The Pirate's Legacy: New Horizons

Chapter 29: On a Bed of Foam

Roger was still in the grip of Hypnosis's influence when Em opened her eyes the next morning. The canvas over the bay windows gave her enough sunlight to observe her lover's partially open mouth. His hot breaths fell on Em's face, forcing her to incline her head awkwardly so she could breathe colder, fresher air. They lay in the same side-by-side, tangled position in which they had fallen asleep. As a result, Em was stiff in places, and she suspected the leg that was placed between both of Roger's was slightly numb. However, she wouldn't have had it any other way.

Her dark brown eyes lowered to stare at Roger's mouth. Em could barely see the sharp tip of his remaining fang poking out from underneath the right side of his upper lip. She had always wondered why it was not easier for Roger to remove it since he took great pains to conceal it. Her gaze moved over to the jagged scar on the left side; it had been the outcome of the other fang being ripped out by Salamus. Perhaps it was very difficult to remove fangs?

Pulling her mind out of its musings, Em began to retrieve her limbs slowly from around Roger. Her suspicions about her numb leg were right. As soon as it slipped free, the limb became seized all over with uncomfortable tingles, like ants crawling all over her leg underneath her skin. Roger didn't stir an inch as she pulled her arms from around his neck and then climbed over him to get out of the cot.

After putting on her boots and cleaning up her appearance, Em left the captain's quarters. The morning was in full swing, shining its bright light so that it could play across the frolicking waves and watch The Jolly Roger sail over the blue ocean. There were about a dozen men working and mingling about on the main deck, but the rest must have been down below in the galley with their breakfasts. Em received the customary deferential nods on her way up to the helm.

The first mate stood manning the steering wheel. He appeared as if he hadn't gained much sleep, telling from the droopiness of his blue eyes and the way he yawned every so often. When he looked over at Em, a smile was sluggish to go on his lips. "Good morn, Em," he said. "There be a storm coming up from behind."

"Oh?" When Em got to his side, she turned sternward. An inch-tall strip of dark grey clouds sat stretched atop the invisible line where the sky and sea separated. As Em stared longer at the distant storm, her entire body was seized up suddenly in paralysis that prevented her from even breathing. The only thing moving was her thoughts, which zoomed back in forth in her mind in a panic with one question: What's happening to me?

"Daryl thinks we'll be able to make harbor at our next stop before the storm catches up," said Michael, unknowingly breaking Em out of her frozen state.

Deep, gasping breaths burst out of Em as if she'd just escaped a near-drowning. A tremor went through her entire body as the muscles and arteries regained the ability to move.

Michael threw a glance at her. Seeing the pale and shaking state she was in, he asked, "Em, what's wrong?"

Without taking her eyes off the strip of dark grey, she asked, "Are you sure this is merely a storm?"

"Huh?" Michael threw his gaze over his broad shoulder. "What else could it be?"

Em bit her bottom lip. " 'Tis just...this storm seems suspicious." She shook her head as she raised a trembling hand and placed it on Michael's shoulder. "I'm being ridiculous, I'm sure. I don't have a good track record with storms, after all. My body must be recognizing that."

"Em, do you feel that gut thing?" Michael asked in all seriousness.

"No, I don't," said the former Pirate Queen's daughter. "That shows it, then." She tore her eyes away from the incoming storm and turned to face forward. "I'll go check up on Kim. Has Daryl awakened her yet?"