Dear Olivia,

You poor thing, Livi.

You sounded so upset on the phone. I'm glad you're coming home, but I don't want you to be sad, Cariño. I know that being sick is miserable for a soul as restless as yours, but I do hope you are taking care of yourself.

When you get home, you won't have to take care of yourself anymore. I will take care of you. It is only a day or two from Nova Scotia to The Gulf, no?

I must admit I'm worried about you. It must be bad, if it has made you turn back before your voyage is complete. And if Heather has it too, I also worry about your crewmen captaining your ship, Livi. I'm sure it will be fine, but I fret for you anyway.

I have put together a small crew. I know you prefer to take in the misfits, but I have gone looking for real pirates. You may have the means and the people to train the randoms, but I need a stable base of a crew befor I can do that.

It's nice to have noise around here again. Although I have not missed The Encantador, I have missed the constant bustle of the crew. I miss Pete, too. The parrot? He doesn't visit me anymore. He doesn't know where I am.

I hope you're drinking plenty of water. If I know you, you're hydrating yourself with whiskey, instead. That's not healthy, Dulzura.

Hmm, Livi, on the phone today? When you said goodbye? I almost told you that I love you. Quiero que seas mío, Livia. I want you to be mine. I wish you loved me the way I love you.

This isn't healthy, is it? What I feel for you borderlines on obsession, I think. I would do anything for you. I would go anywhere just to be near you. But I know I need to keep my distance. I don't want to scare you away.

Maybe one day you will find that you love me too, Sweetheart. It makes me sad to think about how long it might be, but I'm willing to wait. I miss you.

I hope to see you soon, mi amor.

        Te Extraño,

                        -Robin 💘

XXX

Cae could remember what falling in love with Heather felt like. It was a series of sharp drops, and he'd look up every couple times it happened and realize he'd fallen deeper. At first he'd thought, how do I get out? Then later, he'd closed his eyes and jumped.

He was still falling. And it hurt like hell.

Robin yanked furiously at the wheel as he had done all night, pausing only to change his clothes and bang his head into the mast.

The seemed to Cae like a madman. He kept muttering things to himself, things about the dead woman whose ship had caused all of this.

Caelum couldn't move past the guilt. He hadn't been able to protect her, although that was the entire reason he'd come with her. How could he ever return to Ollie without his mother?

"I can't believe it," Robin growled, giving the helm a firm kick. "This is bull porquería."

Cae sighed, leaning over the railing. "I know."

Robin seemed startled to realize he was still there. Letting go of the wheel, he sighed. "Lo siento," he said. "About Heather."

"You'll get her back, right?"

Robin exhaled, pushing his fingers through his hair. He glared at the sunrise. "I will try. But I am only human, señor. I can make no promises."

His words made Caelum's stomach drop like a sack of stones. He felt like he might throw up. If this man, the all powerful pirate captain, couldn't rescue Heather, who could?

The man stepped away from the helm, going to join Cae at the railing. He leaned over it, sighing into the face of the sea. "I lost my first love to Araya," he told him. "Eight years ago."

"Olivia?" Caelum had certainly heard about her.

"Aye." Robin stared at the horizon line, his eyes softening. "She was the only woman I ever truly loved."

Cae wondered if he would be that way with Heather. If he lost her, would he move on? Would he give Ollie a stepmother to help raise him, or would he stew in loneliness for years, as Robin had? He glanced to his side, at the pirate captain's sad face. He had his crew, at least. He wasn't completely alone.

And Caelum would always have Oliver. Even if Heather was gone, he'd always have the little boy they'd created together.

"Is there a plan?" He asked.

Robin sighed again. Cae seemed to have hit a secret treasure trove. He'd figured that Robin would have told him the plan if there was one, but apparently the man had been sitting on one.

"I have some ideas," was Robin's vague reply. "About them, and about us."

"What?" Caelum demanded. "Tell me!"

Robin let him marinate in curiosity for a few seconds, looking over the waves with an ambivalently impish and old expression. "Well, I have a nephew," he began. "His name is Marco. And if I'm not mistaken, he will be turning fifteen in two days."

Cae let this sink in. Okay. So what?

"Now, Marco is the son of my cousin, Mateo, the one who captains The Encantador." Cae tried to keep up, picturing warped versions of Robin's face in his head for the man's relatives. "And Mateo is certainly an extravagant man, Caelum. You should have seen his wedding."

"You went to his wedding?" Cae couldn't imagine Robin the company of such evil people. People evil enough to kidnap a mother and two thirteen year olds and no one else.

Robin nodded. "His wife asked me to come. She's a pleasant lady, so I said yes."

"Oh, okay. Go on."

"Well, as I was saying, he's certainly one to throw a party when he can. So, what I propose is that we sneak onto The Encantador, disguised as Marco's guests."

Caelum looked at Robin, a cynical smile curling his lips. "What are we gonna do, use masquerade masks?"

Robin nodded. "Sí. We must go to el baile de máscaras."