring another cube of sugar into her cold tea.

Paj relented under Auster’s reproach, opening the maps on top of the ship log Holland had given me. “The midnight was found in Yuri’s Constellation. It had to be. According to the logs, Holland’s crew had been dredging the islands for over a month when Isolde found it, and they continued in that spot for weeks after.” He set a finger on the broken cluster of land masses. “Since then, Holland’s crew has dredged the hell out of those reefs. First from the north, working their way south. Then from the south, working north.”

“But they haven’t found anything,” I said under my breath.

“Obviously,” Paj answered sharply. “They’ve been working at it almost twenty years and they’ve covered every reef that Holland’s crew was working at the time Isolde found the midnight. To say this is a fool’s errand is putting it lightly.”

I sat on the edge of the table. “Where are the geological and topographical charts?”

He sifted through the corners of the maps until he found the one he was looking for, and pulled it free. “Here.”

The diagrams unrolled before me. The stretch of Unnamed Sea was labeled in different colors and thicknesses of lines identifying the types of rocks and depths of water. Most of the reefs were encircled by basalt, slate, and sandstone—prime locations to find most of the stones that ran the gem trade. But if my mother had only found midnight in one place and Holland had been unable to find it since, we were looking for something different.

“What is this?” I pointed to two islands at the corner of the map marked with the symbol for quartz.

When Paj only stared at me, Auster snatched the log from his hand. He dragged his finger down the page until he found it. “Sphene Sisters.”

I’d heard of it before. It was a pair of reefs in Yuri’s Constellation where most of the yellow and green sphene was dredged, known for its wedge shape in the rock.

“Looks like there’s also an active cache of blue agate there, but the serpentine is gone. It’s all been dredged,” Auster added.

“Any others?”

“Just some onyx here and there.”

I squinted, thinking. “When was the last time Holland’s crew dredged here?”

Paj finally spoke, but his face was still like stone. “Two years ago.” He reached over me, moving the map. “This is the one that looks the most interesting.” He pointed to the specks of black in between two long peninsulas. “Pretty rich in chrysocolla, and it hasn’t been dredged for at least ten years.”

That was interesting. Chrysocolla was typically found in small caches, spread out over large stretches of water. Enough to be dredged over a period of ten years was unusual.

“Any others that look odd?”

“Not really. Holland’s been methodical, careful not to skip anything in between.”

But if this was the quadrant they were working when Isolde found it, it had to be there. Somewhere. I took the quill from his hand, marking through the areas that showed the least promise. In the end, we were left with the reefs set atop bedrocks of gneiss and greenschist.

“They’ve been over these reefs again and again,” West said, leaning onto the table with both hands.

“Not with a gem sage, they haven’t,” I said, almost to myself. “Oskar was gone long before Isolde found the midnight.”

“Oskar?”

“My grandfather.” The words sounded strange even to myself. “He was a gem sage. If Holland had another, she wouldn’t be so interested in the fact that I’m one too.” Any gem sage with a lick of sense would avoid a merchant like Holland. I turned to Paj. “You sure you can get around these waters?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Can you do it or not?” I said, harsher than I meant.

He gave me a good, long look of annoyance. “I can do it.”

“We have one week,” I muttered. Even with two weeks, it would be a nearly impossible dive.

“We need the course charted by sundown,” West said.

“Anything else?” Paj looked between us, a mocking smile plastered on his face.

“Yeah,” I said, annoyed. “Tell Hamish I need a gem lamp. And another belt of dredging tools.”

“My pleasure.” Paj pushed off the table and grabbed his jacket before he started for the doors.

They slammed shut as the barmaid set down a third pot of tea and I slid my cup over the maps so she could fill it.

“Another dredging belt,” Willa murmured. “What happened to yours?”

“What do you care?” West glared at her.

Willa shrugged. “Just curious what our coin’s being spent on.”

Her eyes cut to me and I bit the inside of my cheek. Willa was drawing a line. She was on one side, and she was clearly putting me on the other.

“Something to eat?” The barmaid wiped her hands on her apron.

Auster reached into the pocket of his vest. “Bread and cheese. Stew if you have it.” He set three coppers on the table.

“Aren’t you going to check with Fable first?” Willa sneered.

I frowned, resisting the urge to topple the tea into her lap. I understood why she was angry. All of them had the right to be. But I wasn’t sure West understood what he’d risked by forcing their hands. By the time this was over, I might not have a place on this crew.

I looked again to the window with a sigh. When I sent Clove to the docks, I’d told him to be back by noon.

“He said he’ll be here,” West said, reading my mind.

I pulled my attention from the street and placed it back on the maps. “We start in the eastern section of the quadrant, where Holland’s ships were dredging when Isolde found the midnight, and stick to the reefs I’ve marked. There’s no way to know if it’s the right call until I get down there, but they have the best conditions for a diverse gem cache. There’s warm water from the southern current, a gneiss bedrock, and a pocket of reefs old enough to hold a few secrets.” It was the best place to start, but something told me it wouldn’t be that easy.

The door to the tavern swung open again, and I squinted against the bright light. Clove pulled the cap from his head, unbuttoning his jacket with one hand, and I let out a relieved breath when I saw Koy behind him.

“Took half the day, but I found him.” Clove sat down, taking the pot of tea without asking and filling one of the empty cups.

Koy was still wet, and the raw cuts on his fingers told me where he’d spent the last two days since Zola’s ship was commandeered. He’d been scraping hulls. His face gave no trace of shame as he watched me inspect his hands. It was an undignified job, one that Koy hadn’t likely done in years, but Jevalis had done a lot worse for coin.

Beside me West sat straight-backed, studying him.

“What do you want, Fable?” Koy finally said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“I have a job, if you want it.”

His black eyes glinted. “A job.”

Willa leaned forward with her jaw dropped open. “I’m sorry, are you now hiring crew without our permission, too?”

“Shut it, Willa,” West growled, silencing her.

I looked back up to Koy. “That’s right. A job.”

“The last time I saw you, you were a prisoner on the Luna, dredging under the thumb of Zola. You spend two days in Bastian and now you’re running your own jobs?”

“It appears so.” I shrugged.

Across the table, Willa was fuming. She shook her head, gritting her teeth. Koy stared at me with the same sentiment.

I leaned back into the bench, looking at the maps. “Seven days, twelve reefs, one gem.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. What do you mean one gem?”

“I mean we are looking for one gem, but we don’t know where it is.”

He huffed. “Are you serious?”

I nodded once.

“And how exactly are you going to do that?”

I rolled up the map between us, tapping it on the table.

“I knew it,” he muttered, shaking his head. “You’re a gem sage.”

I didn’t deny it.

“I told everyone on that island there was a reason you were dredging more than Jevalis who’d been diving for fifty years.”

He’d never accused me outright, but I’d known Koy was suspicious. The only thing I’d had to hide behind was the fact that I was so young. No one was going to believe him unless they knew who my mother was.

“I’m not interested,” he said. “I only got half my pay from Zola before his body was dumped into the harbor by whoever cut his throat. I’m going to spend most of it getting back to Jeval.”

And that’s what I was counting on. Koy had a family on Jeval who depended on him, and that was the reason he’d taken the job from Zola in the first place. His brother was probably running his ferrying trade while he was gone, and in a few days they’d be wondering where he was.

But I’d have to get him to trust that I was good for the coin if I was going to convince him to come with us.

“We’ll double the pay Zola promised you. And we’ll give it to you now,” Clove grunted between sips of his tea.

“What?” I turned in my chair to face him. It was a much better offer than the one I was prepared to make.

Clove looked uninterested, as usual. Not a single feather ruffled. “You heard me.”

“We don’t have that kind of coin, Clove. Not here.” I lowered my voice. Even if we did, the crew would have my head for spending that much from the coffers.

“I do.” He shrugged.

He was talking about the bounty for Zola. The one he was going to use for his own fleet.

“Clove…”

“You need it,” he said simply. “So take it.”

That was the Clove I knew. He’d have stolen the coin for me if I asked.

I gave him a weak, grateful smile. “I’ll pay you back. Every copper.”

Across the table, I could feel Koy’s eyes slide to me. He was clearly listening now.

“We’ll also give you passage back to Jeval, free of charge when we head back to the Narrows,” I added.

Koy bit his bottom lip, thinking. “What have you gotten yourself into?”

“You want the job or not?”

He shifted on his feet, hesitating. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse, and we both knew it. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you offering it to me?” His tone turned bitter, and I realized he’d figured me out. I had to handle him carefully if I was going to keep him on the line.

“You’re the best dredger I’ve ever seen. Besides myself,” I amended. “This is a job that’s next to impossible, and I need you.”

He turned toward the window, staring out at the street. Beside him, West was looking at me. He didn’t like this. The last time West had seen Koy, he’d been chasing me down the docks in Jeval, ready to kill me.

When Koy finally spoke, he set both hands onto the table, leaning over me. “Fine. I’ll do it. I want the coin now and I need a new belt of tools. Those bastards took them when they pieced the Luna.”

“Done.” I grinned.

“One more thing.” He leaned closer, and West got to his feet, taking a step toward us.

“What is it?” I met Koy’s eyes.

“We’re not trading favors, Fable. Understand?” His voice deepened. “I told you. I didn’t cut the rope. So, if this has anything to do with what happened on that dive, I’m out.”

And that was the thing about Koy. His pride was more stubborn than his hunger for copper. If I so much as breathed a hint that I owed him, he’d walk away from the coin.

“Fine. You didn’t cut the rope.” I reached out a hand between us. “We leave at sundown. I’ll have your tools and your coin on the ship.”

Koy took my hand, shaking it. He looked at me another moment before he turned on his heel, headed for the door.

Willa stared at me incredulously. I handed her the maps and she shook her head once before she got to her feet.

West watched her go. “What favor is Koy talking about?” he asked.

“That bastard saved my life when Zola’s dredger tried to kill me.”

“That’s what this is about? A debt?”

“No,” I said, standing. “I meant what I said. He’s a skilled dredger. We need him.”

I could see in West’s eyes that he wanted the whole story. It was one I’d eventually have to tell him, but not today.

Clove leaned back, looking at me.

“What?”

He shrugged, a wry smile playing at his lips. “Just thinkin’.”

I cocked my head to the side, glaring. “Thinking what?”

“That you’re just like him,” he said, taking another sip of tea.

I didn’t have to ask who he meant. He was talking about Saint.