Exᴛʀᴇᴍᴇ || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ Bᴏᴏᴋ Fɪᴠᴇ

Chapter Three//Through the Fog

Lucia
A dense, heavy curtain of mist had dropped over the ocean as we continued toward our destination. It felt like a warning, to stay away from the cursed land where we were headed. This only made everyone more anxious. The air about the ship was ominous, as we sailed slowly through the clouds. The captain had ordered everyone out to the deck, to help navigate in case there were sharp rocks in the waters. I rubbed at my ankle nervously, were Elle was resting dormant. The mare didn't fare well on boats, but I wished for her steady warmth beside me nonetheless.

Beside me, Tazi was frowning in the direction of the whales that were pulling our ship.

"What is it?" I asked, noticing the expression on his face.

"They're in pain." He answered finally, though never moving his gaze from the water. "The whales, I mean. I can... I can sense them."

"Why?" I felt my eyebrows furrow. "Are they hurt?"

"No... well, not really." He sighed. "I can't tell for sure, but... I think they're sick."

"The water around Stetriol is notorious for being filthy." One of the other Greencloaks jumped in. He had a turkey vulture perched on his shoulder, who let out a shriek of agreement.

"Well, if that's the case, then..." Tazi paused, his eyes closing briefly. A white flash appeared around him as he let his stingray out into the water. Ian rippled beneath the surface of the waves, partially obscured by the fog.

I followed the black shape with my eyes, ignoring the light stab of jealousy I felt. As Ian disappeared from view, I drew my eyes back up toward Tazi's face, which had drained of colour. He gripped the railing with white knuckles.

I studied his face, but couldn't make sense of the emotions flashing over it. "What is it?"

Tazi glanced toward me, his lips pursed together. "I think... I think the whales are dying."

The other Greencloak stared out over the water, his lips turned down. "The water can't be that dirty."

Tazi gasped with relief as Ian resurfaced, quickly calling the animal back to passive. He exhaled calmingly, his cheeks regaining some colour. "The water is filled with poisonous fish. It's really affecting the whales. We can't go any farther with them."

The Greencloak's massive vulture let out a squawk and took flight off the man's shoulder, presumably to scout ahead. He was still frowning. "We'll have to alert the captain and the others, to figure out some other way to get to land." The Greencloak sighed– I still had no idea what his name was– and added, "but in the meantime, Arcell will see how close we are to land. You two stay here." He strode away purposefully.

"So we wait." I turned slightly toward Tazi. "Do you know that guy's name?"

"Uh." The blond half-shrugged. "I've heard the others call him Vik."

"Alright." I let out a soft laugh, then turned back to stare over the water.

About an hour later, Tyler called us together in the mess hall. "So, according to Tazi and a few other expert eyes, the whales are sick." He started,  "to be clear, they're dying. Which means we'll have to either cut them free or find another way to land." Our guardian pushed his hand through his mane of black hair, the salty air leaving it stiff and standing up as he did so. "Unfortunately, the captain is unwilling to cut them lose." Tyler let out a sigh. "As  soon as Arcell comes back from scouting, we'll be taking the lifeboats to shore."

"The lifeboats?!" Sasha sounded incredulous. "There's no way we'll all fit in them! There's way too many of us!"

"Well maybe if you ate less, then we'd all fit." Zay muttered, digging an elbow into his ribs.