Legend | Celeste Academy Series BK #2

Chapter 18 ♕ Dolphins and the Bracelet

After coming out of the bath in fresh new clothes, Valeriana joined the Twelve on the deck among the few crews who were joyfully passing the night through carefree singing and dancing with each other. Though their voices might've not been the best, the mood they created was so infectious that even a few of the rankers joined along.

She gazed at the hairpin she found on her hair and felt a weird sensation inside her chest. Something happened that she couldn't remember. How did this hairpin get between the folds of her hair if someone didn't put it there?

The fifth-ranker rubbed her temples as she sank in deep thought, feeling a slight headache somewhere. She couldn't have hit her head, right?

Valeriana had spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up herself in her room and trying to recover from the previous incidents that happened just a few hours before. Everything simply felt surreal that she had a hard time believing it. Nonetheless, she was glad inside to have her bracelet back at long last, and to still be alive and breathing. She could somehow make out a gap in her memory. Something happened after she had fallen off that ship, but she could not remember what.

It felt nice for the girl to not finally be covered in serpent slime as she insisted on calling it, finding the fact that it was disgusting to call it spit or saliva—which was the truth.

Tamara was skipping around in circles with her arm hooked with one of the ship's sailors, a bottle of rum in one hand as she belted out a loud, glass-shattering song to accompany the jubilant strumming of a wooden guitar and the dramatic melody that came from the accordion.

"And I find meself looking out to sea!" She screamed as her red hair wildly swayed with the ocean breeze. "Oh dear undine, please come to me!"

"You shouldn't sing that song." Charles sighed. "You might actually summon one." He told them warningly.

Under the golden, glowing lights that came from the hanging lamps, everyone stopped short in their activity and stared at Charles with open uncertainty and wonder. The silence was deafening, save for the awkward moment when one of the sailors accidentally dropped a bottle and it started rolling on the wooden flooring.

"I only wish to sing with thee!" Tamara pumped her fist in the air and broke the wall of silence.

The strumming then started again along with the cheerful clapping and stomping of those who joined the celebration. The accordion began to play its part along with the chorus of voices that started with the music and everyone resumed their activity as though nothing happened at all.

"Mmm." Valeriana simply nodded her head. "I agree with Charles on this one."

The fourth-ranker merely blew out a deep breath.

Until now, she still wasn't sure of how she was going to exactly explain to them what happened prior to her getting spat out to their ship's deck by a mischievous serpent. The Twelve demanded her to elucidate the matter to them so that they would be able to tell Rowe the next time he—or his soul, rather—decided to come by. Besides, she knew they were secretly dying to know what exactly occurred after she fell into the water and the wonders of her coming out alive and unwounded after being clearly stabbed during the demon attack. Problem was, how could she even try when she couldn't remember anything at all? Heck, she was weirded out herself. She had been trying to search her mind for answers. She was forgetting a lot, which was obvious.

"Urgh."

She was saved from answering by an excited yell. "I found us dinner!" A man exclaimed.

The crew laughed and gave out cheers of joy from the news, cups of wine hitting one another. The song didn't halt though, and only grew louder and wilder.