Silver Claws: Blood Twins

Chapter 6

6.

A thudding noise and sudden motion awakened me. The boat was shaking and my human ears picked up shouting. Rhea awoke with a growl. “What’s the ruckus?”

“I don’t know. I’ll sneak up and sniff around.”

“Not without me.”

There was no point in arguing. The commotion grew louder as we crept up the stairs. It was dark out, but the lights along the deck were lit. And there were town lights glowing on the bank. We were docked.

A crowd of people were gathered on deck, some wiping sleep from their eyes. At the front of the ship were two men in dark clothing, badges on their chests.

“A sheriff,” Rhea whispered. Father had pointed out sheriff’s in the towns we had visited and taught us to steer clear of them.

Two of his deputies were standing on the gangplank, thumbs looped around their belts. Their hands were near their guns though, so their intent was clear.

“What’s the meaning of this?” asked the ship’s captain. He was wearing a white hat and a beard that looked like grey moss.

“We are in pursuit of two murderers,” the sheriff said. His gravely voice carried on the air. Several passengers sucked in their breaths. One woman, in a bonnet, leaned against her husband for support as though she were going to faint. “They’re on the run and we have reason to believe they may be on this boat.”

“What do they look like? Who are they?”

“Any of you seen two children, traveling alone. A boy and a girl.”

Rhea and I pressed back into the crowd. The sheriff searched out the crowd, his eyes like polished river stones set close together in this face.

“I think I saw them.“ It was the ticket man. “They sneaked on the boat. They didn’t pay. I haven’t tracked them down yet.”

The sheriff's eyes settled on me for a moment and I felt a chill, but then they passed me by.

“How could they find us?” Rhea whispered.

“Nero has agents in the human world. As much as he hates them he knows their value.”

“Who was murdered?” a man asked.

“A farmer and his wife, near Delphi.”

My heart seemed to plunge into my stomach then a hand grabbed my shoulder, tightly and I spun, a fist raised.

It was Abigail. She looked worried, her hat askew as though she’d tied it in the dark. “You must get off this boat. Quickly! There is something about this sheriff. He is more than what he seems.”

“But where do we go?” Rhea asked. “Where will we be safe?”

“You will have to--”

“Them’s those kids right there!” It was the ticket taker, bursting through the crowd and pointing his fat, stubby finger at me. “At least the boy. Right here!”

I wanted to bite his finger off. Instead I grabbed Rhea’s hand and we spun around and darted between people, running and bumping further into the crowd. I looked over my shoulder to see that Abigail had tripped up the ticket man. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “So sorry.”

My heart hammered and my thoughts clouded with fear. This way, Rhea shouted in my head, We have to climb over the side and jump to the docks.

No. There’re deputies down there.

I pulled her to the edge of the boat. Past a family that had just struggled up the stairs and were muttering in sleepy voices. They blocked the Sheriff’s view of us.

“What’s going on?” the father asked.

“A fire,” Rhea said. “Fire.” And the man’s face took on a look of panic. A few others began scrambling around.

We crouched and scrambled to the back of the boat. We were on the top deck and it was a long way down. “We’re gonna have to swim for it,” I said.

“I hate swimming. I’d rather take my chances at the dock.”

“We don’t have a choice. Come on.”

Then a click registered in my ears. I recognized that sound. The hammer of a gun. “Don’t you two move.”

I turned slowly, to see the sheriff, his gun out and pointed between my eyes. “You two brats match the description. At least one of you does. I bet the other one’s yer sister.” He had four scars going across his cheek like claw marks. My eyes were drawn to what glinted at his gun belt. Bullets. They had silver tips.

“I got orders to bring you back dead and alive. One dead, one alive.”

He pulled the hammer back further. I saw Abigail in the background, her face twisted with worry and fright, but she was too far away to save us. “No!” she shouted. “No!”

I was mesmerized by the gun. Here was death.

Then a dark shadow came out of the night, crying, cawing aloud. A raven! It struck the sheriff as the shot went off. The second raven clawed at his face.

Without a word, Rhea and I jumped.