***
Iwasn’tinthemoodfor any of our lustful games, so the captain put me to work.I helped Squid with the animals, worked on training Pearl, and got back to my cleaning duties with more fervour than ever.When I went to bed, I fell asleep easily.
For three nights there were no nightmares.
“See?They are going away.You only need to keep busy during the day.Tire yourself out,” he said with a smile.“Perhaps it’s that easy.”
I was sceptical, but the idea had worked so far.
And then a more menacing incident occurred.
I dreamed again, but the terrifying creature was not a part of it.
I dreamt of handsome young men, with wavy hair and pretty eyes and full lips, who beckoned me into their beds and did things to me that made me blush to remember.I was in a soothing place, under a waterfall in some tropical paradise reminiscent of Talamanca.I turned my head up to the blue sky, visible through the sluice of water, then looked down to see the rain washing dirt from my legs and feet.I held onto something solid.I wanted to jump into the water below the falls.The urge was almost irresistible.
“White!”
I jolted awake.
“For Christ’s sake, White, what are you doing out here?”
Hillier?
Moonlit waves roiled before me through sheets of rain.I was on theArrow, and night had come.My hands gripped the rail.I didn’t know how I’d got here.
I lifted one hand off the wooden rail and saw my embedded handprint from the very first time I’d summoned my magic.When I’d needed to save Dinesh after the vagabonds had shot Donatello.
The ship lurched and I steadied myself as I became conscious of the yapping of a dog.Pearl danced at my heels, barking and growling at me as if troubled that I’d left the comfort of our rooms.
A hand landed on my shoulder, and I was tugged back, my hands leaving the railing as I gazed at Hillier through a curtain of rain.He regarded me with a horrified expression beneath the broad brim of his canvas hat.
“What the fuck are you doing, lad?”
I had no answer for him.I squinted through the rain.
“You looked like you were about to—” He didn’t finish his sentence, only made the sign of the cross with his free hand.
“I don’t know…how I got here…” I mumbled, suddenly cold and shivering.
Hillier stared, trying to understand.
“You don’t know how you got here?”he repeated in disbelief, holding me by both shoulders now, as if he wanted to ensure I was here in front of him.
I heard the captain shouting my name.
“Rooster!Rooster!”
I turned toward the sound and felt immediate relief to see him coming towards me, dressed in only his large white shirt that became soaked through in moments.
I opened my mouth to reply but nothing came out.My drenched clothes clung like seaweed to my shuddering frame.
“He’s here!I’ve got him!”Hillier yelled above the sounds of the wind and rain.
“What the fuck are you doing?”Dinesh asked, his face ashen and drawn.
He grabbed me roughly from Hillier and pulled me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me, as if to protect me from the elements.The wind had picked up, and the rain beat against us.
“Let’s get him indoors,” Dinesh said to Hillier.
