You're Different, Are You Not?

Chapter Four: Different

"Hold here till I say!" Angelica called to the crew as we reached a stop of rest. Philip walked over to a root of a massive tree and set me down onto it.

He helped me adjust the white shirt. I think he would've been able to see something but he kept his eyes on my face. I wasn't very surprised by his self control. It seemed like the kind of thing he would do. Philip got onto his knee in front of me(he wasn't proposing). He stared at me.

"Such beauty." He whispered, seeming to be mesmerized. "Surely you're on of God's own creations, and not a descendant of those dark, creatures who found no refuge on the Ark."

While he was carrying me he had told me a little about his religion and why he wore the cross around his neck. I actually found it quite interesting, Christianity. He was talking about the story of Noah's Ark. A man named Noah built a huge boat because God told him that He was going to flood the Earth because too much sin had poisoned the land. So Noah filled the Ark with one male and female of every animal before the flood. God flooded the Earth and all the other people and animals not in the boat died.

He was saying that one of my ancestors must have made it onto the Ark. He was saying I was beautiful and pure enough for God to care about me. So maybe he didn't think I was an evil man-eating mermaid.

"Such beauty." He repeated and I blushed. "And yet deadly." He got up and turned around to walk away. All the things that I had been thinking vanished from my head. What was he talking about?

"Deadly? No." I replied in a soft voice.

"You attacked me." He said.

"No. You are different." I whispered. I hadn't attacked him! I saved his life!

"Different." He murmured, puzzled.

"Are you not?" I asked. "You protect." He did. He wasn't like these scumbag pirates. He was different. He protected instead of attacking.

"Did you..." He muttered, trying to piece it together. "You pushed my down out of the way?"

I nodded ever so slightly, I wasn't sure he understood. Then Angelica asked,

"Is it the Fountain?"

"No, but we are close." Blackbeard replied. "Bring the creature, cover it's head!" He barked the order to Philip. I looked down, slightly upset by being called "the creature".

"SHE HAS A NAME!!" Philip roared. My head snapped up. I was shocked at his bravery to yell at that evil bastard of a Captain. I didn't have a name! Blackbeard looked up at Philip.

"Pray tell?" He asked.

Philip looked at me. And he held my gaze for a few moments.

"She is Syrena." He replied. I raised my eyebrows slightly. I was weird for Philip to be naming me because I've never had a name. That may seem strange but we mermaids don't see a need for them. Some of us have names like Tamara, but the majority don't. Philip came back to me and picked me up.

"Cover her head." Blackbeard ordered.

"No." Philip spat back. "There is no need." I smiled in gratitude.

"Yes, there is a need." He growled. "Gunner." He nodded to the dark skinned Zombie man standing near him. He made his way towards us, a grey cloth sack in hand. When he reached us, he roughly pulled the bag over my head, pulling at my hair as he did so.

I could no longer see anything which was frustrating. I hissed at the man who wrenched me out if Philip's arms. I was extremely uncomfortable in the Gunner's arms. More than anything I wanted to be back in Philip's. I didn't know where they were taking me and I hated every second of it. The air started getting cooler, indicating night was upon us. Through the cloth I could make out flames, meaning they were lighting torches.