I did my best to focus on other things, like teaching Pearl the proper way to behave aboard the ship.Guthrie had given me a parcel of shredded pieces of dried fish to dole out when she obeyed my commands.She was growing, too, and her legs were gangly and long now, the tips of her ears flopping over in a fetching way.
Most everyone on board loved the mutt.Domingo had made a rag doll for her to chew, and the toy was lying under her elbow.She wore a leather collar that Martinez had braided from strips, and even had a wood tag with her name carved into it, that Lahiri had fashioned.
But I couldn’t get rid of the uneasy feeling.
***
Idreamtofthecreaturemore often now, almost every night.
Dinesh was worried.He had Dr Faraday examine me and make sure I wasn’t ill or harbouring a mysterious infection.But the surgeon couldn’t find anything.That was reassuring in some ways, but only added to the mystery.
The sense that what was occurring was more than an ordinary nightmare returned to me.The idea was so unlikely and far-fetched, but then again, so was the fact that I could summon storms with my hands.Was this another part of the supernatural world I had access to, or that had access to me?Was the torment a punishment for using my powers?Had my use of magic made me visible to unnatural forces?
For a couple of weeks, there wasn’t much time to wonder.TheArrowencountered two merchant ships, one after the other, and the restless and motivated crew were quick and efficient in their subjugation.We looted them both without loss of life or unnecessary bloodshed.And I didn’t need to intervene.
We ended up with a good amount of supplies—water barrels, cheese, crackers, pickles, jams, weapons, tools, blankets and bedding, and of course, ale, Jamaican rum and even a few jars of Irish whisky.
Captain Martin and Hillier were pleased with our luck, the men were jovial, and the long journey ahead didn’t seem nearly as daunting.
But more often than not, I woke in the night, shaking and trembling, the dream creature’s gaping maw pitch-black, the song always there, eerie and endless.Sometimes the creature spoke, other times it was only the song and the sensation of being held under water.
The captain tried to joke about my troubles.
“If I’d known I’d have to share my marriage bed with a slimy sea monster with a big mouth and sharp teeth, well, I’d have had second thoughts.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, heart hammering and the sinking feeling pulling me down as I woke from another nightmare.
“Rooster, come here.I’ll sing to—no, no, Iwon’tsing, but I’ll hold you until you fall back asleep.Maybe if I hold you all night, you won’t have the dreams.”
“I’ll still have them.I’ve given up trying to stop them.Maybe they’re a part of—” I glanced at Captain Martin helplessly.“—what I am.”
“That doesn’t make sense.You only started to have them recently.”His eyebrows came together.“Over these waters…”
Captain Martin looked thoughtful.
“Aye, that’s true.”I looked out the windows at the stretch of blue ocean.
Even when the weather was fine, the waves looked threatening to me now, the depths beneath them mysterious and evil.I hated what the nightmares were doing to me.
“This is the way we came on our approach to Talamanca, only we’re going in the other direction now.”
I stared at him.He stared at me.He shrugged.Pearl yawned and whined in her sleep, stretching out, then relaxing again.
“You think…perhaps, I’m sensing something…under the water?In this place?”
“Look, Rooster, the sea is… She’s mysterious and deep and dark, and there are things in these depths that no man understands.”
“Now you’re truly scaring me.”
“You’re already frightened.”
“Aye.But I was the only one who thought the creature might be real.”
He was silent for a long time, smoothing the hair off my forehead and kissing my shoulder.“I’m only thinking out loud, and trying to figure this out.In the meantime, since you only have these troubles at night, I should keep you busy during the day, and perhaps you’ll sleep better.”
“I’ve dusted and mopped these rooms till they’re shining like a gold bullion.”
“I’m not speaking of dusting, Rooster.”
