The next day, they decided to leave for Hanaleese's island.
The ship was enough for all of them. They brought weapons. Many many weapons. Deus had not seen such number. Even in the armory of ISOP and Sentry Academy.
"So, these witches are going to use all these?" hindi makapaniwalang palatak ni Malik habang nakatingin sa napakaraming chests na nasa deck ng airship.
"I'm not even sure that they can handle a knife," paingos na sabi ni Tiana. "I mean, look at them."
Tiningnan naman nina Deus at Malik ang grupo ng mga witches na nasa isang grupo at nakadungaw sa dagat. Amazed na amazed ang mga ito habang nasa ere sila.
"They might look like they can't handle a knife but we really don't know the extent of their abilities. We don't know them so don't judge them," sabi ni Deus sabay tapik sa balikat ng kakambal.
"Oo nga. Sama talaga ng ugali nito. Nandito ang mga 'yan para tumulong. 'Wag mo nang pintasan," ani Malik.
"Sipsip mo talaga," sagot naman ng dalaga at ngumisi lang si Malik.
Mula sa lower deck kung nasaan ang cabins ay lumabas si Gaius na humihikab pa. He had been traveling for days. Nagpahinga lang ito saglit para makabawi ng lakas.
"I can't imagine how you survived that one-year travel you had," bungad nito kay Deus. "Twelve days lang ako but I'm beat."
"You think you can fight in that state?" tanong ni Deus.
Gaius looked at Deus as if he said something funny. Hindi na lang kinulit ni Deus ang kaibigan. He knew Gaius could handle this. He wasn't the new director of Sentry Academy for nothing.
"What's happening to her?" sinenyas ni Tiana ang direksyon ni Garren na nakaupo sa sahig ng deck. Busy ito sa pagbabasa ng mga spells sa isang lumang libro. Sa tabi nito ay si Greg na halatang nag-aalala. "Kari is safe in Harkans kasama sina Benny at Lily."
Turned out, Benny was really a stable Turned. Mukhang na-tame nga ito at hindi lumalabas ang pagiging aggressive ng nature nito. And Lily was just a kid. Kung sakaling lumabas ang pagiging Turned nito, kaya na itong pakalmahin ni Benny. At thankful sila sa babae dahil nagawa nitong makahanap ng malaking backup- something they couldn't do.
"Nag-aalala siya kay Bleik," sagot ni Malik.
"Obviously,"'pinaikot ni Tiana ang mga mata na ginaya lang ni Malik. "But she doesn't have to act crazy."
"She's not acting crazy. She's just reading," kunut-noo namang sagot ni Gaius.
Tinitigan ni Deus ang babae. Tiana was right. Hindi ganito ang normal na Garren. He'd known her for months and she was definitely different.
Her hands and lips were moving along with her eyes. She was reading loudly at bigla na lang titingin sa paligid na para bang may nakakuha ng atensyon nito.
Deus didn't want to see it. He didn't want to admit it but, Garren was acting... really really different.
Naramdaman yata ni Greg ang mga tingin nila kaya tumayo ito at lumapit sa kanila.
"Is she okay?" tanong ni Tiana saka ininguso ang direksyon ni Garren.
Umiling si Greg. "I am not sure. Okay naman kung kakausapin mo. Like normal. Pero she's doing a lot of things na para bang siya lang ang tao sa misyon na 'to."
Nakita nilang tumayo ang babae saka tiningnan ang mga dalang weapons ng mga Converts na para bang in-inspect ang mga 'yun.
"What is she doing?" tanong uli ni Tiana.
BINABASA MO ANG
CURSED
FantasyBleik had a wonderful family and friends. Everything was good. The boy she had a crush on had eyes on her too. But on the night of her eighteenth birthday, everything changed. She wasn't worthy to have everything she had. Now, she was alone.
