Chapter 11
Naia
After lending Dylan the water tear to help him with his research, I returned to my daily duties. I had to wash the crew's things. There was a small room in the hold for that purpose, and I was walking towards it, my arms full of clothes, when Morgan stopped me.
“Hey Naia, need some help," he said.
“No thanks, I'll manage,” I replied.
“Actually, I have a question for you?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
When I had laid down my burden, I turned to him. And I didn't really like the look in his eyes.
“How did you heal everyone on Swan Island?”
“I don't understand,” I said.
“You were the only one who wasn't affected by the evil that took us all. You were the only one who looked good when we had trouble breathing. How did you do it?”
“I already told you that I was affected. At the same time as you, that's why you didn't see anything,” I replied.
“Well, how do you explain the fact that the captain or Ondine and the others started to get well the moment you arrived at them?”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
I knew that. I saw that he was suspicious. He wasn't fooled. But I wish he had been. It would have been a lot easier if he had been. How was I going to get out of this mess? I had no idea.
“On the contrary, I think you know very well what I'm talking about and you refuse to tell me. I understand that you have reasons to hide what you're hiding, but don't take me for a fool, Naia," he declared firmly. “I know very well what I saw, and you have the right to keep your secret, but please don't insult me.”
“I'm sorry," I replied in a small voice. “You have to understand that I've been hiding all my life, it's hard for me to trust anyone.”
“I understand, but you can count on me. I won't say anything.”
“Not even Dylan?" I said.
“No, not even to him. Your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you.”
Then he went off on his own, leaving me to clean the pile of clothes by myself. Ah, this day was off to a good start!
Chapter 12
Naia
“What are we supposed to find this time?”
“I don't know, but I think it's going to be dangerous. The valley is going to test us once again to see if we're worthy of the treasure.”
“And what is this famous treasure?”
I was intrigued by it. I was hearing about it everywhere but I had no idea what we were looking for. I didn't know it was such a big secret.
“I don't trust you enough to tell you that," Dylan replied.
“Oh, my! But I reassure you, I don't trust you either.”
“I would have been surprised if you have.”
The captain let out a small laugh. I had the impression that he liked our verbal jousting, that it amused him. He didn't even want it to end.
“Are you going to let me go with you this time?”
“Yeah, well, if I say no, you're still going to find a way to join us, aren't you?”
“Yes, totally. You're getting to know me a little.”
Which, frankly, was starting to scare me. The more he learned who I was, the more he was going to understand my actions and the more my vision of the two of us together was going to come true. And I didn't want it to.
“Just a little. But enough joking, you proved your worth to us so yes, you have earned the immense pleasure of accompanying us.”
“The great pleasure? Be careful, soon your ego will make us capsize and we'll all end up overboard," I laughed.
“Oh no, you've got me figured out. That was always my goal, you know!”
Suddenly we were laughing our asses off. It felt so good to let go. I think it was one of the few times I could let go and not worry about what might happen to me. I felt free and powerful. And a little voice in my head told me that my neighbor had something to do with what I was feeling. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I stopped laughing and got serious again. I didn't need men in my life to be happy or to make me laugh. I was independent. I had been independent all my life.
“Are you all right?” I heard the captain next to me.
“Yeah, I just... I just remembered I had to do something," I evaded.
“Okay," he said in a strange voice. “We should dock in the night, get ready”.
“I would be.”
And I headed for the cabin that Ondine and I shared. I wanted to put some distance between Dylan and me, between these feelings I didn't want to feel and my body. I simply had to get away from it all.
The goal was to escape from HIS grasp. And I had succeeded in doing so by boarding this ship. Perhaps it was time for me to separate from the crew. I loved Ondine and Morgan, but I had to think about myself first, about my safety. Well, I had to admit that being on a ship, surrounded by pirates to protect me had a big advantage. But I was getting too close to them. Morgan had already guessed that I wasn't ordinary. How long would it take the rest of the crew to figure that out?
It was decided. Once on earth, I would go my own way. Although, I had to admit, the lure of the mysterious treasure was strong. It was the first time I had so much fun, that I was going on an adventure. And I liked it. By Poseidon, what was I going to do?
Chapter 13
Dylan
Naia had been acting strangely since our last conversation. She had shut down and didn't dare talk to anyone, not even Ondine. Had I said or done something to upset her? Believe me, this time it was unintentional on my part.
Night had just fallen. The stars were high in the sky, lighting up the passage. We had landed and following the compass and the map, we slalomed between huge rocks. I couldn't see the end of it and I was getting seriously exhausted. Was it me or the valley that was making me weak? I will never know. We walked and walked for hours, never stopping. Fortunately, this time we had brought provisions. We each had water and some food, and of course we were all equipped with swords, and a pistol for me. I didn't want to leave anything to chance on this quest.
Suddenly an icy wind sprang up. It blew harder and harder, carrying us along with it. I narrowly escaped being blown against a rock. We had to fight both the cold and the gusts of wind that swept us from side to side.
“Run," I shouted to the crowd. “We must escape the wind!”
There were about ten of us. Each one of us went his own way at my words. I watched them go, wondering if I would ever see them again. Well, it wasn't as if they didn't know where the ship was. They would find their way back, I was sure. At least I was trying to convince myself that they would.
“We have to leave," Naia said, pulling me by the sleeve.
I hadn't noticed that I was freezing until she brought me back to reality. From then on we ran as fast as our legs would carry us. We ran on for miles before we stopped, out of breath but feeling warm again.
“We'd need a fire, and a place to sleep," Naia said, her breath coming in from the effort.
“No, we have to get back to the boat to meet the others,” I retorted.
“With this light, we'll never make it. We'd better get some rest and go and get them tomorrow, in the daylight.”
“What if the wind comes back?”
“Hence the shelter and the fire," she pointed out.
Yeah, okay, she wasn't wrong.
“Let's start looking for and collecting wood," she said in a firm voice.
I nodded and set to work. We found wood easily, for the ground was strewn with it, but it was some time before we found a cave large enough for two. When we found it, I could breathe a sigh of relief. I was exhausted and starting to ache all over. The only problem was that I was going to share a cave with Naia. Only the devil knew what would happen in that situation. I was expecting the worst, believe me.
Chapter 14
Naia
Why did I stay with the captain? I really didn't know. Apparently, my heart and my brain had different ideas, as if they couldn't agree. And it was resolved by this kind of situation: the captain and I in a cave, trying to make a fire.
Dylan had taken some powder from his gun and was desperately trying to light a flame with it. I'd laid the bits of wood we'd found around it, to make a nice campfire. All that was missing was the main element.
A few minutes later Dylan finally managed to light the fire, and we huddled against it. The cave wasn't big, but it gave us shelter from the wind, even though I was still freezing. The Valley of the Sun was not well named. I had to rub my arms because I was so cold.
“You know," began the young man next to me, "if we snuggled up together, we'd be warmer.”
“No thanks,” I replied.
“Too bad, you're missing a golden opportunity. No, but seriously, you know I'm right. Why are you so adamantly rejecting my idea?”
“Grrr, fine, but hands off, okay?”
“Yes, yes, I'll be good as gold.”
“I don't know why, but I don't believe you," I said, moving to stand next to him.
A strange feeling came over me. We were skin to skin and suddenly I gasped. I didn't quite understand what I was feeling. It didn't make sense.
“I promise I won't do anything to you.”
“Anyway, if you try anything, I'll cut your hand off.”
At these words, he laughed. I liked it better when he was like that, when he let loose and could be himself. It was refreshing.
“It's weird to see you like this," I admitted.
“What do you mean?”
“You're less of a boss, more of yourself. You don't often reveal yourself, do you?”
“No," he sighed. “As a pirate, you have to watch out for everything, I don't have time to focus on myself. I think of my crew first.”
“That is honorable. How long have you been a captain?" I asked, a little curious.
“It's been almost five years. I took over my father's boat after he died, he admitted. And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Don't you have a family?”
“I never knew my father, even though I know who he is. I know that he helped me do certain things, that part of me came from him. As for my mother, she died when I was little. Since then, I have been surviving as best I can.”
“That's something I understand very well. My father was a bastard, he beat my mother. So she left and I never saw her again.”
“Wait, what? She left you alone with him?”
He nodded his head. In his eyes I could see that he was holding back part of the story. The most horrible part. Because I could feel it. He too had been abused by his father.
“You're better off without them. They didn't deserve you. I can't believe parents would do something like that. This is... I don't have the words," I said, anger bubbling up inside me.
“It is cruel, abominable, monstrous. It is all of these things and more.”
I could only agree with him. Learning what he had endured as a child opened my eyes. I understood better his resentment towards me when I had landed on his ship. Why he had treated me that way all along. I understood him better. The real Dylan.
“I guess we didn't have very good parents. Your father abandoned you, for me it was my mother. I guess we have more in common than we thought.”
“At least you got away from your father," I muttered.
“Yes, but it took time.”
There was something wrong with his words. It was like he wasn't telling me everything. But then again, I had my own secrets too, so I had to respect his choice. We weren't even friends and he had confided in me a lot about his terrible childhood. Suddenly I didn't feel like talking anymore. I was exhausted and wanted only to sleep. I lay down, Dylan doing the same beside me. My eyelids closed on their own and the next thing I knew I was in a deep sleep.
Chapter 15
Dylan
Still stunned with fatigue, I opened my eyes with difficulty. The light blinded me, but I gradually got used to it. Then I was able to open my eyes fully. And the scene before me astonished me. I was lying on the ground in a cave, holding Naia in my arms. She was snuggled up against me, resting her head on my chest. She was fast asleep.
How could this happen? Okay, I was tired last night, even now. But seriously, we were acting like an old couple who had known each other and lived together for years. And that was clearly not the case with Naia. It was borderline if we could stand each other. Except for last night when we'd had a great talk. I had felt confident and told her the truth about my parents. Few people knew about them, even in my crew.
I wanted to remove my arm, which was stuck under the girl's body, but I didn't want to wake her up. I had a choice between waking her up so I could move and thus get into an uncomfortable situation or not moving and pretending to be asleep until she finally woke up and got up, freeing my arm at the same time. I was leaning towards the second option as I could escape an awkward moment.
I did not have to wait long before she woke up. I couldn't see her reaction but I felt her freeze. Why did she freeze? I have no idea. She must have been feeling uncomfortable like I had been.
“This can't be happening,” she whispered to herself. “There's no way that's going to happen. No way.”
I couldn't understand anything she was saying. What was supposed to happen? Why was she adamant that it would never happen? I decided to keep my eyes closed to see what she would do next.
She stood up suddenly, releasing the weight on my arm. I heard her pacing back and forth, thinking and muttering under her breath. She was thinking hard about what she was going to do, but I couldn't understand why. However, I was glad she didn't notice my trickery.
“Well, Naia, there are only two options,” she said to herself, “stay with Dylan and risk him discovering my secret and my vision of him and me together coming true, or leave, losing the protection of the pirates and knowing that HE can find me.”
What? There was too much information all of a sudden. What do you mean her secret? She and I together? Who was HE? Did she really want to leave? I was stung to the core. I wanted to find out what she had meant by that. Starting with: What do you mean she and I were a couple? Did she have feelings for me? Okay, I was good looking, but she hadn't really seemed interested in me. It was quite the opposite. Unless she was afraid I would notice and pretended not to like me. After all, she had lent me her precious water tear, and had helped me last night. I was going to have to look into it. Ah, women, they mess with our heads! They're real magicians!
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