Bermuda

Chapter 1

The water swelling in and out of the docks was drowned under a plethora of yelling voices. The frigid sea air barely broke through the layers of smog and plumes of greyish black smoke. Somewhere in the distance a loud bang could be heard, and from the streets came the rhythmic thumping of hooves and wheels.
Coal fires, dotted along the waters edge, gave out waves of unbearable heat. The men working along the dock line wore shorts but no top. Perhaps somewhere else this would be strange for a midwinters day. Not in London.

From his inconspicuous perch upon a sparsely occupied pier, Kai Salem watched the men with sharp eyes, one hazel and one blinding white. He was chewing rapidly on the ends of a stale ham sandwich. As the last crumbs were wiped off his mouth with the back of his dirty, bruised hand, the boy got up. He had wasted enough time already.

He clambered back over the pier, swinging round the edge of a wooden post before edging slowly round the corner. From it's resting place on the coal, he picked up his shovel with a sigh.

Kai knew why he had to do this. He understood. Yet he wasn't oblivious to the raw ache in his muscles. The paralytic pain of exhaustion. The scratching against his throat and lungs whenever he breathed. He wasn't oblivious to the damage he was receiving. But if he could help, it was worth it.

Lost in his thoughts, Kai barely noticed the sudden spike in activity around him. It wasn't until a beefy man knocked into his shoulder and sent him crashing to the floor that Kai started to look around in confusion. The man turned round to glare at Kai.
"Freak." He spat at the boy, turning to jog towards the shoreline. There, sliding gracefully into the grubby dock, far too majestic for the soot and smog of London, was the largest Voyager Kai has ever seen.

From the extended walkway, there came a loud thump. The click of leather boots snapped against the wood as, from what Kai could assume, the captain of the ship made his way to the cobbles below. The man was tall, swathed in a maroon velvet trench coat. As he walked, the fabric billowed around him like sea mist. Beneath was a leather waistcoat, adorned with chains. At his side hung a curved sword, gleaming and menacing in the ice white sun.

He jumped off the walkway and began to walk in Kai's direction, heading for an office situated at the end of the dock. However, he was distracted. As he stepped closer to the boy upon his elbows on the ground, the man let out a sharp breath.

Angus Maine had never seen anything like it before. The boy was intensely...hypnotising. Black veins crawled up one side of his neck, spreading in long tendrils across his right cheek to stop just below his thickly lashed eye. The iris and pupil of said eye was a shocking white, vividly intense despite being focused submissively to the ground.

The other side of his face was perfectly normal, sharp jawed and chiselled into his tan skin. A spattering of freckles rested upon his button nose and his left eye was a dark hazel.

Kai let his eyes wander to the side in shame. He hated the stares, but he was used to them by now. Cold indignation pitted in his stomach as the captain judged him silently. The activity all around him had ceased, every worker holding their breath, until a curly haired man in a two piece suit shoved his way through the crowd.

"Captain Angus Maine, sir!" The dockmaster greeted, shaking the man's hand with vigour. "Nicholas Kraut, at your service. I trust your travels have been well? Very good. Right this way, sir."

Kai rolled his eyes and pulled himself up, brushing the soot off his back. He reached for his discarded shovel with a shuddering exhale and made his way back to his station. The men around him watched, leering.

"Hey, do you reckon Freakshow over there gave the captain the homo or something?" Kai heard a guy yell, causing a ripple of laughs spread through the crowd. Stabbing at the coal with slightly force than necessary, Kai muttered profanity under his breath.
"What was that, sweetcheeks?" A man nearby asked with a slightly raised voice. Laughter clattered through the men again as they jeered and sputtered. Kai dropped his shovel with a sigh, turning to openly face his opposition.
"I was just wondering if your wife knew about Lucy. Or Elizabeth. Or Anne." Kai turned back to his fire with a grin, shrugging. "I'm not a homo, but even if I was at least I'd understand loyalty."

Shock and horror overtook the crowd as realisation hit. The man in question turned harshly to face up to Kai.
"What did you say to me, fag?" He hissed into Kai's ear, grabbing his shoulder to force them face to face.

Kai held up his hands, trying to take a step back.
"I really, really wouldn't, Ben. You're making a—okay. Okay buddy just-just STOP PUSHING ME." Kai yelled into the Ben's face. He felt a dangerous stir in his stomach.

"Oh yeah? Try me, fag." Ben whispered harshly, pushing his forehead against Kai's. There was a flicker behind his ivory eye, something electrical. Something dangerous.

"Stop." He growled. Ben scoffed.

"Tell you what, freak. You could just disappear. You could do it. Nobody would miss you, nobody would fucking care." A pulse of silver light travelled along Kai's twisted black veins.

"Stop." He whispered, feeling pulses build up in his chest. Dangerous, burning pulses. They travelled along his veins, snaking up his neck and across his face. They burned.

"The only reason you need to be alive is to look after your spastic sister. But hey, who's give a fuck if she died?" Ben leaned in close to Kai, breath stale. "One less freak to take care of."

"I said stop." Kai's voice was quiet but forced, loud static filling his head as the light came in one constant stream of scorching electricity. Ben was about to continue, but he saw the tears falling thick and fast as Kai tried to control it and cursed.

"Nicholas? Kraut!" Ben yelled, his voice unheard by the struggling boy. Nicholas came shoving through the crowd, closely followed by Captain Angus.

"Everyone get back!" Nicholas screamed, shoving at the workers who were paralysed with fear.

Sweat beaded along Kai's hairline as he was surrounded by a storm of rolling white light. His veins glowed fiercely and he yelled out in agony. He was lifted from the floor, feet brushing the air a foot away from the cobbles. His back arched towards the grey sky. A final surge tore through him, sending bolts of lightning in every direction.

He dropped from the air to the floor, and everything turned black.