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"I’ll need the bucket andback at Vukovich The e for his ht At first Jack had thought perhaps he was traumatized by the pain of transforle he could see the man’s eyes He seeh froalley and, beyond, the cabins Is she in there now? he wondered, looking at Ghost’s closed door But there was no way he could know, and no way to find out The heavy air in the ship felt like a held breath, the calain The best place for him nohere everyone else was not

He stepped into the galley, knohat he would see on the wooden surface After he’d finished salting and storing the ain

Onlyhe repeated the refrain,up sodden clothing, throwing bucket after bucket overboard so that there was soon a slick of bloodthe ocean behind theht the pitiful remnants left behind by the olves Only meat … only meat…

He searched within himself until he found a cold, hollow place in which to hide his horror, and his conscience Without that cold place, he would surely have broken down But he could not afford to lose control, not if he wanted to live and to keep Sabine alive as well

It took ain Tree lay against a railing on deck until almost ht before The deck around him was scored with dozens of deep scratches, and his hands were bleeding Perhaps he had been trying to get to so, orhis claws, Jack thought The next tione

Most of the clothes Jack collected from around the ship--scattered, torn, bloodied, and ruined--belonged to the pirates, but not all There was an expensive jacket, the likes of which he could not i, a dreadful rip across its back stiff with dried blood He also found so at the ship’s stern, two-thirds of a woht once have been white He entertained the brief, bright hope that she ht have jumped overboard and drowned, a much less horrific death than that of her companions But then he found what the ar down his vomit, cast it overboard

Jack stood at the stern for so in the sea behind them until the swell hid it from view It would sink into the depths and nobody would ever see it again Lost to the world, just like its owner

Louis was steering the ship Jack passed him on the way belowdecks, then turned back to the pirate, not really sure what he was going to say

"It’s not to be talked about, mon ami," Louis said

"You’re monsters"

Louis looked past the bohatever the future ust surfacing now, perhaps because he thought Louis ht be as close to a friend as he could hope for in this crew, or maybe because he had simply seen too much that day Even when he closed his eyes, he saw red "Monsters, beasts And yet you sail from day to day and--"

"It is not to be talked about," Louis said again, harsher this tilared at Jack, and his eyes were as heartless as those of the other pirates

Jack went below, all the tie that Sabine had iht, at will But they rarely change without reason He cooked twice the usual a he wanted was any of the sailors going hungry

CHAPTER SIX

THE TWO-FACED MAN

Working alone in the galley, cleaning again, Jack started counting the ways in which he could have been ht spent alone with Sabine, he should have been quizzing herfor weaknesses, and trying to plan a way to escape this hell ship Instead, he’d been so overwhelht’s revelations that he had eaten the food and drunk the wine the wolves had left them--as if they were house pets--and fallen asleep, numb with shock

"I slept," he said, as if vocalizing the truth would make it more acceptable But it was not He had found rest while the blood of innocents trickled between deck planks and hardened beneath the moon, and unnatural monsters prowled the darkened ship

He thren the heavy wire brush and leaned back against the wall

"All cleaned away?" Ghost said

Jack started It was the first ti, and it was now past noon He stood in the doorway, silent as his namesake, yet his presence was as powerful and obvious as ever Ghost exuded a gravity over all those around hi them into his orbit Sometimes Jack was drawn by it, but today he was repulsed

"I’ve spent the dayup blood," Jack said bitterly

"Meat salted and stored away?"

"Meat" Jack was shaking, anger and terrorwithin him

Ghost blinked softly as he waited for Jack to continue He sees ht He smells my fear So Jack h," Ghost said

"Where is Sabine?"

"We’re heading into a storht be a harsh one But the "

The captain’s jealousy seethed behind a mask of cal wrong," Jack said "We … did nothing…" A coolness settled about his heart How could he really be asking for understanding from this monster?

Ghost frowned as he examined Jack, then waved a hand as if at a fly

"So what did you discuss all night?" the captain asked

"I’ve been told not to talk about last night"

"By whom?"