Tidal --- Nikolai Lantsov

8

It had been a week since the Darkling captured Alina and Mal and we begun to head north. After the fight with my brother I had made an effort to stay as far away from him as possible. Surprisingly enough, it was quite an easy task considering he was constantly busy and seemed to have no intention in talking with me either. I knew that he was searching for another amplifier. The second of Morozova's creations. I made it my goal to do everything in my power to stop him from getting it. 

Genya had kept me updated on Alina everyday. My brother had kept me from going to see both her and Mal for obvious reasons. How did he expect me to trust him when it is obvious that he has no trust in me? Genya told me all about how Alina was upset at her because she never sent the letters to Mal and how she was 'faking' being her friend for part of the time she was at the Little palace. 

I wonder if Alina thinks the same about me. I basically did the same thing that Genya did. In the beginning I was only talking to her because my brother had told me to be nice to her. I hope she knows that even though it started out as forced I truly care for her and enjoyed being her friend at the palace. 

I spent most of my time on the ship helping the crew with the various tasks. I found that even though we were doing work, hanging around Sturmhond's crew was much more tolerable than the Darkling's grisha. They complained nonstop and refused to do any ship work. 

I mainly stayed with Tolya and Tamar seeing as they were the most welcoming to me from the start. They taught me many things about how to care for the ship and everything that needs to to be done. Me and Tamar were somewhat similar in personality in the way we were both reckless and playful when we had off time from our duties. 

"Luna!" She came up to me while I was summoning water to clean of one of the railings on the left side of the ship. She had her axes in both hands and she was beaming her bright smile, "Want to practice throws?"

I looked up at her and immediately grinned, "Of course I do!" I jumped up and followed her to the middle of the ship. I had never thrown an axe before but I was pretty good at throwing knives. How different could they really be?

"Okay, so you hold it by the base here with one hand. Make sure your grip is loose, but not to the point where it is going to slip out of your hand before you are ready." She puts one of the axes in my hand and shows me in her hand how she is holding it. "That's good. Now bring your elbow back straight. Don't ever point your elbow out or else you will slice your head open." She glanced over at Tolya with a teasing look on her face. 

"We were ten, and it was just a tiny scratch! Why do you bring this up every single time?" Tolya yelled from where he was seated one a barrel watching us. We both laugh.

"Anyway. You want to extend your arm forward and let go when your arm is parallel to where you want to hit. For example," She pulls her arm back and quickly brings it forward releasing the axe. It flew through the air spinning perfectly until it met its target right in the center of one of the masts where a target was drawn. 

Most of the crew were crowded around us now watching us throw the axes. Their eyes followed the axe and once it had made its thud they cheered loudly. My brother was the only person on the deck that was not in the cheering crowd. Instead, he was leaning against the far railing of the ship, sulking. I wish he would join us and have some fun for once. 

Sturmhond had also joined the crowd in watching the two of us. He was a little farther away from the rest of the crowd and was leaning against a pole with his arms crossed watching intently. We caught each others glance and both our our eyes locked for a moment. My eyes furrowed at him. Why was he staring? Everyone's staring. He's not special. I tell myself wondering why he was the only one in the crowd that my eyes had felt drawn to. I don't want to be the first one to break the eye contact.