Sea Of Flames

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

We are getting closer to the Flamma Sea. We’ve been sailing for two days. The longest I’ve ever been on a boat was for a week. Then I was seven. I slept in a hammock and I let the waves cradle me and rock me side to side. As the waves crashed on the side of the boat. The sound was constant and relaxing. Like listening to rain fall. Like the constant hum of a fan.  It was sweet and blissful. But now it isn’t. Now the nightmares come every night. The same screams. The same pain again and again. Even Wym is becoming more and more stressed. He too has the reoccurring nightmares. Now they mean nothing. I get it. They’re out there, they want to kill me. The one thing I don’t know is why. Why do they chase me? Why am I the victim? I just wanted to be with Orvil. Now my life is on the line. Not just my life Idella’s and Amabel’s. Pidge’s and Kipsie’s. Niklas’s and Orvil’s. Wym’s. I lay in my bed awaiting a cry. I want to hear Niklas scream we’re here. So that I can end this all.

I should’ve left them there. They would be safer than with me. I’m the hazard. I’m the reason Marlis is dead. Gavin is dead. I should be dead. Not them, they died because of me.

“When will we get there?” I moan

“A day or so.” Niklas says

“It’s all my fault. You guys shouldn’t be here. I need to figure this out. They want me.” I say

 “There you go again!” Wym yells at me “Oh it’s all about me. I figured everything out.” He mimics me

“It’s not all about me! It was me who was almost killed as we all know for a fact.” I protest. Heat wells up inside of me. I’m not that selfish I know it’s about me but it’s also about him.

“Who was the person who started having the dreams? Who figured out where we needed to go? Who figured out about the spy?” he says.

 It was never just about me. It still is that way. I jump off my bed.

“They want to kill all of us too. You lost Marlis I lost Gavin!” he cries. I see tears well up at his eyes. “When you wouldn’t talk to me Paralee, he would. He was a better brother to me than the sister you are.”

Needles. I feel the needles stab my heart. How could he say that? I never understood how much this hurt him. I feel the tears sting at my eyes. No. Don’t cry.  His cheeks are flushed and I can tell this hurts him just as much as it hurts me.

“Both of you need to cool of!” Kipsie says “Paralee you’re just upset I get it. Wym you’re upset too. But this has gone too far.” She stands between us. “We can’t break our group now. As tears fall the fire grows.”

Her words strike me. I was so absorbed in my argument I forgot everyone else was here. Kipsie looks from me to Wym, shooting daggers with her gaze.

“She’s right. It’s not about anyone anymore. It concerns all of us.” Pidge says

“We need to stick together.” We say

And suddenly I get it. If I stand alone, I will perish. But the loss is greater if I stand alone. I need them. We need each other.

***

Niklas suggested that we stop at an island. We’re running out of food, and fast. But the island seems full of food for us. I walk along the sand trying to distract myself. In the distance I see a sparkle coming from the sand. I walk over and search. I see something silver. I dig a little deeper and it seems quite small, yet shiny. I dig more and see what I dread the most in the sand right in front of me. Clara’s dagger.

How did it get here? Who put it here? A small thought occurs to me. When I lost the knife I thought that the spy had stolen it back. To hide the proof or Marlis’s murder. If the spy did take the knife, and buried it here, the spy must be near. Possibly on this very island this very moment. I shiver I have to tell everyone. It’s not just me now. I accepted that this morning. So they all must know.