by Alexa Donne
Hugo spent the next half-hour regaling me with stories of the ship reputed to be the most technologically advanced in the fleet. Meanwhile, I watched as Bianca became more and more incensed from afar. She toddled over in her impractical heels and whined at Hugo to join them in their next game, claiming she was losing hopelessly without him. He tried to beg off on my account, but I deferred to Bianca, insisting he go. She’d demonstrated the power she wielded when it came to Hugo. I wasn’t going to intentionally cross her.
I used the opportunity to slip out and head for the bridge, where Xiao said I could check my messages in the evenings. I had one from George.
Hey, Stel—
I know I am the worst friend for not writing sooner. You were right—it was my birthday—and they moved me up to field duty a few days early. It’s been a whirlwind. They made me a supervising officer, right out of the gate. Jon might have pulled a few strings. He’s in his uncle’s good graces now that he’s apprenticing with him. If I play my cards right, I’ll get a promotion to lieutenant in the next few years, maybe get involved with the decision making when it comes to the supply chain. Jon has all these ideas about staging a mini-coup, keeping more of the food we grow on board. Of course, Jon also thinks there’s a conspiracy to move food production off the Stalwart altogether, but that’s a whole other thing.
We watched another movie I think you would like. It had all sorts of weirdness and layers and stuff, about dreams within dreams or something—right up your alley. Not so much mine, but at least I had Joy to keep me company. I took your advice and asked her out, and before I knew it, we were an item. For some reason, Destiny has stopped speaking to us, but everyone else seems supportive. I know you were rooting for Joy, so thanks for your advice.
Until next time,
George
George and Joy. Of course. I seemed to have a talent for willing other people’s relationships into existence. I typed up a quick response, conveying my congratulations on his relationship, and then headed for bed. I was halfway to my old quarters when I realized my error, redirecting myself downstairs to the crew wing with slightly heavier steps.
“You must be lost.”
It was Hanada, just a few steps behind me. It was strange seeing her down here with full-on lighting. She almost looked normal. It seemed rude to run away from her, so I let her catch up and we continued on together.
“I moved down here. With the Ingram crew,” I said, like it was perfectly normal. Like I’d had some choice in the matter.
“First he cancels our weekly poker game, and now he makes you move? That frexing—”
“Hugo didn’t do this,” I cut her off.
“Then I can guess who did. You know, he used to follow her around like a puppy, and now it’s her family who’s desperate for our affection.”
“You know about the whole merger thing, then?”
Hanada stopped us just short of where the corridor widened and the crew quarters began. A wild shriek of laughter from the mess hall signaled the Ingram crew’s party was in full swing.
“The Ingrams have been gunning for a merger since before Phillip died.”
“Phillip?”
“Fairfax. Hugo’s father. He couldn’t stand the Ingrams, but they were old family friends of Cassandra’s—Hugo’s mother—and so he indulged it.”
“And Hugo had a thing for Bianca?”
“He was thirteen. I think he had a thing for everyone.”
I laughed, because I was sure I was supposed to. “Then some things don’t change,” I said. “He’s smitten with her.”
Hanada narrowed her eyes. “I wouldn’t be too sure. In my experience, Fairfax men are never quite what they seem. They’re stubborn.”
“What does that mean?”
“We can engage in idle girl talk some other time,” she said, entirely unhelpfully. “Just keep your wits about you. Good night, Stella.” Hanada slunk off to her quarters, and I continued to the mess hall.
The junior crew and two lieutenants were deep into a game of poker, though their cards were cruder than those I’d seen the Ingram party and Hugo using. I drifted to the edge of the room, where Preity was sitting, cheering on Lizzy as she stared down Griegs. Hanada should have stayed. This was right up her alley.
“Did the crew-member princess decide to slum it down here with us?” Griegs sneered over his hand. Lizzy promptly smacked him on the shoulder.
“She’s bunking down with us now, so be nice. Her Grand Highness Bianca saw to it.” Everyone tossed me a bit of sympathy.
“Yeah, and it’s not my choice to spend hours up there in that awful drawing room,” I said, deciding to use the truth to my advantage. “It’s dreadfully dull when I’m sitting in the corner being ignored, and the epitome of humiliating when they pay me any mind. I’d rather not go, but Captain Fairfax is requiring it.”
“That’s weird,” Lizzy said, trading a look with the others.
Was it? I supposed I was used to Hugo demanding my company on a nightly basis. I both hated the humiliation of the drawing room and craved his company, like a masochist.
We stayed in the rec room until Lizzy took the kitty with a royal flush, causing a red-faced Griegs to stomp out of the room. Then I got my first taste of communal life in years, dancing around with the rest of the girls in the bathroom, hoping no one could see me blush when I bumped into a male lieutenant named Ritter. I strapped myself into my top bunk as Lizzy voice-commanded the lights off, realizing as I turned my face against the pillow, eyes meeting pitch-black, what I would miss most about my private quarters. This room had no window, and thus I was cut off from the stars.
Chapter Sixteen
Over the next week, I tried to adjust to the rhythms of my new life. I rose at six thirty to beat Griegs to the showers, as I found he notoriously liked to sleep in until the last possible minute. My new roommates embraced me, becoming friendlier each day, while I felt more and more distant from my friends among the Rochester crew. They were all considered senior staff and thus ate with the senior Ingram crew. Only Jessa remained constant; I spent my days with her, and my nights in the drawing room for my allotted two hours. Hugo hadn’t asked Jessa back since the night he’d given her the gift. She wasn’t taking it well.
I made excuses, because I didn’t want to tell her the truth. The new Hugo I’d met on the day of his morbid anniversary was a permanent fixture now. Frequently drunk, intermittently hot and cold, not at all thoughtful or sensitive to others. He’d turned into every stupid boy I’d ever known on the Stalwart but worse, for every once in a while, there was a glimmer of the old Hugo. He’d make an inside joke about a book we’d read, or ask me with genuine concern about my day. But then he’d pour himself another drink, and Bianca would pull him away. She became his new favorite person. Or an old favorite, as Hanada had pointed out.
I took Hugo’s advice and used my time in the drawing room to get to know my new drawing tab. I rendered Captain Ingram in his gold-ribboned shoulders in ink and acrylic blue and gold, and Mrs. Ingram in her successive parade of ridiculous hairdos in pastel oil crayons. I did a watercolor of the trio of cousins whose names I couldn’t remember bending their heads together in gossip. A simple, sad pencil sketch of the sullen Justine, who watched her husband flirt with the maids serving drinks.
And Bianca. I drew her most of all, in multiple mediums, over successive nights. I was determined to capture her beauty, as a reminder to myself why Hugo spent each evening accepting her shameless flirtations. Why he always flirted back.
“You capture her well,” Hugo said one night in a low voice, startling me so much that my stylus slipped, creating a smudge across Bianca’s right cheek. I quickly undid my last move. “You really captured the . . . spark in her eyes.”
I thought the word he was grasping for was “meanness,” but I merely smiled and accepted the compliment.
“Do you ever draw me?” he asked, a wicked glint to his eyes. I did draw Hugo, but always in priva
te, so no one could see the attention and time I spent on him. “I can tell the answer is yes, so you might as well show me.”
I found my most recent attempt at him and handed the tab over for his assessment. He frowned. “I look so serious.”
“Well, you’re a serious person,” I said.
“Not around you. You’re the one person I feel I can relax around.”
I willed myself not to say something that would get me fired.
“Even when you’re relaxed, then,” I hedged, “you have a baseline of seriousness. It’s not a bad thing. I also consider myself a rather serious person.”
“That you are,” Hugo said. “And do you ever draw yourself? Do you have a self-portrait?”
“There are far more interesting things to draw. Real and imaginary.”
“Oh, I don’t agree. Would you draw one for me?”
I hesitated.
“Please? If you do, I won’t make you come to the drawing room.” I perked up at that, but too soon. “For an evening or two,” Hugo finished, his smile sly.
“Fine, but only because it’s somewhat of a thing artists do. All of the greats created self-portraits, and I am by no means great, but I shall try.”
“Good,” he said. “But there will be no more drawing tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
He clapped his hands together, standing, then announced to the whole room. “Everyone, stop what you’re doing. I propose we play a game.”
“Ooh, yes!” Bianca trilled, grabbing Hugo by the arm and pointedly tugging him away from me. “What do you have in mind?”
“Hide-and-go-seek,” he answered.
“But that’s a children’s game.” Bianca pouted.
“Only if children are playing it. And you’re not a child anymore, are you?” Hugo teased, prompting Bianca to giggle, smacking him playfully in the shoulder. My dinner threatened to rise into my throat.
“Now, everyone must play,” Hugo continued. “And the only rule is you must hide in a publicly accessible space. No going into any private rooms. You have the whole ship, both levels, at your disposal. And we’re going to make it fun.” He strode over to a side table, grabbing a bottle of liquor and pouring a little bit into a dozen small glasses. “One for everyone. You must drink before you run off.” A line quickly formed, while I edged toward the door, waiting for the best moment to sneak out.
“Stella, where are you going?” Hugo boomed. “You must play.”
Everyone turned to stare, and I stammered out an excuse about being tired, but Hugo was relentless.
“She can be the seeker,” Bianca suggested, but Hugo shook his head.
“No, she knows the ship too well. The game won’t be any fun. I want you to be the first seeker, Bianca.”
“But I wanted to hide with you,” she huffed, swallowing down her shot and then snatching up another.
Hugo shook his head. “Hiding with another person is against the rules. If your spot is taken, you must find another one. And anyway . . . I want you to find me, B.” He winked at her and she blushed. I marched over to the sideboard and drank two shots for good measure. When I came up for air, I found Hugo appraising me, seemingly impressed. I just wanted to get this over with.
“One last thing,” Hugo said, stopping everyone before they spilled out into the hall. “Rori? Turn off all the lights in public areas. No emergency lights, please.”
Several people gasped.
“Now, this is going to be fun!” Hugo said before running off into the black.
All the hiding spots I could think of were taken. I’d tried the bridge, the kitchens, various shadowy alcoves. Basically, everything at front and midship. I was running out of time.
“Rori, how much more time until Bianca starts searching?” I whispered.
“Sixty seconds,” she chimed in my ear.
I sighed. Maybe I should just give up and let Bianca find me easily? But no, then she’d tease me endlessly for failing at a child’s game. I headed aft, squinting in the darkness as I approached the landing bay. It was technically public, but only accessible via two bio-locked door codes, which defeated the purpose. I could hide there, but Bianca wouldn’t be able to get in. The supply room, however . . .
I crept inside, careful not to trip over Lieutenant Poole’s toolkit, or the bench in front of the lockers. I aimed for a pitch-black corner, where the row of lockers ended and a heavy metal cabinet created a shadowy nook at the best of times, when the lights were on. Sixty seconds had to be up by now. I slipped into the darkness, my back to the wall, peering out, around the corner to the door. Worried she’d be able to see me from this angle, I took a step back.
And hit something solid and warm. Not a wall. A person.
I shrieked, but the sound was muffled by the hand that clapped itself over my mouth. Hugo’s voice in my ear stopped a full-scale panic.
“Sorry to startle you,” he said.
I pulled away, body tingling from the shock. Or maybe from his touch.
“I’m sorry. I’ll go find somewhere else.” I started to back away, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the shadows.
“No, stay. It’s too late to find somewhere else.”
“But the rules . . .”
“Frex the rules. They’re my rules, anyway. Stay.”
Hugo pulled me in so close my breath warmed the skin of his neck, and he secured his arm around the small of my back, hand resting on my hip. This was as physically close as we’d been since the night of the fire, only this time he was fully clothed. My thoughts flew in a million directions, most of them shouting about why and how and that he smelled like liquor and sweat, but why didn’t I mind? I tilted my head up to search his eyes, features rendered in shades of gray by the dark, like one of my charcoal drawings. I couldn’t read him or his intent. Was it necessary to be so close?
I exhaled a shaky breath, the sound of it jarringly loud, so much so that Hugo pressed a finger to my lips, shushing me. I kept further attempts to breathe quiet, but he didn’t move his finger, the graze of his skin against my lips maddening, only serving to draw my breaths quicker. At this rate, I’d overheat. Or faint. But no, there’d be no falling with Hugo as an anchor. His hand on my hip burned a hole through my clothes.
A high-pitched squeal from the corridor broke the spell. Bianca must have found someone nearby. I startled out of Hugo’s grasp, backing against the wall, both savoring and dreading the space. He didn’t reach for me again. Minutes passed, and my heart slowed, my mind catching up with me. What was I thinking, hiding in the dark with my boss? When Bianca found us, she’d tell everyone, and all would assume we were doing something untoward. My cheeks burned with new purpose, a preview of the mortification to come. I couldn’t let that happen.
“I have to go,” I said, stealing away before Hugo could stop me. I flew back to the drawing room, slipping quietly inside and finding it empty, as I’d hoped. The windows offered a meager light and stars by which to distract and calm myself. The party returned some twenty minutes later, everyone laughing and chattering, accusing others of cheating. Not that it mattered, as there was nothing to win. Another round was suggested, but Hugo firmly said no. I returned to my seat by the door, only to find myself the object of his maddening attention. He stared at me, gaze accusing.
So again I fled, out into the hallway, still shrouded in darkness. Except there seemed to be a light flashing off to the right. It illuminated the corridor at regular intervals, every five seconds. I followed the flashes to the bridge, where I found a multitude of screens all blinking the same message: SHIP INCOMING.
I hailed Officer Xiao, her voice thick with sleep, but she came alert as soon as I told her what was happening.
“I’ll be on the bridge in three minutes. Get the captain up there immediately.”
I touched a finger to my ear, clearing my throat to keep it from shaking. “Comms on. Paging Captain Fairfax.”
“Not authorized,” Rori intoned. I’d forgotte
n. Only Xiao and Poole could directly hail the captain. There was no time to get Xiao back on the line.
“Rori, please make an exception. At least tell the captain I’m calling; see if he’ll answer.”
I waited, silence in my ear until he answered a moment later, voice playful.
“Stella, are you coming back? You know I don’t like it when you leave.”
“Sir, I need you to report immediately to the bridge. We’ve got a ship incoming.”
For a moment, he didn’t speak. I was afraid he hadn’t heard me, so I began to repeat myself, but he cut me off. “Roger wilco,” he said, suddenly serious. “I will be there in a minute.” He arrived a minute before Xiao, scanning the screens, ignoring me. Then he touched two fingers to his comms piece.
“Incoming ship, please identify and state your purpose.” He waited for a response, mouth tight, staring intently at the windows. When his jaw started clicking, I assumed he was hearing a response, one he didn’t like. “I will allow you on board my ship to refuel and rest, but I want you gone in twelve hours.” Though I saw Hugo sway on his feet, close his eyes, and breathe heavily through his nose to steady himself, his voice remained strong and clear. I’d never seen him so in command. It was a good look on him. “Well, that is your opinion,” he continued his conversation as Xiao arrived. He signaled her, then ended his call. “I will meet you in the transport bay in twenty minutes with my First Officer. Do not move from there until we come to collect you.”
Then Hugo turned to me, all business, the last hour erased as if it had never been. I wondered if I’d dreamed it.
“Stella, please go to the drawing room and inform everyone that I won’t be returning this evening. Encourage them to turn in early, and let them know I will see them tomorrow. Then go to bed.”
