Trade Secret [on hold]

Waking Hours

A/N: Thanks to all my readers, especially AliceTheWonderGeek82, giver of the awesome cover. Go fan her now!

"Connie, lass!" Smack. "Wake up!"

Connie's eyes cracked open blearily, and she groaned. "Oh- Lord have mercy-" She tried to raise her head, but the pounding in the forefront of her brain forced her to lower it with a thunk. "What am I laying on?" Last she checked, there wasn't anything solid but the kraken for miles in every direction.

"The Salamander, o' course," replied the voice. 

"Oy. Don't give the girl ideas." A new voice, fluctuating with a hint of the Americas. Alistair? "It is the ship, little Vane - about half of her."

Connie sighed. "Right, then," she muttered, trying to sound braver than she felt. She brushed a rough hand across her face and glanced around. "Who's here?"

She could only make out the faces of Harvey and Matthias, at least from where she was sprawled on the deck. Harvey sat to her left, wringing out a sock that must once have been white. His tanned face was drawn in concentration. Matthias stood next to him, watching the horizon. 

Connie sat up, and clutched at her side as she felt a bolt of pain rush through her. She grunted, trying to shake it off. "Who's here?" she repeated, a bit louder.

"You. Me. Harvey, Matthias, and Oz." Alistair's voice was unbelievably curt. 

"Not-" Connie's breath caught in her throat. "Not Hanbury? Not Vane?"

She heard the sound of boot heels knocking on wood, and a tall figure entered her line of sight. The ragged gold edging of Alistair's coat brushed by her face. "Captain Hanbury has not yet been accounted for, and neither has Sebastian Vane."

Her fingers clenched around the rough cotton of her pants. "But we should look for them!"

Alistair turned his head toward her, inclining an eyebrow. "Of course not. That would be a fool's errand, little Vane."

"I'm not that little!" Connie exclaimed indignantly, and scrambled to her feet. "I'm fifteen years old and-"

"A girl," Matthias added. "You honestly should be wearin' skirts and going to school and being sought after by young men with full pockets."

"But I'm not," she replied, jabbing a finger at him. "Unless you've got some kind of fortune hidden away back in London I don't know about?"

Matthias colored instantly, and fell silent. Connie drew herself up to her full height of a pathetic five feet and glared at Alistair. "Look, it's the captain. You can't honestly think that we should just sail off for the nearest bit of land that might have a shipyard willing to take in known pirates without Captain Hanbury? You're mad! I can't-"

"You can," Alistair cut her off. "You can and you will. Your father and the previous captain alike let your line play much too long." He paced to the edge of the broken-off deck and looked out over the sea, where there had been kraken earlier. They had long since disappeared, slunk back into their lairs in the depths of the Atlantic. He snapped his fingers. "Let's get moving, men."

Connie watched him and the others spring into action, clearing the curved bit of wood so they could jury-rig some contraption to get them to shore. She joined in, trying to stay out of the others' way, her face turned only to the task at hand.