Pirate By Blood

Chapter 15: The Raft

CHAPTER 15

The Raft

“Maleen?” Simon said, trying to see whether or not she had heard him the first time, “Have you found anything yet?”

“Um...” was all she could say without turning round. For some reason she had a feeling that showing Simon the amulet wasn’t such a good idea, “Yes,” she finally answered, “I...I found this rope.”

She thrust the amulet back in its bag whilst turning to face Simon for a moment before bending down and picking up the rope she had carelessly dropped to the floor.

“Here,” Maleen said quickly, “you can take it; you’re stronger than me and it’s quite heavy.”

She bundled the rope into his arms hastily – almost making it obvious that she wanted him sidetracked – and made a swift step towards the door; tying to do it discreetly but failing.

“You’re in an awful hurry to get away from me, aren’t you?” Simon said, suspiciously, “Are you hiding something?”

“Nope,” Maleen answered, clutching the cloth bag that was behind her back even tighter than before, just in case Simon knew it was there and was about to lunge for it. He didn’t.

“So why are you acting all edgy round me?”                            

“Fido and I were just...” She racked her brain for a believable lie, but failed to come up with one quick enough before Simon noticed her pause.

“Were just...?”

“Going to get some more wood. I thought I saw some by that ritual place you mention last time – I was going to go and check.” She bit her lip, waiting to see Simon’s reaction; waiting to hear him accuse her of bluffing. 

“Alright, but don’t be long,” He said.

There was no trace of suspicion in his voice at all.

Maleen was surprised, but managed to control her expression before Simon met her gaze.

“Are you going or not?” He asked.

“Oh...yeah; of course,” Maleen answered, the words tumbling out in her shock. She could hardly believe that she had managed to lie so well.

And so, Maleen slipped out of the doorway, closely followed by trusty Fido; hiding the bag as well as she could in her departure.

Maleen followed through with her lie. She wasn’t planning on it to begin with, but then decided that if she was caught somewhere else two minutes after lying to Simon’s face, she’d be in big trouble and would probably have to come up with another lie – and that was just too much hassle.

Fido trotted beside her, his usual self again. His tail was wagging in circles and his eyes were wild in anticipation for another adventure. He seemed to have completely forgotten about the amulet he had found for Maleen.

She, however, had not.

The bag that Maleen held tightly in her hand seemed to weigh more and more with every step she took – drawing her attention down to it. She wanted to take another look at it – nothing much, just a sneaky peek – but she knew that wasn’t a good idea; especially when Simon could turn round a corner at any moment and see her gazing at it.

No. It was far too risky.

Yet, Maleen still had no idea why she didn’t want to show Simon. She didn’t want him to know about it at all – not even see the small sack it was hidden inside. It was hers, and she didn’t want Simon going anywhere near it.