A Game Of Changing Tides

Chapter Sixteen

1868, the Dawrey Ocean

Two days passed quietly. Adelyn had forced herself to swallow whatever fears and nausea that had taken root inside of her. She pushed forwards.

The burn on her hand had finally scabbed over, and it felt more stiff than raw. Her pulse throbbed under the broken skin, but it was a feeling she'd gotten used to over the days. Just like she'd gotten used to watching the arrow surge in her palm.

It was pointing the same way as the siren on the bow was facing, straight ahead.

The sun was beginning to fall again, settling low on the horizon. It cast a dark cast on the ship, as though a shadow loomed over them. Adelyn suddenly felt uneasy, though she couldn't explain it. It was as though a danger waited for them, like she knew something bad was going to happen

As if enough bad hadn't happened already.

Adelyn had felt nothing but heat and humid air only minutes before, and then she felt nothing but cold. Shivers crept up and down her spine like bugs. Up near the helm, Nina stood with half of the crew, staring out at the horizon before them. Adelyn didn't like the look on their faces anymore than the feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Nik and Xavier stood next to the wheel, keeping the ship's course steady. Adelyn watched as Nikolai handed the wheel off to Xavier, inching towards the railing to look out at the water.

Adelyn was reluctant to do the same, but she forced her feet to move. Every step felt like a challenge, as though weights were tied around her ankles and holding her back. She didn't want to admit it out loud, but she was afraid. Something had the pirates spooked, and she did not want to face whatever it was.

Finally, Adelyn stepped up to the railing, peering down into the water below. Adelyn didn't know what she'd been expecting, but it certainly wasn't what she saw.

At first, she'd thought it was floating. It was flat, and no bigger than the size of a bedside table. It took Adelyn a minute to realize that it was a rock, and it was not floating. It was an island, smaller than any she'd ever seen. The ship towered over it, sailing by as though it'd never even been there. She would have thought it were funny, such a small island in such a vast empty space, but the word painted on it's surface made it anything but funny.

Pray, written in the colour of blood.

"What does that mean?" Nina frowned, her eyes darting up to look at Nikolai. One by one, each member of the crew looked up to their Captain, searching for guidance and an explanation. Adelyn looked at him, too, wanting the same.

Adelyn had an idea of what the single word meant, but she wanted to be wrong. She wondered how the paint had stayed on; It was impossible to say exactly how long the word had been written there, but Adelyn assumed it'd been a while, and with all of the waves...

Adelyn didn't want to believe in magic, not yet, and so she decided the paint must have been fresh. Weeks old, if that.

"I think it means..." Nikolai paused, swallowing. Adelyn watched the way his eyebrows furrowed together in concentration, and the scar on his jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth. His face was hard and rugged, and though he might have been a leader, he looked like a boy. A boy that was in over his head, and behind his facade of a ruthless pirate, afraid. "We're in for some rough waters."

"Do we turn back?" One of the men said. He was a plump man, with a ringed piercing on his eyebrow and an X tattooed on his neck. Adelyn didn't know his name exactly, but she thought it was something like Thomas or Terrance.

Nik shook his head, "No. We go on. We're not cowards, Trevor. We're not going to stick our--" Nik looked at Adelyn and let out a laugh. "We're not tucking our tails between our legs and running the other way."