Lost at Sea
Chapter 4

Jasper smelled the storm before the sky even started to show signs of it. The scent of ozone and rain hit him all at once, even though above him was an endless dome of blue. He knew they had maybe an hour before that storm hit, and they needed to be ready by then.

“Captain!” Jasper shouted to the man at the helm. Gordon looked down at him with mild irritation.

“What is it, swab boy?” he snapped. Jasper forced himself to ignore the jab for the good of his crew.

“There’s a storm brewing, sir,” he said, gritting his teeth. The captain looked up at the sky, where there were only a few clouds that were much too light and fluffy to hold any sort of rain. He laughed heartily at Jasper’s expense. “I know how it sounds, sir, but I’m never wrong about these things.”

“So you are like our own personal, what? Weather boy?” He was still laughing, jumbling his words into a confusing mess.

“I don’t know if I would call it that, sir, but-”

“There is no storm brewing, son,” Gordon growled, realizing that Jasper was serious. “Now stop spewing that insanity before you spook my crew.”

Was it too late to jump overboard and swim back to shore? Jasper stood there for a moment, debating his chances of survival if he left now. He’d admit, the odds were definitely not in his favor, but something about staying on this doomed ship with this arrogant captain made Jasper’s skin crawl.

Without another word, he grit his teeth and returned to his mop. The other men were starting to stare and whisper, but when that storm hit, they were going to regret doubting him. Johnny Boy looked down from his nest at the top of the mast, his eyes asking his silent question. Did they need to leave? Jasper shook his head at him. He already had a plan to ditch this ship the moment any rain started.

With a weary eye on the sky, he went back to his work. The sound of the ocean all around him was rather soothing, although he could tell the waves were already getting pretty choppy. The idea of what might be lurking beneath that glittering green surface locked his joints up for a moment. Could there really be such evil creatures as the sirens?

After a while, his thoughts began to wander. In his mind’s eye, he could see her-- his wife. Her flowy white cotton dress catching in the wind as she ran from him, her hair loose around her shoulders and her smile bright and happy. Her hands skimmed over the top of the long grass, her laugh bouncing like bells around them. When he finally caught her, the scent of jasmine filled his senses. Her skin always faintly smelled that way, no matter what she did. He buried his nose in the crook of her neck and inhaled as deep as he could. It was a scent he had missed in her absence.

The first raindrop fell on his head, snapping him out of his reminiscing. He looked up at the sky to find a huge, heavy dark cloud about to steamroll right over them.

“Where in the hell did that thing come from?” Captain Gordon shouted over the sudden wind. Jasper shook his head, his teeth gnashing together in anger.

“The sails!” He hollered. Instantly, the deck was alive with motion. He and several of the other set to work securing the sails, the harsh wind pulling them from their grasp every time someone slackened their grip in the slightest. Salty sea spray was whipping their eyes, forcing them to view the world through the safety of their eyelashes. The rain began at the same time that the sea began to churn in a deep rocking motion that jostled the crew and made walking an impossible task. A torrential downpour had begun without warning. The ship might as well have been submerged in the blackness of night; the sun had been blocked out by inky black clouds.

With a sickening groan, the ship tilted to the right. Men were scurrying to find something to hold onto as the floor beneath them went vertical. The waves they rode were immense, and Jasper knew that if they were caught inside of one the ship would be done for.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jasper caught a flash of color. Horrified, he turned just in time to see John slipping towards the edge. He caught his arm in a firm grasp and yanked his friend back onto the ship. Gordon was nowhere to be seen.

“So much for my plan,” Jasper muttered. The storm had started much too quickly for him to have been able to secure a lifeboat for himself and John. As if in response to his thoughts, he watched with dismay as ropes snapped and sent the only dinghy they had into the hungry waves of the ocean.

Lightning struck the mast and lit the wood on fire. It traveled so quickly that the rain didn’t have a chance of putting it out. Instead, it raced along the half risen sails as though it had a mind of its own, devouring everything in its path. Just before it reached the deck, the wave hit.

The rest happened in a blur. Jasper had stood up only to unwittingly place his foot in the center of a coil of rope. A massive wave swallowed the ship and completely submerged the sailors. Some were swept away immediately, some were fortunate enough to hold on. The ship cracked under the pressure of the water and split near in half. The rope tightened around Jasper’s foot as the helm sank to the bottom of the sea, dragging him along with it.

For a horrible moment, everything was calm. There was only the sensation of being pulled down quickly by his right ankle and the cold water freezing his very bones. He could still see the chaos of the surface through stinging eyes, but for some reason, all the terror he’d felt there had left him. Part of him wondered if this is how Eleanor had felt when those bastards had thrown her overboard.

He imagined he could see her just then. A dark shape swimming down. As she got closer, the color returned to her silhouette. Her auburn hair, those jade eyes wide with terror, confusion, and panic. Her features seemed sharper than he remembered. Were those... scales, on her cheekbones? He must have swallowed too much sea water.

However, when she reached out to touch his face, he could feel it. Colder than the water around him, but he didn’t mind. He leaned into her touch as the black spots danced in his vision. He couldn’t hold his breath for much longer.

Another dark shape floated around from Eleanor’s back. It was long, the same color as her eyes. Was that a serpent’s tail?

“I remember you,” she murmured, cupping his face in her hands. So quickly he couldn’t follow, she cut the rope around his foot and pulled him to her. Surely hallucinations couldn’t do that, could they?

The sensation of rising to back to the surface was faintly there, but he couldn’t remember breaching. Darkness rushed up to embrace him tightly, and he succumbed without complaint.

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