Of the Sea

Chapter Sixteen

Donovan had closed the door to the cabin and pushed the dining table's bench in front of it. The banging against the hull was becoming louder, more forceful, and even though he was terrified he refused let it show for the sake of the little mermaid girl. He had given her a towel that she then buried her face in, but from the corner of his eye he would catch her peering up at him. Watching him, looking for solace. He tried his best to hide his fear as he watched the mermen bob up and down alongside the boat, searching. They became bold enough to hold onto the rusty steel, and even hoist themselves out of the water: something that caused him to gasp.

"They're going to kill us," Ara whimpered, picking up on his fear.

"No they're not," He tried to assure her, but he had no weapons, and no defense, and therefore she was right. It was in his parental nature to lie to try and bring some sort of comfort.

She began to hyperventilate. "They'll sink this ship,-" she gasped- "they'll kill you,-" and then her voice broke, "and then they'll kill me for treason."

Donovan knelt down by her, taking her shaky hand in his. "They're not going to kill you. We're going to get you off this boat, and you're going to swim as fast as you can, alright?"

She looked up at him through red-rimmed eyes. "And what about you?"

Rather abruptly the banging against the hull ceased, and silence surrounded them. By the way she trembled and hid her face, he knew this was not good. He ignored her question, and returned to the window.

* * *

Alec stood at the end of the dock, overlooking his boat to make sure everything was looking it's best for when Astrid arrived. Her call had been quite sudden, and she had sounded desperate to get over here, which he could only hope meant one thing. Truth be told, he hadn't expected her to take up his offer about going on a boat ride. Afterall, it wasn't his boat to be using, but instead it was his father's prized Boston Whaler. "270 Vantage," he could practically hear the pride in his voice as he beamed over his boat. Alec could also hear the rage in his voice once his father found out he had snuck away with the keys, but he would worry about feeling guilty afterwards. He was doing this for Astrid, because after all he did promise her this.

He had developed a crush on her at the end of their junior year. He sat next to her in Calculus and had done almost everything to get her attention, from asking questions he didn't need help with to being over-the-top annoying with his friends. No matter what, she never really gave him more than an answer or an eye-roll.

Running into her on the beach was pure luck, and it had taken every ounce of courage he possessed to invite her to the Cliffs. He had wanted to throttle Garret when he almost ruined it all, too. And the fact that Astrid had pretty much saved Reece's life only made him like her more.

Alec was so wrapped up in his admiration, he hadn't noticed her approaching him from behind.

"Alec," Her voice made him jump, and her turned around, not expecting to see her dripping wet, "we need to go."

"What happened to you? Why are you-"

"No time." She grabbed his hand, making his heart flutter, but she didn't appear to be in a romantic mood. She actually seem frantic, wide-eyed and moving quickly across the deck of the boat to the captain's chair. "Quick, we need to move."

"Whoa, wait a minute, what's wrong?" He asked her, but she ignored him and snatched the keys from his hand and twisted them into the ignition.

"You can drive this, can't you?"

"Yeah, but hang on, there's something you're not telling me."

"It's not important right now, we need to move." She urged, looking at the steering console. "Get us out on the water, and I'll explain. But please, Alec, we need to go."