Your Sweet Siren Song

Chapter 16: Ophie

  I sat in my cell, staring at the ceiling. I was laying down on a small cot. I wasn't physically harmed at all, but everything hurt so much. I wanted all of the pain to go away. Just please go away.

  I had been hurting for a while. I wasn't new to loss. My parents died when I was young. I was forced to raise my brother although I myself was also a child. I lost my home more than once. After things finally started to get better, I lost my captain. I lost my childhood. 

  I wasn't new to betrayal either. Plenty of crew mates betrayed me and tried to turn me into Captain Dives. It always stung, but never this much.

  Maybe it was because all of my previous pain had been locked away. I had always had Kai by my side to worry about. This was the first time I had lost focus on him and only had myself to care for.

  I cried a bit at first, but all my tears had run dry. I no longer had the energy. There was no point in crying more. I didn't need to. I shouldn't have cared so much over someone I knew for only a few weeks.

  Even though I no longer had the energy to care much, there was still one thing that concerned me- my reunion with Captain Dives. My last encounter with him had ended poorly for the both of us. I didn't know what was going to happen to me or Kai. The most I could hope was that he would leave Kai alone, even though I doubted it.

  After about a day of laying in my cot, I heard someone walking towards my lonely cell. I didn't bother to face him. I knew who he was.

  "Ophie," I heard Vaxray say. I kept my back turned.

  "What do you want, Vaxray?" I asked. "You've already gotten what you wanted. There's no point anymore. Just drop us off and go take whatever wonders Dives promised you."

  I heard him fidget and he opened the door to my cell. I turned around, and he was holding a necklace. It has a black velvet chain with a large gold pendant hanging on it. The pendant has details of a dragon. It wasn't my style, but it was beautiful. It took me a moment to fully realize what it was. It was the pendant of a witch.

  "This is my mother's necklace. Her, my father, my little sister, and my brother were taken hostage by Captain Dives years ago. My mother had supposedly owed him something. I wasn't there when they were taken. All that was left was this necklace. For weeks I searched for him. When I found Captain Dives, I offered my service as long as he promised to free my family. I'm not very strong, but I have the brains he would need. Most pirates are dull and he knew that. He knew he would need me."

  Vaxray sat down on a small table in the corner of my cell. "I do not wish you any harm. Neither you nor Kai. You seem like a very courageous person, Ophie, and Kai…" He looked off and a blush rose to his cheeks. "He is absolutely wonderful. I would never do anything to purposefully put anyone in harm's way. I just need my family to be safe. Without them, I do not know what I would do."

  We sat there in silence for a moment. I wanted to hate Vaxray. I wanted to blame him for Aria's actions. I wanted to scream obscenities at him as I slashed him to bits, but I didn't. If I was in Vaxray's place, I would've done the same thing. I felt my eyes sting. I thought all of my tears had dried.

  "I want to hate you, but I can't," I whispered honestly. Vaxray lowered his head. He twisted the necklace in his hands. We sat in silence for a moment.

  "You know, I have been feeling even worse about this whole ordeal more so recently because I threatened that siren, Aria, the way Captain Dives threatened me."

  I lifted my head a little. My heart started to pound. "What do you mean?"

  Vaxray rubbed the back of his neck, ashamed. "I told her that if she did not help me, I would sell her and find her clan. I would kill them and sell their parts as well. It was an awful thing for me to say. I didn't even mean it."