The storeroom ceiling swam in and out of focus. Glancing around, she found Argus slumped in a corner, dozing next to a dim lamp. She tried to sit up, but her left side hurt so badly that she could hardly move. A groan escaped her lips.

Argus snorted, then stirred. Faline reached with her right arm to feel along her left side. Her left arm was in a sling, and she could see that bloodstained cloth was wrapped around the upper part of her left leg. Her pants were gone, however.

Uh-oh.

Argus stood next to her, rubbing his eyes. “Good to see you awake.”

“What happened?”

“Upper boom on the main mast broke free and landed on you. Or should I say, the bilge pump mechanism you were using. If it had landed on you directly, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”

“How bad am I?”

Argus raised an eyebrow. “That’s a good question, isn’t it?”

Trying not to let her voice crack, she asked, “Is anything broken?”

“No, at least I don’t think so. But you are pretty banged up.” He leaned closer to her. “When were you going to tell me?”

“So, you know?”

He frowned. “How could I not? I got you down here to treat your wounds. Cut your pants off to get at the wound. Didn’t take long to see you’re no more a boy than I am a princess.”

“Who else knows?”

“No one,” Argus said with a sigh. “I kept you covered up with a blanket. But you got lucky. If anyone else had found out, the entire crew would know, and then you wouldn’t be safe at all.”

Faline sniffed. “So, what are you going to do?”

“Make sure you get back to port safely. After that, you are on your own.”

Another place I’m not welcome. Great. Just great.

Tears welled in her eyes.

“Oh, will you stop doing that?” Argus said with a grimace. “You’re alive, aren’t you?”

“So, what?” she shot back. “What am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, but at some point, someone was going to find out. You’re better off not being stuck out here with a bunch of cutthroats.”

“Are you going to tell the Captain?”

He patted her good leg. “No, we’re going to be in port tomorrow night. There’s no point muddying the waters at this point.”

She placed her hand on his. He looked up at her. “Thank you.”

He smiled. “You know, it’s kind of funny. I always wondered what it would be like to have a daughter.” His eyes became a little glassy. “Guess this is about as close as I’m going to get.”

He gave her hand a squeeze. “Okay, enough of that. You need to rest, and I need to get back topside to help with cleanup.”

“Help me up; I can help,” Faline said.

“Nope.” He stood and moved toward the door. “You rest. That’s an order.”

After he left, Faline lay back down, her mind churning. Argus knew her secret. But he’d been kind about it, protective even. Maybe she’d been wrong to distrust everyone on this ship. Maybe there were still good people in the world.

She closed her eyes and let exhaustion take her.