Uncharted Waters

Chapter Nine

That scheming... selfish... bloody pirate. Now the whole crew avoided me, just because I was a woman. Even though he couldn't kill me, Lars made sure that I wasn't going to have an easy time on this boat. He made sure everyone knew that I was a woman, and if we had bad luck that it was my fault.

"I don't care that your a girl. Your still cool," Michael said as he scrubbed the rails beside me.

I smiled, "You sure? Not afraid your going to get any cooties?"

"Blehk! Stay away from me!" Michael joked and splashed some soapy water on me.

"Well at least I still have one friend on this entire boat," I said.

I cleaned in silence as Michael left to go do another chore. I looked down into the sea and my heart sunk. Somewhere on the bottom of the ocean was the only piece I had left of my father. It was either the journal or me that was going into the water, I had to do it. With that came a tinge of bitterness towards Lars. Why did he have so much against me? Heck, we had the same goal in mind! Why did he have it out for me?

"Hi, uh... Lee. I, um, like your hair like that." I turned to see Gabe awkwardly playing with his hat looking at the ground.

"Bloody hell Gabe, you can talk to me like I'm a normal person!"

He finally looked up at me and smiled sheepishly. I was appreciative of his kindness even though his attempt was feeble, "Sorry. I'll just pretend your still a guy. Well, a girl... but, still the same person... but not..." Gabe's eyebrows creased as if trying to decipher his own sentence.

I tried to contain a laugh, "Is there something you came to tell me?"

"Oh! Yes! Lars needs you."

"He needs me, does he? Well report back to him that he can get off of his chair and come get me himself."

Did I just say that? Maybe I was more bitter than I thought.

To my surprise, Gabe said, "I would love to tell him that."

Gabe bounced off towards the captains quarters and left me alone. It had started to rain lightly and the deck was mostly empty as it was close to dinner time. I tilted my head back and let the fresh water run down my face and through my hair. I took my hands and wiped my face, ridding it of all dirt and mud and ran my fingers through my long braid. Damn, it felt good to be a woman again. After enjoying the rain for a few more minutes I got back to work. I wanted to finish my chores before heading down to eat, and I wasn't really in the mood to eat with the whole crew staring at me. As I scrubbed the rusty metal, I started to hum the song I had sung to get the ruby. I eventually found myself singing it, it was a beautiful song. I couldn't stop myself from singing it.

"Gabe! Aren't you supposed to be eating?" I asked as I saw him come towards me, "Gabe?" I asked again. Something was wrong... He continued to step towards me until he was inches away from me.

"Uhh," I said, unsure of what was going on. He had began to run his gentle fingers through my hair, his green eyes wide.

Before I could say anything, his head had come down to mine and he was... kissing me?! Gabe was kissing me!

"What on earth-"

The captains loud voice caused me to break the kiss and I looked over at Lars. His angry, confused face looked at Gabe, then back to me. Something changed when he looked at me... The anger disappeared from his face. He just stared at me with a blank expression. Then, he started to walk over to me.

"Lars?" I said.

What was going on?!

Lars was now the one standing only inches from me, the rain dripping down from his black hair. In this light his blue eyes were bright - they were looking at me with a look of... longing. I froze. I had never seen this look on Lars before... I couldn't ever imagine Lars having a look like that. Much like Gabe did, his eyes scanned my face, and then his cold hand brushed my skin, his fingers tracing the outline of my face. His touch was surprisingly gentle... his calloused hands treaded lightly over my soft skin. Then, his eyes looked down to my lips.

This was not happening.

His head began to tilt down towards mine, his dark, handsome face only an inch away from mine. I couldn't breathe... I almost wanted to know what it would - "The ruby," I whispered.

I looked down to see the ruby in my pocket glowing. Before Lars could lock his lips with mine, I grabbed the ruby and dropped it on the ground and stumbled back, away from Lars.

Lars shook his head as if coming out of a trance. Gabe did the same thing.

Lars looked at the ruby, then looked up to me. It was like he was remembering what had just happened... he looked at my lips with creased eyebrows and back to me, and almost looked... embarrassed. I swear I could see a tinge of pink on his pale face.

"Uh, did I just kiss you?" Gabe said.

I looked to Gabe, seeing the same confused expression. He looked as if he just woke up from a deep sleep.

"It's the ruby..." Lars said.

I bent down to pick it up, the both of them yelling, "No!"

I jumped back, "Don't touch it!" Lars said.

"So I get... siren powers when I touch it? There was nothing in my fathers journal about that."

"Will someone please tell me what is going on!" Gabe said, frustrated.

Lars grabbed the ruby and stormed into his quarters leaving me and Gabe alone.

"Well that was awkward," I said.

I filled Gabe in about Atlantis and how I had information that would help Lars and me find it.

"Atlantis?? That's an actual thing? I thought it was just a legend, a myth," Gabe said.

"Who knows, it still could be. But I don't believe it is... I think we're close to finding it," I said.

"Okay, so what about the whole... siren thing. How did you do that to me and Lars? It was like you were a siren yourself."

I shivered... I wasn't turning into a siren... was I? I immediately started to panic, "I'll be back," I said, running up the stairs.

"Am I turning into a siren??" I asked with panic in my voice.

Lars looked up at me and casually looked back down to his papers. Damn pirate.

I walked around and started to look through his notes, "Ah stop, your messing it all up!" Lars said, annoyed.

"Oh I'm sorry, are you turning into a mystical creature that eats pirates for supper!!" I yelled, more panic clouding my mind, "I didn't think so! It's just me!" I said and returned to his notes.

Lars sighed, "Stop! I found something just stop touching my things."

"Fine."

"It says here that when you sing the song with ruby in contact with you, you will start to have characteristics of a siren... but your not turning into one. That's ridiculous."

"Well my fathers journal did say that a woman was needed to enter Atlantis... a woman and a sailor," I said, recalling his notes.

"It says in mine, a siren and a sailor." 

"So the woman who sings the song with the ruby becomes the siren..."

"That would be you, love." Lars said.

Love? Since when did Lars use nicknames for me that didn't involve "idiot".

"Also," Lars said after clearing his throat, "no one is to hear about that little... incident on the deck."

"What, the incident where you tried to kiss me?"

"That was your little songs doing, not me!" Lars snapped.

"Whatever floats your boat," I winked and walked out.

I smiled at his annoyed expression, I loved that I had something to taunt him with for once.

// finished this chapter at work again on break! Gonna go back and edit it later tonight :) //