Broken Silence

Kane seemed eager to get out of there and far away from Blackbird, but Malina finally managed to convince him that Camille needed a little more than a day before she would be able to travel. Part of her was also just making excuses. She was terrified of getting back on a boat. Camille was very quiet, and Malina couldn't tell if she was still in shock or if that was just the kind of person she was. She tried her best to make Camille feel human again. Malina combed gently through her hair for her, then started to braid it.

“You're very good at this,” Camille said, suddenly breaking the silence.

“Oh,” Malina said, a bit surprised. “Thank you. I've tried it all with my own hair, but none of it really works. It looks lovely in your hair, though.”

She pinned the braid into a low bun and tied it off with a ribbon, then handed a mirror to Camille so she could see. She cracked a smile, then set the mirror in her lap.

“You're so kind to me,” she said. “Especially for just meeting me.”

“Well, I've heard so much about you,” Malina shrugged. “You seem like a wonderful person.”

“I'd love to hear more about you.”

This caught Malina off guard. People rarely wanted to know much about her. She tended to blend into the background, like furniture. No one noticed her until she was missing. And when she'd return, people stopped noticing her again. Yet here was one of the kindest, most beautiful person she'd ever seen, and she was asking to know more about Malina.

“Well, there isn't much,” she said, giggling nervously. “My mother and father are inventors. I have five older brothers, all of which are extremely successful in whatever they chose to do. Except for Max. Though I suppose he is successful in sleeping, eating, and doing nothing productive. And Scamp is good at getting himself beaten and bruised. I'm always the one who has to clean him up before our father sees him, too.”

“Scamp?” she asked. “Is that his real name?”

“No,” Malina laughed. “His real name is Dudley. Dudley Nathan Everett. His first and middle name means something to my father, but for some reason he won't tell us what. Anyways, he was always a troublemaker, so my mother and father nicknamed him Scamp. He doesn't answer to anything else, even now that he's grown. We call him Dudley when we’re upset with him. Or unless you're Owen. Owen and Scamp are always trying to get on each other’s nerves. They play it differently, too. Scamp is bolder, and he's taller and stronger than Owen. He gets physical. Owen finds other ways to torment Scamp. He's a writer, and he's just a lot quieter in every aspect of his life. Oh… I'm rambling again, aren't I?”

Malina blushed hard, but Camille just laughed softly.

“It's alright,” she promised. “I like hearing about your family.”

“What about you and Kane?” Malina asked. “Do you two fight?”

“Well, what siblings don't?” Camille giggled. “Oh yes, we've fought many times. We’re very close, though. We've quite literally spent our entire existence together. I can tell what he's going to do several seconds before he does it. Oh, I have some stories about when we were children at our family's lakeside estate in the summers. Oh, speak of the devil. Here he comes now.”

“Lakeside estate?” Malina frowned.

An estate by the lake, used in the summers? That was odd to hear. Malina wondered how a family who came from the likes of The Smokes could afford a home like that, but she didn't say anything. Like Camille said, Kane entered the room a few seconds later and changed the subject.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “I just came to say we should be getting ready. Our train leaves tonight.”

“Train?” Malina asked. “What happened to the ship?”

“I sold those tickets,” he explained. “I didn't want you to be anything but comfortable.”

He gave her a charming smile and a wink, and Malina felt herself turn red again.

“But Kane, it'll take longer with the train,” she reminded him. “We’ll be late. My father is going to kill you when we get back, if he doesn't come looking for us first.”

“He won't,” Kane promised. “I'll take all the blame and explain that it was for the best. It will be perfectly fine.”

Even Camille seemed unsure, and she hadn't even met Percy Everett yet. Then again, she had nothing to worry about. Camille was the sort of refined girl Percy would welcome with open arms.

That night, they were off again. Malina was relieved that she didn't have to sail again, though she was nervous about going home. She stayed curled up by the window of their cabin on the train, silently gazing outside while Camille slept and Kane flipped through a book beside her. He didn't seem to be reading. Rather, Malina could feel his eyes on her. He eventually moved to sit beside Malina on the other side of the cabin, taking her hand gently. She hadn't realized she was playing with the locket until he did so.

“You should get some sleep,” he said quietly.

“I can't sleep,” she shrugged.

Kane frowned, then put an arm around her and pulled her in so her head was resting on his chest, much more comfortably that it was against the wall. Still, she had a hard time putting her mind at ease. She looked back down at the locket, picking at the back of it where the jammer was blocking some of the images. Kane took her hand again to stop her.

“Something is troubling you,” he said.

“My father came up more often than I thought he would,” she said. “I can't shake the feeling that there's something he hasn't told me about his past. And any record of that time is blocked on my father’s locket? That's terribly convenient. I should have asked the innkeeper more about him.”

“You should sleep,” Kane repeated, though his tone was a little different now.

Malina furrowed her brow and looked up at him.

“Come to think of it, you've been acting a little strange around the subject, too.”

“What?”

“Kane,” Malina said slowly, sitting up straight, “Is there something you know, that you'd like to tell me?”

His expression didn't crack or give anything away as he shook his head, but Malina still felt odd about it. She pursed her lips and stood up, smoothing herself out.

“I've been sitting too long,” she said. “I think I'm going to take a little walk.”

She left their cabin before Kane could say anything more, walking down the car and trying to keep her balance on the bumpy ride. She had nowhere to go, but she didn't care. She needed to be alone for a moment.