Page 47 of Found at Sea
As his meaning became clear, I sucked in a breath and turned to him. “You’re a mage?”
Alek’s eyes widened and he swept his gaze around us before focusing back on me. “Not so loud, Fletch. But yes. If anyone knew, they’d kill me. Or take me to the king for a hefty reward.”
A sinking happened in my gut as something else dawned on me. “What does Captain Flynn intend to do with you then?”
“Use me,” he answered. “We usually come into our powers when we reach adulthood, but since I didn’t have a family, I was never even taught the basics. I suppose he plans to find someone who can teach me and then use my gifts for himself. Some of us can be very powerful.” His voice broke on his next words. “If I could rid myself of my powers, I would, for I do not want them.”
“I’m sorry, Al,” I said, putting my arm around his shoulders and pulling him in for a hug. “You had no control over how you were born. It’s not as if you chose this.”
Alek pushed his face into my neck, and seconds later, I felt warm tears fall on my skin. I held him tighter, wishing I knew how to help him.
Over the top of his head, I met Kellan’s gaze. He stood a good distance away, but he was close enough for me to see the interest on his face.
I glared at him, still angry about him forcing me to be his servant but even angrier about how he was treating my friend. Alek was not some pawn in a game. He didn’t deserve to be hunted, enslaved, or forced to hide who he was just because some group of mages went dark years and years ago.
Maybe Kellan really was as horrible as the stories made him out to be, and I’d just been too blind—and too trusting—to see it.
***
That night, I stayed on the deck as long as possible, not wanting to join the captain in his cabin quite yet. Alek had already gone below to his bunk, as did most of the crew, and in my solitude, I found myself thinking about everything Alek had told me.
Black Hallows. That’s where he said he’d lived before Kellan found him.
A memory was still trying to surface. I’d heard the name before.
Frustrated at not being able to remember, I stood and walked to the bow. At the very front, I leaned over and watched the water. We weren’t moving fast, mainly just drifting, and it was too dark to see much anyway.
However, somethingdidcatch my eye.
The figurehead at the bow. I hadn’t paid much attention to it before then. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the carved wooden decoration was in the shape of a mermaid. The lack of light made it difficult to be certain, but it appeared as if she was screaming.
Chills spread along my arms and legs.
And then the memory I’d long since tried to recall slammed into me.
Black Hallows was the name of the village I’d heard in a story, told by a sailor one night in the tavern where I used to work.
“It’s the place bad men go to do bad deeds,” the sailor had said before lifting his mug to me. I’d rushed to fill it. “The most evil souls dwell there. A ghost town it is. You don’t go there unless you plan to sell what little you have of your humanity.”
Ned had then yelled for me to go to the kitchen and check the potato soup. I’d wanted to hear more of the story, but left the room to do as I was told. When I returned, carrying bowls of hot, salty soup, I listened to the sailor as I served the guests.
“I thought they were all wiped out in the war,” one man said. I didn’t know what war he was referring to or whotheywere. “Sounds to me like the crown needs to send an army there and set the whole village to flames. World would be a better place without that lot stickin’ around and poisoning the minds of the weak.”
“It’s said that Black Hallows is wherehefirst started the uprising,” the sailor stated before taking a long drink of his ale. “Some even say that his own blood still lives there, hiding in the shadows like the beasts they are.”
I wasn’t following the conversation well, and I inwardly grumbled that I’d had to step away earlier, otherwise I probably would’ve heard.
“What of the demon captain?” the other asked. “Isn’t that the place he took the corpses of the merfolk after he slaughtered ‘em?”
“Not the corpses,” the sailor said. “Just the hearts.”
With the fading of the memory, I felt sick.
The dark water moved almost eerily under the reflection of the moon as I stared into the night. Black Hallows was where the dark mages lived, I now realized, after hearing Alek’s story. But that wasn’t why I’d remembered the story. No, I remembered it for a different reason. A man had slaughtered mermaids.
The demon captain.Only one man went by that title, and he was currently waiting for me to join him in his cabin.
Deciding not to put off the inevitable any longer, I walked toward the stern of the ship. My feet seemed to weigh heavier with each step and tension attacked my muscles. Once at Kellan’s cabin, I knocked before opening the door and slipping inside.
