Anette awoke to darkness. The candle in the sleeping chambers had burned completely out. Anette fluttered her eyes open, trying to adjust to the pitch black of the room.
Moonlight shown through the darkness as the bedroom door slowly opened. Anette became aware someone else was in the room. However, she still could not see through the darkness. Everything was a blur.
Footsteps tiptoed around the bed. The figure stumbled here and there, but tried to keep as quiet as possible. The body shuffled over to the right end of the room where the hammock hung.
Anette quickly sat up. The sound of the sheets made the figure stop in his tracks. Finally, Anette's sight adjusted to the darkness and she squinted her eyes, she could tell that the figure was none other than Nico. He had Captain Ren in his arms and was setting her in the hammock. As he gently laid the sleeping captain in the hanging bed, lifting his hands from under her knees and back. He carefully lifted her right arm and took the rum bottle from her grasp. He then turned to Anette.
She didn't know what to think of this sight. However, her expression said it all. Without realizing, she wore a heavy scowl upon her face.
Nico just smiled, put his right pointer finger to his dried, cracked lips and made a "ssshhh" sound. After that, he shuffled back toward the door and left the sleeping quarters.
* * * * *
Captain Ren closed her eyes as the bright, morning sunlight hit her face. She greeted the warmth kindly and let it heat her whole body. Her hands gripped the wheel of the ship firmly and the wind swept her loose, brown hair.
" 'ay Captain!" Nico called from the main deck, where his assignment was to sweep. "Do you know where we're going yet?"
The peace was broken from Ren's mind. She had tried to let go of the thoughts of where they were to sail for present time. Truth be told they were just sailing east, blindly, and had been for a few days now.
Since Anette's appearance, a week before, they had stopped at a harbor once to "stock up" supplies, when really they had done some illegal trading. However, Ren could never decide on a further destination. It is true that pirates steal treasure and goods. However they have to know a good place to steal them from first.
"It's an adventure! We don't need a destination yet!" Ren yelled back to Nico with a smile. But she was still worried how much worse the crew might get if she hadn't figured out where they were going.
Down in Captain Ren's quarters, a different sort of worry was going on. . .
Anette laid on the cot, knees tucked up against her chest and arms wrapped around her arched shoulders. Her head felt as if boulders were smashing hard against it. Pounding, aching. Her body laid on top of the blanket and pillow. She could barely breathe.
"The spell is wearing off." she whispered. "I can't take it much longer." She finally sat up through the pain. She looked down at her chest to see the necklace that had been suppressing her pain until now. She tried standing up, but another smash came from those boulders against her head. She winced and fell, stopping herself from hitting the ground by leaning against the wall. "Ugh." she balanced herself and walked along the wall to the other side of the room. "I must find water." she muttered.
Anette went down on her hands and knees, searching the wooden floor for something. ~Found it~ she thought. She felt the handle with her hand and opened the hatch. From there, she slowly crawled down the slimy stairs like she had seen Ren do a week before. "Their has to be water down here." the desperate maiden told herself hopefully.
Slipping a few times a long the way, she reached the bottom of the stairs where she found herself in a dim storage room. The only light were the holes made in the top of the ship. It was a small area with wooden crates and other different kinds of items on a table. Two small doors were on the north and south walls of the room. The doors most likely lead to the crew's quarters, that meant she had to be quiet.
"Water." she whispered. Reminding herself of the reason she was there. The pounding worsened as she looked around. The only reason she was even there was because she couldn't just jump into the sea, that would be a risk of someone seeing her. No, she was looking for a leak in the ship or any sort of place the ocean water might have found its way inside. However it was no use, no leak, no crack, no ocean water.
She then spotted a leather satchel on the table. It was round with a strap at the top to carry it. Anette took the container in her hands and shook it. She heard the glorious sound of water sloshing at the bottom of it! She popped off the lid and saw just a few mouth fulls of liquid. "It won't last as long as ocean water would, but it's enough."
Anette sat on the ground, back against one leg of the table. She pulled the necklace from around her neck. Pins and needles scrambled through her legs as she felt them transform. Her skin developed into scales and her feet transformed into one fin. She sprinkled the bit of water on her tail as a rush of relief hit her entire body.
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