Secrets of the Sea

Chapter 16

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Sunlight streaming through the slanted windows woke me early the next morning. For a second I forgot where I was, and then I wished I didn’t. I pulled the blankets all the way over my head and immediately regretted it when my shoulder twanged painfully. Stupid dagger, I thought, and pulled down the shirt to inspect it. A white bandage covered it.

            My mind scrambled for possibilities of what could have happened, but the only conclusion I came to was Peter. Stupid, perverted Peter, I thought. He had better not have…

            Angrily I swung my legs off the bed and tried to stand up, but the thing I stepped on was unstable and slid under my feet. I fell back on the bed.

            I strained my neck to see what I had stepped on and saw it was not a what, but a who. In fact, it was the exact person I was going to storm off to find.

            He was curled on his side in a blanket, groaning and rubbing his side.

            “Owwwwwwwww,” he complained. “Watch where you’re going.”

            “Sorry,” I squeaked meekly, then remembered I was angry at him.

            “I mean, you deserved that! What right did you have to remove me of my shirt when I was sleeping?” I threw a pillow at him, which he grabbed and shoved under his head.

            “Yeah, well, what right did you have to bleed all over my bed from a wound you didn’t even bother to bandage yourself?” He retorted.

            Now I noticed the extra sheet covering the top half of the bed, under where my upper torso was. “I forgot about it,” I said.

            “I did too, until I was about to lay down and my hand was covered in blood,” he muttered.

            “This isn’t even your room!” I cried. “Go away!”

            “Yes, it is!” he said back.

            “Then why did you tell Mary to bring me here?”

            “Because all the other rooms were taken and I don’t want you sharing with anyone else,” he snapped.

            “Well, I do. In fact, I’m going to Nat’aniel’s cabin right now.

            “You’ll wake him and the other boys up. Plus, there’s no room for someone as big as you to fit.”

            I gasped. I’m not fat!

            Silence passed as I pondered on what my next course of action should be.

            “I’m sorry,” Peter said.

            My heart froze. “Sorry for what?” I asked carefully. I knew what I wanted to hear. They were words I’d been waiting to hear for two years…. No! Shame on you, Laria. That isn’t true! You stopped caring about him a long, long time ago.

            Peter hesitated and glanced up at my tone. “For the dagger. I don’t know why I’m apologizing, though, seeing as how it was you who jumped in front of it, you stupid thing.”

            “Don’t call me that! I’m not stupid,” I said.

            He ignored me and wrapped himself securely in his blanket and fell asleep. Or pretended too; I couldn’t tell. Then suddenly his voice piped up.