Viola

Cetus

I was in a ship and it was late evening. My whole body ached as though I had been dragged through a forest.

Although, as I reviewed my last memories, I probably had.

I was in a ship and it was late evening. I was sitting in a bed, and my wrists were chained to the bedpost. The cuffs fit snugly and uncomfortably, but they did not pinch. Relief swept over me. If they pinched, it meant I was doomed to death. But they did not, which meant there was at least hope for my life, hope for a Perseus to save me from whatever Cetus trapped me in this room.

A look around assured me this was not an uncivilized ship, although a bit barren. This was obviously the captain's quarters since it located in the stern and roughly the size of my bedroom back home. Oh, home. I wondered if I should ever see it again. The captain possessed a few chests and a wardrobe, and a desk pushed up against the wall to my right. But many maps stuck across the wall with pins in various locations might as well have been a pin to my soul. This was a pirate ship, and I was a prisoner.

If only my Perseus could appear now, before my eyes.

Suddenly, the door swung open and a person appeared, carrying a lantern that silhouetted them with a red halo.

They walked around the bed, presumably to set the lantern on the desk. This allowed me to get a good look at the person.

They were seven or eight inches taller than me and wore a large hat. A patch covered their right eye and their shoes made different sounds for each foot. Although color was difficult to discern in the lantern-light, I could tell they had dusty blonde hair. Their burgundy coat swept around the room and they turned to face me.

This person was a woman. I looked up into her face and my eyes grew wide.

I had only seen this face before on a poster my father had brought home about a year ago. When I questioned him on her identity, he flew into a rage.

"This." He had pointed at the woman with enough force I was sure he would rip the poster in two, "Is the scourge of our economy. This morceau de merde could ruin France with enough people. Her crew runs less than twenty and yet she is able to steal from merchants all across the Côte d'Azur. This, Madeline, is the salope who calls herself the Lady Captain,"

The Lady Captain was almost a myth to me, something to be feared like Cetus but would never actually pay a visit. It was my worst nightmare as a small child come true.

I gaped at her. She raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you here?" I sputtered. "Why am I here?"

The corner of the Lady Captain's mouth rose upward and I noticed a jagged white scar on her left cheekbone. She, apparently, had heard something very funny.

"I am here as the esteemed Lady Captain of this fair vessel," she pronounced.

She winked, eye reflecting the red of the lantern. My cheeks heated.

"You are here to make a choice: prove that you are a useful member of this crew or be relieved of that choice by yours truly,"

"Relieved?" I questioned. I sent a quick prayer it did not mean what I feared.

She leaned forward, so much so I had to raise my head to maintain eye contact. Her hand raised in a childish gesture: that of a finger pistol. She took aim at my temple.

"Pew." she breathed. "Understood?"

I nodded furiously. God had not heard my prayer. Or perhaps, He had heard the Lady Captain's louder.

She nodded once, removed her 'gun' from my head and pretended to blow smoke off it. I had not realized how much she was leaning over me until she unfolded herself and sauntered out the room, leaving the lantern burning on the desk.

Before closing the door, the Lady Captain spotted the lantern and re-entered.

"I assure you," she added, "My hands are steady and my aim is strong."

The door closed and I was left in near-complete darkness. I stared, wide-eyed, at the spot the Lady Captain had just occupied. I do not think I blinked once in five minutes.

Waves of insecurity washed over me. My life was in the hands of the Lady Captain, who was probably insane. But one wave, one small wave I tried to ignore, begged me to bring her back.