"You have no idea what it's like," he said. "To look like me. To be what I am on top of that – people think I'm a monster."
"I don't." But I said it so soft I'm not sure he heard me.
I wanted to get out of the brig. I wanted to run up on deck till I found Ataño so I could pummel the shit out of him. Instead, I sat down next to Naji, the floor's cold damp seeping up through the seat of my trousers. He didn't talk to me or look at me and the air was heavy with his anger and I tried to think of a way to fix it. I couldn't come up with nothing.
After a while, Naji said, "I'm sorry."
The sound of his voice made me jump.
"I'm sorry I was cold with you," he said. "I don't think it was your fault."
"Oh. That's good." I chewed on my lower lip and looked at the pool of scummy seawater that had collected over near the bars. "I tried to stop it–"
"I know you did."
We sat for a few moments longer.
"Can I ask you a question?" I said.
"Depends on the question."
"It's not about–"
"Just ask it, Ananna."
I took a deep breath.
"You could've killed Ataño and been down below before anybody saw you. I ain't never seen a man move as fast as you."
Naji didn't say nothing.
"I get why you didn't kill him, that's not my question. But…" I forced myself to look over at him. "Why didn't you do that to me? Before I started up the curse and everything? In the desert? You could've laid me out faster'n a jungle cat. I know there was a protection spell but it must've worn off by then, cause you did cut me and all…"
My voice kinda trailed off. Naji stared straight ahead.
"It's true," he said. "There wasn't a protection spell on you in the desert."
"Then why…?"
Naji took his time answering.
"Because," he said. "I didn't want to kill you."
I stared at him. My heart was pounding all fast and funny, and I felt like I'd forgotten how to speak.
"Ananna! Get the hell out of there before the captain comes down and sees you."
Marjani. I jerked up in surprise, banging my head against the back wall. Naji glanced at me but didn't ask me if I was alright or nothing. His voice kept echoing around in my head: I didn't want to kill you. I'd no idea what to make of that.
Marjani pushed the cell door open and stood there expectantly. She didn't say nothing about Naji's mask. I handed him back his knife, and once I'd stepped out she slammed the bars shut. The clang of metal against metal rang in my ears.
"Crew's saying you move like a ghost," she told him, leaning up against the bars.
Naji didn't reply.
"Fortunately, the captain doesn't believe in ghosts."
"He ought to," Naji said.
"Is he gonna toss Naji overboard?" I asked.
"The captain?" Marjani looked at me. "No."
Over in the corner, Naji didn't even stir.
"Ataño's a worthless little shit," Marjani said. "But it seems he's done more work in the past three hours than he's done in the past three days, so – the quartermaster's happy." She smiled. "Captain's letting you out tomorrow morning."
"Wonderful," Naji said, though he didn't sound like he meant it. "Curses and darkness, I want off this ship."
"Well, it's four weeks till Qilar. You've got awhile. Whispers are gonna be worse. You need to remember that you're here on the captain's good graces. You're lucky he's not a superstitious man."
Naji lifted his head a little. "No, I'm lucky he has a navigator clever enough to dispel any residual belief in ghosts and ghouls."
Marjani didn't say nothing, but I could tell from the way she tightened her mouth that he was right.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Whatever magic Marjani worked on the captain held fast; he released Naji at sunup the next day. I filched a knife off the cook when he wasn't looking and made sure I was down in the brig when it happened, tucked away out of notice in a back corner. Ataño wasn't nowhere to be seen.
The captain had a couple of crewmen standing by with a pair of pistols each, all four barrels pointed at Naji's forehead.
"I see any hint of magic," the captain said as he unlocked the cell. "Any hint of weirdness, I'm tossing you out to sea."
He didn't say nothing about tossing me off the boat along with Naji, but then, I can't kill a man in less than a second.
"I understand," Naji said. He'd kept his mask on but his words came out clear and even.
The captain nodded like this was good enough and pulled the cell door open wider. The crewmen kept their pistols trained on Naji as he strolled up to the ladder. Naji glanced at me when he walked past but didn't say nothing. The captain stopped, though.
"What're you doing down here?" he asked.
"Checking up on my friend."
The captain chuckled. "Ain't gonna hurt him, little girl. Not unless he pulls a knife on me."
"He won't." I shifted my weight from foot to foot. "Sides, and with all due respect, sir, I was more worried about Ataño striking out revenge."
The captain roared at that. Even his cannon-men kind of looked at each other and laughed. I frowned at them.
"Ataño ain't gonna cause no more trouble," the captain said. "Can't believe I put a man in the brig for scaring some discipline into that boy." He laughed again and all three of them climbed up out of the brig.
Things got back to normal after that. I kept on working for Marjani, taking down measurements and tracking our course toward Qilar. Naji went back to spending all his time in the crew's quarters, scribbling over the sail scraps left over from my mathematics lessons. I went down there once or twice to keep him company, but he didn't much talk to me, just muttered over his work.