Your Sweet Siren Song

Chapter 17: Aria

  I paced the deck anxiously. Every once in a while I would stop and stare out into the sea. I saw Moa whisper something into Josie's ear. He looked mildly concerned. Josie looked mildly frustrated but nodded. He walked over and leaned on the railing.

  "Everything'll be fine, Aria. Calm down," he said. I whirled around to face him.

  "Ophie has been taken captive by the King of the Pirates himself and it is all my fault. How am I supposed to stay calm? Even if we succeed in rescuing them, they hate me and do not want anything to do with me. I cannot even blame them for that." I felt my voice crack a little. I turned back around and wiped my eyes. Josie did not say anything for a moment.

  He cracked open a beer bottle I did not even realize he had been holding. He took a swig, then held it out to me. "It'll calm your nerves. Don't need ya panicking before the big rescue."

  I did not usually indulge in alcohol, but I took a small sip. I made a face and Josie laughed. He took another sip then looked off into the horizon. It almost looked like he was lost in thought. He sighed, then looked back towards me.

  "I didn't like Ophie when I first met them. Ya know, I was one of the first crewmates on this ship. I was in love with the old captain. When Ophie arrived, I was jealous of the attention they were getting from the Captain. I wanted his attention all to myself. I was a bit of an attention whore," he laughed joylessly.

  "I messed with them a bit, played some pranks. The most they'd do was throw some insults at me. They never really fought back. One day, I was messing with the wrong guys. I had been drinking and hooked up with a guy from the bar. I ended up stealing his wallet. His gang was pissed. I was attacked and beaten in a small alley. I thought I was gonna die. Then, Ophie showed up. They single handedly took on three grown men for my sake. We didn't escape unscathed but they still managed to defeat all three men. They helped me back to the Medusa and patched me up. When the Captain asked what happened, they didn't even rat me out. They told him that we had both been attacked for damarans. It was then that I decided that they weren't so bad."

  "What is your point?" I asked. Josie sighed, taking another swig of his beer.

  "My point is that Ophie is one of the strongest people I have ever met. They'll survive this. They also forgave me for picking on them. I think they'll forgive ya too."

  I turned back around. "I hope so," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

  I heard footsteps come up from behind me. I turned around to see Cerasus. "We're almost there. Are you ready?" she asked.

  I looked back at Josie for a second, who gave me a drunken thumbs up. It was as if he ignored how serious our previous conversation had been. I turned to Cerasus and nodded. "I think so."

  "Alright, I'll gather the crew."

  I took a deep breath. This was it. I was going to rescue Ophie. I walked over to the plank. Cerasus returned to my side. "Let's go rescue the Captain," she said.

  I jumped into the water, coming up next to Captain Dives's ship. A couple of his men noticed me in the water. They tried to fire cannons at me. I barely dodged them. I felt the ripples of water throw me off balance. I managed to just barely grab the latter on the other end of the ship. I started to climb it, shedding my scales.

  When I arrived at the top, I saw Cerasus battling three men at once. She somehow seemed to be fairing fine. Her cherry red hair almost seemed to float around her. Moa and Josie were taking over the cannons. I saw Josie smash someone's head in with his beer bottle.

  I looked around, trying to find where the cells might be. I finally found a trap door. I dived, trying to reach it. A tall man grabbed at my wrist and tried to stab me. I barely avoided his dagger. Suddenly, Olive came forward and started strangling the man.