Page 24 of Virelai's Hoard
If things went according to plan, at the end of this trip she would be able to hurl this abomination to the furthest reaches of the ocean. The thought was soothing.
Calla exhaled, withdrawing. Her own skin felt foreign now. Too warm. Too dry.
Once the selkie skin was back in its chest, safe and out of sight, Calla sat at her desk again. She barely had time to settle in her chair before there was another knock on the door. Clamping her mouth around a frustrated sigh, Calla stood.
“Captain,” Thorian said as she opened the door. Without waiting to be invited, he stepped inside the room and went to plop himself down on her bed. It creaked with his weight.
Calla sighed and shut the door again, then walked back to her desk. She leaned against it and crossed her arms, frowning at her now crumpled sheets. He knew she didn’t like it when he did that. “Need something?” she asked.
Thorian shot her a shit-eating grin. “What, can’t I just want to hang out with you? We missed you at the crew party yesterday. Haddock had some rather interesting twists on one of the old stories. I thought you would’ve quite liked to hear it.”
Calla just looked at him. “You know we don’t have time for stories. We’ll be at the Drowning Vortex soon and I need to make sure-”
“The Drowning Vortex, yeah,” Thorian said, drawing a leg beneath him as he sat up properly. Any trace of amusement faded. “We’re nearly there. Merrow will ring the bell soon.” Calla straightened at that, her nerves prickling with awareness. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Thorian asked, searching her face. “There’s still time to turn back.”
Calla tilted her head. It wasn’t like Thorian to question her. Was he getting cold feet? “Of course I’m sure,” she said. “What’s the alternative? I let the sea claim me without a fight, and abandon the crew to fend for themselves? For all we know, the waters will turn on them as soon as I step foot off this deck. They sure seem to rage harder against all the other ships out there. Whichever way this goes, I can’t leave them without a failsafe. The gold will be enough that they never have to sail again if they don’t want to.”
A muscle twinged in his jaw. “They can drown for all I care. TheHeartcould be dangerous. Foryou. We don’t know if it really does what they say it does, or what price it might ask for using it. I know you don’t like it, but–”
“It’s not a matter oflikingit.” Calla bristled. Then she forced herself to draw in a long, slow breath. Of course he didn’t get it. He could just walk around the crew, even walk around Varethian ports, and no one held his nature against him, because he wasn’t kin with the sea, and he was big enough that people thought twice before looking at him wrong. If the crew got a whiff of whatshewas, she’d be dead by morning. But that was beside the point. “It’s been getting worse,” she confessed, her shoulders drooping. “I can barely sleep anymore, and when I do, it’s restless. I get visions of the water, chaining me, claiming me-”
“Those are calleddreams, Calla,” Thorian said, though the look on his face was pitiful. “Maybe you just need to wear your skin more. Go for a swim.”
“Thatthing,” Calla’s lip twitched in disgust, “is just waiting to take over me. One of these days I’ll wear it and it will refuse to let go of me. I refuse to let it consume me without a fight. And if the Heart doesn’t work, at least the crew will have been taken care of before I succumb to it.”
“Fucking screw the crew, Calla. Why do you care so much about people who would hate you if they knew who you are?”
Calla gave him a look. “If this goes well, they never have to know.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then at least I tried.”
A knock on the door startled them both. They exchanged a look, then Calla went to open the door. It was Pip.
He straightened his back and lifted his chin as they both set eyes on him. “Captain!” he greeted, barely containing his excitement. “Merrow told me to tell you we’re here, and he wants you on deck.”
The words barely had time to settle in the air between them before he kicked off down the corridor.
After he rounded the corner, distant yells of, “We’re here!” and “The Drowning Vortex!” followed in his wake.
Calla looked back at Thorian. “Are you with me?”
He scoffed. “Always.”
Calla’s heart hammered in anticipation as they left her quarters, after a last lingering look towards the locked chest. She focused on the sound of their boots thudding against the wood planks, pushing away both her worry and anticipation. When her crew looked at her, they needed to see only calm determination. Confidence. The self-assuredness of someone who knew where she was leading them and exactly what to do if disaster struck.
The deck bustled with activity in the low light of dusk, the deckhands working to turn on the lamps and secure the sails as the Moonshadow slowed her way across the waters.
Merrow stood at the bow, leaning dangerously past the railing as he stared down at the vast expanse of the sea surrounding them. Eryx, close at his elbow, had their arms overflowing with parchments, a compass clutched in one hand, and a sextant in the other. They shot Thorian a grateful smile as he brought them a barrel to rest the maps and instruments on. The compass remained open in their hand, though, as Merrow asked for frequent updates on the movements of the needle and gave Sable detailed instructions on where to steer them.
Calla approached the old man only once he stepped away from the bow, seemingly satisfied.
“Is this it?” she asked, peering at the open water.
The skies were darkening, only the strongest stars shining down on the Moonshadow. Despite the clear, crisp air, allowing visibility for miles and miles around them, there was nothing but water to be spotted at any which point. At least the sea was calm tonight.
Merrow lifted his head to the sky, and Eryx leaned in to whisper something in his ear. Nodding to himself, the old man said, “This is it. Just in time.”
