Forever and Always

Chapter 9

Before any of us could even process what Adelaide had said, dozens of figures clad in all black materialized out of thin air. They overwhelmed us in seconds.

While struggling to get out of the grasp of a pirate, I glanced over at Adelaide and saw she was being held just like us, so I knew she wasn't on their side.

The pirates held our arms behind our backs and started leading us towards their ship. We didn't make it easy on them though. I struggled and fought the whole way there.

When we got to the ship, the pirates locked us each into separate cells in the brig. To my dismay, I saw that the pirates had gone back to the Glacier and captured all the crew members. They placed the majority of the crew into a single large cell. Captain Amelia, Delbert, and their kids were all locked together in a separate cell from the crew.

I waited until the pirates had left before I spoke.

"Adelaide, what happened?" I asked, wrapping my hand around one of the bars of the door.

She was standing in the middle of her cell, arms wrapped around herself and looking at the ground.

"I don't know," she answered. "The moment I stepped onto the ship, he knew I wasn't you."

"I wonder how he knew?" Iris pondered.

"I don't know. It's impossible for people to differentiate a Mutator Formarum from any other person. Unless there was another Mutator on the ship, he shouldn't have been able to tell," Adelaide replied.

"Why didn't you run?" Austin asked.

"As soon as I stepped foot on the ship, the pirates grabbed me and tied me up. I don't know how he knew what the plan was. I didn't tell him anything, though. Anyway, he forced me to go back to the rendezvous point and follow the plan as if nothing had happened. The pirates were holding me by the arms the whole time. They have some sort of cloaking device that makes them invisible. That's how they appeared out of thin air. There were two holding onto me when I came to meet you guys," she explained.

"I'm sorry," Adelaide continued.

"Don't be. There was no way we could have known that Alex would figure out our plan. If anything, this is my fault. I'm the one who thought of the plan. I should have known Alex wouldn't be fooled," I said.

"Raphaelle, don't be ridiculous. You're plan was brilliant," Jim said, moving towards the edge of his cell, which was right next to mine.

"But Alex was smarter," I said, looking down at the ground in shame.

Jim reached through the bars of his cell and grabbed my hand. He gave me a reassuring smile, which I tried to return, but it must have not been convincing since his faltered.

"So what happens now?" Angela asked.

"Now we wait," Captain Amelia answered from the cell across the hall.

"Wait for what?" Iris asked, her hair appearing to be a dark grey color, though it might have been the dim lighting. While she had gained control over her abilities, if she wasn't concentrating her hair would reflect whatever emotion she was feeling.

"For Alex," I replied.

"How do you know he'll even come down here?" Nerita asked.

"Because I'm down here," I stated. "And I'm what he really wants."

We sat around waiting for a long time. I fiddled with my braid again, making sure it was perfect. It was just a nervous habit of mine to play with my hair, and I didn't even realize I was doing it half the time.

Once I finally got fed up messing with my hair, I moved over to the back corner of my cell and sat down. Jim moved over to his adjoining corner so that he could sit next to me. He reached through the bars and held my hand as we waited. I started to doze off; Alex was taking longer to show up than I'd expected.

Then I heard the distinct metal clang of a door being unlocked.