A Game Of Changing Tides

Chapter Twenty-Five

1868, The First Witch's Island

Adelyn had expected to feel relief, but she did not. Instead, she stared openly at the vacant eyes of the Captain before her and frowned. She felt nothing out of the ordinary; no regret, no remorse, no relief. Just normality.

From the ship below, shouts had turned into screaming. The men from Captain Greywell's ship demanded to know what was happening up at the top of the cliff, but no one seemed to really care. Not even Nik could tear his eyes away from the old man, though Adelyn noticed something different in his face. He looked almost sad, not at all what she would have expected.

Nina wasted no time grieving for the Captain. She hit her hands against each other, knocking the stray dirt from her fingers, and clicked her tongue. Before Adelyn could so much as move, the pirate was holding the rope and cracking her neck, ready to make her way into the ocean below.

Adelyn turned to Nik, clearing her throat, "There's gold at the bottom of the lake."

Nik turned back to her, his expression changing as he looked away from the body of the older captain. By the time his eyes met Adelyn's, is face was hard, back to his own. He wet his lips, "You're not going back in that lake."

Adelyn shook her head, "It's safe now, I think. I can't explain it, but... I know it was the pendent's magic. And now that the pendent isn't in the lake..."

"How can you be so sure?" He asked, Adelyn shrugged. It was like she said: she couldn't explain it, she just knew. He sighed, "Xavier, take James and go back to the lake. Stuff your bags full of the coins at the bottom and make your way back here. Run."

Xavier nodded, moving quickly. Him and James disappeared back into the trees, their bags slung over their shoulders.

Adelyn turned back to Nina, who was waiting near the edge of the cliff.

"Let's go get your boyfriend," She grumbled, already leaning back over the edge of the rock.

Adelyn didn't bother correcting her. Instead, she followed, pushing past the dread in her stomach. The ocean was a long ways down, and she didn't like the idea of dangling over it once again. Still, she did it, only a few arm lengths above Nina.

One by one, they made their way down to the blackened sea. When Nina reached the bottom of the rope, her feet were submerged in the water below. Adelyn felt the jolt of the rope slackening when she let go, a slight splash when Nina dropped. Not a second later, her head popped out of the water, her lips twisted in a smile. "It's not exactly warm, I'll tell you that much."

"Sounds refreshing," Adelyn mumbled, giving herself only a second to breathe before she, too, let go.

Fear crippled her for only a short second when she was submerged, but before long her head was back above water and she was swimming along behind the pirate. She wondered if she would ever be able to see water as she once had, and not as a threat.

There were a lot of things that she wondered if she would ever be able to see the same again.

Nina's arms splashed in the water as she swam towards the ship, a shadowed figure floating in front of them. Adelyn was reminded once again of the stories her mother used to tell her, when she was curled up in bed ready for sleep. She remembered the shadows, and the evil things that lurked behind them. She looked around her then and swallowed; there were far too many places around her in which things might lurk.

With painfully numb fingers, Adelyn climbed the makeshift ladder at the edge of the boat, wind nipping at skin. The light breeze felt like daggers against her nerves, a cold that wouldn't go away, no matter how hard she wished. Her movements were snail-like in comparison to Nina, who seemed to be racing to the top of the craft. Adelyn couldn't force her limbs to move any faster than they were.