The Wandering Knave of the Seven Seas: The Voyage of Neptune's Mermaids

Chapter Ten: Wicked Glee

For a long and dreadful moment there was complete silence and the tension of the room slipped into a frightening foreboding, as if we had slipped entirely away from the stone, cold hallway and into a dark abyss, waiting impatiently for reality to right itself again. The waiting was agonising. But it was nothing compared to what happened next.

            Everything started happening simultaneously as the world rushed right back to me. Andy’s scarred face was upturned in incredulity as he began to process what was happening to his body, and then it changed abruptly to a deep sadness and betrayal before he went slack and fell, unconscious, to the cold, hard floor. William jumped forward at that same moment with a cry, but not to catch Andy. Instead, he yanked the now empty vial from my hand with a harsh force. Silvery dust was scattered everywhere and now danced in the air teasingly, accompanied only by the shimmering candle light that now seemed excessively too bright. The shine of the light caught my attention first. But what I would notice after that would only make the brightness seem nonexistent.

            And then, William shouted, “What the bloody hell did you do that for!?”

            I was immediately taken aback and turned my thread of attention away from the silvery dust still hanging in the air to the frantic Pirate. He was holding the vial out, as if that were proof enough of his outburst. I did not hear when Andy had hit the ground, but I could still glimpse the memory vividly as it pounded behind my insufferable headache. William’s anger did not replicate within me. I was shocked. Scared. Confused.

            And a wicked sense of glee had taken a tight hold of my stomach.

But then everything seemed to hit me again.

I fell down beside Andy, whose eyes were flickering as he fought what seemed only like sleep but what I knew would probably turn out worse. I leant over him and placed a hand against his forehead, so slick with sweat that I almost slipped off. The clamminess of his skin had only proved the worse. I was shaking. “Oh, Andy…”

William was grumbling impolitely behind me but I barely noticed that the harsh words he uttered in a fierce whisper were directed at me. When I did catch a curse intended to undermine myself as a woman, I turned to stare at him, more so confused with what I had just done then with the anger to correct him. Adrenaline was sneaking relentlessly through my body, and the darker part of my brain relished the twisted and sadistic excitement I felt about it. I was sick to my stomach.

“William?” I demanded, my voice tight, “What did I do?”

“What did you do!?” William shouted back. The anger in the tone bounded down through the halls so loud I cringed. Some part of me warned against someone hearing, that perhaps the guards had resumed their stations. William, at this moment, was not thinking clearly enough to care. “The dust—the very bloody dusty still floating around this insufferable place—was incredibly valuable. And now there is nothing left. That, my dear wench, is what you have done. Count yourself lucky you are still breathing.”

Rage boiled underneath my skin, heating my entire being until all I felt was a white hot anger seeking the powerful urge to have something burnt underneath it. The rational part of my brain screamed for a taste of fresh air or some water to cool the flames. I shot a dark look of loathing at William and no longer did I see him the way I had only a few nights before, when he had burst from his wooden containment to slay a dozen Pirates with a fierce vengeance that had thrilled the enthusiast in me. I saw him now as nothing but the Pirate he truly was, and one I was beginning to fear more then I had feared Horingold. But that fear only made my anger roar louder.