A long, lithe, orange cat darted past Keelan as she walked down the narrow passageway to the galley. She poked her head around the corner. Marcel wrestled a barrel toward a closet along with Yanda, a young brown-skinned girl. Now that they were safely away from port, the family of runaways had come out of hiding to help the crew.
“Mahdi! Where have you been, boy?” Marcel drove his hip in to the barrel, but it only moved an inch. “Come, help us.”
“Captain Hart had me helping with the ropes. What can I do here?”
The little girl paused to clutch her stomach. Marcel harrumphed and glared at her while he rocked the barrel forward in small steps, “Dozens of men to help with ze sails and no one helps old Marcel.”
“Where is Elle?” Keelan asked Marcel. Yanda’s mother, Elle had been a cook for h
