Second Star (Niall Horan)

Chapter Eleven

"This woman will be hurt in the way that only women can be hurt, boy." Clarissa whispered to Peter, eyes locked into his as her hand glided across the water.

Peter nodded, quietly absorbing the information she was telling him, trying to maintain his composure.

"She is losing hope, Peter. Anything she might have had to keep her going is gone."

"Gone?"

"You have to convince her to keep going. She needs to know that there is a way out, she just needs to hold on."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Asked Peter, glancing back towards Niall and Keon.

"Go tonight, after the sun leaves the sky. You will be able to find her."

"What am I supposed to say--"

"Peter, Peter, help me." Keon called across the room, Clarissa leaned up towards him quickly.

"Anything that will make her hold on."

"Peter, please!"

Clarissa pulled back and snapped her head towards the shouts of the young boy. Seeing Kaliope gripping onto Niall's forearm she called out,

"Kaliope, stop."

Kalliope turned her face, let go of Niall and dove down into the deep water.

She turned back to Peter once more, whispering into his ear.

"Go tonight. Go alone."

"Right." He nodded. "We should go."

Peter had spent the rest of daylight working to tire and distract Niall, while still trying to distract his own mind from what Clarissa had told him.

He carried on as usual, with the occasional questioning looks from Keon that filled him with dread.

He sat with this for hours, trying to understand what Clarissa meant by "only way a woman can be hurt." What did that mean? How was he supposed to give her hope? How was he supposed to go there and potentially not be able to bring her back? The situation was already sensitive enough between he and Niall, what would he be able to say?

Eventually, he couldn't sit with the silence anymore. For the first time, his brain had too much moving around inside of it.

"Keon."

Peter sat on the edge of his bed, nervously scratching his fingers across his palm as Keon looked at him with concern. Taking a deep breath, Peter finally confessed what had been distracting him all day. "When I talked to Clarissa, she said that something bad would happen to her, and I needed to stop it."

"What do you mean?" Keon made sure the curtain was shut, responding to Peter in a low tone.

"She said something about, I don't know, the way only "women" can be hurt?" Peter replied, puzzled. "I don't know what that means, I wanted to ask you if you understood it."

Keon hesitated, and the thought fell into his mind for merely a moment before he shook it out of his head once more, not wanting to think of that.

"No, Captain."

Peter nodded. "She told me to go tonight to find her. She said I needed to convince her to hold on, whatever that means. But she said--"

"Do you want me to come with you?" Keon cut him off. "Do you want Niall to go with you?" He added, whispering in case the man was listening in.

"No, no, you need to stay here and take care of the rest of the boys. I don't want him freaking out and trying to follow me."

"You're not going to say anything?"