Everest Bounds; Upon The Shore| Book One

Chapter Four

The following night was uneasy for Kasper. He hardly ate any of the dinner Emily had made for them and excused himself early, going to his room. He stared out the window, contemplating on the offer that blonde haired captain had given him earlier that day. He had until dusk tomorrow to decide on his final answer. That wasn't much time to think about a big decision like this. He decided to talk to Emily about it. He walked out of his room and saw her washing the dishes. "Hey..mom," Emily stopped what she was doing and looked over her shoulder at her son "yes Kasper?" Kasper ran a hand through his hair before taking a deep breath "I need to ask you about something." Emily frowned and gave her son a concerned look "Kasper... what's wrong?" Kasper looked at the ground "earlier today.....I.... I ran into upper class soldiers and..I ran away from them and...I landed myself on the Everest Bounds pirate ship...." Emily's eyes widened upon hearing this information "oh Kasper..are you okay?" She walked up to him with a worried expression. Kasper nodded "yeah...I'm okay. But...their captain....asked me to join the crew......and I have until dusk tomorrow to make my final choice." Emily's frown deepened. 

The two talked for a bit and all the advice that Emily had given was, to do what Kasper felt was right. That didn't help him out very much. He decided to turn to Jackson. He waited for his mother to go to sleep before putting on his cloak and walking to his lower class friend's home. He went to his window and quietly got Jackson's attention. When the brunette had woken up, he gave his friend an angry and tired look. Kasper motioned him to come outside, and hesitantly Jackson complied. "What's up?" Jackson asked. Kasper hesitated for a moment before explaining everything to his friend. The lower class boy listened as his friend told what had happened on the pirate ship and the offer that the captain had given him. Kasper finished explaining and sighed, looking at his friend "what should I do Jack?" Jackson pursed his lips into a thin line as he thought for a moment "Kas...," he placed a hand upon the black haired boy's shoulder "it's no secret to anyone that you want freedom more than anything. You have a heart that hungers for adventure, you want my advice...take the offer. Go out and see the world. You have a dream, you have this opportunity to make it come true. Take it before you can never get it again." Kasper stayed quiet for a moment, taking his best friend's words into consideration. He wasn't wrong. Kasper's dream was to see what the world had to offer instead of a trapped society being forced to live in fear. He knew that there was a better life out there and he wanted to find it more than anything in the world. Kasper sighed "this is the same pirate crew that my dad traveled with before meeting mom. At least from what she's told me. I mean, this could be a chance to find just where on earth dad went. He used to be friends with their crew captain from what mom said so..." Jackson continued the sentence for him "so take the offer Kasper. It's not trying to figure out what the stars mean. It's chance to make your dream come true. A chance you should take." Kasper thought long and hard before sighing and giving in "you're right. I want to see the world, this is my dream and being handed to me. I'm taking it and no one call tell me otherwise." He gave his friend a smile "thanks a lot Jack, I owe you man,"

The two parted ways and Kasper finally came to a conclusion to his answer. The next day he impatiently waited for dusk to approach but he was also terrified. He knew nothing about these guys other than what he heard in the stories that his dad had told him but those were way back when his father was young. He shook the nerves off as he waited for the designated time of day came around. Once it did, he gave his mother a tight hug and said goodbye to her, stating that he would come home once they found his father.

He made his way to the harbor and spotted the tan girl from the day before, recalling her name as Scarlet. He walked up to her with a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his neck in a nervous manner "hi...," he said in a shy voice. The female shot him a glare and crossed her arms. "Do you have your answer?" She asked him in a stern voice. Kasper nodded quickly "yes! I want to join you! I want to see the world!" Scarlet's stern expression never left her but it seemed as disappointment flashed through her light brown eyes. "Fine. Follow me." She told him. She began walking away and Kasper quickly followed her back to the ship, surprising many of the members when he appeared. He stuck close to Scarlet as she continued walking. "Oi! Vicktor!" She called out in her gruff voice. The sandy blonde haired male from yesterday came jumping down from the second deck and gave Scarlet a look of slight annoyance "I was making sure directions were right. What is it Scarlet?" His blue eyes then found Kasper and an equally shocked but slightly pleased expression made it's way to his face. He walked up to Kasper and offered his hand "I'm pleased with your choice. I'm sorry if I startled you yesterday." Kasper, rose an eyebrow and sighed "now it's my turn to cut you a deal. My old man used to travel with this crew, he randomly disappeared. I will travel with you until we find my father. Once we find him, I would like for us to be taken back to Herdstra." He gave he captain a stern look before the man gave a smirk and nodded "deal." The man placed a hand on Kasper's shoulder "I'm Vicktor. I'm the captain of this crew so, what I say, goes." Kasper nodded. Vicktor then nodded his head towards Scarlet "you've already met Scarlet. Isn't she just a ray of sunshine?" Scarlet, who was about to take a swig of rum, gave Vicktor a glare "well aren't you just a charmer." Vicktor chuckled and pointed towards a man with red hair who was controlling the sails and wheel " that there is Leon." The male perked up at the mention of his name and looked towards Kasper and Vicktor, giving a small nod before returning to what he was doing. Vicktor introduced him to the rest of the crew. "And that's it. You're welcome to walk around and talk to the others," Vicktor told Kasper with a smile. After saying this he walked away but it wasn't towards the second deck like he thought, it was towards an older man. Kasper watched as he crouched down slightly and talked to him. "That's Sebastian, Vicktor's father." Said a sudden voice, causing Kasper to jump. He turned and to see the brown haired pirate known as Addison. His green eyes glimmered with friendliness, something Kasper really wanted and needed. Everyone else on this ship seemed to be a little unfriendly. "oh uh..Addison right?" the brunette nodded "yup. And you're Kasper correct?" Kasper nodded "so, wait. That man over there, is Vicktor's dad?" Addison nodded "don't be fooled by Vicktor's mature personality. He's actually only twenty years old." This information shocked Kasper to no end. Addison tugged on his arm and dragged him around the ship, showing him around and properly introducing him to everyone. Leon, despite his gruff appearance, was actually a pretty nice guy. He threw jokes around and told some pretty funny stories of the crew members, mostly Addison though. Kasper laughed at these but his attention was still stuck on Vicktor and his father, as well as Scarlet. The latter was the one that he wasn't that afraid to bring up. "Hey so..what's with Scarlet? Is she usually that unfriendly?" Leon gave a whoop of laughter and almost doubled over from it "yeah, Scarlet just always has a stick up her...." He gave a sigh and a hopeless smile "she's right behind me isn't she?" Both Addison and Kasper gulped and nodded slowly. That all ended up with Leon getting the stuffing beat out of him by the auburn haired female.

At the end of the day, when many of the crew members were resting, Kasper was busy standing by the side of the ship, leaning against the edge, staring at the sky. He jumped slightly at the sound of Vicktor's voice "pretty peaceful huh?" The sandy haired male stood next to him and looked up at the clear navy blue sky, dotted with many small shimmering lights. Kasper nodded "I can't remember the last time I saw the night sky like this, or if I even have before." Kasper admitted. Vicktor gave a small huff of laughter "when you're stuck in one place...you really don't get the chance to see what beauty the world has to offer." Kasper nodded "I guess that's true," he looked at Vicktor "so, what's your story?" Vicktor looked at him then back at the sky with a smile "I don't really have one. Both of my parents were part of this crew, back before my dad was captain and they fell in love and had me. Of course, my mother died when I was young so I don't remember her. I became captain when I was sixteen because dad was too injured to carry on with the job anymore." Kasper nodded "and the others?" Vicktor looked at him and smiled "I'm pretty sure it would be better if you asked them yourself." Kasper gave a weak chuckle "I would but Scarlet doesn't seem to like me very much." The captain laughed "that's just how she can be. Scarlet is friendly when she wants to be. Her, Leon and I are all childhood friends. Leon, like me, was born into the crew. Scarlet on the other hand was found on a shore when we were docking the ship. She didn't have a family so my dad took her in." Kasper smiled and looked back at the sky "you all have to have some amazing stories to tell then. Nothing like my life." Vicktor shrugged "you have no fun stories to tell?" He asked. Kasper only shook his head "my mom isn't the adventurous type. So..I usually spent most of my time with my best friend Jackson. We were pretty much with each other almost every second of the day. He was the one who told me I should come with you guys. I just wish I would of been able to bring him along with. He would of loved it." Vicktor smiled and placed a hand on the black haired boy's shoulder "well....you will have some stories to tell now." Kasper looked at him and he gave a smile before Vicktor let go of his shoulder and walked back to his quarters, leaving Kasper there by himself, only his thoughts to keep him company as he watched the stars and listened to the waves of the ocean. Finally getting a small taste of freedom as he looked behind him and saw the faint lights of Herdstra, leave his sight.