Black Hearted

Part 62

Sean pushed off the rail and made his way through the crowd to Mark. Mark stood by the main mast, calling back up to Wade. "Inform me the second you can see her colors!" Turning on his heel, Mark started to head for the upper deck, calling out to Bob next. "Stay on course! Bring us closer." Sean caught up with him at the stairs, grabbing his arm to tell him sternly. "Mark, I've got a bad feeling about this. We should just leave. Why go anywhere near her?" Mark turned to stare at him with blank eyes, causing Sean to yank his hand back from touching him. Mark looked directly into his eyes, stating rather icily. "Because we could use her supplies. That is why. Now get your people together. Your people will be our diving crew." Sean scoffed loudly, until he saw Mark's eyes narrow on him, asking darkly. "Is that a problem?" Sean swallowed, stepping closer to ask more discreetly. "Mark... Why are you treating me like this?" Mark lifted his head more proudly, simply retorting in a blunt tone. "Because you were a distraction. And now I'm thinking clearly."

Sean shook his head in disbelief, uttering out in a slightly broken voice. "No... That's not you. You love me." Mark reached out to wrap his fingers in the fabric of his shirt. Pulling him closer, Mark brushed his lips over his smugly and sneered out. "I enjoyed fucking you. There is a difference. Now do your job or I'll treat you like the prisoner you are." Sean's jaw dropped in complete shock. Nervously glancing across the deck toward the merfolk, he heard Mark whisper into his ear in a commanding dark voice. "Go ahead. Yell for help. I'm dying to see how immune I am to the lot of you." The hair on Sean's arms stood up. Mark was emitting energy that he had felt before. Powerful energy. Sean slowly turned his head to look at Mark and gasped sharply. Mark's eyes were a solid black with very faint shades of red that reflected the sun were his irises should have been. No sooner had he seen Mark's eyes, Mark cracked his neck like a snake, causing his eyes to turn back. If Mark was aware of the change, he didn't show it.

Mark started back up the steps and Sean staggered back to catch his breath. A set of arms wrapped around him so suddenly that he jumped. Hugging him close, Nate firmly whispered into his ear seriously. "I've been looking for you. Don't say anything. Just come with me." Sean gestured toward Mark, but Nate snatched his wrist to lower his hand. Nate was eyeing the merfolk on the ship with sudden uneasy expressions. As they reached the railing of the ship, Nate announced to Mark loud and clear. "Captain, permission to gather a diving crew from the Sea Star?" Mark gripped the railing, staring at the horizon as he answered aloud. "Permission granted. Get ready to dive when we reach her. Listen for my signal." Nate bowed his head, stating aloud. "Aye Aye, Captain." Nate then firmly squeezed Sean's wrist and pulled him up onto the rail. Together they dived into the water, but Sean just didn't understand what was going on. The swim to the Sea Star was brief and they climbed up without any trouble.

The Sea Star was even more beautiful up close. Her wood was so white and polished. He couldn't believe this was the same ship he had seen falling apart under the water. Nate nodded to a few crew members that Sean had never seen before. Leading him to the grand looking Captain's cabin, Nate opened the door and quickly pushed him inside. Unlike Mark's cabin, this was designed more like a council room. There was a large circular blue coral table in the center with high back white chairs made from the same material. Sitting around the table was Elder Hector, Granny, Devan, and Luka. They all rose to their feet as Sean entered and then sat back down as he made his way to a seat. Sitting down in a smooth chair, Sean asked Nate curiously. "What's going on? What did I miss?" Granny placed her hands on the table, dryly stating. "Well, when you decided to run off with Devan... Some interesting things came into light." Hector crossed his muscular arms over his chest to add on neutrally. "Mark confronted me after the... event this morning. He wanted to know where the Mersharks stood in this hunt for Atlantis."

Sean shrugged nonchalantly, telling them. "That's not uncommon. He probably just wanted to know if you were in competition with him over the treasure. See, our original agreement was that-" Hector waved a dismissive hand to silence him, before interjecting coolly. "I don't care. Mark's obsession with this treasure is irrelevant. What caught my attention was his scar." Sean raised an eyebrow, glancing to Nate, who mumbled out. "Mark got blood all over himself during the last guy... He was washing up a bit when Hector saw it." Sean gave Hector another shrug, slipping in. "I've seen them. Mark has a lot of scars." Hector uncrossed his arms to trace a line down his chest as he asked curiously. "Did he ever tell you how he got the one down his chest?" Sean furrowed his brow, uttering out dryly. "I don't understand what this has to do with anything. He's a pirate. My guess is that he got impaled by a sword. What does it matter?" Nate leaned forward now to change the subject gently by saying. "You saw Mark's eyes. Well, so have we. His eyes went black after the last guy reached the boat. Mark didn't let him go... He boiled the man's blood in his veins. The man jumped into the water to cool himself down and exploded."