Lost at Sea Bk. 01 Ch. 01

"For you to go with them." She looked apologetic about it.

"And you think they're going to show up again." Will said, idly tracing his fingers along her neck while he thought.

She shivered. "When have you ever known Jack to take no for an answer?"

"When have you ever known me to do anything I didn't want to do?" Will retorted.

She laughed. "All the time! Well, no. That's not quite right. There's lots of things you've done that you made a show of not wanting to do, but you always did them anyway. Either because you knew you had to, or because you were doing it for someone that you didn't want to disappoint. You just like complaining."

Will opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again and sighed. She was right. "And this is one of those times?" It wasn't really a question. He already knew the answer. She nodded. He groaned and flopped his head back into the pillow. "Why? What did that last card mean?"

It was getting towards dusk. The sky was shifting to reds and oranges in the west, where the open window pointed. A shadow dropped into the window sill and shrieked like a banshee.

"What the hell!?" Will said, sitting bolt upright and trying to spin at the same time, one hand raising to protect his head and the other reaching for a weapon at his waist that wasn't there. At some point in the process his breeches, which he had never bothered to button, got twisted and one of his feet caught in the blanket. He tumbled off the bed, thumping to the floor but managed to scramble upright with surprising agility.

Bella was scratching a monkey.

Will tugged his breeches back into place and stared, blinking. The monkey was small. If Will had held his hands together, the monkey could have curled up in his palms. It was covered in black fur that faded to red on its face and at the ends of its arms and legs. It's long tail was a thick series of alternating black and red bands.

"He's with me." Bella smirked. "And you're about to have visitors."