Jacob held Raephier tightly in his arms until he knew he'd fallen asleep. Only then did he let go and carefully slide out of bed to pace the room.
Even before he'd heard Raephier's story, he knew he'd had a hard life, but this just topped it all. How Raephier was still functioning was a mystery to him. He was sure that if he had endured all that Raephier had in his short life, that he would have been permanently curled up into a ball of despair.
But if there was one thing he was going to take from Raephier's story, it was that keeping secrets was never a good idea.
So with that thought in mind, he went to see if Pete was still awake.
He found him smoking a cigarette on the bow of the ship.
"I thought you'd given up," Jacob said, nodding towards the cigarette in Pete's hand.
Pete jumped, having obviously not heard Jacob creep up on him in the dark.
"Shit, don't sneak up on me like that!" Pete said, before taking a last puff on the cigarette then tossing it out into the sea.
Jacob chuckled. "Sorry."
"What are you doing up anyway?" Pete asked.
"I needed to talk to you," Jacob replied.
"And it couldn't have waited till morning?" Pete asked with a raised brow.
"No," Jacob said firmly, shaking his head. "I've always been honest with you Pete, and recently I've been hiding a secret from you and I don't like how that's sitting with me, so I need to get everything out in the open."
There would have been silence if it wasn't for the constant noise of the sea lapping up against the ship, and the sound of the light breeze whipping at the sails.
"It's about the Siren, isn't it." Pete eventually stated.
Jacob sighed and nodded. "I can't use him as a weapon. I won't ask that of him. And even if I did he wouldn't do it."
To Jacob's relief Pete didn't seem that surprised. In fact he barely showed any emotion.
"So we're basically back to square one? Without any plan?" Pete asked.
Jacob felt the guilt squirm around inside of him.
"That about sums it up," he mumbled.
Jacob kept his eyes on Pete waiting for his reaction. Would he be angry? Disappointed? Would he blame Jacob?
But then Pete suddenly burst out laughing.
Jacob frowned but couldn't help the small twitch at the corners of his mouth.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
Pete took in some big gulps of air to calm himself down and ran his hands roughly through his hair several times.
"Why does this always happen to us?" he said, and Jacob was relieved to see he was still smiling.
Jacob shrugged. "I guess we're just incredibly unlucky."
"Or lucky. Depending on which way you look at it," Pete shot back.
Jacob nodded his agreement and stared into the dark night as he thought back to the many scrapes he'd gotten into with Pete, even when they were young children. They often hatched schemes and plans together, but inevitably, nothing ever went as they'd intended. But even though their plans often failed, they always somehow managed to come out of it unscathed.
"So what do you propose we do?" Pete asked, his face turning serious once more.
"We need to think of a plan," Jacob replied. "We need to do something different or that damn pirate will just take all our supplies again."
"I agree," Pete said, "and I think as soon as we've come up with a rough plan we need to tell the others."
Jacob nodded his agreement.
"Thanks Pete," Jacob said, turning to face his friend. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier."
Pete nodded in acknowledgement of the apology, but then Jacob saw his eyes narrow as he scrutinised his face.
"Is there something going on between you and the boy?" he asked.
"No, of course not!" Jacob replied quickly. Too quickly.
"You know I wouldn't judge if there was," Pete added.
Jacob took a deep breath and this time thought through his reply.
"I know you wouldn't," he said. "I like Raephier. I think he's a good lad and would make a loyal crew mate. But if you're asking me if there's anything romantic going on between us, then no, there is not."
"Romantic?!" Pete said with a scoff. "Who said anything about romance? I was just asking if you're banging the lad?"
Jacob couldn't help the snort of laughter that left his mouth.
"No. I'm not 'banging' him either."
Pete just grinned back in amusement.
"Ok, I'm going to get to bed," Jacob said. "I'll see you in the morning and we'll try to work something out."
"Aye! You get off to your warm bed!" Pete said mockingly. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
"That literally rules out nothing!" Jacob shot back with laughter before he jogged back to his cabin.
He couldn't help but notice the way his heart swelled when he saw Raephier lying sound asleep in his bed.
He undressed to his undergarments as quietly as he could, before he slipped under the blankets and pulled Raephier into his chest.
"Mmm, cold," Raephier mumbled.
"Shhhh," Jacob said, stroking his hair, "I'll warm up in a second."
Raephier pressed his back further into Jacob's chest then immediately fell back asleep. That's if he was even properly awake to begin with.
Jacob closed his eyes and revelled in the feel of Raephier in his arms. The relief he felt from telling Pete about Raephier was amazing. But before he'd had long to dwell on it, another thought started to buzz round his mind.
When Pete asked him about his feelings towards Raephier, did he just lie again?
He genuinely didn't think he was lying when he answered his questions. After all, it wasn't like he'd done anything with Raephier. Other than cuddling of course. But people cuddled all the time and it didn't have to mean anything, right? And they hadn't kissed, and had most definitely not had sex, so he didn't tell any lies at all. So why was there still a little niggling feeling like he was still hiding something?
He didn't have time to dwell on it for much longer, because finally the exhaustion of the day took over and he fell fast asleep.
For the next three days they were plagued by rough winds, giving Jacob and Pete little time to discuss any plans. But they did manage to come up with the bare bones of something, and that would have to do for now as time was running out and fast.
"We need to talk to the men tomorrow," Jacob said to Pete that evening. "We're approaching enemy waters so an attack could be imminent."
Pete nodded in agreement.
They were now less than a week's sailing from home, and although they were unlikely to come across the pirate until they were much closer to home, there were still lots of other boats on the lookout for ships trying to pass the frontline.
It wasn't just their country at loggerheads with the Tredda. There were many islands who were trying their best to keep them at bay which unfortunately meant that any route they took towards their home was potentially heavily guarded.
And today luck wasn't on their side.
"SAIL HO!" came the shout from the bird's nest, announcing the sighting of another ship on the horizon.
"Shit!" Jacob bit out.
"Maybe it's another merchant ship," Pete said hopefully.
Jacob and Pete made their way to the main deck where Lyle and Marco were already standing with telescopes trained on the horizon.
"What is it?" Jacob asked as soon as they were in ear shot.
"I'm not sure. It looks small though," Marco replied.
Jacob let out a breath of relief.
"Definitely looks like a trading vessel," Lyle commented.
"Let me see," Jacob said, holding out his hand.
Marco passed him his telescope and Jacob peered through it, scanning across the horizon until he locked onto the vessel.
"What is it?" Raephier asked, having heard the commotion.
"It doesn't look like a fighting ship," Jacob agreed, "but maybe we should change our course. It could attract unwanted attention."
"Aye," Pete agreed.
Just as Jacob was about to go and take the helm, he heard a shout from above.
"Captain!"
Jacob looked up to see Kane climbing down from the crow's nest.
"What's wrong Kane?" Jacob asked.
"I think it's Tyler and Doug."
Jacob's eyes widened as he realised he had forgotten that the two lads were also on their way back to the island.
"Shit, we really do need to find a different course then," Jacob said. He was no longer worried about the small ship attracting unwanted attention to them, but rather was worried that his larger ship would act as a beacon drawing the enemies to the two of them. They were in a small ship which wouldn't be able withstand any direct hit.
"Pete, come with me," Jacob said, "we need to plot another route. Lyle, take the helm and head north for now."
Just as Jacob and Pete were making their way to the navigation room, a loud boom filled the air, making everyone on board freeze.
Jacob glanced around nervously, waiting for the impact, but it never came.
"They've been hit!" came a voice from above.
Jacob looked up to see Kane back in the crow's nest with his telescope fixed on Tyler and Doug's vessel.
"Damn it," Jacob muttered. "Any sign of what hit them?" Jacob shouted back.
"Nope, must be on the far side."
Jacob and Pete stared at each other. Their minds racing over the same question. Should they go and help Tyler and Doug and risk being obliterated themselves, or should they turn tail and flee to avoid any confrontation.
It didn't take long for Jacob to make a decision.
"We need to help them," he said, and Pete nodded his agreement.
"Right men!" Jacob shouted, heading back to the main deck where thankfully most of the crew were gathered. "Charlie, Nate, drop all sails, we need full speed. James get the weapons from the armoury. George, prepare the cannons. We're going into battle. Come on! Move, move, move!"
All the men scurried away to their stations. They knew the drill. Although this was probably the first time they had actively sought out the battle rather than trying to run from it.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Raephier asked.
Jacob snapped his head to face Raephier having completely forgotten about him being there.
"Erm, yeah. Please can you go and get my telescope from the navigation room. It's on the desk."
"Yes of course Captain," Raephier said before hurrying away, and Jacob couldn't but smile at the small blush on Raephier's cheeks after he called him Captain.
Pete cleared his throat loudly.
"What?" Jacob asked.
"Please? Since when do you say please when giving out orders?"
Jacob shook his head, trying to ignore Pete's smirk.
"He's not crew."
Pete let out a 'pffft' sound which Jacob chose to ignore in favour of heading over to Lyle.
"Lyle, how long till we get there?" Jacob asked.
"Just less than an hour, Captain," replied Lyle. "The wind's in our favour."
"An hour's a long time to be in the sea," James said, walking over with a grim look on his face.
"Let's hope they've managed to climb onto some of the wreckage," Jacob answered.
They all stood in silence for a while, the unspoken words hanging between them, that Tayler and Doug might have died before they even made it into the water.
The wreckage of their ship was now visible to the human eye as a small speck on the horizon.
"Any sign of the enemy ship?" Jacob hollered up to Kane.
"No Captain!" came the reply.
"Keep looking," he shouted back.
"Aye, aye, Captain."
Raephier suddenly appeared at Jacob's side and handed him his telescope.
"Thank you," Jacob said with a smile. He ignored the snort that emanated from Pete.
Jacob spent the next hour preparing everything ready for battle. The cutlasses were handed out and nestled in the sailer's belts. The cannons were loaded, the cargo was tied down securely and all the crew had been fed sea biscuits to keep up their energy.
All the time, several eyes had been trained on the horizon looking for enemy ships or trying to spot Tyler and Doug among the wreckage.
When they were just half a mile away, the wreckage finally sunk beneath the waters.
"I want every spare set of eyes on the water!" Jacob shouted.
"GOT HIM!" came a hollar from the stern, and Jacob raced over to see James frantically pointing towards something bobbing on the water no more than 200 yards away.
"Hey!" came a weak cry from the water.
"It's Doug!" James shouted. "DOUG!! HANG ON!! WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU!!!"
Doug was shouting something back, but the sound was being carried away by the wind.
The closer they got, the more frantic Doug seemed to be.
"Tyler!!" he yelled.
"Where is he?" Jacob shouted back as Pete started lowering their row boat into the water.
"He was there!!" he said pointing off to the left. "He was just there but I can't see him now!"
"ALL EYES ON THE WATER!" shouted Jacob.
"There!" came a cry from the crow's nest. "I saw some bubbles about 50 meters off port side!"
"Shit!" Jacob swore.
"I'll go," Marco said, starting to strip off his clothes.
Jacob shook his head.
"You can't stop me!" Marco said, yanking off his boots.
"I know I can't, but these waters are too deep."
"God damn it, I have to try!!" he said, his voice slightly cracking at the end.
Jacob grit his teeth. He knew it was a pointless mission, but he also knew that Marco needed to try.
"Please," Jacob said, putting his hand on his shoulder, "please be careful."
"I will. I...." Marco frooze, his eyes wide, staring at something over Jacob's shoulder.
Jacob felt a shiver of dread travel down his spine as he whipped round to see what Marco was looking at. But just as he did, a streak of pink blurred past him, and he watched opened mouthed as a fully naked Raephier sprinted past him and then did a perfect dive off the side of the boat.