THRIVE: Book One

Chapter 114- Familiar Feelings

"Alright everyone, let's get started!" Josephine shouts as she and Jones begin to ascend the stairs. Rain and I stand at the top and wait as everyone files behind them.

"How are you feeling?" Rain asks as we escort Josephine and her men to the tunnels.

"It's strange," she sighs. "I never thought I'd give up being captain, but here we are," she explains.

"Well, you're trading it in to help lead an empire. How different can it be?" I laugh as we turn a corner.

"Oh god, you have no idea." Josephine laughs.

"I still don't quite understand why you're choosing to stay," Jones adds as he rushes to catch up to us.

"Let's just say that it's complicated." Rain giggles as she turns back to look at the crew "I'm still impressed that you got this many men to listen to you. That's so cool." she states excitedly.

"What can I say, I learned from the best." Josephine smiles as we begin to enter the cave system. Rain and I each grab a torch as we began to navigate the complex tunnels, heading for Lolani's cove. The cold draft brings a chill to my skin, giving me goosebumps as we round the last turn. As we come closer to the light at the end of the tunnel, I can smell the salty sea air.

"Welcome back." Rain says as she dashes forward into the sunlight, then suddenly freezes at the exit, dropping her torch to narrowly miss her feet as it hits the ground. Josephine and I exchange worried glances as we rush forward, and suddenly we realize what had happened. During the storm, the ship had been forced onto the jagged rock, a large gaping hole had broken into the side of the hull. As I look up, I see that one of the masts has crashed down and broken off onto the ground. I quickly turn to see the mortified look on Jospehine's face.

"My ship..." she says in fear as she carefully makes her way over the rocks "This can't be happening, what the hell are we going to do?" she says as I hear her begin to choke up. I turn back and watch as the men look at their ship in horror, all quickly coming to one identical realization; they aren't going to be leaving.

"The storm must have knocked it over." Rain states as she stares up at the remaining mast.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Josephine begins to crumble as I watch her fall to her knees "Damnit! This is all my fault!" She screams.

"Stop that right now." I say as I carefully run to her "You didn't mean for that to happen, so don't even think it." As I begin to help her up, she looks terrified as she stares at her crew. Suddenly, the life they had known has been ripped away from them. No matter what we do, there is no way that we can repair the ship to be seaworthy again. As we all process what had happened, we make our way back to the temple in silence where we find Zade and Isobel waiting for us at the tunnel's opening. As Isobel peeks around us at the crew, she stares in confusion as she saw the look of stress on all of our faces.

"What's going on? They didn't want to go?" Zade asks curiously as we all begin to walk out of the tunnel.

"They didn't have a choice." Josephine sighs "My storm beached the ship, there's no going back." she explains. Isobel quickly reaches out to her and holds her hand comfortingly.

"It's okay, we'll figure something out." Isobel smiles as she walks us down the hall.

"We can't just send them back to the dungeons." Rain sighs as she glances back at everyone.

"She's right." I agree as I stop and turn around. "Head down to the dining hall, we'll meet you all there in an hour after we've had some time to discuss our next move," I suggest. Rain and Josephine lead them all there as Zade, Isobel and I stay back out of the way.

"Now what?" Zade asks worriedly "We can't exactly just let them stay here. I don't think our people are going to take too kindly to them considering that they've never seen outsiders before." he explains.

"I don't think we're going to have much of a choice in the matter." Isobel states as she begins to head down the hall toward the throne room "Let's just see what everyone says and go from there. Zade, can you grab your sister and Eloy? I'll find Cassandra." she suggests.

"On it." Zade says as he begins to rush down the hall. Once they've gone, I casually make my way to the throne room on my own, staring around at the empty halls. There have been so many people here over the past few days, the quiet was beginning to feel foreign to me. I stop as I look out one of the front windows, gazing down at the city below. The entire place is a mess, but the guard is already doing an excellent job helping everyone get things back in order. When they headed out this morning, I made sure to instruct them to help every neighborhood alike, whether it was the upper area or the slums. Everyone deserves to have a home here, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that Josephine's men are going to be here to stay.

As I continue into the throne room, I stop as I stared at the crumbled throne on the other side of the room. Suddenly, the memory begins to replay in my mind as I watch Serene fling Sona into it, instantly killing her. The image is disturbing, and I can barely pull myself out of it until I hear a voice behind me.

"Umbree?" Calem says as he carefully stepped around me "Are you okay?" he asks. I suddenly realized that I'm sweating and my heartbeat had become intense. I quickly try to shake myself out of it as I refocus my eyes.

"What's up?" I ask calmly as I walk toward my seat.

"I'm not sure if this is a good time or not, but there's someone here who wants to speak with you all," he explains as he watches me worriedly.

"Can it wait? We have a lot on our plate that we need to sort out as soon as possible." I explain, feeling more and more stressed.

"It can, but all things considered, I think you should see this one," he suggests.

"Why?" I ask, suddenly curious.

"Just trust me on this one." he insists as he goes to the hallway and waves a young girl in. She must have been fifteen or so, she looks so young. As she cautiously enters, she pulls at her fingertips nervously, seeming intimidated by me. I try to relax my composure as I study her. Her brunette hair is braided and pulled into a bun on the top of her head. Her clothes look somewhat tattered, most likely as a result of the storm.

"H-hi your Highness," she says nervously as she looks up at me.

"Welcome." I say kindly "How can I help you?" I ask. She seems to try to maintain her composure and stands up straight before she begins to speak.

"I was at the funeral for Blaze yesterday, I tried to come to you all but the guards said that you needed space." she explains as she suddenly begins to make eye contact with me "Something happened while you were all talking about him. I had never met him before, but he always seemed to intrigue me despite staying distant from Ruthus' rule. When Miss Serene talked about his past, Elias, I felt something strange. I don't really know how to explain it, but I suddenly felt connected to him somehow, I-" she suddenly stops as she sees my eyes widen "I'm so sorry, I'm not really sure why I needed to tell you this, but something was drawing me here." she explains. I stare at her in fascination as I slowly stand up, not breaking my gaze as I approach her. She begins to look frightened as I reach for both of her hands.

"Tell me what you feel now," I ask politely. She looks around before closing her eyes and focusing, I can practically see the thoughts forming in her head as she takes deep breaths.

"I'm not sure, but... you feel familiar to me. Have we met before?" she asks nervously as she begins to look up at me. I can't help but smile as I see her bright green eyes gaze into mine.

"I think we very well may have," I say warmly as I let go and walk towards the stairs in the back of the room.

"Isobel! I need you!" I shout excitedly, my voice echoing through the hall. Suddenly I can hear her footsteps as she approaches the stairwell.

"What's going on?" she calls out.

"There's someone here to see you."