And dived out towards the whitecaps below, light and color bursting in her wake as the ships in bottles surged through behind her, fanning out in all directions.
The water hit like a body blow and knocked the breath from her lungs. Arra floundered at first then struck out, no destination just trying to keep afloat. The cold burned, but as numbness set in she felt it less and less. Slowly awareness faded until there was nothing left but the effort of making one stroke after another, and the air that seared her lungs. A motor. A voice. A sudden burst of warmth.
She tried to speak but then a darkness came and she slipped away.
The Last Chapter
When Arra came to she was wrapped in a towel, shivering uncontrollably. Someone had undressed her and dried her off- wherever she was, was warm and there was a soft surface underneath her back. She forced her eyes open and sat up. She was sitting on a cot in a small room, in one corner was a toilet, closer to the door was a desk and a chair. There was a man in that chair, a young man wearing a long outdated naval uniform. He looked up when he heard her move and smiled.
“You’re safe now miss.” American English with a Boston accent. “The doc says we picked you up out of the water just in time- hypothermia is a nasty thing. Nurse Lamar was the one who undressed you- the doctor wanted you in sickbay but Captain Mahan insisted that we keep you away from the men.”
“Where am I?” Her teeth chattered as she spoke. She had a sinking suspicion that she already knew.
“You’re in the Captain’s ready room on the USS Colorado.” The man answered, still friendly. “I’m Lieutenant Christopher Baker, the Captain asked me to keep an eye on you. What’s your name?”
“Arra.” She was thinking furiously. “Where are we? I mean in the world.”
“We’re on station in the North Atlantic.” Baker’s smile slipped a notch and Arra realized where his name was familiar from- she had seen his skeleton, had read his suicide note in this very room. “How did you get here?” The question was pointed. “We didn’t see any lifeboats, what ship were you on?”
“Did you find anything with me?” The Greenlander dodged the question. “A ship in a bottle perhaps?”
“No.” The lieutenant frowned and changed tacks. “Your name, ‘Arra’ it’s unusual, isn’t it? Swedish maybe?”
“Danish.” She took deep breath and tried to still her shivering. “I’m from Nuuk, Greenland.”
“Really.” Baker nodded. “And what ship were you on? I just need to confirm that you aren’t a German spy and we’ll be able to radio and let your family know that you’re alright.”
Arra’s heart jumped to her throat. “Could you give me the date?”
“Please miss, I just need to know how you got here-”
“Please.” She caught his gaze and held it. “Please, could you give me the date?”
He looked like he was going to say no, but then thought better of it. “It’s the eighteenth of October, late in the evening.”
Another deep breath. How to phrase this?
“And the year?”
His frown deepened, more out of puzzlement and worry than unhappiness or anger she guessed. “Why do you want to know?”
“Please… it’s important.”
Baker sighed. “It’s 1943.”
Something deep inside of Arra relaxed and she smiled to the young man. “Lieutenant, I think I may know a few things your captain will want to hear…”
The End…
…Or is it?
Abyssus Abyssum Invocat Page 8