Chapter 11
Reva
Even as we float away from the shores of Port Yarrow, my brain remains stuck on the man changing into a bird in the middle of the street with no warning or care for anyone seeing him.
I’ve never seen someone shift into their animal form in public like that. And I thank my lucky stars that it seemed like only Clive was around to see, and he was too distracted losing his ever-loving mind to care.
There’s a chance I’m in shock. Everything feels very far away even as Torin announces that we can’t wait around and need to head to their ship.
He then unceremoniously bundles me and Aster into a narrow rowing boat and starts to row before I could even get my head around what was happening.
Frannie insisted on staying on land, saying that she’d be our eyes and ears on the ground.
She didn’t say it out loud, but I know she’s hopeful Kit might just turn up.
I understand Torin’s need for movement, I can’t stay here.
Maybe it’s the panic talking, but I need to find Kit.
Jack is apparently searching the skies in his raven form, which leaves the land and sea for the rest of us. And since I can’t see myself getting far on land with no vehicle, here I am, bound toward a cursed pirate ship without my newfound mate.
Torin takes the oars as he steers us out of the cove and around the corner. I lose myself in the rhythmic sound of the oars hitting the water and the waves crashing into the front of the boat.
I’m numb, my brain slipping into a fugue state as I focus only on keeping my balance.
I can’t let myself think about Kit. Not yet.
I can’t think about Noush either. Even as my thoughts drift that way, a scratching terror threatens to claw at my insides, but I shove it down.
My breath catches in my throat, and I swallow hard, licking my dry lips.
“That’s the ship,” Torin murmurs. He’s somehow barely breaking a sweat as we fight through the churning waves, freezing sea spray hitting us from all angles.
Out in the deeper water, there’s a massive black ship anchored and waiting, its huge masts reaching to the sky. Yells ring out from above as heads peer over the side of the ship as we approach.
The next thing I know, we’re right beside it.
Aster grips my hand, and I feel like I’m just waking from a daze. I follow his eyeline to the rope ladder hanging over the side of the massive ship as Torin steadies the boat. He gets to his feet surprisingly smoothly for such a big guy and puts one foot on the lowest rung.
He then holds out a hand to me. “Come on, I’ll help you up.”
I nudge Aster. “You go first, and I’ll follow.”
He looks as if he’s about to argue, but then Torin’s hefting him up and he’s gripping onto the ladder.
He twists around and grabs my bag, hefting it up with him as he starts to climb.
Just in time too, he’s barely made it a couple of rungs when a wave crashes into the side of the tiny boat, sending it rocking wildly.
“Reva. Now,” Torin’s deep voice rasps. There’s a hardness underlying his tone, and it breaks through some of the fog.
“Now,” he repeats, holding his hand out to me.
Too late.
The sea seems to darken right as a shadow hangs over me. I twist around to see what’s happening right as something slams into the side of the boat. I’m tossed to one side, clutching desperately onto the side. My teeth clack together, and a stab of pain goes through me as I bite my tongue. Hard.
Something dark slithers under the water’s surface, making me freeze where I’m pressed up against the side of the boat. My fingers are like icicles, frozen stiff and aching. I don’t dare let go, though.
There’s something in the water.
Something that doesn’t like my being here.
I’m flung into the air again, tossed into the icy water where the waves batter me, pulling me under the surface.
For a moment, I’m dragged deeper where bubbles fill the water, and I right myself, kicking hard as I follow them up to the surface.
My eyes sting as I peer through the rain and the spray.
A huge black shape rises from the water in front of me like a monstrous limb rising from the deep.
It smashes into the side of the boat, sending splintered pieces scattering.
I gasp, sucking in a mouthful of water and spluttering as I struggle to breathe.
I can barely make out what’s going on around me through the rolling waves and the spray.
What I wouldn’t give to have my skin right now. Noush would be handling this a lot more gracefully than I am.
Through a cloud of bubbles, I can just make out two wide, panicked eyes and a man’s face.
Aster.
He reaches for me right as something huge and black thrusts up through the water, connecting with the remnants of the boat. One piece flies through the air, smacking me in the side of the head—
Everything goes dark.
I COME TO AS I’M FALLING. The bottom has fallen out of the world, and I’m tumbling downward with my eyes squeezed shut.
I can’t make out where I am or what’s happening as I hover there for an endless moment before gravity takes over.
I splat down, landing face-first onto something hard that leaves my bones rattling and the rest of me feeling like one giant bruise.
An unintentional groan pours out of me as I lie there, feeling something rough rub against my skin. At least I’m not dead. Or I’m pretty sure I’m not, since the blow to the side of my head has my brain working sluggishly. I would have thought I’d be in less pain if I were.
Slowly, I peel my stinging eyes open and blink through the blur that comes from having them blasted with seawater.
My hair is plastered against my face, making it difficult to see properly, and I can’t seem to move my arms. But I can just make out that there’s something tangled around me, thick fibres that are restricting my movement when I try to shift my arms and legs.
I’m struggling to piece things together since my brain feels like it’s been replaced by a soggy towel. But I think... I think I’m caught in something. I wriggle my arms and legs, feeling rough fibres rub my skin.
It’s a net. I’m stuck in a fisherman’s net.
I’ve had a dream like this before.
Usually, it ends up with my being hoisted into the sky and a handsome fisherman who then ravishes me. I’m fairly certain that’s not what’s about to happen here. The net tightens around me, and I roll with it, landing in a pile on the deck with my arms trapped under me.
“Is she breathing?”
“Cap won’t be happy if we dragged a body onboard.”
I wriggle again and open my mouth to speak. My voice comes out a hoarse croak, and I choke on nothing as I try again.
The netting loosens, and I let out another groan as the friction lessens and it feels like I can suck in a proper breath. My ribs scream at me, but I ignore them, pushing up on my aching arms until I’m able to get to a seated position.
With my hand shaking from the effort, I push my tangled mane of hair out of my face, wincing as I pull at the multiple sore spots on my skull.
My brain feels like an over-watered sponge right now, struggling to absorb information so it’s all spilling out everywhere.
Then there are hands all over me, carefully prodding and probing as Aster kneels at my side. His movements are frantic until I capture his hands and squeeze them.
“I’m all right,” I rasp.
“One minute you were there and then you were in the water. I don’t know what happened, I—”
“I’m all right,” I repeat the words as I peer through my tangled mess of hair at the figures standing over me. Even without the saltwater in my eyes, their expressions would be hard to read.
“Reva?”
I stare up at Torin’s grizzled features. The blonde hair that’s tied up in a knot behind his head, the scrubby beard and the scar that runs along from his temple to his cheekbone. The guy is massive, both broad and tall, with a solidity to his bulk where he’s almost popping out of his damp clothes.
“Here—” He holds his hand out and I grab it to stop myself falling flat on my face.
As soon as my fingers touch his, he sucks in a sharp breath, and his hand drops mine like a hot potato, and he clenches his hands into fists.
“What was that?” He glowers at me, stretching and clenching his hand over and over. “You burned me.”
“What?”
The blonde mountain pulls his sleeve to his elbow and glares down at a small mark on his skin. “You marked me.”
“I didn’t do anything to you.”
But my gut twists horribly as I stare at the mark on his forearm. The same location as Aster and Kit’s.
Another damn mate mark.
Although this time, I don’t feel the same zing of connection as when the other two got their marks.
This cannot be normal. I can’t form a bond with every person I touch.
Unless they aren’t mate marks.
The wind is icy against my soaked wet clothes, and I shiver, pushing my hair over my shoulders in a futile effort to tame it. I suck in another shaky breath, ignoring the resulting stabbing pain in my no doubt bruised ribs.
The reminder that I no longer have my skin leaves me frozen right down to my core. Another reminder that I’m practically human right now. Separated from Noush, from the other half of my soul.
I... I don’t know exactly what happens if I’m without her for too long.
I’m guessing I’ll grow weaker and weaker without her. And if whoever has Kit and Noush permanently damages my skin or even destroys it, then I’m the one who’ll take the damage.
Both Noush and I would end up dead.
What am I when I can no longer transform into my other form? A half person.
Which makes me more vulnerable than I’ve ever been before. Skinless, homeless, and stuck on a pirate ship.
I’m trying very hard not to lose my shit as I check in on the heartbeats pounding in my chest. There are three of them. And despite being soaked wet through and Torin looking at me like I’m a wild animal, I press my hand up against his chest. His heart is beating hard and strong.
But it doesn’t match any of the ones inside my chest.
“Raise the anchor!” someone yells from behind me.
“Hoist the mainsail!”
“If you don’t quit your yelling, Dagger, that anchor’s going somewhere you won’t like it!”
There’s a swell of activity all around us as the ship sets sail, and I fight the discomfort that comes with knowing we’re getting further and further from land with every passing second.
Torin stares at me for a long moment, his own chest heaving. “I think it’s time for you to speak to the captain.”