Chapter 2

I thanked Candace for her generosity before making my way down to the docks. For my disguise, I splattered my face with freckles and hid my eyes with sunglasses, putting on the auburn wig I had decided to wear the night before. I wore a white lace skirt, a light pink floral top with some white matte heels and a floppy sun hat. If you couldn't already tell, I didn't pick my outfit but I didn't mind. Sometimes the best way to blend in is to stand out. To an outsider, I just looked like your basic tourist looking to get some fun in the sun. It made sense, the sun here was almost always out and the sky a beautiful blue smattered with white puffs of cotton candy clouds. The water was cool and the beach was never crowded. But as I was leaving I couldn't help but dwell on the fact that I was leaving this magical wonderland. It was an almost melancholy feeling but I knew that I needed to move on. I had too much on the line to get attached to these things. I let out the breath that I hadn't realized I was holding when I saw the cargo ship dock in. I was almost there. Almost safe. I needn't be wary of my surroundings for I had scoped out the place beforehand. Although I wouldn't be overly cautious nor underly cautious, I was still on guard of course. As I walked up on to the platform of the boat I saw what I assumed was the captain of the boat, due to that dumb oversized cap thing she was wearing. She noticed me patiently waiting for her attention and came up to me. "Hello," I said with a calm tone "My name is Hannah." Ugh, I cringed internally. Hannah was the name Candace decided for me though I wanted to name myself something less basic like April or Harper or something. But due to her hospitality, I uttered not a word of my grievances for I was grateful for her kindness and her other, let's say interesting, skills. "Right, Candace mentioned you" Her sudden words snapped me back to reality. "I made up the cabin for you. The trip back to the mainlands takes two weeks." My eyes practically bulged out of my head. Two weeks?! Candace didn't say anything about the trip taking that long. I sighed a little and followed her to my cabin. It was bigger than I expected but there was still not enough room to be overly comfortable. I thanked the captain for the room. As she was about to leave when I asked: "I don't think you've told me your name is." She smiled and said "Oh, You're right. I didn't" then left without another word. I was a bit confused but also intrigued. I didn't mind a bit of mystery. Mystery was hot. So was she. I flopped down on the bed and let the calm rocking of the boat leaving the harbor to lull me to sleep.

I awoke with a start. A kitten was sleeping calmly on my stomach. "What the fu... where did you come from?" I sat up slowly as to not wake the cat but to no avail. The sudden unexpected motion caused the small cat to jump up fall off the bed onto the floor. The captain heard the commotion and popped her head into my cabin. "That's Jasper. My handsome baby boy cat." I looked at the tiny black ball of fuzz. He jumped back on my lap and I began to pet his coat, pleasantly surprised at the softness of his fur. Jasper started to purr and curled up to my body. "He likes you." I was startled, I was so focused on the cat that I had forgotten that the captain was still in the room. Instead of her normal captain uniform, she was wearing a loose t with some light yoga pants and her cocoa hair in a tight ponytail. Yum. Very easy on the eyes. If I was going to have this view for two weeks I might as well make the best of this.