Pirate City

Chapter 14 Home

Luna's POV:

If fire could ignite in water, that would be the colour of the waves as they reflected the setting sun. I wished that the fire-lit water could stay vivid forever. But when the sun sank below the horizon, little stars littered the darkening sky, dusting the black with little dots of white.

I held onto the taffrail lightly, leaning back against my grip, the familiar ebb and flow of the ship rocked under my feet. The still water made a steady trail of light leading to the moon, protected by an army of glittering stars.

The stars turned yellow low on the horizon. They were closer together and more clumped than all the others. As I watched, they seemed to get bigger. The yellow stars ran along a shadow above the water. A bumpy shadow.

Land.

A sudden surge of excitement rippled through my body, running like electricity along my spine. I bounced up and down on my toes, too excited to stay still. I looked down at my hands, shaking as they lifted off of the rail.

I flew along the deck, only one thought on my mind. Angel. I needed to find him before we reached the city. The city stars were so beautiful against the darkened sky, making my breath catch and my legs go numb as I kept running. Angel.

"Hey" I smiled when I saw him standing behind a desk in a room with glass doors latched against the wall. He was facing a large window and watching the wake as the boat moved quickly along the water. He turned with papers in his hands, some distant expression on his face. "We're nearly there," I told him, staring at the white sheets carefully gripped in his fingers. He nodded and paused when he saw my gaze fixed on the documents.

"You'll be staying with me." He handed me the papers. "When we get to the mainland keep your head down, it's hard to tell if authorities have classified you as a missing person. You can keep using your first name for now but if we hear anything-" he paused to look me in the eyes "Those papers include your first and last name, date of birth, address and next of kin." It was too dark to read the words in fine print but even in the dark it looked official. I looked down sadly at the papers; I didn't have the heart to tell him that my absence had most likely been quickly dismissed if noticed at all.

"Thank you." He nodded quickly.

"Those papers stay somewhere where no one else can find them. Understand?"

"Yes, Thank you," I repeated, suddenly realizing that I would be staying with him. At his house.

I could feel the ship slowing as we got closer.

"Do you need help?" I motioned towards the boxes and bags on the floor, I didn't have anything to take off the ship and wanted to feel useful.

"You can help me unload, I'll have someone meet us at the dock to bring everything home." I loved the way he said 'home'. I was going home.

I smiled in the dark; of course this wasn't the ideal situation but 'home' sounded so safe. I carefully folded up the papers and stuffed them into my pocket, cautious to keep the delicate material from tearing.

"Here" He passed me a large duffel bag, "Is that ok?" The bag was light but awkward to carry.

"Ya, thanks." I had to hold it away from my body to keep it from hitting my legs.

"I'll meet you out there." He turned back to a dark wooden bookshelf, taking the books and placing them carefully in more boxes. I nodded and trotted to my room to grab my sandals before going back to the rail where swarms of men gathered to watch as we approached the waterfront.