Deadwater Kings • Part I ✓

21. AUDI, VIDE, TACE

"It's none of your business."

"It is my business," he said. "Because you're my friend and she's our host."

Lin rocked back on her heels and tipped her head to the sky, arms slack in front of her. She groaned slowly. "She's being weird and stuff. Wants me to stay with her."

"That's good, isn't it?" Hadrian glanced to Cortez. He'd lingered behind them, just out of earshot. Hadrian straightened his shoulders slightly. "It means -- "

"It means she wants me as a pet."

Not for the first time, Hadrian wanted to smack her with a book. In a friendly way. Just hard enough to knock basic sense into her thick skull. "Or maybe she's under the impression you want to live a non-murdery life."

She flattened her mouth at him. 

"Yeah," he said. "I hear it now. That's dumb."

She raised her eyebrows and nodded, stepping around him. She beckoned over her shoulder as she ran away. He sighed heavily, mimicking her rolling slouch before going after her. Cortez thudded behind, considerably slower and louder. The stench of blood grew stronger as they approached the shore. Magic hummed and greeted him, rubbing along his skin and beckoning to be used. He pushed it aside and focused on the even bob of Lin's hair.

She stopped on the dock, striding toward a ship. He frowned. It was easily the smallest ship on the docks -- the only one with a living human inside -- painted in classic white and blue stripes with a metal hull, reinforced with panes on the inside. 

Lin hopped from the dock onto the ship's narrow deck, clearing the three-foot gap. Hadrian stopped. 

He looked down at the water, then back to Lin. He raised both brows. "Are you expecting me to jump that?"

She rolled her eyes and deliberately walked back, stretched her leg out, and set one foot on the dock. A silver tattoo slid from her throat back down her clothes and the boat groaned. Her legs drew closer. "Good?"

The gap had shrunk down to one and a half feet. Hadrian shuffled his feet. "Yeah. Probably."

Lin gave him a soft smile and held her hands out, letting him lean on her as he faked nervousness. He didn't have to fake the way his body locked up when she grabbed him about the middle and plopped him down beside her. "See? Easy."

"Now Cortez."

She blinked and looked over. Cortez stood awkwardly, his chest heaving from the run. His face shone with sweat. Hadrian, however, was blatantly unaffected. Lin didn't comment beyond wrinkling her nose as Cortez jumped without her assistance.

"Linna!" A man called out. Lin opened her jaw wide, stretching, before turning around. 

"Hey, Raz."

"What'd you say to them?" A portly man in his forties with a large white beard poked his head out of the ship's hatch. "Ain't never seen that many people run that fast."

Lin grinned forcefully. "I was just my usual charming self."

The man nodded, unconvinced. He crossed his arms. "Thought you only had one friend."

"No, that's you," she said. Lin hooked her thumbs in her belt and swaggering towards the man. "This is Hadrian and -- Kyle."

"Cortez," Cortez said tiredly. 

Lin waved him off. "That, yeah. He's bait in case we need it."

"Lovely," the man said. 

Hadrian put up his hand and wiggled his fingers in a half-wave. The man gave him a look with the same flat-mouthed incredulousness that Lin sported when she was trying to be funny. They were either related or had known each other for a long time.  Lin slid past him and into the ship. Hadrian pulled his shoulders inwards again, slouching a bit more to look up at the man. He held out his hand.