Cursed Seas Pt. 02: The Witch-Eye

"Oh, fuck." Veradine turned and ran.

"Hey, wait, what happen - yearrgh!" Jenny Ivory's voice came from behind Veradine, interrupted by a sickly crunch. That wasn't going to be Veradine's fate.

Veradine ran past the buildings, her mismatched legs not helping her any. She heard behind her muffled thumping and the same otherworldly hissing as before and could feel the eyes of the Shella-thing burrow into the back of her head. With every step, her cut whip throbbed and cried in pain, but that would have to wait, lest she wanted to become like Gwen had.

In her scrambling, Veradine passed a crew-member of the Harpy, a woman with four sets of arms, one of which happened to be a set of crab claws. "Get it," Veradine shouted, pointing behind her.

"Get what?" the woman asked before she looked. Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "Oh fuck no!"

The crewmate began running after Veradine and the thumping only grew closer. She did not want to look behind her, she didn't even want to pause for a moment. If she did, she'd be dead. Veradine always figured that with her curse, she'd be in one piece until the end of time. She was having second thoughts on the state of her immortality, and decided that not testing it would be for the best.

The thumping and the hissing grew closer, filling Veradine with a dread worse than when she couldn't stop her daughter from walking into the sea. Desperately, she swung the remainder of her whip at the crewmate's feet. Pain shot like a thunderbolt through her arm, and she nearly faltered, but the crab-woman lost her footing and fell. As Veradine exited the village, she left with the screams and crunching behind her.

Veradine ran as fast as her damned legs would let her. She ran down to the coast where their jolly boat was. A few lazy louts lounged there, undoubtedly ignoring her command from earlier. She had never been so relieved to see someone disobey her before. The women panicked when they saw her, but Veradine shouted, "Get the boat into the water! We're heading back, now!"

"But what about the other crewmates?" asked a woman.

Veradine ran into the jolly boat and began pushing it into the water as fast as she could. "They're dead. Dead-dead. We'll be dead too if you don't help me!"

The women did not disagree with her. The jolly boat was pushed into the water, and she and those few women began rowing back. Veradine's whip snapped back and forth as she barked, "Faster, faster!"

One woman said, "Holy shit..." and all of the lazy women stopped to look at the shore.

Veradine looked back and saw the Shella-thing, different from before in ways that scratched at Veradine's eye, hissing, its face opened up like a flower blossom.

"What the fuck is that?!" said the woman who first spotted the monster.

"The reason you're rowing, now row!" Veradine snapped, slapping the woman with her whip. Nobody needed to be told twice. The jolly boat had less than a quarter of its original crew, but Veradine swore it was going much faster. She took one look back as they came upon the Harpy and saw the Shella-thing turning back to the island, undoubtedly to hunt down the crew she had left behind.

The jolly boat was hoisted above the Harpy with nary a complaint. Veradine cracked her whip at the many gawkers aboard. "Get this tub moving. We're leaving, now."

"Wait, where's that skeleton lady? And the idiot girl in love with Shella?" an idle crew mate asked.

Veradine's whip lashed out before she realized it and as the crew mate in question slumped to the ground, Veradine cradled her whip. "We're leaving," she snarled.

"I don't think Saltbeard's going to be happy," another woman said.

Veradine paled. That was right. They'd have to face Davy Jones' wrath. Maybe it would've been better to have been squashed by whatever Shella had become.

Still, the Harpy's sails unfurled and she turned back from that damned island, leaving everyone on it to their death. The Harpy sailed on, regardless of the weather and ignoring ships seen from the crow's nest. Every night, when Veradine tried to sleep, she heard the hissing in her ear, as if Shella was right next to her. Her dreams were nothing but endless repeats, seeing Gwen's head erased and hearing the cries of Jenny Ivory and the other woman. Sometimes, the corpses would follow after Veradine, chasing her and hissing like Shella had.

It took two weeks for the weather to turn stormy green. Fat raindrops pounded on the deck while wild wind tore at the sails. Veradine was out of her cabin in an instant, tired to the bone and feeling sick but ready to face her judgement regardless. Like before, a towering waterspout spun up from the ocean's depths, close to the ship's side. A rough green foot much larger than any normal human's stepped out of the waterspout, followed by the rest of Davy Jones.

The remainder of the crew were hiding behind doors or barrels, a brave few peeking out but leaving Veradine on her own. Her shoulder were slack and her head low; she was ready for her fate.

"I must admit, I have to congratulate you, Captain Lash," Davy Jones said, his voice enslaving the wind rather than carried by it.

There was a glimmer of hope in Veradine's heart, but she knew that it was another of Davy Jones' little jokes, leading someone into hope only to reveal his displeasure.

"I never would have guessed that you would trip upon what you have," Davy Jones continued. "And for your services, consider yourself rewarded with continued freedom."

Veradine lifted her head. It wasn't one of his spiteful jokes? She could not understand what he was talking about. "M-my lord! I have failed to capture Shella!" she said, wincing at Shella's name as that thing flashed through her mind again.

"Ah, but we have learned quite a lot. Do you know the reason why I wanted Shella?" Davy Jones asked.

"N-no, my lord," Veradine stammered.

"For the longest time, I wanted her in my service as tightly as you are all bound, but I couldn't. She has no soul for me to fish for. I thought she would fly away like a bird if she realized that I had no power over her. And then she got her wish from a cute little rock that I couldn't see because a higher power had hidden it from my sight," Davy Jones continued, stroking his chin. "Yes, I've seen your little escapade. I've watched you this entire time, from the moment Shella spent her wish. I never intended on bringing Lily back, and even if Shella upheld her end of the bargain, I always thought that Lily would just be some human, a tiny little soul so easy to capture."

Davy Jones cracked a yellow-toothed grin. "I'm quite happy I was wrong. I never anticipated Lily to be what she is, or how brightly her soul burns. And I only learned this when dear little Gwen stabbed Lily right in her back. Lily's soul is mine now, and it's all thanks to your mistake."

"Wh-what about Shella?" Veradine asked.

Davy Jone's grin turned into a curious smile. "She is something I thought I'd never see, and something that explains much about her. But sail to the Edge of the World, Captain Lash. There is much to discuss, and some rearrangement of ships and crews now that I have the Sea Lilith in my possession."

"Aye, my lord," Veradine said weakly.

Davy Jones just smiled his broken smile and turned back to the waterspout, stepping in it. The waterspout died down, the sea and sky turning back to gray, and the Harpy was alone once more.

A woman tenativly approached Veradine. "What now, Captain?"

"Now?" Veradine said. "You heard Ol' Saltbeard. We sail to the Edge of the World. We sail South."

* * *

Shella, Lily, and the rest shall return for one final chapter.