Stede's eyes grow wide.
Bluff's angry eyes turn towards him. "I told you I'd kill you, and now you’ve given me the means."
Stede takes a step back, unsure. Does Bluff hold this power or do the sirens? Lightning strikes again with just a blink of Bluff's eyes, this time close enough to the ship to send a splash into the air. Several drops land onto the damp boards right in front of Stede's leather boots.
"Tell him to stop," he says with a shaking voice. Bluff steps closer. "Make him STOP!" he yells at me.
“No.”
Stede grabs me by the arm, his panic obvious now. "I said make him stop. Now!"
“I am not controlling him.”
Lightning strikes the highest mast, sending a violent shake through the whole ship. Stede tumbles to the ground. The sirens hiss and squeal, finally giving in to their instinctual fear and leaping into the safety of the ocean, one by one.
"You wanted to use her to get to me," Bluff says. "Well, you succeeded. I suspect simply not in the way you'd planned."
Stede groans, pushing himself up off the ground. "No. That's not how this works."
Bluff smiles. "Let me show you how this works. As I destroy each and every one of you as repayment for what you stole from me."
Bluff
This time, I put all of my concentration on the evil man in front of me, and when the lightning strikes, it hits the ship right at his feet. The explosion of splintered wood and streaks of water knock everyone remaining on deck to the ground, including myself.
This time, it’s me that laughs as I rise to see Stede knocked unconscious and bleeding from a gash along his arm.
The wind picks up speed, rocking the nearly broken ship violently. This thing will be at the bottom of the sea within an hour, and that’s even if I don’t splinter it further. Hail falls from the sky, pelting me along with everyone else.
I don’t care. I don’t mind the pain. The bruises that will surely follow are nothing compared to the invisible scarring I’ll hold for the rest of my life.
I never wanted this kind of power, never cared to have it. But I’m sure as hell going to use it now that I do. A gust of wind pushes the ship so hard it teeters on its side, inches from capsizing.
Another strike of lightning hits the deck and the flash of blond hair makes my blood go cold. Whitley’s body lands hard onto the steps to the helm. I wince as her body crashes, falling limp.
Though I shouldn’t, I can’t help but run to her. I lean over her broken body and pause, my hand hovering over the inhuman skin of her upper arm, unsure if I want to touch her, knowing that I can’t help it. She might be a siren. She might not be the Whitley I so hesitantly fell in love with. But she’s still her, in some way.
I run my hand over her cold skin and shiver. “Whitley?”
“Bluff?”
I stop breathing at the sound of my name on her lips, her voice soft and confused. “That’s not my name,” I tell her, irrationally hoping she’ll remember my true name.
She pulls her head up to look me in the eye. My head spins at the contact of her soft gaze. I want so badly to believe she could recognize me. That she still loves me.
But in the next instant, a sharply clawed hand is at my neck, pushing me back. I stumble up, pushed by the siren until my back crashes into a mast with a crack, head hitting hard enough to cause my vision to blink in and out of focus.
“Don’t touch her,” My mother hisses.
I blink, desperately grasping at this reality. “Why?”
Stede isn’t my real enemy, I’m reminded. He only did what I’d expect him to do. He’s just a power-thirsty man who will do whatever he can, destroy anyone he must, to gain power. He deserves every bit of pain he gets.
The siren whose hand is squeezing my windpipe closed deserves so much more. My mother—someone who should care for me, at least a little—set me up. And took from me one of the only people I’ve loved.
She didn’t control me when I know she could have. I don’t know what this means, but I am in no way ignorant enough to think it’s not temporary. Whitley is a siren, and this hesitance will not last. She will destroy my soul. And she’ll enjoy doing it.
Whitley lifts her head, her inhuman eyes meeting my desperate gaze. No emotion. My hope crashes around me feet. “Help,” I beg, one last desperate plea. Stupid but necessary. If she’d only respond, give me something. Maybe I could hope. Maybe I could believe.
“She belongs to us,” Mother hisses when Whitley doesn’t move. “We will use her, and by extension—you. Even if it means drowning her in magic over and over and over.” Her hand squeezes harder over my windpipe, and I struggle, unable to breath. She’s too strong for me. If she wants to kill me, she will.
But she won’t, I realize. She needs me alive.
“Kill me,” I say, testing her.
She smirks. “Never.”
I clench my jaw, knowing what my next move is.
There’s so much I still don’t understand about all of this. How does this power work, and why? But what I suspected from the beginning is clear.
She needs me to achieve her treacherous plans.
I told my mother I’d kill her. But really all I want is revenge—to take away her victory before it’s won. “I won’t let you win,” I gasp out, as she loosens her grip.
She leans in, so close I can feel her unnaturally cold breath on my cheek. “I already did.”
My lips curl up into a smile as I throw my knee up. Before she can even blink, the blade is in my hand.
Whitley
My head throbs as I force my body upright.
My breathing is rapid, my stomach uneasy. Across the splintered deck, filling quickly with water, a is siren choking Bluff.
“No,” I gasp, surprised when the word is audible.
“I won’t let you win,” he tells her.
“I already did,” she whispers at him.
Bluff moves so quickly I don’t realize what’s happening until the glint of a blade appears in his hand, soaring towards the Siren Queen—then away. He grips it in a tight fist, his face in an angry wince, as he shoves the blade into his own chest.
“STOP!”
Everything in me freezes. Every muscle. Every drop of blood. The rain even pauses midair. The sound of my own voice reverberates around me. It’s only then I realize I’d actually voiced the command.
Because along with my own body, and the rain around me, Bluff’s body stills as well. The handle of his dagger, a glint of blade is all that’s visible. He doesn’t move, but his blood does, slipping past the handle of his dagger, falling over his stomach. His fist still grips it, tightly. His eyes are wide as he meets my panicked gaze.
The Siren Queen takes a stumbling step back and I sprint over, pushing her out of the way and wrapping my arms around Bluff, holding him up.
“I...” the Siren Queen stammers.
“Leave,” I growl at her. “Before I kill you.”
She blinks, her expression so pathetically confused. “He...he...”
“Now!” I scream, sending reverberations through the sinking ship. “Or he will die and you will lose.”
She stumbles backwards one last time before turning and diving into the rocky waters beyond the ship’s railing. I turn my attention to Bluff’s limp body in my arms.
My hands shake, as I lower him onto the ground. “Bluff,” I say, so desperately. “Please.”
I press my forehead to his.
“Whitley?” he asks, confused.
“Don’t leave me,” is all I can get out. I look out at the sea, getting closer and closer as the ship sinks deeper into the waves. The storm clouds have cleared, but the water is still restless. Pushing and pulling, hungry not only for this vessel, but for me too. The only hope of getting Bluff the medical aide he’ll need will be at the bottom of the sea in minutes.
So will I.
Fear paralyzes my limbs. I look at my blood-covered hand; the webbing is somehow gone, but it still shine
s and glistens in the sunlight. Will I forget who I am again once the sea claims us?
“I don’t want to be one of them,” I whisper.
He reaches up with a shaking hand and grips the side of my face. “Then don’t.”
My heart pounds. “Without you... I don’t know if I can help it.”
He presses his eyes shut. “I thought you were gone. I thought...”
Water rushes onto the deck, quickly reaching our feet, and I let out a desperate gasp. I don’t want the water to touch me. I don’t want it to pull me under again. “I’m scared.”
“Me too.” He winces in pain. I look down at the blade. There’s blood everywhere, and I don’t know what it means. Did I act too slowly? Was I too late?
“You stopped it before it reached my heart... but only barely.” He gasps and winces as he moves slightly. The blood keeps coming, seeping into my lap.
His face his so pale already.
He swallows and looks around as the water rushes up over our legs. “We can take the longboat. It’ll keep you out of the water, and maybe we can row...”
I shake my head, knowing it may save me... for now. But we are too far from civilization to get him medical aid by rowing a tiny wooden boat. I don’t know if he has minutes, or hours left but he certainly doesn’t have the days or weeks it would take to row to an inhabited island.
But I suppose it’s the best we have for now. I let go of my grip on Bluff, grab an abandoned sword just below the surface of the rising water and sever the ties attaching the little wooden boat to the sinking ship. It drops only a few inches. Then I rush back to Bluff. He stands on wobbly legs, and I help him in, then push us out into open water.
We watch as The Revenge slips the rest of way below the surface, only the highest masts still visible. I look down at the blood pooling at the bottom of the boat.
It might take hours, but Bluff will bleed out, here in the middle of the ocean.
Bluff
The pain reverberates from my chest, into my back and down to my legs. Every breath is heavy and labored.
I don’t know how she’s still here, how she could be a siren but still love me. Still remember. But she is, and I don’t care if I only have an hour or two with her before my own blade sucks the life out of me, I’ll fight for every minute I have.
The little boat rocks in the dark water as I lay between Whitley’s legs, her chest against my back and arms wrapped around me. I lay my head back and try not to hate myself. That won’t help anything.
“I’m so sorry.” I say again, because I don’t know what else to say. I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t stabbed myself in the heart. Maybe that was what pulled Whitley’s soul back into her body. Perhaps she would have stopped my mother and come to me regardless. I don’t know.
Maybe I saved her.
Maybe I ruined everything.
Either way, what’s done is done. My blood keeps seeping out of me, slowly now, but that doesn’t matter because there is no one around to help.
Whitley
I don’t know how long we spend on that tiny boat, floating in the rocky water. I want to fill myself with him. With us. With what we were and what we could have been.
So I talk to him, about nothing, about everything. Even after his eyes flutter shut. His face is relaxed and I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
I tell him everything good that comes to my mind. I describe the water and the sky, the way he made me feel on that beach.
I tell him that I love him. Because it’s true, even if we’re both unsure what that means.
“I’ll keep fighting for you,” I whisper, my whole body shaking as I fight the magic in my limbs, calling me to the waves. You won’t win this one, not right now, I tell them.
“The sky is so blue,” I whisper to Bluff. “White clouds scattered across the horizon.”
My heart leaps as I realize one of those white spots is not a cloud.
“Wait,” I say, sitting up straighter. “Those are sails.”
My heart picks up speed. I don’t know what ship it is. I don’t know if they’re even coming this way, but the small drop of hope is enough to fuel me.
Bluff is still with me, and those sails in the distance are growing larger.
His eyelids shutter closed, then open. “Bluff,” I say desperately. “Please.” I grip him harder.
“I’m here,” he whispers.
The ship grows larger and larger, and it becomes clear they’re coming towards us. Looking for the sunken ship, or for us, is unclear. It doesn’t matter.
I stand, waving my arms wildly. This ship, whether ally or enemy, is our only chance at getting Bluff the help he needs.
The flag is black, and as it nears, I recognize the skeleton with a knife symbol. It’s The Freedom. Are they still planning to sell us? Can we trust them?
Then again, where is Stede? At the bottom of the ocean with his ship? Or did the Siren Queen save him? The wreckage of The Revenge is scattered in the waves; we’ve drifted far from it already. There could be survivors in the water that I hadn’t seen.
I sit there, my limbs shaking, holding onto Bluff’s cold body as the ship takes an eternity to reach us. Shouts are audible as the crew sets to work. A longboat is lowered and a small crew rows out to us.
“He’s injured,” I tell them and immediately concern covers their faces. Some of them I recognize but their names I can’t recall.
Two pirates hop onto our small boat and begin rowing back to their ship. One large pirate carefully and carries him up the rope ladder and onto the ship.
I blink back my shock, unsure what’s happening. They don’t talk to me. They don’t look me in the eye.
I climb the ladder myself, reaching the main deck, gripping my shivering upper arms.
“What happened?” the captain says in a low tone.
His face is blank but his eyes are full of concern. How do I answer that? I suspect they can’t know the full truth. What will they do to me if they know I’m...not exactly human now?
“Where is Stede?” he asks, hinting that he knows exactly what happened. “We saw his sails, now this wreckage.”
“There was a storm. And a fight. His ship is now at the bottom of the ocean.”
Captain Taj nods. This is all he needs to know, apparently.
“Will he survive?” I whisper with a shaky voice.
He sniffs and looks out at the horizon. “Luster is well versed in battle injuries and we have supplies to help him. But I can’t say for sure.”
“Thank you,” I gasp out, holding back a sob, my hands shaking in earnest now.
“You should spend the night in the crow’s nest,” he says without looking me in the eye. The crew bustles around us, side-eyeing me as they do.
My feet wobble beneath me and my hands shake, but I work to keep upright. The water splashing on the other side of the ship’s hull sends a haunting chill through my body. It wants me.
My mind spins. There is a haze over everything. A few images flash through my mind of pirates pushing me back. Threatening. The memories slip away as I try to grasp them. Only pieces, fragments.
All I know for certain is that I can’t trust these men.
A tingle in my fingers reminds me of the power beneath the surface.
Kill them, it whispers through me.
The crow’s nest is a good idea, I realize. But perhaps not for the reason the captain thinks.
Bluff
I groan and shift uncomfortably in the cotton sheets of the captain’s bed. How did I get here?
Someone is standing over me. For a moment I assume it’s Luster, the only pirate on this ship able to act as a doctor, but then I notice the tattered dress and tangled blonde hair.
She’s still, every muscle tense. I meet her eyes and wince when the silver hue becomes clear. I stop breathing and freeze.
"Ow," I say as I shift, a stabbing pain shooting through my whole body. I press my hand against my chest where red seeps
through my bandage.
Forgot about that.
"Hi," she whispers, looking down at my bare dirt-covered feet. Her voice is scratchy and there’s a glistening to her skin. Is it obvious enough the crew will notice the change? The magic beneath her skin?
I close my eyes and run through the events before my...injury, and after. Whitley is a siren—that much I remember. But here she is, standing before me, on The Freedom.
"Whitley?" I ask.
She pauses. "Yes?" she whispers, finally.
I suck in a breath and rub my face with my open palm. "How?"
She shakes her head. "How did any of this happen?” she says with a weak voice. Now I notice the tremor in her knees. “How are you alive? How did we cause that storm? How do you shift into other forms? How am I a..." She looks down at her hands. A small glistening of web shimmers between her fingers.
I press my eyes closed. "Siren," I spit more harshly than I’d intended. She winces.
"Bluff?"
I look up, noticing the bags beneath her eyes, her sallow cheeks, her trembling fingers. "Are you all right?" I ask. She’s fighting the magic, I realize. It’s draining her and I don’t know how long she can win this battle.
Her knees buckle suddenly, and she nearly falls to the floor. I jerk, needing to reach for her, catch her. Help her. But burning pain shoots through my whole body, and I groan.
She catches herself, but every breath is shaky.
She pants as I wince back the black spots in my vision.
"Don't move,” she says. "You'll hurt yourself."
"Come here," I say, acid filling my stomach. Every feeling conflicts with another.
She steps toward me slowly and then crawls under the covers with me, her head resting on my chest, just above my wound.
The bite of her cold skin is a shock at first, but we quickly ease into each other, and I attempt to relax.
"They're going to come after me. After both of us,” she tells me.
Sea of Treason (Pirate's Bluff Book 1) Page 22