Midnight (DISCONTINUED, INCOMPLETE)

23 || Drifter

"You're lying to me!"

Willow grinned. "No, I promise you that I'm not."

Ash frowned and pushed away from the railing she had been leaning on. "How could being turned into an eagle and a whale be a gift?"

"I am not sure." Willow shrugged. "According to Gytha, it was to protect their port village. I think they would have known if it was a fae cursing them. After all, who would think being turned into a mermaid would be a gift?"

"Maybe it wasn't my fairy godmother. Maybe it was a curse from my step-mother. Seemed enough like a fae."

Willow snorted in laughter. Ash smiled at her success before looking back at Mavis as he circled the ship. He would surely be excited to become a human again, but would he miss flying? Would his brother miss swimming the oceans?

She glanced toward the water. She would love to be entirely human, but if Gytha's brother missed diving through the sea, she could see why. As it was, she needed to see about being lowered into the water soon. It had been far too long since she last stretched her fin.

"What is taking them so long?"

Ash returned her attention to Willow, who was glaring at the staircase leading to the lower decks. "Maybe Carnell decided to have fourths?"

Willow shook her head, her crazy red hair catching in the breeze. "That boy listens to his stomach so much it wouldn't surprise me if he tried to eat another witch's house."

"Didn't you try to eat it, too?"

"When's the last time you took a dive into the water from atop a ship, Ash?"

She started to reply but paused when the door Willow had been glaring at swung open. Carnell and Haylan walked out. In Carnell's hands were the two swords that they often used.

Willow called a greeting to them, but the words were lost on Ash as her eyes unbiddenly roamed the ship deck.

I'll be seeing you tomorrow then.

The Midnight ship had departed from Varno Cove a few hours ago, and Caspian had been on the deck, helping wherever needed to get the ship back out into the open sea. She hadn't seen him since then, but his promise from the previous night hadn't left her. And it made her stomach clench in a way it hadn't since the day she first started practicing.

It showed as the practice session took place. She was far from good at swordplay, but Carnell hadn't had to correct her grip on the sword in a week. He had to correct her three times within the first half of their time. By then she had also nearly been a handful of times and Haylan had to go get the wooden swords for their mock battles.

Her nerves were on their very ends the entire time, waiting for Caspian to show up to throw a snarky comment, but he never did. She didn't even see him for the rest of the day. When night rolled around, she had to make a request from two of the crew members she barely interacted with the lower her into the sea. They more than happily agreed, and a few minutes after asking, she was in a new boat and gradually lowered down to the water.

She slipped over the edge and into the ocean without a second though. It greeted her like a hug from an old friend. A cool wave spread through her body. Tension eased away as her tail stretched to its full length for the first time since she joined the Midnight Pirates. She took a deep, long breath. How had she gone so long without being in the ocean?

The water was calm. Ash managed to outrace the ship multiple times and had to swing back around to stay with it. She did almost a dozen laps before drifting next to the ship. It was exhilarating being able to speed so effortlessly through the water in a way sprinting on land never had been. Weightless while also feeling like she was slicing through what blocked her path.