The Clockmaker and the Pirate - EVERMORE BOOK 1

Chapter 9 -- Indian Ocean, 23 July 1650

A/N -- I've run into a bit of a problem with pacing, so now rather than having met the Alvarados on the 6th, they met them on the 16th. Whoops

"King me," K.O. says, triumphantly slamming his red checker on my side of the board. I sigh, placing one of his discarded pieces on top of the new one. I'm losing. I've only got five checkers left on the board, meanwhile he's only got two pieces that aren't kinged.

It's a week after our visit with the Alvarados. Or rather, a few weeks before. I don't know, time is confusing. The pocketwatch that Carissa had given me reported the date as well as the time, and when I had checked it after returning, it had reported that the second portal we'd gone through had actually sent us back in time to the same day we'd been sucked into the first portal. Regardless, we've been sailing for a week, with little to no idea where we're going.

The rush of all of the new information we'd learned remained only for a few days. There were only so many theories I could make about Other Lindsey, only so many times I could tell myself that I wasn't actually good for Mitch in any way, and only so many ways I could stare at my pocketwatch curiously, just watching the second hand move slowly around. K.O. and I had done our best keeping Lindsey from using magic, and she'd been surprisingly cooperative with us thus far.

But other than that, it's been boring, to tell the truth. Mitch seems to trust that the Alvarados know where we're going and are going to help us, but it feels like we've just been travelling in a straight line for days. Even Mitch is starting to doubt that the Alvarados are helping whatsoever.

Last night, I'd sent up a little wish to Carissa and Michael to give the crew something to do to keep us occupied, and the next day I'd found a checkers set next to where I'd been sleeping, so K.O. and I have been playing for hours.

Lindsey skips up to us, smiling and then looking down at the checkerboard. "Ooh! I want to play! Can I play? Please, please, please?"

K.O. chuckles at her. "Sure, Linds. Scott and I are jus' gonna finish our game first. You can play the winner."

I sigh and shake my head at K.O. "What's the point? We both know you're going to win," I say. "You've done nothing but beat me all day."

K.O. shrugs. "C'mon, mate. You gotta at leas' try to beat me."

"I am trying," I pout, picking up one of my pieces and moving it diagonally and to the left. K.O. double jumps me and seizes two of my checkers with a smirk. I sigh dramatically, looking at my remaining three pieces. "I forfeit. Lindsey, your turn," I say, and K.O. rolls his eyes at me.

"Yay!" Lindsey squeals as I stand up from the barrel I'm sitting on and offer it to Lindsey. She sits down as K.O. begins to reset the pieces on the board.

"Are you guys having a party without me?" A familiar slurred voice says behind me.

"Fuckin' again? Jesus, captain," K.O. sighs.

I turn around to face Mitch, and see that his cheeks are pink, his eyes look glossy, and he's swaying back and forth drunkenly. I sigh. This is only the second time he's done this, but I'm already over it. He giggles.

The captain marches over to K.O., and without any hesitation, slams his lips onto his. Lindsey's eyes grow wide, and she looks up at me in fear and confusion. All I can do is shrug.

Mitch isn't letting K.O. go, and once I realize that he's having a hard time breathing, I shove the captain off of him. Mitch sighs and rolls his eyes at me. "Killjoy," he slurs, leaving K.O. coughing and disgusted.

At that moment, Kirstin emerges from one of the rooms, rubbing her eyes tiredly as if she had just woken up from a nap. Mitch looks her up and down, and then begins to stagger towards her. Kirstin, not realizing that the captain is drunk, doesn't see it as anything out of the ordinary. "Hello, Captain," she says politely.