Words press into my mind.
She stared at me, expecting,
Telling me to dive,
Into the azure depths,
Where my fears come alive.
I chuckle nervously. “What is my body telling you? Hopefully nothing, haha, because I don’t want any trouble.” I point at Zayan. “You get it?”
Am I panicking again? Yes. Yes, I am. Zayan’s mouth sharpens as his lips press into a thin line. Gypsy runs a hand through her hair and shakes her head. No one laughs. Well, no one except me.
“Jump,” Gypsy orders.
“What?”
“Jump,” she repeats.
I take a step back. Then another, waving my hands in the air as her eyes follow me like she’s a lioness waiting to pounce me. Zayan watches me too. In fact, the two of them look incredibly scary right now.
“Listen, maybe if we sail closer to the island, then—“
“We’re the closest possible,” Miss Captain interrupts.
“Then maybe a skiff…?”
“We don’t have any.” This time it’s Zayan who replies.
My heart is threatening to give out.
Ocean deep is daunting,
Ocean deep is fraught,
Ocean deep swallows men,
And leaves them all to rot.
“This is… This… I…” I stutter.
“Zayan, catch him,” she orders. And of course, Zayan listens.
Swiftly, his strong arms locking around my waist before I can take another step back. Panic grips me, my palms instantlydamp with sweat. I thrash weakly, but as much as my pride aches to admit it, I’m no match for him.
“Don’t fight it,” Gypsy advises, nodding approvingly as Zayan guides me to the ship’s edge. “You’ll be fine.”
Fine? My heart pounds in my chest, each beat thundering in my ears, drowning out everything else.
“I thought we are friends!” I shout, my voice coming out as a long whine. I can’t do this. I can’t. Sailing out in a storm is one thing, but swimming is another.
No, no, no.
“You’re a bard, no? Your lungs should be holding air well,” Zayan chuckles as I keep trashing in his grip. He’s evil. He’s an evil man. I was a fool to try and talk to him about love. He has no love in his heart.
“So? It’s still a betrayal of trust!” I shout.
“Oh, he’s doing quite a lot of that lately,” Miss Captain quips in. But before I can say that she’s against me here too, I’m already thrown out. The last thing I can do before hitting the surface is wiggling my songbook from behind my belt and flinging it onto the ship.
