A Pirate's Song.

Chapter Twelve.

I shot up and hobbled to the deck when the crew pushed off the shore and grabbed hold of the net on the side to steady the boats.

Caleb scaled the side of the ship, landing with a loud thud on the deck, directly in front of me with his nostrils flaring and eyes narrowed. The rest of the crew followed his lead, tying down the boats climbing aboard, soaked from head to toe.

A drenched Ben stayed behind on one of the boats.

“Ye be toying with me?” Caleb questioned, leaning down so that his face was inches away from mine, his breath fanning my features as he snarled the words like some rabid animal.

The Irishman slumped down onto a barrel, a bottle of rum already clutched in his clenched fist.

“How do ye expect us to get down there, las?” he asked, taking a swing of his alcohol.

Snaggletooth looked terrified, snapping his jaw at me with eyes wide and clothes soaked through. He looked like he’d come close to death, trembling in fear.

The rest of the crew apart from Ben continued to complain. Their comments on how deep the pool was, on how they couldn’t hold their breath for that long, on how it was out of their reach and impossible to get all danced around me.

“Any ideas?” Caleb asked, his tone sarcastic and laced with annoyance. They were all staring at me, waiting for me to tell them of a secret way to get to the gem, as if the book held all the secrets.

I shoved past Caleb, our shoulders connecting as I limped to the side of the ship.

“I’ll get it” I declared, glancing back at Caleb and Rebecca from over my shoulder. I used the netting to climb down into the boat where Ben was still stationed.

Once I was safely on board, he pushed off the side of the ship and sent the boat skidding up onto the shore, preventing anyone from coming with us.

Ben knew that without me the gem would be lost to the crew; he knew that the only way to retrieve the rock would be through the assistance of a Mermaid, able to breathe under water.

I stepped over the side of the boat with Ben’s help, using his hand to steady myself so I wouldn’t fall.

My eyes looked back to narrow onto Caleb’s. He was stationed on the bow, his gaze following my every move.

“Show me to the pool” I instructed, turning my attention back onto Ben. He nodded and began walking into the tree line. I followed, hobbling as fast as I could, however he still had to stop and look back to make sure that I was still there, still alright. He slowed his pace to match mine, listening to the heavy sound of my breathing.

“Let me carry you” he offered, able to see the irritation in my features, the anger that I had towards Caleb and his idiocy.

There was a reason I wanted to go long in the first place but he had me stay aboard the ship, wasting everyone’s time then accusing me of taking him for a fool.

“I’m fine, my anger is fuel enough to keep me going” was my response, my pace picking up when Caleb’s face popped up in the back of my head, causing me to groan out in annoyance.

Ben silently watched me, the corner of his lips tugging upward as we reached a large slope of rocks that we had to scale. I came to a sudden halt.

“If he hadn’t left me behind, we would’ve been done with this already” I complained, my hands reaching out to grip the rocks, dragging myself up onto them so that I was scaling the slope on all fours. Ben kept close behind me, ready to catch me if I were to slip and fall.

“An i***t!” I snapped when my hand slipped and I skidded back a few paces. I regained my grip and started climbing again, teeth gritting and limbs trembling.

“A bloody moron!” I added when I applied too much weight on my wounded leg, causing me to wince as pain shot through my body.

Ben tried to bite back his laughter at my frustration, watching me as I scaled the remaining few lengths to the top of the slope.

“He’s a brainless, clueless, good for nothing pirate-!” my words died down in the back of my throat when I stood upright, eyes landing on the body of water in front of me.

It was as clear as crystal and went down into the shell of the turtle like a crack where I could see a glimmer of yellow reflecting in the shimmering water.

“Captain” I finished my rant in a low mutter that was barely even there as Ben appeared beside me.

I could see schools of fish swimming in the waters below, a coral reef that ran along the walls of the pool, the sight more beautiful than anything I had ever seen before. My body moved on its own, entranced by the sight, the water almost glowing when I stepped down onto a rock so that I was up to my knees in the pool. I tore my eyes away from the water to tug the shirt I wore over my head, holding it out for Ben to take.

He averted his eyes, too much of a gentleman to gawk at me like the rest of the crew in that situation would.

His hand brushed against mine when he took the shirt from me, his eyes only daring to return to my form once my back was turned to him.

My legs started shimmering, silver scales running up along my calves and over my shins, but the scales didn’t bind together to form a fin, I knew they wouldn’t as long as I wore the necklace that kept me human on land. I sat down on the rock, the water covering my thighs and going up to below my breasts when I reached to unclasp the chain from around my neck.

The moment it left my skin, my legs began to morph together, bandages tearing away to form a silver tail that had white detailing and appeared to shine violet when the light struck it just right. I let it sway back and forth in the water, growing used to the feel of having a tail again.

Although I was born a mermaid, I had spent most of my life on land, growing up among humans and barely venturing out into the water for fear of it consuming me, my need to be one with the sea allowing me to get lost in its depths never to find land again.

I turned, holding my necklace out for Ben to take “Don’t lose it” I warned when he knelt down near me and took the chain into his palm.

He was staring at me, my face and tail, my fangs and slit pupils, staring like he had before in his chambers on board the ship.

There was something in the way he studied me, how his eyes slowly moved from my hair to my eyes, nose and fell onto my lips that made me forget why I was even there. I reached a webbed hand towards him, cupping his cheek in my palm when a groaning sound from above snapped me out of my daze.

Caleb’s golden eyes surfaced in the back of my mind and I reminded myself what I was there to do. I turned my back to Ben quickly and abruptly, eyes boring down into the water in search of that distinctive yellow gleam from before.

When my gaze fell onto it and I dove down, leaping head first into the water as I moved my tail, beating it against the water to swim as far down as I could. A tiger shark swam past me, fish sputtering when I would near them, my arms almost glued to my sides. The pool stretched on for miles, narrowing the closer I got to the floor.

My fin folded beneath me, letting me sit as if on my knees in the sand when I reached the bottom. I tilted my head back to look up at the surface, Ben standing on the rock I had been on, gazing down. He was the size of a small sea shell from the distance between us.

I looked back to the sand, my eyes searching for the source of the yellow glow, moving from rocks to shells to something buried in the sand, a chest that was half open. I swam towards it, my fingers digging into its opening to pry it open, only to find bits of gold. Coins, jewelry, a flask but what caught my eyes weren’t the gold, it was the gem laying in the center of it all.

My hand wrapped around the yellow stone, lifting it to examine its edges, turning it around and around until I was certain I had found what I was looking for.

A rumble vibrated through the pool walls around me and I hurriedly gazed in every direction to find that nothing was falling. It wasn’t like the first treasure when the walls had crumbled, it was different.

My eyes widened when I realized what was happening, my eyes going to Ben who was being submerged in water. Bubbles tore from his mouth as he struggled, twisting and turning with both the shirt and my necklace in hand. Gigas was diving.

I kicked off the pool floor and swam as fast as I could, my fingers curling around the jewel as I shot past fish and coral, my mind going to Ben and only Ben.

My left arm hooked on some of the rocks, causing me to cry out when a sharp pain tore through me, blood mixing with the water to form a red streak that seemed to follow me.

I didn’t have time to worry about myself, my tail propelling me out from the pool and into the dark ocean water where Ben was drifting far beneath the surface. I no longer had to worry about the rocks or walls as I darted through the water. Ben had stopped struggling, his grip on the shirt and my necklace loosening when I grabbed hold of his wrist.

Both items began to sank down into the depths below. I watched them go, my eyes moving from the necklace to Ben. The decision wasn’t at all difficult to make, Ben came first so I began to drag him towards the surface, his brown eyes staring up at me through the water. He was weak but still conscious.

I swam to the ship that had stopped the moment Gigas began its dive, swimming through the whirlpool that the sinking motion had managed to create and braking through the water at the ships side.

Ben grabbed hold of the netting, coughing violently as I let go of him, making sure that he had the strength to keep his hold on the net.

“Give this to Caleb” I instructed, handing him the gem before diving once more. My eyes locked onto the necklace, the anchor pendant standing out against the darkness beyond.

There was movement in the water above me, Ben was trying to call out to me “Evangeline!” my name broke through the water and air, reaching my webbed ears as I kept delving deeper.

My arm extended when I got close to the chain, fingers and claws stretching to capture it. When it was in my grasp I came to a sudden stop, my tail beating beneath me as my eyes took in the sight before them.

A giant turtle with an island on its back was swimming through the water, its skin was a mixture of blue and green with a brown shell that had trees growing from it. It opened its mouth, creating a low, trembling sound that shot through me, speaking to me in the voice of a man.

‘A heart of the sea’ it whispered in the back of my mind. Something about those words were so familiar, so important but when I tried to remember where I’d heard it before, a sharp pain tore through my skull and arm.

I looked to the cut then toward the surface where the shirt was still making its way down to where I was, being lighter than the necklace which meant that it had sunk at a much slower rate. I watched the material dance and made my way towards it, tugging the fabric onto my frame as I ascended through the swirling waters, only clasping the necklace back around my neck when I was a few feet from the surface.

I paused, drifting, just floating as my fin separated into two limbs, kicking through the salty liquid. My face returned to normal, my hands no longer webbed as they treaded water to push myself upward close to the ship.

I broke through with a gasp, feeling a hand grab hold of my wrist, pulling me onto the last remaining row boat since the other had been taken by Gigas.

I slumped back against the side of the ship, my head tilted back as I struggled to catch my breath. Ben fell to his knees in front of me, hands cupping the sides of my face, brushing away strands of hair that stuck to the side of my head.

“Ben?” I questioned, my eyes adjusting to take in his worried expression, scrunched eyebrows and rapidly rising, falling chest as he breathed heavily.

He no longer had the jewel with him and I assumed that he’d managed to give it to Caleb before he leaped back down onto the row boat in search of me.

“I’m fine, I-.” I tried to say when the concern in his eyes only grew, searching my body for any sign of a wound or other medical symptom like a fever or a cough.

He noticed the cut on my arm but it wasn’t as deep as I had expected it to be. It was bleeding but not enough to cause for concern.

My words were cut off when he pressed his lips to mine, hungrily, fiercely forcing my eyes to widen in shock and my body to stiffen, my hand gripping the netting behind me even tighter than before.

He was the only person who truly cared about me.

My eyes slowly drifted shut, my muscles relaxing as I reached up, one hand gripping his shoulder while the other cupped the side of his neck. I melted into him, my body pressing up against his when he pulled away to catch his breath, his right hand gripping my hip to hold me in place.

We looked at each other, something sparking between us as if to drag us back together again but before he could capture my lips with his for a second time, a voice spoke up from somewhere overhead.

“Raise the boat!” Caleb snarled at his crew. My head turned to glance up at him, his eyes holding a trace of sadness in them when he turned his back to us and stalked his way across the deck.

My hands slipped away from Ben, his letting go when the crew began to hoist the boat up and onto the deck. We sat in silence as they worked, a sense of guilt coming over me. I glanced in Ben’s direction.

The feelings I had towards him were my own, they weren’t forced onto me by a past incarnation like they had been with Caleb. My feeling guilty because of emotions that weren’t mine didn’t make sense to me so I suppressed the guilt and focused instead on what I knew were my own feelings.

Once on deck I noticed that blood was trailing down my arm, droplets dripping from my fingertips to stain the wood below. My leg was burning, caused by the salt in the seawater but the stitches were intact and it wasn’t bleeding like I had thought it would.

Rebecca was at my side, her hand forcefully grabbing hold of my arm as she dragged me towards the Captain’s chambers. Once inside she let go and I turned to address her.

“What are you-?” my words were cut short when a sharp sting radiated from the side of my face, a slapping sound echoing out around us when my head flew to the side, my eyes staring emotionless down at the ground below. Her hand was raised and a fire burnt in her eyes, scorching me.

“Have you ever stopped to think about the effect that your actions would have on him?” she demanded, not having to speak the name for me to know exactly who she was referring to.

I straightened my shoulders, my hands balling at my sides, one drenched with blood. My eyes turned to meet her, stern and piercing as I stared into her gaze, challenging her, not backing down like she had been expecting me to.

“I. Am. Not. Mary” I bit out past clenched teeth, sick and tired of the influence the woman by the name of ‘Mary’ had over me and my life. Rebecca’s hand lowered back to her side as I took a threatening step towards her.

“I am Evangeline-.” I began, my hands trembling at my sides as I suppressed the need to strike back at her. I was a better person but that didn’t mean that I was going to keep my mouth shut.

“And I refuse to let my actions be ruled by a ghost-.” she visibly flinched at my use of the word ‘ghost’ like referring to Mary as being dead had struck a sensitive spot inside of her.

Her lips were narrowed in a thin line, silent as I continued “I can kiss who I want, fall in love with whoever I want!” my voice was louder now, piercing the air around us and echoing like her slap had before it.

My eyes began to grow clouded over in tears, foggy as I turned to the side, about to head in the direction of the small bathroom when I finished “I didn’t choose to have this face, I was born with it and I sure as hell am not some rich noble girl from the South”

I stormed off, slamming the door to the bathroom shut behind me so that I could strip out of the wet and bloody shirt I was wearing to clean my wounds with some fresh water.

I felt the tears streaming down the side of my face as I worked, running the rag over my skin while I sat on my knees on the floor next to the bucket.

The room beyond the door was silent, no footsteps or sighs could be heard and I assumed that Rebecca had gone back above deck, leaving me to tend to my wounds like a dog lapping at her own cut.