Gathering of Blackbirds

by M.M. Gavillet

  Chapter Eleven

  My eyes opened to see the creamy white ceiling. Loud arguing voices echoed all around as I tried to get up.

  “Don’t move and close your eyes,” Zach sat beside me in a small room.

  “The amulet, it’s a key.” I croaked out.

  “Close your eyes pretend you’re asleep…the Alliance is here.” His eyes were serious as I looked at my arm with what looked like a hundred stiches. “You lost a little blood and that will be our excuse to keep you here. Otherwise…you will go with them. Now close your eyes and look like you’re dead,” he said quickly in a hushed voice.

  I did, and tried to look as lethargic as I could. Voices called and footsteps surrounded me. I wanted to see who was there and who wanted to take me away for what, I wasn’t stealing the amulet. I came out in front of them all to show them what happened and what I knew about the amulet.

  “She needs to go with us and as soon as she can. We will be back for her in a few days,” A man’s voice said in the stillness.

  I listened, feeling like I was a corpse that had to be identified.

  “No, why risk another trip here? Storms will be coming before the winter season and they are unpredictable, a week could cost us two or three. We should take her now…these people aren’t capable of holding her.” Inside I shuddered at his voice because it was David.

  “But, if she isn’t well and dies along the way, then we can’t question her,” The man’s voice replied back followed by an impending silence.

  “Emily has lost a lot of blood and travel I wouldn’t advise,” Zach said sounding just like an accomplished doctor, not the hick tone he usually spoke in. I knew he was trying to make an impression.

  “You have no training. You practice on animals and have no say here.” David’s voice was calm, but had that familiar tone of restrained anger, like thunder announcing a distant storm.

  “It doesn’t take a genius to see that she is hurt and should not be moved.” Zach protested.

  “It isn’t your decision, Shilander, it is up to the Alliance,” David said in a huff voice. “She ran out with the amulet in her hand, and now it is silver. We have no idea what it can do or where it came from.” David’s footsteps came closer. “We don’t know what her intentions are here, who she’s working for and what she might bring to us.”

  I wanted to scream at David. He was a liar and manipulator and I had never hated anyone in my life, now I was beginning to.

  I wanted to get him, and get him now. I couldn’t just open my eyes and sit up trying to prove myself; otherwise I would definitely be going with them. Instead, I had another idea.

  “David,” I turned my head to the side and curled my face like I just ate a plateful of lemons. “The Alliance…should have it…not you…” My voice was barely a croaking whisper.

  I smiled inside and thanked all the soap operas that occupied a lot of my summer vacations. Hopefully that planted a seed of doubt in the Alliance.

  “She’s hallucinating.” David protested.

  “She can’t hallucinate when she’s unconscious. And you don’t have to be trained in the medicines to know that,” Zach replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

  “Still, it holds no significance…and soon she will have to come with us…not be held here by a bunch of incapable Blackbirds,” David said followed by footsteps leaving the room.

  Zach let out a sigh and I kept my eyes shut just in case.

  “O.K. Hollywood starlet, you can open your eyes, the performance is over,” Gabe said in my ear.

  I opened my eyes and was greeted by his smiling face. I wanted to touch it and tell him to take me away from here.

  “That was thinking on the seat of your pants, not to mention very risky.” Gabe sounded impressed at the same time slightly angry at the risk I took.

  “Yeah, but it worked, didn’t it?” I asked raising my eyebrows.

  “David has a little more pull being in the Dragon clan, I wouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch,” Zach said and put on his cowboy hat.

  “She’s still here?” Alicia’s voice echoed in the distance followed by not only her footsteps, but Claire’s as well.

  “Em, are you alright?” Claire asked with concern.

  I smiled letting her know I was fine and slowly sat up with my head spinning slightly. I looked at my bandaged forearm.

  “I know what the amulet is…or maybe what it is.” Everyone looked at me with wide eyes. “It’s a key. I heard a voice, but they only spoke three words I could understand. Key, portal, and Eutopia. That’s where Ian is from, isn’t…” I stopped as everyone looked at each other white faced and wide eyed. It was too late; I revealed information that no one outside the clan was to know.

  “It’s a Portal Key, my father made them. How it got here I’m not sure, and you’re right Emily, I am from Eutopia. Claire must have told you,” Ian said in a clam voice standing in the doorway as his eyes fell on Claire who only gave an apologetic shrug of her shoulders. “It didn’t change until Emily touched it and I’m sure now, made from an old Portal…one possibly made by my father.” His voice was distant. “If it is a key, then it could only have come from Eutopia.”

  I remembered what Claire had said about Ian being able to make Portals as he looked at me with wary eyes.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know what I was doing and I don’t know why I picked it up,” I said looking at Ian with blood all over his shirt.

  “Are you hurt?” I asked with concern.

  He looked down at his shirt and then at me. “No, it’s yours.”

  I leaned back slightly as Gabe looked at me with concern.

  “You were compelled to it because you are a Receptor. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.” Alicia leaned against the wall looking at her fingers.

  “Alicia is right and there may be another message attached to it,” Zach said looking at Gabe.

  “Yeah, but how are we going to get it back? The Dragon clan is taking it with them.” Alicia looked at Zach with her dark eyes.

  The room fell in a doomed silence.

  “I can get it.” Claire spoke up. “I used to have light fingers as you might say and have latched on to a few things in the past; I was pretty good at it.” Claire gave a crooked smile as her eyes twinkled with daringness.

  “You mean steal.” Alicia stepped closer to her. She was nearly a head taller than Claire.

  “I like to call it creative acquiring, but yeah, I can steal it.” Claire looked at everyone with serious eyes.

  “It’s risky.” Gabe finally broke the uncertain silence.

  “What other option do you have? We can’t just go up to David and ask him to see it.” Claire stood in front of Gabe and looked at him. “Look, I can do this and I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t think I could pull it off.”

  Gabe looked down at Claire with crossed arms as the room fell into another pending silence.

  “No one ever suspects the little red-headed-girl.” Claire smiled her crooked smile again. “I’m also petite…I can hide easily, and no one will ever think innocent Claire, the girl who never does anything could commit such an act.”

  Gabe looked down at her and then at Zach, Alicia, Ian and finally me.

  “She does have a point, Claire has never been in front of the Alliance for bringing endangered animals to Atlantis,” Zach said with a shrug of his shoulders.

  Gabe took in a deep breath. “I don’t know how else to get it back and I know it isn’t safe in David’s hands, he is definitely up to something,” Gabe said. “Alright, Claire, you’re going to have to act fast.” No sooner did he say that when Claire squealed with joy.

  Suddenly, an idea hit me and before I thought about it too much, the words came from my mouth as they entered my head. “Why not make a replacement one? I mean a fake. And take the real one for us, leaving them with the fake.” I felt confident. “It would be perfect and the
y would be none the wiser. Not to mention give us time to see what it can do.”

  Gabe looked away as if pondering the idea while Zach and Ian looked at him.

  “Where are we going to get something that looks like it?” Alicia asked with crossed arms.

  “Well, I might have something that kind of looks like it.” Claire suggested. “I could exchange the two.”

  “We don’t have that much time.” Alicia tilted her head to the side.

  “Actually, we do,” said Ian. “There are storms developing to the south of here. And they are still unloading all the relics from Meropsis. Chances are they won’t leave today.”

  “Then, we need to get busy,” Gabe said looking at me.

  Gabe took me to my room without David catching us. The mansion had several of the Dragon clan walking throughout and we took a hidden passage upstairs.

  I sat on my bed as Gabe locked the door.

  “I don’t want to go with David.” I looked away from him. I was embarrassed of my past that Gabe knew all too well.

  Gabe sat beside me. I could see his skin through the few small holes in his faded jeans. He cupped my chin in his calloused hand and turned my head to meet his eyes. He smiled, gently took my hands in his and pulled me close.

  “You’re not going with him,” he said in a whisper.

  “How do you know? I did a terrible thing. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just so excited that I figured out what the amulet was. I didn’t know the Alliance was here.” I felt a knot cinch tighter through my insides at my own stupid doing.

  Gabe didn’t answer. I looked into his grey eyes that suddenly flickered with fragments of gold in them. I had never noticed before and suddenly his eyes were like a black hole to me, a kaleidoscope of earth toned colors. He pulled me closer, until our lips touched. He paused for a moment as if to savor the anticipation of the kiss I longed for, and then he pressed his lips to mine.

  Everything melted away. The mansion, Atlantis, Jimmy, Claire…everyone, including David was no bother to me. Gabe’s kiss seemed to transport me to another place far away, and when my lips parted from his, I almost expected to be on a deserted beach, just the two of us.

  We sat there just looking at one another.

  “That makes it even harder to have to leave,” I said trying to smile.

  Gabe was serious; he didn’t smile, only cradled my face in his hands and made my eyes meet his. “You’re not going with him. I will find a way to keep you here.”

  The afternoon faded to evening and the landscape melted into long shadows. A tall ship bobbed in the water illuminated by small lanterns in the distance making it look like a Christmas tree. It was the Dragon clan. Gabe said they were in charge of the transporting Implements usually under the supervision of another Alliance member and since they had dual control over it, David couldn’t do anything to me.

  I couldn’t sleep as the patter of rain fell outside. I could hear it hit the large leaves of the umbrella-like foliage. My thoughts drifted in my head like rolling fog. Atlantis was a beautiful place and I still couldn’t believe that I was here and even more unbelievable to me was that I would more likely never go home again. But at the same time, I had nothing to go home to.

  I then thought of Gabe. Golden haired, strong arms that always held me gently and eyes that could hold me in a trance, I then realized I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I closed my eyes letting my body relax until Gabe could hold me again.

  Suddenly, I felt someone sitting on the edge of my bed. I opened my eyes to see a shadowy figure. Immediately and without questioning my senses, I thought it was Gabe. I sat up feeling his breath on my face. It wasn’t sweet like it usually was; it had a garlic stench to it.

  “Gabe,” I said with a questioning voice.

  A light flicked on. The bald tattooed man stood beside the door with massive crossed arms and David next to me, smiled.

  “No, David,” he replied in a low voice.

  Before I could scream out, try to get away or punch David in the face that I had wanted to do for so long; he had his hand pressed against the back of my head and a cloth to my face. I struggled, with blind flaying arms I hit David only to have him laugh at me. But, no matter how I tried to hold my breath, the sickening sweet smell overtook me to blackness.

  I woke to a sloshing sound and the slow rhythm of gently swaying back and forth. A left-over sweet sent still filled my nose and made me want to throw up. Forcing myself up, I realized I was in a hammock with neatly cut wood boards for walls and floor. The room was angled and large beams of silver were the room’s support system. I held my breath for a moment as I swayed back and forth on the Dragon clan’s ship.

  There were no windows along the walls and large barrels surrounded me along with large white sacks draped over the top of them. A single beam of light pierced the darkness from a stairwell that led to above.

  Suddenly, slow footsteps came down them one by one. I swung my legs over the side and looked around for a weapon. The dark figure emerged from the shadows and I was relieved to see it was Alicia.

  “Alicia.” I let her name out in a sigh of relief.

  She only looked at me with her steady black eyes as another figure stepped out behind her. It was David.

  “Good, you’re finally awake and I can do what I brought you here to do.” he said in a dry voice.

  I looked at Alicia. “What are you doing here?” I asked without answer.

  Alicia only looked down at me with a flick of her head. Her stare was cold and distant.

  “Alicia, what is going on? Are you with them?” I asked in disgust and awe.

  “She has been with me for a long time.” David’s eyes lifted to her as he held me tightly in his grasp. “My spy,”

  Alicia smiled at me as David jerked me in front of him and up the bright stairwell. The light nearly blinded me as the deck was full of activity. I looked in the distance and all I could see was sky and the dancing waves.

  David stood me in front of me and began to search my clothing like a police officer would do to a criminal.

  “You won’t need this anymore,” he said and threw the locating stone to water.

  I had always kept it on me and my hope of rescue went to the bottom of the ocean. I watched the water swallow it as David smiled at me.

  “Captain, we need you here for a moment,” The bald headed man said as his eyes casted over me for a moment.

  David shoved me into Alicia’s grasp. She held me close to her, my back against her chest. I could feel her breath in my ear.

  “How could you?” I gritted my teeth as her grip tightened.

  “Shut up R-girl. If you want out of this, listen to me,” she said in a whisper.

  “What-“

  “Quiet.” She huffed. “I’m not with them, I’m a double spy.”

  “What about Gabe?” I had to ask.

  She let out an irritated sigh. “Keep your hormones under control; we are kind of involved in a delicate situation.” Alicia tightened her grip jerking me back as a sailor walked by. “Don’t worry princess; your prince is waiting for you. Try sending a message to them when you get the chance.”

  “But who can receive it? Jimmy is just a sender,” I said.

  “Try,” she whispered in my ear.

  David came back and took me from Alicia’s grip. I looked to meet her cold eyes. I wasn’t sure if it was a trick on her part or if she was telling me the truth, but when I got the chance I would try to send Jimmy a message.

  David took us up a small flight of stairs to a room that must have been the captain’s quarters. I didn’t know much about ships, but form the few movies I had seen about pirates, I knew that this was David’s room.

  Inside was filled with cabinets closed and secure with locks. Large windows opened to the ocean in front of us and a table strewn with maps and navigating implements, that I only guessed that is what they were,
sat off to the side of a large map.

  “I must say, the Blackbirds are easy to take things from, especially since they are as capable as the rest of the clans. It’s a pity that they are still around since they are nothing but a sore spot in the Alliance. Basically they are here out of charity, but it does make taking things from them a lot easier.” David looked at me with a smile.

  David didn’t sound like the David that I wished I never knew. He had an authority to him, an arrogance that made me sick.

  “If you mean me, I’m not a thing, and if Gabe knew you were going to kidnap me he would had stopped you,” I said with hardly a bother of concern from David who looked more interested in his maps. “He is more of a man than you will ever be.” My words rolled off of him like rain hitting a window.

  “See these implements on the table,” he said motioning with his long fingers shrouded in dark leather gloves. “You are like one of them, a tool, implement and mine. I don’t have time to argue with you. What I am looking for is sending a message that only a Receptor can hear. And now that we have the key and the Receptor, I can find my treasure.” His lips curled into a smile.

  “I don’t know what you’re taking about.” I tried to play dumb.

  David rolled his eyes. “Like I said before, if you want to play I will play with you, but I am going to win. So you can either cooperate or I can give you to my crew, they’ve never had a girl from Earth before and I’m sure every one of them would like to have a taste of you.” He stood in front of me and ran his fingers across my cheek, the bruise was faded, but not the memory. I flinched away as he looked at me with an amused smile.

  My insides boiled and I wanted to scratch his eyes out that were filled with a villainous glee.

  “I don’t know if I can, I’m new at this.” I looked at him.

  “Don’t worry, you will.” He grabbed my arm, pulling it in front of him and turned my hand palm up. “Now, you will read the message in this.”

  He dropped the amulet in my hand. The once sparkling topaz colored pendant shone a cool shade of silver. It wasn’t bright, but almost had a bluish cast to it and was incredibly light. It wasn’t the fake one Claire was to exchange. I could tell it immediately from the tingling sensation that radiated through my hand all the way up my arm. I curled my hand around it and shot Alicia a glance. She nodded and I looked away, I didn’t want David thinking she wasn’t anything else but his spy.

  I closed my eyes, nothing came to me. I had to come up with something. I clenched the pedant tighter hoping I could squeeze the information out of it. I cleared my thoughts as Karinna had told me and listened to my surroundings. I began to let everything fade around me. Slowly whisper-like voices came and went like speeding cars. I tried to reach out to them and they wouldn’t stop like they were taunting me.

  “Child of the Crystal City,” Many voices said all in unison. “This was not meant to be found.”

  I stood quiet for a moment as the voices swirled around me in fragments that I couldn’t understand.

  “I seek the treasure!” I yelled.

  “The treasure is not meant to be found and is no treasure. Return us to the Black Abyss…this is not for your world.”

  Everything moved wildly around me, like I was trapped in a vacuum cleaner. I felt a hand pull me backwards and immediately thought of Gabe, but when I opened my eyes, David’s face peered down at me.

  “What did it tell you?” He demanded.

  I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I trembled knowing I had to tell him something.

  “It’s in the Black Abyss.” My voice trembled and he threw me to the ground.

  David began barking orders to the crew of men encircling us. I didn’t even realize we were on the deck and looked around still mesmerized by the voices. Alicia bent down and pulled me to my feet.

  “That’s what it told you?” she whispered in my ear.

  “Sort of,” I replied.

  David walked away from us. He wasn’t concerned with me anymore, since he got what he wanted. I stood there watching him and hoped the Black Abyss wasn’t as bad as it sounded.

  “Come on.” Alicia pulled on my arm jerking me toward the dark stairwell that led to the belly of the ship.

  She didn’t say a word as we stood in the darkness.

  “Send a message.” She commanded.

  I watched her take her long coat off and reach inside its deep pockets. She pulled out an array of silver jagged edged disks that looked like a swatch of paint samples, and hooked them on a slender chain around her waist. She then looked up at me.

  “We don’t have all day. Send the message, now!” Her dark eyes glared at me.

  “But there is no one to receive it.” I tried to explain to her.

  “So, just because something you think doesn’t work, means you’re not going to try just in case?” Alicia stood in front of me. “We are going to the Black Abyss and I can tell you that is a place you don’t want to go. Now send a message.”

  I didn’t think it would work. I closed my eyes, thought of the water hitting the boat and sent a message upon it that we were going to the Black Abyss. I truly hoped it worked.

  Night had come and I had been locked below deck since Alicia brought me down here. I tried multiple times to send messages and hoped someone somehow would get them.

  I laid in the hammock and thought of how I could escape. I could sneak upstairs, steal the little dingy and start rowing. But what direction would I go? They all looked the same, endless distances of water. My best bet was to wait until we reached land and hope someone there would help me.

  I thought of Alicia, I barely knew her and from what I did, she didn’t like me. I wasn’t sure if I could trust her, but something inside of me, instinct maybe told me to.

  I sat up and rubbed my arms for warmth. The air was getting colder and I looked around for a blanket.

  There were mostly barrels and large sacks that looked like was filled with potatoes or something small and lumpy. Unfortunately, there was no blanket of any kind. I rubbed my arms again when suddenly, a dark shadow rose in front of me. My mouth opened and before I could scream, the figure had his hand across my mouth and my back pressed into his chest.

  “Don’t scream, it’s me, Ian,” Ian said into my ear.

  I relaxed and he turned me around.

  “Where’s Gabe?” I asked.

  “On deck,” Even in the dim light, his eyes flickered, kind of like cat’s eyes reflecting in darkness. “He’s posing as one of the crew along with a couple of Mers.”

  “How did you find us?” I asked.

  He looked a little uneasy and rubbed his forehead. “We got your message.”

  I was proud of myself and then wondered who understood it.

  “Come on we have to get off this ship. Can you swim?” Ian’s words felt like electricity going through me.

  “Swim?” I thought of all the times kids went to the swimming pool in Thornbrooke, the closest I got to a pool was the bathtub. “No, but…”

  “Just stay close to me then.”

  Ian put his hood over his face and gave me a long coat as well, which really felt comforting dressed in shorts and a tank top.

  “Alicia is here,” I said. “She said she was a double spy.”

  “Spy, huh.” Ian smiled slightly as we stood at the bottom of the stairs. “David has tried to court Alicia for a long time and due to her stubbornness, he hasn’t had any luck. When both of you were missing, we thought David kidnapped you and Alicia. Then we found a note in Alicia’s room that said David was taking you and she was going with him to try to protect you.”

  Alicia was risking her own life to protect me, when she could stay where it is safe. And to make matters worse, she was pretending to like David. I thought of the way he treated me and hoped he didn’t treat Alicia that way.

  “Claire never switched the amulet, David has the real one,” I wh
ispered.

  “Alicia will get it.” Ian didn’t seemed concerned and kept looking up the stairwell.

  “We need to be quiet and wait for the signal.” His voice was uneasy.

  “What’s the signal?” I asked.

  Suddenly a light was forced into the darkness that surrounded us.

  “Hurry up!” Alicia yelled to us in a low voice.

  “Not quite like that, but I guess it will do.” Ian shook his head and motioned for me to go.

  Ian let me go first, our footsteps were soft and I hoped there was a boat nearby. Alicia in her long coat, nearly matched the darkness that surrounded us. No matter what direction you looked at, blackness swallowed everything in a depthless void.

  “How far out?” Alicia asked Ian.

  “Actually, about a mile and I used a Shroud.” Ian smiled as Alicia looked uncertain and all I could think of was a mile of black, deep water.

  “Shroud…one of your inventions…that hasn’t been tested, and you are using it now?” Alicia huffed.

  “It works.” Ian was confident. “Our boat is hidden and with the speed of the Mers, it’s an easy escape. Do you have the amulet?”

  “Like taking candy from a spoiled brat.” Her lips curled into a smile as she patted her chest.

  Ian cleared his throat. “Where are Gabe and the Mers?”

  Alicia turned around to a tall dark figured that loomed behind her.

  “There you are,” Alicia said.

  “Gabe.” I stepped towards him. “Let’s go.”

  He put his hand in mine and suddenly twisted my wrist and turned me around.

  “You’re not leaving so soon,” David said in my ear. “Alicia, you have something of mine.” He held out his other hand towards her and motioned with his finger to give it to him.

  From the murky blackness, shadows of men formed and took shape around us. Alicia pulled from her cleavage the silver amulet that dangled like a fat spider from its thin silk thread. David snatched it and put it in his pocket.

  “Alicia you’re so naïve. Shame though, you could had stayed with me if you were just a little smarter.” David tightened his grip on me. “Get these two worthless pieces of garbage off my ship.”

  David practically drug me to his chambers and threw me to the ground. His dark coat swirled around him like fog as he bent down and slapped me across the face. I stayed hunched on the floor as angered began to boil inside of me. Outside I could hear the crew yell and scream at one another between the sounds of clashing metal and sparks that burned the air.

  “Let them go, you have me.” My voice pleaded.

  “Aw, care about them, do you? That’s nice, but not worth it.” I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him.

  “What do you want from me?” I grunted out. “I read the message for you, now let me go.” Hopefully, he would see me as useless and let me go.

  “Do I have to want anything from you to keep you around? Maybe I have a use for you and maybe I don’t. It doesn’t matter what you want.” David then grabbed my hair and jerked me to my feet by it.

  Fear and hatred intermixed through me like kerosene and a lit match. I could feel myself tremble. I was scared for Gabe, Ian and Alicia, they risked their lives and I was alone now, with David. But something different rose in me. From the fear, something blossomed like a spring flower bursting through the snow dusted ground. I had to stop David; he wasn’t going to intimidate me anymore.

  “You don’t know how to work the amulet, that’s why you need me.” I glared at him.

  He walked around me in evaluating circles; his footsteps were heavy on the wood floor. “You’re smarter than those Blackbirds, who are nothing but a scab to the Alliance. Alicia, I thought was smart, but I can be wrong about some things. Girls I never understood and don’t really care to.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I found out you were a Receptor. Alicia shared that tidbit with me and a perfect addition for my plans that I have for Atlantis. You see, this world can be so much more, but the Alliance is stuck in their ways.” He continued like he was a leader trying to rally a group of potential followers. “With all of those magical implements at their disposal, they let them sit…in storage collecting dust. Implements of magic should be used not kept from the light of day. ” His face was in mine and his eyes glistened like a spoiled child waiting to open Christmas presents. “Either willing or not, you will help me like any other implement.”

  He backed up and thrust the amulet into my palm. “Now, read the message again.”

  I looked at the pendant that sparkled in the dim light. It vibrated with life trying to reach out to me eagerly like a child wanting to go outside after being inside all day because it had rained. I pushed it away with all my might and hoped David didn’t know what I was doing.

  “That was it, there are no more messages.” I turned facing David who leaned against the door with arms crossed as I stood in front of his map laden table.

  Briskly, he stepped forward and shoved me back with his strong hands. The table teetered spilling its contents of maps, pencils and navigating equipment all around me to the floor. The sound of battle echoed around us and all I could think about was the Blackbirds.

  David casually walked around me, I fumbled with my hands and tried to get up as a piercing pain filled my arm. The stiches that Zach had tenderly sewn had split open, and blood ran down my arm to the floor. I moved my other hand to push myself up when something sharp pricked it. I looked down to see a thin silver implement that I thought looked like a compass, or the tool used to measure distances on maps. I didn’t care really what it was; it had a long pointed end and looked like a good weapon.

  Discretely I grabbed it, tightened my grip around it, and looked up at David.

  “Ready to cooperate?” His voice teased followed by a triumphant smile.

  I held the weapon tight. “Yes,” I whispered.

  He pulled me up and I plunged the thin spike into his belly and then pulled it out again, hanging on to it tightly. I had done it before when Gabe and I were attacked by two Alfheim, and this time my mind could keep up with my actions. I felt like an animal running strictly on instinct, forgetting any morals that I ever had. I hated David, and he had to be stopped.

  David clenched his belly and then looked at me with surprise.

  “You’re going to pay for that.” He warned as he stepped towards me.

  I stepped back as sparks flew by the window behind him, framing his half crumpled body in front of me. I waited until he was close enough to me, and then I stuck him with it in the eye. He yelled and fell to the floor, cursing and crying my name as I turned the knob and into a vicious battle. All I could think of was Gabe.

  I yelled his name along with Alicia’s and Ian’s. The bodies around me seemed to blur together as the noise of the fight muffled into the distance. I looked at my arm; it dripped blood to the deck and mixed with the many pools of blood staining the porous wood.

  It was like a dream. Men with part blue- green scaled skin fought with the dark, grungy men of the crew. More and more of them seemed to appear over the side of the ship like ants to a picnic. Suddenly, someone grabbed me and jerked me close to them. I tried to take a swing when he caught my hand.

  “Stay close to me,” Ian said holding me close as we went over the side of the ship and into the cool black water. I didn’t even have time to scream.

  Chapter Twelve

  Water ran into my mouth and nose as I struggled to reach the surface. Ian held me tight and in the murkiness of the depthless water, a thin ring of light appeared, encircling us. Suddenly, it shifted and twirled with different shapes intertwined with one another. Faded scribble-like writing slowly moved in front of us in contrast to the thin ribbon of light that suddenly flashed into an explosion. With Ian still holding me close, I felt cool air on my face; we had broken the surface of the water. Gasping for air, I tried to look around and
find Gabe, but nothing surrounded us. Everything was in an eerie calm and a thin sliver of orange burned in the horizon, marking between sea and sky.

  My first thought was that the ship had sunk along with Alicia and Gabe. My heart sank and I closed my eyes wishing it all a dream when two strong hands pulled me by my shoulders.

  “She’s bleeding, there will be sharks coming if we don’t move quickly,” Ian said. I couldn’t see him, but his voice came in front of me.

  I lay in what I thought was a boat as I could see its wooden sides and see the bluing sky over me. The boat rocked forward as Ian looked at me, his hair like melting black icicles. His face had bruises that seemed to form right before my eyes. I wanted to say something to him, but my voice was gone. Ian looked me in the eye and smiled slightly as he gently held my bloodied arm and took a piece of cloth offered by another hand behind me.

  I wondered if it was Gabe and then a face appeared over me. His hair was as black as Ian’s, but his eyes were emerald green that sparkled like uncut gems. He smiled in an amused way that for some reason irritated me, like he was laughing at my injuries. I tried to move, but only let a grunt out instead.

  “Don’t move. You’ll hurt yourself.” His voice had a charm to it like the sweet sound of wind chimes in the dead quiet summer air. “Oh, and by the way, welcome your highness to Eutopia.”

  About the Author

  M.M. Gavillet lives in west central Illinois with her husband, two children, one dog, three cats, several ducks and two demanding guinea pigs where she drinks more tea than any sane person should and likes to play in the dirt planting flowers. She has been spinning stories since she was little, but only recently discovered her passion for writing.

  You can see what M.M. Gavillet is up to on Goodreads!

  The adventure continues with Band of Blackbirds

  Released spring 2013