Chapter 22
“ A bigail, Abigail it’s time to wake up.” Caspian’s voice penetrates my dream state, jolting me awake. ??
“Caspian?” I ask knowing damn well it’s his voice I’m hearing. I extend my arms up for a large stretch and look over at the small porthole in the room to see it’s still dark out. “Are we there?” I question. I assumed we would need more time to arrive. ??
“We have the ship in sight, but there’s something kinda off about it. We have been watching the ship and there has been no sign of people. There’s no lights, no sounds, and absolutely no movement.” He says wearily. That’s definitely not normal for our crew. We always had people working and monitoring In shifts. The ocean is too unpredictable, whether it’s the weather or running into unfriendly ships. You never want to go in blind and not knowing.
“How long have you been watching?” I ask as my voice reeks of concern. Did they not survive the attack? Are they all hiding? kidnapped? Or worst of all, dead? No, Ace wouldn’t have allowed that. I try not to panic, my thoughts bounce around every scenario that could have happened on the ship. ??
“Abigail, we were never very far from the ship. We stayed within hours of it just in case we needed to find our way back. We have been watching all night.” He warns. They couldn’t be dead, could they? My nerves are uneasy and all I can think of is getting over there to Ace. I was over here enjoying myself and I didn’t think about the very real possibility that they didn’t get away and something bad happened. ??
“Caspian, I have to get on that ship.” I demand. Determination overcomes me, I need to see what happened. I stand up out of the bed now more ready than ever. I grab my dagger that is sitting on the dresser and put it in place, hidden on my thigh and look over to Caspian. “I mean it, Caspian. I’m getting on that ship.”
“Of course, but you are not going alone. We will split off into teams and check the ship thoroughly. I will send you with Arielle’s team up top. I will lead a team to the lower decks. We were already going to check it, we just needed to know where your head was before we went through with it.” Caspian reassures me and then walks right up to me and traces my lips with his thumb. His lips partially open as if he is just waiting for the right moment to lean in for a kiss. The chills that appeared last night return in full force and goosebumps cover my neck down to my toes. Based on the way his lips widened on the side, I know he noticed. But instead of following through he just turns around and heads through the door leaving me wanting.
“Let's go, Abigail. We don’t have any more time to waste and we should take advantage of the little bit of night we have left. Once the sun is out, we will no longer be able to hide in the shadows.” He says, his voice warning but still teasing. Teasing in the way that he knows exactly what he just did and how it was an unspoken, “ We will continue this later.”
I follow him out of the room, all the way back up to the top deck to meet up with the team heading over to the ship. In a way, I am glad Caspian and I aren’t heading over together. He has a way of distracting me and I think I need to ease Ace into the idea of Caspian. If he's still alive that is. This thought is unsettling but I know that there is a chance that he could be over there dying or already dead.
I see Arielle standing there waiting with the same angry expression she holds on her face at all times, and immediately decide to part from Caspian and stand next to her. At this point, I’m almost unfazed by the look. In fact, I am starting to think that it may just be her face. I don’t know her past but to do what she does, I’m sure life has not always been easy. The men standing behind her are all carrying over a large slab of wood. This will be what we toss over to make a bridge to get on the ship.
Caspian walks over to two other men, the ones I saw him talking to in the dining hall. They all are wearing the green cloaks and in unison they all toss their hoods up. All three run up to the railing on our ship, pull themselves up on it, and the other two jump into the water. Caspian gives me a big wink and does a backflip off into the water.
Arielle looks over at me and huffs, “Men, they never actually grow up, do they?” She looks at me with a half smile. Is she actually being nice right now? I nod as awkwardly as I feel after seeing Arielle actually attempting to smile at me. She looks at me and rolls her eyes. “Apparently, neither do princesses.” she says snarling. Just when I think I’m winning her over.
The ship is almost perfectly lined up with the other now. The crew toss over the wooden slab and one man rushes over to the other side to hold it in place for the rest of the crew to safely get over. I watch as Arielle hops up and walks over.
“Come on, Abigail!” She shouts at me. Of all the time I have spent out on sea, I never quite realized how hands off I have been this entire time. I jump up onto the plank. This is the first time I’ve ever had to go from one to the other like this. I start to walk and cross it but start feeling how unsteady this plank really is. I can't help but to look down at the waves rumbling in the water, the sound of them crashing into each other is now more apparent than before and my stomach knots. Of all times to get a sudden fear of heights. I joke to myself, trying to calm myself down. I look at Arielle whose face now shows concern. At this moment, allowing Arielle to see me struggle this much is not ideal. She is probably the most badass female I’ve ever met, it’s time to start acting like I’m worthy of working with her. I focus forward, putting one foot in front of the other quickly to get to the other side and jump off of the plank onto the ship.
I take a moment to look around at the vacant ship. There’s dark ash marks from the torches catching things on fire. Blood splattered all over the beams and the deck. There are no bodies anywhere so it's hard to tell whose blood I am seeing. The flag is torn and barely hanging onto the ropes. Shit! It really is a ghost ship. I scavenge the area looking for anything that could have been left behind but there’s nothing. Arielle comes over and puts a hand on my shoulder.
“Abigail, I.” She pauses and looks down at her feet. I know she wants to comfort me but what do you say in this situation? Sorry but it looks like all your friends and family are dead? There is nothing you can say in a moment like this.
“I know.” I respond softly. “I want to go in, I need to see it all for myself.” I have to be sure that there is nobody left. That everyone I have ever known is truly gone.
“I’ll go first, you are not armed and I don’t want to take any chances.” She alarms.
We walk down to the first floor where the council room and my bedroom are. I point her to the council Hall and we walk slowly, hiding in each shadow. Darkness surrounds each space we are in, it feels so eerie. We get to the door and she shoves it open. The room is just as dark and completely empty. I really wished there was someone in there, anyone really. That way I could at least know what happened or what to expect. Instead this entire place is vacant and disappointment rushes through me.
“There’s nobody here, is there?” I ask Arielle knowing what the answer is. “Where could they have all gone?” My voice is cracking as I fight back the sadness. Arielle looks over at the other men and they seem to get the hint. They all start to head back up the stairs to the top deck and it's just Arielle and I standing there.
“Is there anywhere else you want to check before we head back?” She asks in a soft, kind tone. Is it wrong of me to question why she is being so nice all the sudden? I mean, she's been so rude and off putting this entire time. Or maybe, this really is as bad as it seems and she feels bad? I need to quit questioning her kindness, plus I’d really like to go to my room to grab my sword before we head back over to the other ship.
“My bedroom is just down this hall, I do have some personal items I’d like to retrieve before we leave. If you don’t mind waiting out in the hall, I need a moment to say goodbye to my home.” I express. I know now is not the time to break down and Arielle is not the person I want to be around when I do. I also know that my family, friends, and Ace are somewhere. They may not be here, but they are somewhere and I will find them.
I turn to head towards my room, Arielle follows slowly behind me, monitoring the hall. I make it to my room and twist the door knob, opening the door. As soon as the door swings open and I simultaneously take a step forward I come to a complete halt. Ace is standing there staring at me, he looks like he has been waiting here for days for my return.
“Ace!” I shout out with excitement. I am overcome in immediate happiness that he is still alive. I start to run to him but just before I have the chance to take off I hear a soft whisper in my ear from Arielle.
“I’m so sorry.” she says just before something whacks me in the back of my head so hard that I lose sight, everything goes black and I pass out.