Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
FINLEY
A loud banging made Finley jolt upright in her bunk. At first, she thought it was a mere pounding in her head, but it was someone incessantly hitting her cabin door as though they’d force their way in whether she liked it or not.
The lure of sleep still tugged at Finley like soft waves on the shore beckoning her to enter the water.
She could barely remember coming back to the ship after her encounter with the grindylows since she was in and out of sleep riding on Rafe’s back.
It was light outside, which gave her no indication of how long she’d been out this time.
Not if the lightheadedness from standing was any indication.
Finley willed herself to the door and opened it to find Mariah standing before her ready to knock again.
She almost clobbered Finley with her fist in the process.
Her aunt showed no indication of remorse for almost punching her in the face and only offered a sharp sneer and narrowed eyes.
Where Amelia had the appearance of softness in her looks, Mariah was all edges.
The pointed nose, sharp eyes, rail straight hair, and even her gowns looked like their angles and hems could cut you like a thin razor.
Growing up Finley had never feared adults or people in her community, but Mariah sent shivers down her spine long before the sleeping curse had come into existence.
It didn’t stop Finley from pulling the occasional prank at her manor but would cause her to think about it for a few minutes longer on whether or not it was a good idea.
“We’re ready to leave,” Mariah said, each word a tiny dagger of anger and disappointment intended to pierce whoever was the recipient. “Someone has been sleeping since yesterday.”
That answered the question of how long now.
Finley gave her a blank stare. She was going to comment on why Finley was sleeping? Outrageous. “And whose fault is that?”
“I’m sure if your crew needed to get out of a location in an emergency, you’d somehow find the energy to get them transported, wouldn’t you? And I’d think that you would want to be sure you had enough energy to accommodate your guests instead of gallivanting about.”
Finley never got them into a situation where that would be an issue.
She may seem impulsive to most people, but if there was something that would put her crew in more danger than usual and they’d need to make a quick getaway Finley planned for it well in advance to be sure she had enough energy to get them out of any tight situations.
To be fair, the timing of such things had been more unpredictable lately.
It was useless to argue though, and she didn’t have the strength to deal with it. The sooner she got Mariah out of the way the sooner she could go back to sleep. The mere act of keeping her eyes open was a feat in itself.
Without a word, Finley pushed past Mariah and made her way to the deck, not bothering to pay attention if she was following.
She was grateful the interactions with her aunt had been minimal because each time Finley saw her, the temptation to grab the Shadow Slayers and do her significant harm grew.
The only reason Finley didn’t dole out her revenge on Mariah, was knowing it would do more harm than good and likely make it more difficult to get the cure she needed.
She had to be patient, which wasn’t one of her virtues.
But she could do it for a little while longer.
By the time Finley got up to the deck, Ai was at the helm with Rafe at her side. Their faces were calm and expressionless, but she could feel the sense of worry around them. Something must have happened while she was asleep.
She knelt onto the deck and placed her hands on the wooden planks then closed her eyes.
Those few moments alone were bliss, and she could collapse onto the ground right then and there and not wake up for who knew how long.
She bit her lower lip to keep herself awake and felt for her magic slumbering within her and the water surrounding The Mystic.
It took a few minutes. More than a few, which was unusual.
Her magic was a lighthouse far in the distance.
It was accessible and guided her way, but she felt like she’d never be able to reach it in time.
But then the familiar warmth and flow filled her veins and the protective bubble formed around The Mystic as it sank beneath the river’s water so it could journey to its next destination in safety.
Finley forced her eyes to pry open to find Amelia, Mariah, and Dusan standing over her. The sorcerer grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet with a rough jerk. Her arm felt cold and clammy at his touch, and she yanked it out of his grasp.
“No one touches me without my express permission. Understand?” Finley sneered. And certainly not the likes of him.
A smile that was anything but kind spread over his face.
Dusan was handsome, but not in the way where it would make Finley curious.
There was something wrong with how handsome he looked, as though he’d put in too much effort and he wasn’t supposed to look that way.
Like his nose should have been at a different angle, or his eyes set in another way.
But she couldn’t figure out what it was that made him so off-putting.
Other than being an evil sorcerer who may or may not be dead.
He raised his hands in mock surrender. “You seemed like you needed help.”
“You assumed wrong.”
Amelia waved her hands to the sides as though dismissing the two of them. “We’re going to continue following this river until we reach Slania. But we’ll be stopping at each village along the way.”
“If she can stay awake that long,” Mariah commented with a smirk.
For someone who was so much older than her, Mariah behaved like an adolescent.
One who was always in charge of her group of friends wanting to make herself seem bigger and more important than all the others, but her shine wasn’t as bright as the people around her and deep down she knew it. It was pathetic.
Finley dug her nail into one of her fingertips, the slight pain reminding her that she only had to be away for a few more minutes.
The magic on the ship had taken the remainder of any energy out of her for the foreseeable future.
“Very well, I’ll have the ship stay the course.
And I’ll be spending the remainder of the day in my quarters with Ai and Rafe. We will not be disturbed.”
“Unless I need you, of course,” Amelia said. “But we’ve been enjoying getting to know the ship and are becoming acquainted well. I’m sure we’ll be fine on our own for a day.”
The way Amelia said this put a knot in Finley’s stomach.
The idea of Amelia and the others getting to know The Mystic was disturbing, and she couldn’t wait for them to be gone for good.
The whole crew knew to keep an eye and ear out for Amelia and the others, but who knew what she was able to get away with that they hadn’t noticed?
Finley practically crawled her way back to her cabin and collapsed onto the bunk.
She didn’t even bother covering herself with a quilt and curled up with a pillow crushed beneath her head and clung to it like it was her lover.
It was the closest she’d had to a lover these days beyond the kiss with Rafe.
Which she thought about far too often. She closed her eyes and let herself dream about that moment and what could have possibly happened if they hadn’t been interrupted.
Within minutes after she settled, a knock came at the door, followed by Ai stating it was her and Rafe.
Finley mumbled something she hoped said they were welcome to come in.
Which it must have been, because the pair stepped inside and sat, Ai in an armchair and Rafe at the desk.
Finley offered a weak wave then closed her eyes again.
“So… why are we here?” Rafe asked. “Not that I don’t mind being away from Amelia for a day.”
“Bad day,” Finley muttered into the pillow without opening her eyes. But it sounded more like “bud may.”
There was a moment of confused silence, and then Ai clarified.
“Bad day. It was the terrible nickname we came up with when Finley first got her curse. There would be days she was more tired than others, so we’d lock ourselves in our cabin with books and snacks and spend the day talking and napping. ”
Today certainly warranted this tradition.
Finley was too exhausted to function. Sometimes on days like this she could at least manage to sit and hold a conversation here and there between naps.
But over the last couple years this tradition had been taken over more by sleeping than simple rest and relaxation.
“I think everyone needs a bad day like that now and then,” Rafe said and the sounds of him getting comfortable in his seat filled the air.
“You’re the first person to be invited,” Ai told him. “She must like you.”
Already they were talking like she couldn’t hear them, so Finley grunted and buried her face farther into the pillow. She might not be able to find the strength to come up with words, but they should at least know she could hear them. For now, at least.
She wondered if she would be able to hear conversations when she was in her final sleep.
Sometimes when she was resting and couldn’t open her eyes, she was still vaguely aware of what was happening around her.
The thought was chilling and she pushed it out of her mind.
Being in an eternal slumber would be awful enough, but if she could hear everything and be aware the whole time but not able to participate would be torture.
At least in true slumber she could escape to her dreams.