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Imade my way across the deck, striding toward the helm where I planted myself. With my back to Katrina and her friends, I gave the ship’s wheel a firm tug. “Well looks like we’re all set, crew. Any more last-minute interruptions I should know about?”
The trio stared at me, glancing back and forth between me and each other.
“I’ll take the silence as a no,” I lashed. “Then make sure your things are on board. Everything you need for a few days. Because once we’re out there, we’re not turning around.”
“We should already be gone.” Katrina stepped forward. “Let’s go.”
I smirked at the signature Katrina bossiness I’d come to know and love. She was right though. We needed to get going. Every passing hour in our time was who-knew-how-long in Milo’s time.
The three scattered across the deck, scraping their belongings together and bringing them in from off the deck. I looked out at the sea ahead. Of course, this voyage would be different from those of my glory days as captain of a fleet ship. There were no canvas sails or wooden wheels. No twinge of ropes, scuffle of boots on the deck, or yelling overhead from the crow’s nest. But I couldn’t help but feel that something was still the same. That feel of the rush of the sea air on my face as the ship surged forward, mixed with the ever-constant roar of the ocean parting as we sliced through the water. There was no place like it. The sea was still my heart’s desire, even though she’d broken it so many times. What was one more?
We’d been out on course for a few hours when Katrina appeared by my side at the helm. By the way she didn’t say a word, I knew she wanted to talk.
“How’s your mom?” I asked, keeping my gaze focused ahead at the hypnotizing blanket of blackish blue.
“She’s still asleep,” Katrina sighed. “I’ve had to sing to her twice now to keep her out.”
“At least it’s working.”
“Yeah, for now,” Katrina tossed her hands out in front of her expressively. “But what about when we get there? What am I supposed to do with her then? Do we have a plan?”
I leaned forward, propping my elbows over the helm as I stretched my shoulders. “One thing you’ll learn soon enough, love, is that the plan always sorts itself out at the right time.”
Katrina pressed her lips together. I didn’t think she liked my answer.
“Don’t worry,” I reassured with a smile. “You’ll see what I mean. The sea doesn’t take kindly to plans. If she hears you trying to make them, more often than not she’ll rearrange them for you.”
“I thought you weren’t superstitious.” Katrina raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not. Just experienced.” When she didn’t respond, I glanced her way, just in time to see her watching the sky on the horizon, probably looking for that damn bird again.
The ocean certainly wasn’t finished with her surprises. She never was. She’d given me the best and the worst of them. A life of adventure, a brotherhood on the sea, a curse worth dying to end, and a love lost in the same place I found it. Serena.
I ached to go back to that time, our first night together, like we’d known each other all our lives. I’d been out walking the shoreline, wasting another night in hell. I saw a girl, and I watched her diving from a distance. When she never surfaced, I ran to check on her. She came up for air effortlessly, easing my fears. But then she saw me, smiled and said hello. I wanted to run, because a ghost shouldn’t be seen, but I was held prisoner by her beauty. And I’d been so deprived of a woman’s touch for so long...
She told me to stay there on the shore and wait for her, and then walked out of the water to meet me. She kissed me, before I even knew her name. And then we fell to the sand, where I sat as she climbed onto me. With her legs locked around my sides, she tugged at my pants, wriggling them down just enough to free me. I was terrified and unsure, not even knowing if I was capable of feeling this fleshly pleasure in my damned state. But I pulled her tiny swimsuit down around her hips, my fingertips yearning to feel the heat of her skin. I couldn’t, but I went on anyway. And there on that empty shore, astride me, she took me in her beautiful hands and made me fall apart, as if she’d known me all my life.
She went on teasing me with touches I would’ve given anything to fully experience. I groaned with both desire and frustration, but the faintest sensation alone was enough to keep me going. I knew I shouldn’t have been doing this here with this mortal girl who had no idea I was dead. But I couldn’t bring myself to stop her when she guided me right into her. It was like gulping from a fountain for a thirst I couldn’t quench. Still, I let myself go, my only option to imagine the tightness and warmth as she moved. I kissed up and down her neck anyway, though I couldn’t taste her sweat. I teased her through her swimsuit top, though I could only conjure up guesses in my mind of the sensation of her arousal. I couldn’t feel any of it on my body, but I could feel the pain of wanting her so badly it hurt. And even that was enough to make me lose myself, coming undone beneath her while she sat with a satisfied smirk and bewitching look in her eyes that lured me in like the fresh scent of lilies and coconut.
She kissed me, her full lips toying with mine, as though to say thank you for those few fleeting moments of pleasure. Little did she know despite my body's physical reaction, I hadn’t felt any of it beyond the reaches of my mind. If she’d known how my curse hindered me, would she have come to me like that? We were just two strangers on the beach, driven by some primal mutual instinct.
“What’s your name?” I asked her, once I could catch my breath.
“Serena.” She cooed, her own breaths still shaky. I can’t forget the first time I heard her say her name. It fell on my ears like heaven. I thought we’d part ways and I’d never see her again. I told her goodbye, because I had to keep from hurting her. But I couldn’t stay away, and I found her the next night. And the next…
“It always looks the same from up here.” Katrina sighed, whisking me right out of my daydream. “But underneath it's so different, always changing, deep then shallow, vibrant then dark.”
“It’s not the view up here that makes it so special,” I said. “It’s the hope of what’s just over the horizon.”
She smiled at me with a soft nod before turning to go as if she’d grown bored. Not that I could blame her. We’d already been at sea for hours and there wasn’t much to do besides mull over the reality of where we were headed and what that might mean. I listened as her footsteps faded on the deck floor, and I couldn’t help but chuckle when I heard them coming right back seconds later.
"So... what’s over the horizon then?” she chimed. “Do you know where this Bastian guy is? I mean I know he’s in Cuba, but do we have a plan for exactly where we’re going?”
“Sure do,” I smirked. “La Isla. An old pirate haven about 60 miles from the mainland. It’s had a collection of names over the years, but I think your most recent maps would show it as Isla de la Juventud.”
“Isle of Youth,” Katrina muttered under her breath. I watched her searching the place on her phone. I could tell she’d found it when she glanced up with a worried expression. “Doesn’t look like there’s much of anything there...just forest.”
“Good to know it hasn’t changed,” I looked over her shoulder. “Should be easy to dig up old Drake’s hideout.”
