Veils of Storm

34. Vortex

The days went by, and no one demanded a plan. The sadness didn't fade off the ship. The winds didn't blow.

The world was stuck.

And with it, so was Kat. She'd thought she could move past this, look inside herself, and accept who she was. Embrace her magic and the twisted fate and return to who she used to be before she'd shot the fire spiral.

Life didn't work that way. Her nights were plagued by bodies and blood, and she often found herself screaming and waking up drenched in cold sweat. No one came to comfort her.

No one trained her. No one spoke to her, except for Leila, unless she started the conversation. They left her alone. They let her heal.

It didn't work. As much as she tried to push herself past her fear, past her pain, she found herself taking refuge more often in the crow's nest. Curled at the bottom of the tub-like structure, she could cry all she wished without Leila encouraging her, without the others giving her sympathetic glances, without Cage acting like she wasn't there.

From her vintage point, she could also stare into the distance for enemy ships. Her dreams were plagued with them. Without wind, they hadn't moved far away enough from Principala. They could still be captured or killed. Every time she remembered the danger, her heart jumped into her throat, beating painfully.

But she did it, kept to herself. She needed to keep them safe.

Dark clouds twisted above their ship as Kat lay in the crow's nest, hugging her knees to her chest. Thunder rumbled, and tendrils of lightning made their way among the lines. She wondered if Cage was doing that, if his mood had also fouled the weather. That would be immense power, and it frightened her.

She'd been laying there for hours, and her body felt numb. However, the static nature of it allowed her to breathe, to act as if nothing truly mattered. Then, her heart skipped a beat. She scurried to her knees and leaned her elbows on the edge of the nest, looking out into the distance. Thick fog surrounded them, so she squinted, expecting to see the shadows of enemy ships or the reddish light that preceded a cannonball.

There was nothing. Just emptiness and silence.

The tension in her muscles eased. It only lasted a second before the sea itself caught fire.

Burn down the world. Burn it down.

Kat yelped and scurried away until her back hid hard wood. The flames in front of her eyes vanished, leaving behind a cold wind. But it had felt so real, just like it had when the flames had engulfed her mirror back home.

Back then, she'd been scared, sure, but she'd felt safe because the fire was just that. Fire, and imaginary one at that. Now, it had a completely different meaning. It could be her doing. The raging voices inside her wanted her to destroy the world.

No, that's impossible. And foolish. I don't have enough power for that.

But even her thought flickered with doubt because she knew it was a lie. She'd proven what she was capable of. And if Leila was to be believed, this was just the beginning.

Leila... How could she be so certain that Kat had to embrace this? Didn't she see the danger? Maybe she didn't, seeing as she had no magic of her own. There was no way to explain the foreign feeling inside her body, the unnatural way in which her pulse twisted to create fire out of nothing.

Why fire? Out of everything she could have wielded, every possible curse she could have bared, why fire?

"Are you okay?"

Kat jumped and looked above her head. Trix rested with his elbows on the edge of the nest, watching her with a concerned air. His green eye was visible this time.