Reaching For You (Newtina Sequel to The Return Of Newt Scamander)

Chapter 5

(Tina P.O.V)

They were so close.

So close to reaching dry land, so close to London, so close to seeing Newt again. 

Until it happened.

Tina was suddenly jolted awake when she felt the entire ship shake violently. She had absolutely no idea what force could cause such a thing, and she knew it couldn't be good. As she tumbled out of bed her breathing turned into shaky short breaths as her heart began to pump rapidly. She wrenched the door open and luckily found Queenie and Jacob both standing outside the door. 

"Oh, thank God. Are you both alright?" Tina asked, seeing the worry on their faces. They both nodded, and Tina continued,

"Do you know what the hell that was?" Her heart continued to beat loudly, and every few seconds she could hear it clearly in her ears. B-dump, b-dump, b-dump. 

"We have no idea. There was just this horrible shakin' that made us nearly jump out of our skin. That's why we went to come check on you, see if you were alright."

"Yeah, I'm okay. What do you suppose we do?"

"Let's go to the deck and see?" Jacob suggested.

"Yeah. Grab your stuff, just in case." 

People were starting to emerge from their rooms, confusion spreading like wildfire as they asked one another what was going on. Children rubbed the tiredness from their eyes as they asked their parents what was the matter.

Tina had a feeling. A deep bad feeling, one that made you sick to your stomach to the point where you didn't want to know anything more. There must have been some kind of disaster or something-

-wait. It suddenly dawned on her, the only thing that could make any sense. 

That the ship...

...it must be sinking.

Quickly the three grabbed their luggage as they regrouped, and began to weave through the still confused passengers as they headed for the main deck. When they arrived, Tina could see a thick cloud of black smoke pouring into the night sky, a layer of black blotting out the stars in the sky like candle flames being put out by a simple gust of wind. Tina watched as crew members rushed everywhere in a panic, some attempting to put the fire out that was below with their wands. Tina looked at it, seeing the gaping hole with flames around it. Even if they could put the fire out, it wouldn't help from this ship from sinking. Haven't they tried fixing it? Then again, they might just rather get everyone off the boat first, Tina thought.

Tina didn't understand. The ocean was clear, there was absolutely nothing in the water that could have hit the ship and caused something as severe as this. It had to have been a targeted attack. It was the only explanation. But who would want to attack this ship specifically?

Tina was snapped out of her trance when she soon heard the captain yelling at the crowd of people who had formed on the deck to calm down. People were screaming, mostly children, some crying, at the horror of the fire and the amount of smoke billowing out into the sky. Tina could hear someone next to her softly muttering to themselves, "We're gonna die we're gonna die we're gonna die..." along with parents attempting to calm down their children. It was chaos. Slowly but surely, the captain got the crowd to quiet down, and soon everyone was listening intently, waiting for further instructions. 

"We have some extra lifeboats for people to take! Hopefully, we'll have enough for everyone!" At that, the crowd went into an uproar, people yelling,

"Hopefully?!" "There aren't enough boats for everyone?!" "What are we supposed to do, stay here and die!?" The captain lost control of the group once more, struggling to get them to calm down again. Crew members began pushing the crowd towards the edge of the deck, and Tina desperately grabbed onto Queenie's hand as angry and terrified people began to push against them, wanting to be the first ones on the boats. Tina clenched Queenie's hand harder, not wanting to be separated from her sister. Thankfully, Jacob was also right there alongside Queenie. Soon enough, Tina saw eighteen little boats appear, hanging by chains as they swayed with the ship's dangerous motion. A few crew members lowered the boats down to the decks level and told the crowd,

"Women and Children first!" Tina watched as women and children were pushed into the first boat, quickly filling up the seats, and in the end, held twelve women, and five small children. Tina continued to watch as the second boat began to fill up, feeling the anxious and impatient crowd beginning to push against the people in the front. They then began filling up the fourth boat, and as Tina and Queenie were forced onto it they were separated from Jacob. They screamed for eachother, and the boat began to slowly lower down and soon they could no longer see Jacob. Tina held her sister close as she felt  Queenie's hot tears on her shoulder. They continued to watch as boats were continued to be lowered down, only finally starting to board men into them at the thirteenth boat. Tina prayed that Jacob would be on one, especially for Queenie's sake. She had already lost him once, she really didn't need to go through it again, this time permanently. Plus, he was a muggle, it's not like he could perform magic to save himself.