A Pirate's Life For Me

...Down.

A/N: don't hate me

It's loud.

Even though the sun has almost started to set, turning the sky orange, even though the streets should be wild with party-goers and workers coming home from their jobs, everyone is here. Crowded around me, pushing against me, hovering inside my bubble, murmuring about why this is, murmuring about where they are, murmuring about that one pirate who escaped here. I don't look at the hastily constructed wooden additions to the ledge edging the sea. There's no need to cut off the other route of escape. If I've come, I've no real intention of leaving.

Pressure lands on my shoulder, feather light, and I whirl in a mass of tension and anxiety, fully prepared to fight in the center of these people.

Jackson gives me a worried look.

I inhale a shaky breath, turn away from him, fixing my accusing stare on the back of the man in front of me. "Why are you here?"

He sidles up beside me, forcing his way in. "Mandatory attendance, remember?"

Another shaky breath.

With a side-long glance, Jackson sighs. "Plus, when Declan said you left early...I just...I had to come out here. I don't trust you by yourself."

At that, I scoff. "No need reminding me, it might as well be impossible to forget. What about your precious sister? What happened to not leaving her alone?"

He shifts. "She's not alone. I left her with Callum and Lachlan. Elliot's on his way, too."

"Right, because they're so safe to be around."

He scowls at me. "Why do you act like you care, you didn't even come back to Declan's last night."

"Yes, I did."

"You weren't in the house at all."

I chew on the inside of my lip, anxiously looking around me. "I was in his study. You all seemed perfectly fine without my pirate self in your way, I decided just to leave you be. Shouldn't bother you at all. You seem perfectly content to hate me without reason."

He turns on me, eyebrows pinched together in frustration. "We were just waiting for you to—"

I cut him off, quick and easy. No emotions. Nothing irrational. I have to be focused for this. "I don't want to talk about this right now."

He's quiet for a moment, but the crowd continues to murmur, whispering among themselves. A few have recognized the name on the poster; the rumors are spreading fast.

"I heard Wiley Ripper was the doctor's special friend."

"The Wiley Ripper? He's here?"

"Is that the pirate they're all searching for?"

"Wiley Ripper isn't even a pirate anymore. He's more like a god."

"Yeah, a god of destruction and chaos, come to steal our children before bed. Of course Wiley Ripper isn't here. He doesn't exist."

"How do you know?"

"The poster said a 'Mr. Ripper,' how many Rippers do you know and how many of those are related in any way to Dr. Stone?"

Growling only makes the voices louder.

A hand lands in mine, and without thinking I yank my fingers away, turning abruptly to face Jackson, quick enough to catch the hurt that crosses his face. He lowers his hand. "You're shaking."