Chapter Thirteen
Escalation
Slippery tentacles wrapped my arms, then my wrists, holding me down. Inky black seal skin brushed my face, chilled me. That strange song in my head, attracting and repelling me at the same time.
I couldn’t move, could only gape at the thing as tentacles slithered up my naked body, the eerie tune touching my very bones, hot breath on my pebbling skin. The creature stretched its mouth…
Someone was screaming.
“Rooster! Rooster! My God, what’s wrong?”
I was out of the dreamworld now but still fixed with terror.
Dinesh grabbed my shoulder, shook me, tried to get me to stop screaming. He thought I was still caught in the dream. But I was awake and couldn’t stop screaming. I pushed at him as if he were the creature trying to attack me.
“Stop. Rooster, stop. I’m here. I’ve got you,” he said, soothing me as best he could, whilst I pummelled him and continued to wail. “You’ll have all the crew up here in a moment.”
That got through the horror, and I met the captain’s terrified gaze, forcing my mouth to close. But I could still hear the sickly singing. The horribly compelling dirge echoed in my ears and my brain, eliciting a queasy feeling in my gut.
Dinesh pulled me to him and wrapped me in his arms, which was comforting until I focused on the inky blue creature at the windows standing on tentacle legs, with tentacle arms, tentacle hair, and flaming eyes.
“There!” I said, stiffening in the captain’s embrace and clutching his arms. “It’s there. Don’t you see?”
“No, Simon. There’s no one here but you and I,” he said, after glancing at the spot I was fixed on. “Look at Pearl.”
“I swear the beast was there. Right in that spot.”
Now, only the bank of windows that looked onto the dawn ocean stared back at me.
“There’s nothing now. The creature is gone,” the captain said, forehead creased with concern.
“I don’t know…”
“Do you still see the monster?”
I shook my head. “But I feel it. I hear it.”
The song was fading. The presence was receding. Thank fuck.
“Oh, Rooster. I thought…” he began, then continued. “I had hoped learning to control your powers might assuage this guilt that’s eating away at you.”
I relaxed my hold on his arms and laid my forehead against his cheek. “I don’t think that theory is correct. Not anymore.”
“What?”
“I don’t think… I don’t think my own mind is doing this.”
He pulled back, taking my upper arms and making me look at him.
“But, what is the other option? That there’s something out there…down there…pulling at you?”
“I don’t know. But the creature is feeling more and more real. Those times I’ve seen the monster, here in the room, I could have walked over and touched the thing.”
I shuddered, putting a hand over my mouth to still the scream that wanted to return whilst my eyes bugged with terror.
Dinesh curled over me again. “No, my love. I refuse to believe that. Perhaps you’re ill. You could be suffering a brain disease or some kind of strange contagion…”
How was that supposed to comfort me?
“That doesn’t sound any better, to be honest.”
“No, I suppose you’re right.”
“Do you think I’m ill in the head?”
“No, of course not. But for these recurring nightmares, there’s naught wrong with you,” he said.
“I do think the idea of distractions is a good one. Perhaps they will take time to have an effect. But if you aren’t distracted, you’ll spend your days fretting, and that’s likely to make your health even worse. ”
***
Iwasn’t in the mood for 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 the Arrow, 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.
“Aye. I heard the wee dog barking and there he was, standing at the rail, peering over the side. As if he wanted to…”
“Dear God,” Dinesh muttered, dragging me along.
Pearl continued to fuss and yap at my ankles.
I leaned into Dinesh’s solid warmth.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know…”
“Never mind. Come on.”
“Pearl?”
“She’s coming. She won’t leave you, and neither will I.”
Dizzy and confused, I wasn’t certain of what had compelled me to leave the warm bed I shared with Captain Martin. I’d never had issues with sleepwalking before.
Hillier came with us and got Dinesh some towels with which to dry me, then left. We were soaked to the skin. Dinesh peeled the wet clothes off me as Pearl returned to her bed, licking her damp fur.
“She followed me.”
“She did. Thank goodness.” He turned to the pup. “Good lass, Pearl.”
She wagged her tail but otherwise kept her attention on her own comfort.
Dinesh used a linen towel to dry me with rough movements and a scowl that showed quite how frightened this escapade had made him.
“What do you think—?” I began, wanting to know what he made of the circumstances.
“I don’t know. I don’t fucking know, Rooster. This is…beyond my realm of expertise.”
He looked so helpless and confused, and I felt awful.
“This isn’t what you signed up for.”
“What?” he stared at me, genuinely puzzled.
“When you married me. I’m not the man you thought I was…”
“Rooster. Stop.”
“This can’t be much fun, me waking in the night, screaming. Seeing things that aren’t there. And now, wandering around on deck in the middle of the night.”
“You’re right, this isn’t enjoyable in the least. But I’m not the one being affected directly, which must be much, much worse.”
“Perhaps.” I shrugged.
He passed me one of his shirts that I pulled over my head. He put on a dry garment as well.
“Here, get under the covers, and we’ll have a little chat. I need you safe in bed now.”
“Am I safe there?”
“You are as long as I’m awake.”
“You can’t watch me at all hours. You need to sleep as much as I.”
“We’ll figure something out.”
Dinesh used a towel to dry his hair and got into the bed beside me. He pulled me against him so my head rested on his chest.
“There we are. Better?”
“Aye,” I said, comforted by his closeness, his scent, and his strength.
“Now look. I don’t know what exactly is happening, but I do know that I am as involved in the haunting as you are. Because we are one, Rooster. What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine. That’s the definition of marriage.”
“Aye, but since I have nothing but strange dreams, unpredictable powers, and a penchant for humiliation, you are seriously disadvantaged, I fear.”
He kissed my forehead and smiled at my words.
“Ah, Simon. My little rooster. You have brought so much excitement, love, and satisfaction into my life, I can’t even tell you how…”
His voice cracked, and he didn’t speak for several moments. I tightened my grip around his waist.
“I love you, Dinesh.”
“I love you, too, my rooster. So no more talk of all of this. Let’s go back to sleep.”
He reached for something from the table.
“Give me your hand.”
“What? Why?”
“Give over. Either one.”
I held up my left hand.