>

“Remember what I just said? There might be some reason Squallow is acting this way. If we can figure that out, we might find out what changed him. We might find out some other way to solve all this. It’s just a possibility, but if Squallow really is who you say he is, it’s worth talking to him.”

“Rekka, you always...” Rosalind sighed in resignation.

“Sorry. That’s just who I am.”

She sighed heavily again instead of answering.

“Rekka, don’t tell me you’re seriously going to get involved in pirate problems.” Raul, who didn’t know me well yet, seemed pretty taken aback at the prospect. “Give it up. You’re just a little boy. Why do you have to go that far?”

“If it’s too much for you, that’s fine.”

“Hahh... Looks like I got myself into more than I bargained for.”

Raul’s sigh was several times heavier than Rosalind’s. He put his face in his palm as if to say he wanted nothing to do with this.

“Where’s all this coming from, anyway? How can I even believe...”

Fam was looking at me doubtfully with tears still in the corners of her eyes, but I didn’t blame her. If your enemy suddenly started saying things like that, why on earth would you trust them?

“Rosalind, undo Fam’s charm.”

“What?” Rosalind asked as her expression soured. “You’re certain? If I do, she’ll be free. She could call for help, and then we’d be trapped on an enemy planet with nowhere to run.”

“But she’ll never trust us if we don’t give her free will, right?”

“Hahh... Here.” Rosalind sighed and waved her hands over Fam’s eyes. “Girl, you’re free of my spell now. If you want to run, you can.”

Fam continued to look at us in skeptical silence and took a few steps in the other direction. Once she realized that she could move unfettered, she turned back to us.

If we just wanted to trick Fam, it would be a stupid idea to release her from the charm spell. It’d only come back to bite us. I was hoping she would realize that.

“What is it you want to do?” Fam asked me.

“It’s normal to want to help a kid, okay?” I laughed.