Little Thief

Chapter 2

Wet... why did I feel all wet? I hated being wet with a passion, save for showers, so how on earth did I end up in this predicament? My clothes were plastered against my skin, and as much as I tried to heave my arm upwards, it wouldn't budge. My head pounded furiously, aching with every fibre of it's being and I could feel my stomach starting to churn with nausea.

Please don't throw up, please don't throw up, please don't throw up, I chanted in my mind, willing it to become true. My eyelids felt gross and tacky, like when you went to bed without removing your heavy makeup from the night before, and they held like glue when I attempted to open them.

Everything just felt so... exhausting. It was much simpler to just lay still, and try to prevent my inevitable vomit. But even when I didn't move an inch, my body still rocked and swayed with reckless abandon.

A brash noise cut through the air, an ugly nasally squawking that was piercing directly though my already compromised head. Was that my alarm, maybe? I didn't remember changing the ringtone to such an abrasive sound. A gentler noise was present as well, I suddenly noticed. A soft, lapping sound. Like when you sat down in a bath too quickly, and the water sloshed all over the floor.

Was I in a boat, or something? I didn't live near any beaches. I didn't know anyone who had a boat. What the hell was going on? And why was my stupid body still not responding! Had I gone out drinking myself to death last night and ended up on someone's rowboat? Wait, no. Wasn't I just in a completely white place with a guy in a suit... Atlas. Had the bastard just dropped me into the middle of the ocean? No wonder I felt awful.

Something shuffled near me, accompanied by heavy footsteps that were getting louder. Someone was approaching. I pretended to still be asleep, which wasn't hard. Hopefully they'd bugger off and let me recover in my own sweet time, though I was starting to doubt it.

"What've we got 'ere then," a voice mumbled.

Uh oh. That didn't sound too good. Okay, forget pretending to sleep. I struggled to move myself, even my fingers barely twitched. A long, pained noise filled the air, and I was so out of it, it took me way too long to realise that it was me groaning and not in fact a broken fog horn.

"Easy ther, lass," the voice said, a thick accent I couldn't place rolling off their tongue. "Tha's a nasty cut to the 'ead."

That probably explained the pounding. I pried an eye open, but my body was still fighting against me. With a blazing sun glaring down at me, bright spots dotted my vision. No matter how many times I attempted to blink them away, they stubbornly stayed. It was beyond frustrating.

On the brightside, I was finally able to wrench my arm off the floor. It flopped pathetically through the air, as I used it to shield my poor eyes from the stupid sun. There was a huffing sound next to me, which I think was the person drawing in a sharp intake of breath. Clearly, they were just as surprised as I was to see me eventually move a limb.

"Now, who did tha' te yah..." the voice mumbled again. 

I snorted. If they meant the cut to my head, I could think of one stupid grey old titan who hand a hand in this situation.

"Cap'in, the Navy! I sees ther' white sails," a new concerned voice said. The Navy? Was I really on a boat then? And where the heck was the Navy involved? I didn't know enough about the military for this.

"Aye," the voice closer to me said. "We best be on our way."

Um, no thank you, I would rather not be kidnapped by sailors who avoided the navy. I tried protesting, but all that really came out was a thin whine. Next to me, there was a loud ripping noise, and a rough hand grabbed the wrist that was currently acting as my pair of sunglasses.