Leaving me alone to face a wall of confused faces and a bunch of questions I don’t want to answer.
Chapter 11
Reva
Even as we float away from the shores of Port Yarrow, my brain remains stuck on the man changing into a bird in the middle of the street with no warning or care for anyone seeing him.
I’ve never seen someone shift into their animal form in public like that. And I thank my lucky stars that it seemed like only Clive was around to see, and he was too distracted losing his ever-loving mind to care.
There’s a chance I’m in shock. Everything feels very far away even as Torin announces that we can’t wait around and need to head to their ship. He then unceremoniously bundles me and Aster into a narrow rowing boat and starts to row before I could even get my head around what was happening. Frannie insisted on staying on land, saying that she’d be our eyes and ears on the ground. She didn’t say it out loud, but I know she’s hopeful Kit might just turn up.
I understand Torin’s need for movement, I can’t stay here.
Maybe it’s the panic talking, but I need to find Kit.
Jack is apparently searching the skies in his raven form, which leaves the land and sea for the rest of us. And since I can’t see myself getting far on land with no vehicle, here I am, bound toward a cursed pirate ship without my newfound mate.
Torin takes the oars as he steers us out of the cove and around the corner. I lose myself in the rhythmic sound of the oars hitting the water and the waves crashing into the front of the boat.
I’m numb, my brain slipping into a fugue state as I focus only on keeping my balance. I can’t let myself think about Kit. Not yet. I can’t think about Noush either. Even as my thoughts drift that way, a scratching terror threatens to claw at my insides, but I shove it down. My breath catches in my throat, and I swallow hard, licking my dry lips.
“That’s the ship,” Torin murmurs. He’s somehow barely breaking a sweat as we fight through the churning waves, freezing sea spray hitting us from all angles.
Out in the deeper water, there’s a massive black ship anchored and waiting, its huge masts reaching to the sky. Yells ring out from above as heads peer over the side of the ship as we approach.
The next thing I know, we’re right beside it.
Aster grips my hand, and I feel like I’m just waking from a daze. I follow his eyeline to the rope ladder hanging over the side of the massive ship as Torin steadies the boat. He gets to his feet surprisingly smoothly for such a big guy and puts one foot on the lowest rung.
He then holds out a hand to me. “Come on, I’ll help you up.”
I nudge Aster. “You go first, and I’ll follow.”
He looks as if he’s about to argue, but then Torin’s hefting him up and he’s gripping onto the ladder. He twists around and grabs my bag, hefting it up with him as he starts to climb. Just in time too, he’s barely made it a couple of rungs when a wave crashes into the side of the tiny boat, sending it rocking wildly.
“Reva. Now,” Torin’s deep voice rasps. There’s a hardness underlying his tone, and it breaks through some of the fog.
“Now,” he repeats, holding his hand out to me.
Too late.
The sea seems to darken right as a shadow hangs over me. I twist around to see what’s happening right as something slams into the side of the boat. I’m tossed to one side, clutching desperately ontothe side. My teeth clack together, and a stab of pain goes through me as I bite my tongue. Hard.
Something dark slithers under the water’s surface, making me freeze where I’m pressed up against the side of the boat. My fingers are like icicles, frozen stiff and aching. I don’t dare let go, though.
There’s something in the water.
Something that doesn’t like my being here.
I’m flung into the air again, tossed into the icy water where the waves batter me, pulling me under the surface. For a moment, I’m dragged deeper where bubbles fill the water, and I right myself, kicking hard as I follow them up to the surface. My eyes sting as I peer through the rain and the spray.
A huge black shape rises from the water in front of me like a monstrous limb rising from the deep. It smashes into the side of the boat, sending splintered pieces scattering. I gasp, sucking in a mouthful of water and spluttering as I struggle to breathe. I can barely make out what’s going on around me through the rolling waves and the spray.
What I wouldn’t give to have my skin right now. Noush would be handling this a lot more gracefully than I am.
Through a cloud of bubbles, I can just make out two wide, panicked eyes and a man’s face.
Aster.
