Choosing Home

Chapter Twenty Six

"Yeah, not much of an Angel. You guys will just become more of the jokes than you were before," Jade said with a smirk. "Claudine, show 'em just what they lost by letting you walk out of the Haven."

Claudine didn't hesitate and let her dagger fly. It hit her target—she could see it was lodged in Freddy's side.

"You're...going to pay...for that," Freddy growled, gritting his teeth against the pain Claudine was sure he was in. After all, he normally didn't attend face offs; he was never at risk of getting a dagger lodged in him.

And yet, despite everything, Claudine couldn't aim to kill. He was still her brother, they had grown up together. They shared blood. She would not be the one to commit fratricide.

"You're not even...worth the Frollo...name," Freddy spat.

"Hmm, guess that's a good thing I'm not going by Frollo anymore, big brother," Claudine taunted. "It's Claudine Rose now."

"How dare you! That's my last name you little thief!" Audrey shrieked.

"First off, I think they heard you back in Boreadon. Second of all, people can have the same last name Brat," Claudine said with a smirk and Freddy's eyes widened as he glanced at Audrey. "Oh don't worry Freddy, unless our father somehow had a relationship with Aurora before winding up on the Isle, you didn't have a fling with an unknown sister."

"Oh? And...why did...you pick 'Rose'...then? Was it...pretty?"

"Hearing you say the word 'pretty' is wrong," Claudine told him. "And no. It was my mother's ship's name. But this has grown tiresome. Morgan, you wanna make 'em match?"

"With pleasure," Morgan grinned as she pulled out her own orange handled daggers.

"Morgan?" Shayla scoffed as Locklyn and Strat snickered. "She's got worse aim than Audrey!"

"And yet I hit Zevon," Morgan reminded them. "If I can hit Zevon, then I can certainly hit Audrey!"

With that, Morgan let her dagger fly and grinned as it found its way lodged into Audrey's side. Not high enough to pierce a lung or do any damage but low enough that it would make it hard to go on face offs for a while.

"Let's get them out of here!" Strat ordered. "This isn't over Rats!"

"I think it is Strat!" Jade called and smirked at their retreating forms. The Rats walked back to the ship, congratulating Morgan and Claudine on their hits. Claudine, though, couldn't help but smile as she heard the familiar sound of steel on steel.

They hadn't let Henry come with; as acting Captain of the Lost Revenge and the Warf Rats, he'd have been a prime target for one of the Angels to aim for. He hadn't exactly been thrilled with that decision but they all knew that they couldn't lose a captain. Not with Harriet across the bridge with Mal and Uma.

"Ah you see? I knew you'd find something to do while we were out. And why am I not surprised that it's sparring?"

Henry grinned and looked over at her, still keeping up the spar much to Ryan's astonishment. "Ry asked me to spar with him, I couldn't say no."

"Good," Claudine smiled back at him as Brooke hurried over to her and Morgan.

"How'd it go?"

"As I thought, he spat some dribble about how we were all traitors, what he'd do if he got his hands on us, that I was dead to him, blah blah blah," Claudine said, rolling her eyes. "Well actually it was more just Morgan and me. Oddly enough Locklyn was the one asking about Brooke."