The Clockmaker and the Pirate - EVERMORE BOOK 1

Chapter 18 -- Island Somewhere in the Indian Ocean, 1 August 1650

(Edited Reupload)

We spend the night on the island that night. I realize that we seem to spend a lot of nights on varying islands, but I'm not complaining at all. It's a warm, summer night, and a clear, star sprinkled sky watches over us while we sleep. Plus, Mitch falls asleep with his hand in mine, which is pretty adorable.

Just friends, I think to myself wearily as I loosen my grip on his hand. We're just friends.

But all through the night our hands stay linked together loosely, our fingers sometimes moving ever so slightly to reposition ourselves.

I awaken only when the sun begins to come up early the next morning, and I just lay there with my eyes closed and a content smile on my face, feeling the morning sunrise spill its light over my body.

Then, I'm awakened for real by something smacking me in the face.

"Ow! What the fuck?" I exclaim, sitting up. I see the hand that smacked me, and then I see the arm that it's attached to. It's Mitch. Of course it is.

"Huh?" Mitch calls, rubbing his eyes.

"You slapped me in the face, you moron," I groan in my gruff morning voice, sitting up and stretching.

"Sorry," Mitch mumbles, closing his eyes once more.

I look around at the rest of the crew, all sleeping around the fire that had been extinguished sometime in the night. It probably wasn't wise to leave it burning, but Lindsey had calmed us down and said that magic fires weren't dangerous at all. She even showed us by stepping right through the fire without getting burned, and after K.O. had nearly had a heart attack, we all tried walking right through it. It was pretty neat, actually. It was pleasantly warm rather than scalding hot, and I felt like I could sleep engulfed in the flames.

I didn't, obviously. Maybe if I had I wouldn't have been so rudely awakened.

"When are we going to see the Alvarados?" I ask Mitch, though I'm not really expecting him to have an answer for me.

"Um...I don't know," he answers groggily, not even bothering to open his eyes and look at me. "We can just sort of sail around for a bit and see if they give us any clues to their location or anything."

"Okay, let's go," I tell him, shaking him gently so he opens his eyes.

"Right now?" He asks, squinting into the morning sun.

I nod. Mitch sighs, but stands up anyway, however reluctantly. When he gets to his feet, I can tell that he's still not completely awake and aware, and I smile fondly at him as he rubs his hand down the side of his face. "C'mon, Blondie. C'mon, everyone," he says, yawning.

Lindsey sits up abruptly at Mitch's words, and jumps to her feet, skipping to the captain cheerfully. Mitch gives her a sleepy smile as the two of them make their way to the ship, Lindsey tugging on the captain's hand.

K.O. sits up slowly, sighing loudly. "Captain never tells us anything or gives us any bloody warning, does he?" He punches Avi's arm lightly. "Wake up, mate."

Avi doesn't even flinch. "No," he groans.

"C'mon, Av. We gotta go find the Alvarados. You can just sleep on the ship," K.O. tells him, shaking him some more.

"What's the point?" Avi asks, his voice heavy with a combination of both tiredness and sadness. "Why do I do this to myself anymore? All it ends in is heartbreak and sorrow."

K.O. sighs. "Avi, I love you man, but you gotta get your head outta your ass."

Avi furrows his eyebrows, sitting up slightly. "Huh?"