A Game Of Changing Tides

Chapter Twenty-Seven

1868,  the First Witch's Island

The swaying of the ship was anything but soft, bringing a sickening feeling to Adelyn's stomach. She couldn't so much as get her eyes to close, and yet only a few feet away, Nina snored almost as loudly as the storm sounded outside.

A flash of light peaked through the porthole's murky glass, thunder sounding a few seconds afterwards. Adelyn's skin crawled, wishing she could just shut her eyes and turn it all away. She almost wished she was back at Anne Marten's, curled up in a blanket on the hardwood floor.

The ship lurched to the left, and Adelyn found herself clawing at the side of her hammock, gripping the stitching as though it would keep her from falling out. Her hand stung from underneath the layers of cloth that had been taped there as a makedo bandage. Adelyn could only hope the cut that hid there would heal quickly, though it wasn't looking promising. What had begun the night as a white piece of fabric had gone pink over the course of the night.

Adelyn looked like a mess. Ignoring her disheveled hair and dirty clothes, her one hand was burnt on one spot and cut in another, and her other had rope burn that still stung, and a slice up her forearm. She might not have been a pirate, but she certainly looked like one.

With a heavy sigh, Adelyn turned her feet over the side of the hammock and dangled them in the air, just long enough to feel the cold tinge to it. If there was one thing she'd learnt from being out in the ocean, it was that no matter how hot it got during the day, it was always freezing at night.

Careful to make as little noise as possible, Adelyn jumped down from her makeshift bed and onto the floorboards below. The slight creek they gave out from the sudden weight made her wince, but one look at Nina told her the pirate was still asleep. It would take a cannon to wake her.

Up on the main deck, Adelyn was surprised to find there was only a trickle of rain falling from the sky. With all of the thunder and lightning, she'd been expecting a raging storm. Still, she had no complaints. She offered a small wave to Gregor, the only other person on deck. From his spot on the helm, seated on a stool behind the wheel, he nodded back to her.

A small light shone through the window from Nikolai's room, likely from a candle left burning. Adelyn wondered if, like her, Nikolai hadn't been able to sleep.

Still, she wasn't curious enough to go look.

Instead she stalked over to the railing, leaning over the side of the ship and dipping her head low. It felt as though she'd just finished a marathon, and was catching up on all of the air she'd missed as she ran. She took breath after breath, and yet it still felt as though no air was reaching her lungs. Adelyn felt alert and scared, for reasons she couldn't fathom, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't relax. It was as though her muscles refused to calm, keeping ready for whatever action would come next.

A drop of rain landed on her cheek, and she frowned. Just as she was reaching up to brush it away, her ears tuned into the voices that sounded from Nikolai's room. Just above whispers, Adelyn couldn't make out their words, only that one of the speakers was Nik, and the other a girl.

Being as the only pirate on Nik's crew was sleeping like the dead, it didn't take Adelyn much effort to figure out who Nikolai was speaking to.

With careful steps, Adelyn inched towards his chambers. Pausing just outside the door, she lifted her ear to the wood and held her breath.

"North, for now." Nikolai said. Adelyn could hear the soft clicking of his boots on the floorboards. He was pacing, back and forth.

"North." Ri repeated, her voice a squeak compared to his. Adelyn frowned, the murmur of the door between them making it hard to pick up on every word. "Do you have a specific destination in mind?"