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“Are we kidnapping now?”
Billy stood in the door to Cait’s office, his face red, his arms down at his side. He fixed his eyes hard on Cait, as if he could see the answer already. Cait set down her paper work.
“Hello, Billy,” she said.
“Who’s the boy, Cait?”
Cait picked up Tobias’s folder and handed it to Billy. “Tobias Shaw, age 15. Colony boy.”
“Why do we have him?”
“Because if I had let him go, things would have been far worse for him.”
Billy folded his arms. “So we just took somebody’s kid.”
“Yes.”
“We’re kidnapping now.”
“No,” Cait said, narrowing her eyes. “Well, the short answer is no.”
“What’s the long answer?”
Cait sat back in her chair, letting her eyes drift the the corner of the room. “That is a good question.”
Billy stepped forward. “Cait, this-”
“I need you to trust me on this,” Cait said, snapping her eyes to his.
“Why should I?”
Cait tilted her head slightly, as if to work her gaze in further.
Billy dropped his arms. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, Cait. I get nervous when random kids start appearing on our boat. I don’t want to have to start over if we get in trouble for this.”
“You will not get in trouble for this,” Cait said.
“Good. Some of us don’t have family to rely on when things go to pot.”
Cait stood, meeting eye to eye with Billy, the fur on her neck bristling. She held her fists down at her side. “Move.”
Billy stepped aside, holding his hands out in front of him. “Cait-”
Cait started down to the crew quarters. “I know you are concerned with your own well-being, so I’m going to ignore that slight for now.”
Billy struggled to keep up. “Where are you going?”
Cait stopped and waited for Billy to catch up with her. She folded her arms, putting space between herself and Billy, her ears folded back, ready to attack. “We have a kidnappee to talk to.”
Tobias sat alone in the crew quarters, on the couch in front of the Relay receiver, his eyes glassed over. His ears flicked when he heard Cait and Billy step inside the room, his eyes following, and he was soon on his feet. Cait smiled at him. “Please, sit down, Tobias.”
Tobias lowered himself back on to the couch, Billy taking a seat across from him. Cait made a quick detour to the kitchen area in the corner. She filled a pot with hot water, added some tea, and set the service down in front of Toby.
“Hello,” Cait said.
Tobias looked back and forth between them and, squeaked out a “hi.”
“We need to talk about why you are here.” Cait poured the tea into three cups. She placed one in front of Tobias. He watched each move carefully, and Cait made sure each movement was slow and deliberate.
“Am I going to the Firebrand?” Looking closer, Cait could see he was trembling.
“No,” Cait said. She picked up her cup, and motioned towards his. She took a sip and, watching Cait, Tobias did the same. “As long as you are with me, I promise I will never take you to the Firebrand or any ship or camp like it.”
Billy’s eyes widened. “The Firebrand? You were being taken to the Firebrand?”
Tobias nodded.
“You had better start at the beginning,” Cait said.
Tobias nodded. He let his eyes drop the the receiver and started.
“I was asleep when they came into my room.”
He paused, waiting for either Billy or Cait to fill the silence, but jumped back in as soon as he realized they wouldn’t. “The man. The man was there. From the docks? My parents were with him. He woke me up and told me I was being taken to a camp.”
“Did he tell you what the camp was?” Billy asked, leaning forward. Tobias shrank back a little more.
“No. Not at first. He made me get dressed and he wouldn’t let me pack any clothes or my music player or a book or anything. And then he put the cuffs on me.” He paused, still staring at the receiver. “My parents just watched. And then he drove me to the port in my city, and then took me on a boat to Lat.”
“Does he still have your passport?” Cait asked.
Tobias nodded.
Cait sat back, letting her eyes drift to the ceiling again. “We will have to fix that when we get to Anchorhead.”
“Uhm…” Tobias looked between Cait and Billy again. “What’s going to happen in Anchorhead?”
“This is the tricky part,” Cait said. “We cannot let you out of our sight, can we? If your escort catches you, he will most certainly take you to the Firebrand.”
“I won’t say anything about you,” Tobias said, dropping his voice. “I know you’re not bad people.”
“That is much appreciated,” Cait said. “But you are safe with us. And we need you to trust us.”
Tobias nodded. He slumped in his chair, his eyes heavy, unfocused. He let out a long sigh.
“Cait,” Billy started. “This can wait for a while.”
“Indeed.” Cait stood. “You need sleep, Tobias. We will put you in with Xiphos.”
“You’ll do WHAT?”
Xiphos stood at the door, carrying a mop and bucket.
“Xiphos, show Tobias where he’ll be sleeping.”
Xiphos dropped the mop. She took Tobias by the shoulder and pushed him into her bunk. There wasn’t much space inside, just the bunk bed, wide enough to give the crew member room to stretch out. The ceiling was low, and when she was alert, Xiphos’s ears touched the roof over her head. There were curtains that slid across the opening of the bunk bed, so the occupant could have some semblance of privacy. Underneath each bed were a set of drawers.
Xiphos pointed to the bottom bunk. “That one’s yours.” She turned to leave, but not before she caught a quick glimpse of him. He huddled in the corner, pulled into himself, his tail between his legs. Xiphos balled up her fists, and she turned back to him.
“Was all of that true, what you said to Cait?”
Tobias scanned her for her intentions. He relaxed a little. He nodded.
“You’ll be better here. Safer. No one will hurt you.” And she left him alone.
Back in the crew quarters, Cait and Billy stood close together, facing away from Xiphos, talking quietly.
“It’s pretty illegal,” Billy said. “Colony law supports his parents, but COS law is on our side.”
“Hmm…” Cait put her hands on her hips. “Then we should stay clear of Colony waters.”
“Lat, too,” Billy said. “Just to be safe.”
Cait turned back to Xiphos. “Did you hear all of that, Xiphos?”
“Just the part about Colony and Lat waters.”
“And that is all you need.”
“I’ll do my best, sir,” Xiphos said.
Cait nodded. Billy grabbed Xiphos by the shoulder and gaver her a squeeze. “No worries,” he said.
“Indeed,” Cait said. “Now, you have work to finish.”
Xiphos nodded.
“Yeah, get to work, you bum,” Billy followed.
Xiphos picked up her mop. She gave Billy the finger, and started mopping in a corner of the room.
[g]
“Xiphos picked up her mom”
Check. Funny how they still slip through after nearly a year. I clearly need to make another offering to the Typos, the god of proofreading.