Captivation

3: Power

Power (noun): the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events

I walk along the deck a few days later. Henry is better now, or can at least move without being in too much pain. The men on the ship thought that I might have broken one of his bones, but I know I didn't, Henry is fine. I sit myself down on a barrel and tuck my feet under me as I sit, I'm barefoot. I open up a map that I stole from Henry's room and look at all the places that could be explored. I wonder what it's like to have the freedom to go wherever you wanted to go whenever you wanted to go.

"Where did you get that?" one of the pirates, whose name I learned to be Kieran asks me.

I pause, no longer afraid of Henry or the men on this ship. Despite their best efforts, they are harmless.

"From Henry's room." I raise my eyebrows, daring him to take it from me.

"Captain, we have a thief in our midst." Kieran tells Henry half heartedly.

"What'd she take?" He asks Kieran, walking down a few steps to the lower part of the deck where we are.

"A map." Kieran sighs. I hear him whisper to Henry. "Why can't we just drop her off somewhere? She's more trouble than she's worth."

Henry laughs. "Is that any way to talk of a lady?"

"I'm not a lady." I tell him without looking up from his map.

"I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt Madelyn." Henry says, smiling as he walks over to me. "But you aren't making it very easy."

"You still have a bruise under your eye." I tell him.

"I wonder how I got that..." He puts his hands on both sides of the barrel I'm sitting on and leans in, making eye contact with me.

"Oh, that was when I threw you to the floor and used my fists to assault your face." I tell him sweetly.

"Ah, yes, thank you Lady Madelyn, for reminding me." He says. His hands are brushing my thighs as he rests them on the barrel and I force myself to hold his gaze.

"Where are we going?" I finally ask.

"The little town..." he moves behind me and points a finger at a spot on the map. "...of Roanoke."

"Are you going to drop me off there? And sail away without me?" I ask.

"That wasn't my plan." Henry tells me. "When you're not trying to kill me, I quite enjoy your company, Lady Madelyn." He catches me off guard and I look up at Henry to see that he is smiling. This smile is different though, not so flirtatious, or teasing.

I stand up. "I plan on exploring the world now, and there's nothing that you can do to stop me."

"As long as you're with me, I wouldn't stop you." He whispers into my ear as he walks past me, that flirtatious look back in his eyes and in his voice. "Actually, I wouldn't stop you from doing many things with me, Lady Madelyn."

My jaw drops. I never expect all of the vulgar things that come out of his mouth, and I most certainly do not have comebacks for them. Henry chuckles at my lack of response and turns from me.

Henry has laid off the out right seducing, but he manages to throw witty innuendos into our conversations often. He walks over to a redheaded pirate who is called Charlie. I watch them talk for a few moments before I climb the stairs to the upper deck that I hid on the first night I was on the ship.

I kick over some empty barrels and look some more at my stolen map. The wind blows, whipping my hair around, and sending a rope into my face. I rope is attached to one of the masts and hangs down. I grab a hold of the rope. I wonder if I could swing across the ship holding onto it, but I also have no idea what it's attached to, or what it's for. I shrug my shoulders and climb onto the railing of the upper deck.