Forging Ties (Ties, Book 3) | ✓

Chapter 18

Skye had made himself a little nest out of empty sacks and some old clothes he'd found, taken a nap, and now he was diligently gnawing his way through an apple. He shoved the rest of it back in his bag when he heard the storeroom door open and clomping footsteps enter the room.

Skye curled up as small as he could get, trying to avoid detection, but with one shifted crate his hiding place was revealed.

The robot stared down at him, the light on the side of its head spinning. "You are not meant to be on board the ship."

"Shh," Skye told it. "No snitching."

"It is my duty to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone on this ship. I will report this situation to Captain Sera."

"I'm on the ship," Skye said. "You have to ensure my safety and wellbeing."

The light on the side of the robot's head spun. "Yes. You are on the ship. It is my duty to ensure your safety and wellbeing."

"Well, I'm starving," Skye said. "You have to get me food or I'll starve to death, okay?"

The light spun again. "Yes. I will get you food."

As the robot left the room, Skye dragged the crate back into place to hide his nest.

#

With the exception of Perry, who had volunteered to keep watch up top, and Cookie, who was lurking somewhere, they were all gathered in the ship's galley to chat and prepare an early lunch. Duran found himself mostly staying quiet. He would never describe himself as timid, and he could hold a conversation all day and night if he put on an act, but he was struggling with just... being himself. He just couldn't seem to do it with anyone he wasn't fully comfortable around, so he ended up choosing between being aggressively fake or being silent.

Most slaves were compulsive people pleasers. Duran wasn't quite that. He was a people deceiver.

But maybe being quieter wasn't such a terrible thing. Hamish always seemed to have something to say, but Slone would often sit back for minutes at a time, smiling as he listened along to the conversation, and not say a word. It never felt like he was lacking in confidence. He just didn't always feel the need to contribute.

This was the world that he now needed to find his place in. A world where everyone was allowed to be different. Duran absolutely loved it, but he would need to learn entirely new ways of existing before he could truly feel comfortable in it.

The robot clomped into the room, picked up a banana, and clomped back towards the door.

"What are you doing, robot?" Sera asked it before it had made it out of the room.

"I am feeding Skye so that he doesn't starve to death," the robot said.

"Skye isn't here," Sera said.

"Skye is on board the ship," the robot said. "He stowed away in the storeroom."

When the robot left the room, they all followed it.

In the storeroom, the robot lifted aside a crate, and there was Skye.

"Snitch," Skye said, glaring at the robot.

"I have brought you a banana," the robot said. "If you are starving, you should only eat half. Refeeding syndrome is a life threatening condition that occurs when someone who is malnourished begins eating again."

"I know he's kind of skinny, robot, but does he look malnourished to you?" Sera asked. "For goodness sakes, you fed him yourself, twice, just days ago."