Finn’s confidence was a little shaken. He’d always been a mouthy smartass. He’d learned from his parents. That had been high-quality humor in their household. It had also admittedly caused him plenty of trouble over the years when he mouthed off to people bigger and stronger than him. That being said, pissing off his captors hadn’t exactly been wise the last time around. Now secluded on a ship bound for open ocean it was probably an even worse idea.

All the possible what-ifs started bouncing around in his head. It made his stomach turn sour and since he was still trying to develop sea legs, he started to feel the bile rise in his throat. He needed a distraction.

Finn could hear the men starting to bang around on board. Xan had hidden the pick Finn had found before. Worst of all the fatigue from the last few months and weeks of kidnapping, beatings and sleep depravation were settling in hard. He could feel himself sagging and escape seemed like it had slipped out of his grasp. He felt anything but comfortable, but all the same wanted to crawl back into the warm bed.

So that was exactly what he did. He crawled back into the blankets and bundled himself back up. He laid there relishing the feeling of a mattress beneath him and warm blankets to cover his body. It wasn’t quite as good as his own had been, but it felt like heaven after everything he’d been through.

He laid there listening to the steady thud of feet moving around and the waves crashing against the hull while trying to will himself to relax. His exhaustion should have let him drift off quickly, but his mind continued to whirl.

He worried about being out at sea, he hated himself for not being strong enough to escape and he feared thinking of what the pirate might do to him when he returned. Just add it to his long list of failures that he couldn’t even go to sleep.

He crawled back out of his warm cocoon to rifle through the room. He first pilfered through the trunk the pirate had left unlocked. It was mostly clothes from which he had given Finn some of his spares. He got almost to the bottom and found a pair of old wool socks which he slipped on. The cabin still had the deep cold that had set in overnight and his toes felt like ice.

He continued through the cabin. The pirate seemed to have a nice book collection even with the limited space on offer. Though he had goaded the pirate for making the assumption he could read Finn had actually received a very good education up until recent months. He perused the books and was surprised by the selection. About half of the books seemed like they would make excellent additions to a bestiary.

It made Finn’s blood run cold. There were only a few types of people who would own books like that. Finn may have just escaped one hell only to be plunged into a whole new ring of fire.

He felt no more settled than when he started. Quite the contrary, now his heart was threatening to make its grand escape by pounding out of his chest. He continued to browse the books looking more earnestly for a distraction. The other half seemed to be split between classics and titles Finn had never heard of. He found a few of the classics in Latin and one in a language he didn’t recognize. He assumed it must be Danish. He ended up snatching the copy of Hamlet, it had always been a favorite of his.

Finn knew his appearance belied his level of education. Someone of his background often did not received much but his home had been very collective. It was a place where everyone received a chance, they just had to put forth the work. It had a been a warm and happy place.

Until it all went up in smoke.

He snuggled back into the bed, made himself comfortable and started reading. The bed was warm and soft, he’d missed the feeling. The gently rocking he felt was starting to subconsciously relax him. The smell of fresh ocean and fir trees surrounded him and felt like a hug. He didn’t even notice when he nodded off, book still clutched in hand.