Wretched Recruit [Pirate Academy, Book One] by Holly Hook

Author:Holly Hook
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I could not get my heart to stop pounding like it was trying to escape my ribcage.

Yes. I would train with Kale, without complaint.

And after the Vulgan brothers vanished back into the jungle, probably to take a shortcut to the dungeons, I decided that waiting for Jes and Moka might be a good idea after all. I headed back down the trail, and I told myself that I needed them to show me where my new sleeping quarters were. Yes, that was all. I still had not yet explored the entire island, but I would need to so I could plot my escape.

It would be harder to escape from a ship, as the ocean offered no hiding places, even at night.

I did not tell myself that Vulgan had scared me. One thing I had not expected was for him to confront me directly. And he was smart enough to stay back from me.

Why give me warning, though?

Jes and Moka came up the trail twenty minutes later, and I was lucky that Vulgan and his little brother did not return. But I would not tell them what had happened. If I did, I knew, Jes and Moka would stay closer to me than ever.

That made my blood boil.

I had to keep this encounter a secret.

“So, you waited after all,” Moka said as they joined me on the trail.

“I don’t know where the East Bunkhouse is,” I admitted.

“It is close to the Green, Gray, and Brown Bunkhouses,” Moka said, taking over the conversation. “Jes and I found them already. They’re on the same side of the island, not too far from where the left eye on the skull is. You know the cave that has all the lights inside that you see when you first approach the island?”

“Yes.” I had seen it.

“That is where the East Bunkhouse is. All the recruits who have passed the sorting test stay there. And it is not locked. We can go in and out.”

“That’s good.” Already, we were getting a few more freedoms.

Lilian shouted again down the trail. The losers still had to train under the hot sun, and she was still whittling them down to the unlucky sap who would clean the East Outhouse. I hoped that it was Malek. I hadn’t seen him come up the trail yet, though I spotted a trickle of other bruised and bloody recruits.

The three of us walked together back up the trail and into the cave. I trembled, wanting to tell Moka and Jes what happened. But no. I had to look confident and okay for their safety.

Coolness washed over us as Jes and Moka led us upward. The caves morphed into carved passages and stairs as we walked, as if we were heading through the remains of an ancient temple. Perhaps we were, if Nyla herself had created this island.

“So, why did you wait for so long in the heat?” Moka asked as we climbed flight after flight. No one else climbed the steps with us.

Vulgan confronted me.

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