“Daily?”
“Well, Alice might give you extra. Because you skipped yesterday’s meal, I mean.”
I almost laughed at that. It seemed funny somehow, which I guessed meant I felt better. But Ananias didn’t smile at all. He just stared at his hands, transfixed.
The cup was half-full of almost-rotten fruit and stale grains. The water canister beside it was full, though.
“Is it good?” I asked, holding the canister.
“Rose thinks so,” said Ananias.
“Thinks?”
He shrugged. “Strange things are happening, Thomas. Our elements still work, just not the same as before.”
I was parched, so I drained it anyway. “How’s Father?”
“Alive. We’ve been checking on him, but he hasn’t eaten yet. Getting him to drink was hard enough.”
The words were spoken in monotone, as though he was holding something back. “What’s the matter, Ananias?”
He closed one hand and made a fist. “It’s my element. The echo’s fading little by little, but I have a headache. It gets worse every time I make a flame.”
“So stop,” I said, groaning. “You should be pleased to get rid of the echo. Everyone complains about it, how much it hurts. You and Eleanor always used to say it’s the price of having an element. Now you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“But what if I never make fire again? What if this is the end of my element?”
“You’re more than just your element.”
“Am I?” He opened the fist and channeled his frustration into a single large flame. It grew outward and then extinguished. He grimaced, either from exertion or because he wasn’t able to keep the flame alive. “A week ago, I thought I knew everything. Now our colony has gone, my element is disappearing, and Eleanor won’t speak to me.”
“You can’t blame yourself for whatever happened to her.” I waited for a flicker of recognition that I had a point, but he just bowed his head. “How’s she doing now?”
“No one knows.” Another spark from his fingertip. Another frown. “When they threw us in that hold . . . the stench and the darkness . . . it was a living nightmare. No one spoke down there. I couldn’t tell who was alive or dead.” He looked at me for the first time. “But you rescued us. You saved us, and I thought that maybe everything would be all right. But it’s like she hasn’t woken up from the nightmare yet. She’s still sleepwalking.”
“She combined elements with you yesterday,” I pointed out between mouthfuls of fruit. “That’s a good sign, right?”
Ananias pulled himself from the floor and leaned against the wall. Planks creaked underfoot. “She didn’t want to do it. Alice dragged her there. I think she figured it’d give Eleanor a jolt . . . make her realize she’s still part of this colony.”
He didn’t need to tell me that it hadn’t worked. It was obvious from the way his shoulders slumped, eyes half-open as he stared through the porthole. It wasn’t hard to imagine that he was picturing Hatteras Island, two days’ sail away but still so fresh in his mind.
“What did they do to her, Ananias?”
He tugged at the neckline of his tunic. It was clean, but damp from sweat. I was sure he hadn’t slept well.
“The second day, before the pirates threw us in the hold, Dare took her away from me. When she came back, she’d changed.”
“He hurt her—”
“No. The pirates did that to her when Dare wasn’t around. He was furious about it, but . . .” He shook his head and turned away from the porthole. “I should check on Alice.”
By the time he reached the door, I was standing too. I pressed my foot against the door, keeping it closed. “But what?”
Ananias didn’t try to force the door open. “I don’t think Dare laid a finger on her. She was gone such a short time. He even treated her cuts and wrapped a bandage around her arm. No, I think he told her something and it changed her world.”
“Dare is our uncle, Ananias.”
He gave a wry smile. “Yes. Alice told me that too.”
“Don’t you see how that would’ve changed things for Eleanor?”
“No, I don’t. I see why it would’ve changed how she felt about me. But what about everyone else? Eleanor hasn’t spoken to anyone in days.”
“Maybe she doesn’t know who to trust anymore.”
“Neither do I. But I’m still eating. Still talking.” He stared at my foot until I eased it away from the door. “It must’ve been something else, and I need to know what. Her father trails after her all day, but she won’t talk to him. He told me straight up to stay away from her, but I won’t. I can’t.”
He left the cabin and I lumbered after him. After a full day on my back, every muscle was stiff. My head hurt too. All the same, it felt wonderful to emerge on deck. The wind was fresh. For a moment, I just stood there, drawing deep breaths, reminding myself that we were still alive.
While Ananias took over the wheel, Alice led me to the starboard rail. To the north, a long gray band ran along the horizon, hinting at land. Alice pointed toward it. “See anything interesting?” she asked.
“Land. Also, your element is weakening. You wouldn’t have needed to squint on Hatteras.”
She rolled her eyes. “Everyone’s element is weakening, Thom. Are you having second thoughts about this voyage?”
“Are you?”
“No.” She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and unfolded it. It was the map from Dare’s cabin. “We’re going to reach Sumter, and we’re going to make a better life there.” She lowered her voice. “And in the meantime, you and Rose can start exploring life without an echo.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “Come on, Thom. Let’s not pretend. Back on Hatteras, I felt close to you. We needed each other. But things are going to be different from now on. Anyway, we both know how you feel about her.”
“A couple days ago I almost killed her, just by touching.”
“Yes. And last night, you didn’t hurt her at all when you touched. Or was there another reason she looked flushed when she left your cabin?”
I was too embarrassed to answer that.
“I’m just saying, our elements are weakening. You know as well as I do what that means for you both.”
I was still bright red, but Alice wasn’t watching. She was poring over the map again. “The sun is rising directly behind us, so that land is due north,” she explained, running a finger across it. “There are buildings, some of them big, so I’m guessing we’re just below this row of barrier islands here.”
I stared at the dull gray land. “I’ll take your word for it.”
She measured the remaining distance to Charleston. “We could be there tomorrow, Thom. Just one more day, that’s all we need.”
She was about to refold the map when I stopped her. “Wait. What are those?” I pointed to a row of markings heading north from Hatteras.
Alice smiled. “Oh, that’s right—you don’t know yet, do you.”
“Know what?”
She wandered off, knowing that I’d follow. “You need to see something. Your younger brother has been a very busy boy.”
»«
Alice pulled the key from her pocket and, checking the corridor was still empty, unlocked the door to Dare’s cabin. “I’ll say this for Griffin,” she whispered. “I go missing for a moment, everyone wants to know where I am. Griffin disappears for a couple strikes and no one notices.” She eased the door open. “Which is pretty useful.”
Griffin was seated on a crate at Dare’s desk. He smiled when he saw me, but didn’t get up. He looked tired. Sunlight poured through the window, but there was a melted candle beside him too.
“How long has he been here?” I asked.