Angelfire
Page 87

"Al okay," Jose bel owed. "You already paid me, so I don't care if you show." He laughed, his bel y bouncing, and he swiped the back of his hand across his filthy, sweaty brow. Nathaniel forced a smile. It was obvious that he didn't like our new friend. "We'l take the Elsa off your hands, now."
Jose's laughter boomed even louder. "There is no way you wil able to captain my ship with one other guy and a teenage girl and stil have it back in this port by midnight. And I don't care how much you pay me, my crew doesn't leave the ship."
Frustration crinkled Nathaniel's face. "That's not necessary. We'l be perfectly fine."
"Not a chance," Jose said, his voice more serious this time. "Me and my crew come with you."
"Nathaniel," Wil said in a careful voice, "we don't have a choice."
Nathaniel closed his eyes in annoyance. "Fine, but remember what I'm paying you for. That includes not asking questions."
Jose laughed once again. "I know this. Transport wherever you want. No questions."
"Thank you. Let's load so we can get there as quickly as possible."
Jose shrugged. "This is a hundred-foot trawler and it isn't very fast. It would take a miracle to make it to the Deep before dark. No promises."
"We'l take what we can get," Wil interjected. He and Nathaniel went back to the truck and pul ed out the large black duffel bags containing the arsenal.
"You can put those in the cabin, if you'd like," Jose cal ed. They did just that before heading back to unload the sarcophagus. When they lugged the large wooden box off the truck, the Elsa's crew watched them suspiciously. I prayed they wouldn't get too curious.
Jose wasn't immune to curiosity either. "What you got in there? And why do you want to take it out over the Deep?
You dumping it over?"
Nathaniel glared briefly at him. "No questions, remember?"
The captain nodded in disappointment. "Can't be too heavy, if you're swinging it around like that. And if it isn't heavy, then it isn't important."
I wanted to laugh.
"This needs to go below," Wil said as they walked past. Jose pointed the way.
I fol owed Wil and Nathaniel past the cabin and down belowdecks and into the large, stuffy hold, which smel ed strongly of fish. Water thumped against the boat's steel sides, making echoes that bounced around the cavernous room. They set the box down and shoved it up against a wal . A heavy padlock kept the lid locked tightly.
"Do you think it'l be okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," Wil answered. "It's much safer down here than up on deck."
"If we're attacked, then it won't matter."
He dipped his head and flashed me a sil y grin. "We won't be attacked."
Jose's voice cal ed from somewhere above. "Amigos, we're casting off soon."
We went back up to the main deck, staying out of the crew's way. They lifted and stowed the gangplank, and we final y set off. The gritty trawler rumbled out of port and into the open sea. I peered over the edge of the railing into the dark water, watching the waves. I wandered around the perimeter of the boat to explore. When Jose appeared around a corner, I stopped.
He walked up to me smel ing of fish and cigarette smoke. I failed to keep my nose from wrinkling at his unpleasant stench. "So what are you kids planning on doing once you get over the Deep? You're not going swimming, are you? You some kind of thril seekers? Where are your parents?"
I shook my head, my pulse building. "I thought you weren't supposed to ask questions."
He shrugged. "I don't mean any harm. You don't want to go into that water, little girl. There are sharks bigger than the Elsa swimming down there. Like monsters from a nightmare."
"I don't plan on going into the water," I assured him. In truth, it wasn't sharks that gave me nightmares.
"You going fishing?" he probed. "Why not board one of those fancy fishing boats to do it? Why do you pay an old fool like me for a few hours on this old trawler?"
"I don't exactly know why," I said, and turned away to walk briskly back toward the bow, hoping he didn't fol ow me.
"You had better not be doing anything il egal!" Jose cal ed behind me. "I hope you don't have bodies in that box, and you better not be CIA!"
I rounded the front of the cabin to get away from him, found Wil , and stuck close to him for the rest of the voyage. He seemed to sense that the crew was weirding me out, and his protectiveness turned on ful force. If anyone got too friendly with me, I could probably beat the crap out of them myself, since I was used to fighting much bigger monsters than a bunch of smel y dudes, but I let Wil do his thing. He seemed happiest when he got to play bodyguard.
After an hour on the ship, I began to get bored. I leaned on the railing next to Wil as the wind whipped my hair around like a tornado. My natural waves were beginning to rear their ugly heads, and I hadn't remembered to bring a hair tie to tame them. Annoyed, I tucked my hair behind my ears, but the locks didn't stay under control.
I looked over the edge and my eyes went wide when I saw dolphins, at least a half dozen of them, dipping in and out of the water, their shimmering gray backs vanishing and reappearing through the waves. I couldn't help the squeal that escaped me.
"Dolphins!" I cried, pointing at them for Wil to see. He peered apathetical y over my shoulder and said nothing.