Puella Magi Makayla Magica

Chapter 7 Under Cover of Moonlight

"Are you sure this is ok?" I ask.

"Course it is. We're only borrowing them." Natalie turns to smile back at me.

"But why does it have to be me?"

"Because you're small enough to crawl through the vent and get to the boats." Natalie casually walks across the wooden docks as if she's meant to be here. Meanwhile, I hang back a few metres and semi-crouch while trying to copy Natalie's movements. Every time a boat creaks, I feel like I'm about to jump out of my skin as I freeze for a brief moment to make sure no one else is here. The bright, full moon doesn't help my anxiety either; it allows me to see everything and anything. I can see the individual ropes on a sail, the steering wheels inside some of the boats through the windows, pretty much everything. Most people might see this as a good thing, but for me, the more that I can see, the more exposed I feel as I imagine someone watching two silhouettes walking around a place they shouldn't be.

"Wait here," Natalie says. I turn to look at her only to see she's disappeared. My heart leaps into my throat for a second as I look around for Natalie when I hear something creaking above me. I look up and see Natalie hanging onto a pole, leaning over a vent and twisting her hand in front of the vent. Soon, I hear a metal ping on the wooden dock. I look down and see a screw rolling toward a gap in the planks. I need to grab it, or that vent will be missing a screw and we'll be discovered. I quickly snatch it up and open up my palm. The screw barely reflects any moonlight and sits almost pitch black in my hand. I distract myself by rolling it back and forth in my palm until I hear another metal ping. I quickly snatch up the next screw and the next and the next. When Natalie takes out the last screw, she grabs the vent and haphazardly tosses it to the ground, creating a loud crashing and banging sound.

"What the hell!?" I say in a kind of whisper yell.

"What? It's not like anyone is here." Natalie replies.

"Yeah, but..." I start, but Natalie slides down the pole and grabs my hand. She then moves my arm over her shoulders before picking me up onto her back like she's a fireman or woman in this case. She then climbs the pole again until we reach the vent. She then plops me down where I'm just hanging onto the vent. I quickly climb into the vent. The metal makes my hands and knees cold, and I can feel a breeze blowing past my back.

"Get going, girl," Natalie says as she smacks my butt.

"Eek!" I squeal. I wasn't expecting a smack on the butt. Why'd she do that? Is that like sexual harassment or something? I don't want to say anything while I'm in this position, so I crawl as fast as possible to the other side.

Once I crawl through, I drop down into a pitch-black room. Like, it is seriously dark in here compared to outside, where the moonlight is so bright the water gives me a silhouette. I fumble and drag my hand across the wall until I come across a bump. Feeling around, I feel a smaller bump which I can push in. As soon as I do so, the room lights up, blinding me for a few seconds. It looks like a wooden storage shed with many different coloured row boats. Some are plain white, while others are yellow, red or even black with racing stripes on them. I make my way over to the wooden door and open it to find Natalie standing right in front of it.

"Took you long enough." She says as she skips past me.

"Hey, Natalie," I call. She turns around. "I... I don't appreciate the smack on the... uh... on the butt." I say.

"Oh, come on," Natalie says as she walks up to me. "It wasn't so much as a light tap, and besides..." She leans in toward my face. "It's only a little teasing." She taps me on the nose. This girl! She's really starting to make me angry. I ignore my feelings for now and follow her while she browses the boats. There are so many choices I'm not sure where we're going to even start. There are a lot of cute designs, like the light blue one with pink flowers or the yellow one with a black racing stripe. There are also a lot of boring, plain white boats. "These will do," Natalie says, looking at two boats. One is pure black with a purple racing stripe, and the other is dark green.