Bee and the Boy

Chapter 11

A bowl of fruit sits inside the small cell. Skater stares longingly at it, craving it, but not wanting to benefit his captors. He looks up when the sound of footsteps comes down the stairs. Marina appears through the bars of the cell. 

"You haven't eaten?" 

"I'm not hungry." His stomach growling, he coughs to cover it up.

Marina darts her eyes from the bowl to Skater. "I've sent word to the merchant and his crew. They'll be here in two hours. "I'd suggest you eat before then." she turns on her heels and is gone back up on deck.

"You'll regret it when I get out of here," he shouts after her, sliding down to the floor in mild defeat, not knowing how to escape. Lost in thought, he dozes off.

~

It's still light out when he comes to, it couldn't have been more than half an hour he was out. 

Skater peers out the porthole and sees a giant bumble flying over the ocean. 

"Bee." He thinks to himself, about to smash the window open, but he pauses and falls backwards bottom first. A memory flashed in his mind.

He was laying in the ruins of a school gym, nearly dead, when a passing firefly, who got hit by a piece of debris, falls beside him, a girl knocked unconscious far away. too weak to call out to her or to move, he directs his attention to what used to be a ceiling above him, But more importantly, the liquid dripping down on him and the dead bug beside him.

And then he remembers. That day in elementary school, when they first met and became friends. he was the only person she let call her 'Bee'.

"Alex," he mutters under his breath, looking at his hands, and in confusion, his wings. "My name is Alex."

He looks back out the window. The bumble is long gone, and so was his only way of escape from this ship. He inspects his wings and the tear she left behind. Maybe they won't want him if he is damaged goods.  So, grabbing a loose fold of his torn wing and gritting his teeth, he rips half his wing clean off. Trying not to scream, he almost doesn't hear the footsteps approaching. But he does and tucks his broken wings as close to his body as he can.

"Time to go, pretty boy." Marina's henchman unlocks the prison door, yanking Alex up by the collar, dragging him up to the deck.

The scariest men he had ever seen surround him. These must be the crew Marina was talking about. Alex flinches as the men inspect him, turning him around like he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. "This merchandise is damaged." they shove Alex towards Marina.

She turns him around. "What did you do?"

He grins."I'm no one's booty."

"You idiot."

The merchant guides his crew and walks away a few steps to discuss their next plan of action.  Marina pushes Alex away like a ragdoll, as her crew keeps a hold on him. She marches towards the huddled men. The merchant disbands the gathering when they sense her approaching.

"We will take the bounty as we discussed, but you will not be paid your share."

"That's not what we agreed on." Marina protests. The merchant snaps his fingers as the crew overpower Marina and her crew into the captain's quarters and barricade the door. 

The merchant has Alex gripped tightly by the arm "Burn it."

Alex struggles against his captors as they pull him along the plank connecting Marina's ship to theirs.

Still a prisoner, he watches as the Nandy goes up in flames.