Lost at Sea Bk. 02 Ch. 10

If they'd been together in person, Bella might have been able to tell how far out of control things had gotten, and how much Janie wasn't saying, but through the mirror Bella hadn't seen it. She'd been focused on other things at the time anyway. It was impossible for Janie to be upset about that. She had always been good at keeping up a mask of composure, and now was painted and dressed to disguise what she was feeling. She was wearing a veil for the express purpose of hiding who she really was. Who could really be expected to notice her struggles when she was doing her best to hide them in so many ways? Besides all that, it wasn't really Bella's job to look after her. She shouldn't have been relying on Bella for guidance in the first place. All that, plus the mirror it was no wonder no one had noticed Janie wasn't nearly as in control as she'd been pretending. She never was.

She hadn't really wanted anything to do with John. He was just a way to try something new. She'd used him, and hadn't even gotten what she wanted. Maybe he deserved how he'd treated her? No, that was irrelevant. She was rationalizing. Still, she found herself on the verge of hating him. It wasn't fair and she knew it, but he'd come to represent something she did not like at all. He was a regret now, and a part of herself she didn't know what to do with. Was he really a bad person? She'd been the one to put him into the situation. That was the key deception of this place. Everything here was a fantasy. It was just about the worst place she could be choosing to create situations of questionable ethics. If she'd have thought about it more she might have considered that, but she hadn't. She'd created a no win situation to justify punishing him. Didn't that make her that bad person? Or was it alright because it was what he'd told her he wanted? Was she bad for not punishing him in the right way? Usually in hindsight things were clear, but this situation still clouded her mind. She was angry at herself. She had always taken pride in being a moral person, but in a matter of days she'd become... a whore.

In her mind, she could see Bella's arched brows as the word came. Whore. It was different, she tried to justify it to herself. She didn't think of Bella that way, or any of the girls at Mary's. Or the boys either. They were just doing jobs, providing a service. They seemed to be good people. A little rough around the edges, obviously, but still good.

Whores were something else. Something bad. She couldn't come up with the right words to describe the difference in her head. She just knew that in this brothel, the only one she truly thought of as a whore, was herself.

She could see Bella's questioning eyebrow in her mind's eye again, this time wondering if she was being dramatic. How had the voice in her head come to have Bella's face so quickly?

Perhaps she was being overly dramatic. She just hated what she'd done. She felt dirty. She felt like she'd betrayed someone.

All her training, her composure, all her pride in her self-control, her dignified mask, it all finally cracked. She'd handled being taken hostage twice, having her dreams of adventure dashed, losing Will, and making an enormous transformation she couldn't have imagined a week ago. She'd managed to maintain her composure through all of it, but it had all caught up to her. She felt like she was trying to fight the tide. Tears began to leak down her face, and once they started they didn't stop.

She stared at Sister Evangelina in the mirror and hated her.

______________________

"We'll get it back to your cabin," the Norths said covering the mirror and passing it over the railing to a pair of sailors on the other side.

"Thank ye. I'm going tae take a walk around t' see the festivities, but I'll be back shipboard shortly," Captain Vex said to the pair.

Mister North hopped the railing with an agility that belied his blocky frame and set out after the two sailors, helping them get the big mirror back to the ship. His wife sunk down into a chair and sighed. "When we got here I thought we were going to have to scrounge for new crew, not drive them off with sticks. Things almost turned ugly in there when I announced we were full up."

"Did ye hear anything else about the ship disappearances?" Captain Vex asked.

"Oh, plenty. Nothing useful though. Ghost ships. Pirates. Grindylows. Sea monsters. Lots of stories, each one dumber than the last. I even heard someone claim it's a Skinsail" Danica siad with a shrug.

Belita snorted. "The Blood Tide is, what? A month away onna fast ship? That'd be pretty damn far for a Skinsail to roam."

"That's what I said. The sheer number of disappearances would mean it would have to be more than one, too," Danica nodded.

"Those creepy bastards ain't known for bein' subtle or stealthy. If there was a flotilla of Skinsails around, someone would have gotten a look at them," Belita said. It was a troubling thought, but not one that was actually likely.

"Best realistic guess is, probably just pirates with more skill than average." The First Mate picked up Captain Vex's half-full cup and downed the whole thing in one drink.

Captain Vex gave Bella a long-suffering look. "D'ya see what I put up with?"

Bella snickered. "I think she's earned it."

"Mutineers, the lot of you," Belita huffed.

"What's a Skinsail?" Bella asked.

"No one is really sure," Danica said. "They're what we call the raiders in the Blood Tide. They sometimes come out of the red waters, but not far. So mostly we see them in the distance."

"So they're easy tae avoid. They're just another seaward boogeyman," Belita added.

"They're really more of a coastal problem. When the Blood Tide comes in contact with some new stretch of coastline, the Skinsails raid villages and towns. The aftermath is said to be awful," Danica explained. "Piles of severed heads. Weird rituals. Crucified, skinned bodies. Real penny dreadful scary story stuff."

Bella looked horrified. "And they stay in the Blood Tide?" Bella asked. "Where is that, exactly?"

"On the other side of Nival, mostly," Captain Vex said. "It's been slowly spreading, so now it's pretty close to the Western Passage, but during the warmer months the winds keep it far enough away that fast coastal ships will still make the trip pretty regularly."

"And we aren't going to be going anywhere near there, right?" Bella asked.

"The Western Passage is right on the horizon from Drifter's Key. Ye can see th' entrance tae it pretty well with a good spyglass. I doubt we'll see any red waters through. It's the wrong time of year," Captain Vex said, trying to be reassuring. Bella did not look very comforted.

"The sirens seem to do a pretty good job keeping the Skinsails at bay," Danica shrugged. "They migrate in winter though, so there has been a Skinsail ship spotted in the passage once or twice in the last few years. With the Tide spreading, it's something sailors try to keep aware of."

"It's one of the reasons the Magistrate is trying tae put down strongholds and spread its power base in the islands so quickly. They're the closest ones wit' the naval power tae fight the Skinsails, and it's really looking like there's an invasion coming at some point," Captain Vex added.

"Captain," a voice from the shadows said, distracting them all from the macabre story. Doctor Kalfou stepped into the dim light at the edge of the railing. She looked a bit less put together than the last time they had seen her. She'd removed her skeletal makeup, but remnants of it still remained around her eyes giving her a smokey, unkempt look. Something about her seemed frayed. "Can I impose on you to let me move my things into the cabin you've offered now?"

Captain Vex tended towards relaxed and easy going, but it would be a mistake to think that made her complacent. She knew the look of someone in the middle of trouble. She raised a blond eyebrow. "That depends. You want tae tell me what's going on before I bring it ontae my ship?"

"Being hunted by the Magistrate, I," Doctor Kalfou said without any hesitation.

Captain Vex glanced at Bella, who looked a bit pained. "Well tha' was fast," the Captain said. She gave Danica a small nod.

"Tonight is full of surprises," Doctor Kalfou said with a small smile.

"Sailors hate surprises," Danica said, pushing herself back to her feet with a slight groan of fatigue. "Follow me. I'll get you settled." She stepped up onto the chair and hopped the railing too. With her small stature it was a bit more of a feat, but she was more athletic than her husband. "How much gear do you have?"

"Two bags and a small footlocker," the doctor replied. She gestured behind her. Danica squinted, then her brows raised, startled. Captain Vex did the same. There was a tall, dark skinned man at the edge of the shadows. He was only a few paces away, but none of them had seen him. He had two bags slung over his left shoulder and a metal-reinforced footlocker resting on top of it.

"Well damn," Danica said after a moment, taking the man in appreciatively. "Your friend is sneaky for a big guy."

The tall man tipped his top hat to her. "When he has to be," he rumbled in a deep, silky voice. The small smile on his face and the look in his eyes said volumes as he looked the diminutive Danica up and down, returning her appreciation.

"I'm married," Danica said with a smirk. "I'm liking the effort though. Feel free to keep trying."

"Saints alive," Doctor Kalfou muttered, looking pained. She pointed a warning finger in the tall man's direction, clearly exasperated with his flirtations. "Behave." She followed Danica with another warning glance over her shoulder at the tall man.

His chuckle was practically felt more than heard. He tipped his hat to Bella and Captain Vex with a rumbled "ladies," then turned to follow the others.

"Well that was interesting," Bella said as she watched them disappear into the dark.

Captain Vex brought her cup to her lips, then looked at it like it had betrayed her when she realized it was empty. She sighed and put it down. "On the seas, ye learn to pay attention tae little things at the edge of your perception. Chills, changes in wind, the color of the sky on the horizon. Anything that might give ye a warning that things might get rough. Tonight's like that. Feels like a storm coming."

"Because of her?" Bella gestured in the direction the doctor had gone.

Captain Vex shrugged. "Because of lots of things. She's just part of it."

"Are you worried?" Bella asked.

Captain Vex smiled. "Nae. I love storms."

______________________

"Are... we going to follow them?" Lace asked as she watched Will get swept away with the crowd.

"You can if you want to," Jack said tersely. "I'm done."

"What was all that about?" Lace asked.

"I have no idea. You told me he cut his hand," Jack growled. Her voice was dripping with exasperation. "I thought he was going to find a doctor?"

"It was bandaged. Perhaps he did," Quinn pointed out.

"Not even a thank you," Jack grouched. "I faced down a Centurion, and he gets the celebration."

"That was a real Centurion? I thought they were all gone?" Lace asked, looking suddenly a lot more surprised.

"They were. Now apparently they're back," Jack shrugged.

Lace let out a long breath. She didn't pay much attention to Mainlander tales, but even she knew about the prowess of the Centurions. "Damn. Is this normal for you two? I'm no slouch in a fight, but I don't think I want to be pissing off legendary warriors on a regular basis." Lace looked like she was rethinking some life choices.

"First time for me. I've never even seen one before tonight. Saw a suit of their armor in a museum once, and read some of the histories. I would have loved to asked him some questions, but no. Will had to convince them he was some kind of demon spirit," Jack was walking now, trailing Quinn and Lace behind her as she grouched.

"What was that all about anyway?" Lace asked.

"It looked like some sort of Revealing spell that lit up sources of enchantment," Jack muttered. "Will's is very strong. You saw. From what I understand, spirits look a lot like that under the effects of those kinds of spells."

"And the Magistrate wanted to capture one," Lace rolled her eyes at the audacity. "Bad luck for Will."

Something twisted in Jack's gut. Until the standoff she'd been treating things like they were normal and fine, and so had Will. It had been easy to fall into old habits and just not think about all the negativity and blame and bitterness between them. Now she couldn't help but think about it. Was this was Will's curse in action? Even if it wasn't, did he think it was? She'd watched him ask to be killed rather than let it escalate.

Guilt settled through her. If Will thought this was the curse, that meant it was her fault. She'd spent so long trying to rationalize everything, thinking Will was just being overly dramatic about how he was "cursed" when she knew full well that wasn't really what it was. Now, she had to believe it. The whole mess had been so improbable, and had unfolded exactly the way he'd always said they did when his curse acted up. Just bad luck piling on top of itself until things were so tense that the wrong choice made in a fraction of a second could mean catastrophe. And to stop it, Will had asked to die.

How could things have gone this way? How had she been so wrong? She'd only been trying to make up for how she had betrayed him. She was grinding her teeth and fuming. Anger was easier than the sadness she felt building up inside her.

She thought things had been going so well.

"I need some time to myself," Jack said quietly to Lace.

The lithe Akula woman looked at her for a few moments and nodded. "I'll follow Will's crowd. Maybe I can get some free drinks or something." Then she vanished into the throng.

"Quinn," Jack said quietly. The green skinned warrior gave her his full attention, but did not reply. "Did I do this?" she asked.

"Yes," Quinn replied. "It is very unlikely this situation would have played out in the manor it did without your previous actions influencing them now."

"I hate it," Jack said bitterly. "I was trying to help, and he almost died. Again."

"Miss Bella is alive," Quinn said. "That was what you wanted most."

"And now she hates me! They both do!" Jack snapped.

"That was not my impression after watching your interactions this evening," Quinn said.

"Well, they did. For years. Will is starting to come around now, but I think Bella is playing nice and waiting. I don't think I've even scratched the surface of this with her. She's just following Will's lead because she thinks he's the one with the most reason to be upset."

"Then she would be correct," Quinn agreed.

"Thanks," Jack said bitterly. "Part of me wants to blame you for this. You told me I'd done everything right."

"You did," Quinn agreed.

"Then why did this happen? What happened tonight?" Jack demanded.

"Probability is a fickle thing," Quinn said. "Human desires even more so."

"What the hell does that mean? His whole curse isn't supposed to be a curse at all! It was supposed to be... I don't know... an apology. Something to make what I did bearable. All it seems to do is cause problems," Jack was fuming now. The crowd was giving her wide berth.

"I suspect that has more to do with William as a person, than with your intentions," Quinn said.

Jack sighed, her explosive frustration petering out as quickly as it came. "I suppose if there was anyone who could turn a blessing into a curse, it's Will."

"He seems no worse for wear," Quinn pointed out.

"He was ready to die!" Jack countered.

"Perhaps it was a gamble?" Quinn asked.

"It was. He wasn't bluffing though. He bet his life, and won," Jack explained.

"Brave," Quinn said.

"He is." She didn't sound proud of him at all. Mostly, she sounded sad.

They walked in silence back to the ship. Jack couldn't enjoy the festival now. It was late, and her heart just wasn't in it any longer. There had been a thrill of adventure to the whole debacle, and for a moment it had felt like it used to, but when Will had asked for them to kill him, all the excitement died and was replaced by a cold, knotted fear. She'd never heard that from him before. She'd seen him risk his life with a smile more times than she could count, but she never thought she would see the day where he would invite his own death without a fight. She'd tricked herself into thinking that Will was the same as he used to be. That he was just angry because of what she'd done, and that he'd get over it when he understood and go back to being the Will she remembered. She couldn't lie to herself anymore. Will was different, and it was utterly her fault.

She stalked up the Kestrel's gangplank and down into the hold lost in her own thoughts. When she got to the doorway of her cabin she had a momentary start as she realized the lantern was lit and there were people inside. She blinked and looked back and forth between Danica North, a dark-skinned woman dressed in white and painted like a flowery skeleton, and a lanky Nivalese man whose head nearly hit the ceiling.

"Miss Hunter! Glad you're here," Danica said with a smile. "This is Doctor Kalfou. She's going to be your bunkmate until we get to Drifter's Key."

Jack felt a tremble of frustrated rage run up her spine, but she managed not to let it out. "Fuck this," she muttered. She turned on her heel, pushed past Quinn and headed back up on deck leaving Danica and Doctor Kalfou looking surprised and confused. Quinn gave the three in the room an unreadable look that might have been sympathy or exasperation, and followed his mistress.

The tall man watched the green-skinned warrior leave with a fascinated look in his eye. "Well now, tonight is full of surprises."

"Yeah, we have an Asura," Danica said, looking after Jack. "He works for Miss Hunter. She's usually less... whatever that was."

"Asura," the tall man chuckled. "Of course."

"Did not seem happy that I was here, she." Doctor Kalfou's voice was concerned.

"I don't know her well. From what I gather, she can be moody," Danica shrugged. "If she gives you any trouble, let me or my husband know."

"Thank you," Doctor Kalfou said. She tucked her footlocker under the narrow bed opposite Jack's and Danica gave the pair a small nod.

"I'll let you get settled in. Might want to get some sleep now. Once dawn comes it won't be quite so quiet." Danica pulled the door shut as she left.

Doctor Kalfou gave her grandfather a hug. "Thank you. Sorry I brought trouble into your house."

"No harm was done. Sometimes trouble can be fun," the tall man smiled, hugging her back. "Be safe."

"See you next year," she said giving him another squeeze.

He kissed her on the cheek and slipped out the door with a wink. She sat down on her bed.

________________________

Lord Morant was looking even more disapproving than usual. "Hector, you are a Centurion, and you have two of the most talented witch hunters in a generation backing you up. Tell me again from the top. How did this get so out of hand?"

"Our intelligence was bad," the Centurion said. "There was no monster in the house. Just a drunk with some kind of enchantment on him."

"Go on," Morant said sternly.

"We followed the plan to the letter, including the provision about revealing the monster if we faced resistance," the Centurion continued.

"The Prayer of Revealing lit up half the crowd," the Hammer priestess said bitterly. "It all went sideways after that."

"Lit up... the crowd?" Morant raised a condescending eyebrow. "That prayer reveals magic, and creatures infused with it."

"Yes. The makeup and costumes all the locals are wearing is enchanted," the Centurion continued.