Page 20 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

The next few days were busy but uneventful. Shinji barely saw Lucy; she was either in the metal shop or down in the cargo hold with her new favorite thing: theSeabeetle. The only times Shinji talked to her were when she emerged for meals. Roux, however, followed him everywhere, seeming to take Mano’s warning to heart. Shinji suspected that part of the reason he never saw Lucy was because she was deliberately avoiding the other boy. When they were together, she barely said two words to him, radiating a stony, distrustful silence and speaking mostly to Shinji. For his part, Roux didn’t seem to care. He didn’t talk much, especially when the adults were around. He was, Shinji noticed, very good

at fading into the background, making himself scarce and unimportant. Sometimes he forgot Roux was there at all.

Surprisingly, Phoebe did not track Shinji down to talk to him about his magic, either. Maybe because Roux was always there now, and she didn’t want to discuss things like Coatls and guardian powers around a non-Society person. Shinji was glad for the distraction, but that also meant he couldn’t focus on figuring out how to use guardian powers.

One night, Shinji was plagued by a recurrent dream. An island. An angry, swirling storm. Those same electric-blue eyes, glaring out of the clouds. Only now the clouds parted, and a massive form emerged, silhouetted against the storm. Shinji’s heart dropped as he stared into the face of an enormous boar. Lightning snapped along its bristling hide, and huge tusks curved up from its jaw as it swung its head toward Shinji. Those powerful jaws opened, and a booming voice made the clouds swirl madly and threatened to split his skull.

FREE ME!

Shinji jerked awake, breathing hard, his heart pounding in his chest. On the floor, Roux was sprawled out on the sleeping bag, snoring loudly. He didn’t even twitch as Shinji sat up, raking his hands through his hair as he waited for his heartbeat to go back to normal.

What was going on? Why did a giant scary lightning boar keep invading his dreams, shouting at him to be freed? What was that island? Shinji thought about going to Lucy;

she could usually make sense of this type of stuff. But things had been kinda weird with her lately, especially with Roux around, and he didn’t want to deal with that now. Very briefly, he thought about talking to Phoebe and quickly discarded that idea. If she knew he was having dreams of a magical boar and a mysterious island, she would never leave him alone.

I’m a guardian,he thought at last.Whatever this thing is, it’s calling me because I have the magic. I have to figure out what it wants and help it myself. That’s what a guardian would do.

Bolstered by his thoughts, Shinji put the pillow over his head to drown out Roux’s snores and tried going back to sleep. Maybe if he had the dream again, he could get a hint of what he was supposed to do. But his thoughts swirled madly around his brain, and sleep did not find him again that night.

“You have raccoon rings under your eyes,” Lucy remarked the next morning at breakfast. “Are you having trouble sleeping? I thought you were used to being on a boat.”

“I am,” Shinji muttered. The dream with the boar flickered through his head again, and he shoved it down to deal with later. “It’s just hard to sleep when your roommate snores like a motorcycle.”

“What are you talking about?” Roux grinned at him around a mouthful of scrambled eggs. His plate was always piled with breakfast food, but he never wasted any of it. In fact, he ate more than any kid Shinji had ever seen. “Motorcycles don’t snore.”

Roux stuck a piece of bacon into his mouth, chewing noisily. Lucy wrinkled her nose. “You know, forks were invented for a reason.”

“Oh, sorry, Snowflake.” Roux scrubbed the back of his hand across his face and gave her a greasy smile. “I think I lost my silver spoon. Can I borrow yours?”

Lucy’s gaze hardened, and she turned back to Shinji. Leaning in, she lowered her voice. “I heard some of the scientists talking last night,” she told him. “They said a Hightower ship might’ve been spotted close by.”

Shinji straightened, suddenly wide-awake. “Where?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “But if they are close, you can be sure they knowwe’reout here, too.”

“You think they’ll try something?”

“Almost certainly.”

“You know I can hear you guys, right?” Roux commented.

“Shinji, Lucy.” Oliver strode up to their table before Shinji could answer. “Hurry up and finish,” he said, rapping his knuckles against the tabletop. “You’re needed on the bridge.”

Shinji and Lucy shared a glance, then immediately got up to follow. Roux watched as they started to leave, then quickly stuffed another slice of bacon in his mouth before trailing after them.

Mano was waiting for them, looking grave, as they followed Oliver onto the bridge. Phoebe was there as well, though she was staring at a large portrait on the wall across

from them. The picture showed a woman in a white captain’s hat holding a golden cutlass, a colorful green parrot perched on her shoulder. The parrot, Shinji saw, had an eye patch over its left eye.

Oliver saw what Phoebe was looking at and winced. “I keep telling you to take that down, Mano.” He sighed as his fingers subconsciously rubbed the golden head of the parrot cane in the crook of his arm. Shinji had never noticed it before, but Oliver’s parrot head also wore an eye patch.

“And I keep tellingyou, Oliver, you should be proud of your ancestry.” Mano shook his head with a frown. “Captain Oceaneer was a highly respected member of the Society and one of our most prominent explorers. She accomplished things we can only dream of.”

“So everyone keeps telling me,” Oliver said. “Every time I see that picture.”

“Oh, Captain Oceaneer,” Phoebe said in a dreamy voice as she turned back. “What a legend. Discovering sea serpents, finding pirate gold, sailing through the Bermuda Triangle with only a pocket watch and her parrot. I can only hope to accomplish what she has.”

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Every single time.”

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