“Don't let go, hoa” shouted Jayce.

“You’re heavy,” Tristan replied.

“Stop complaining and haul me up,” Jayce said as he grinned at Tristan.

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Tristan shouted back. “I have nothing to grip onto.”

Tristan felt hands gripping onto his legs and slowly pulling him back. 

They collapsed onto the deck and the shackles disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

Jayce started laughing like a mad kid on Christmas morning.

“Boys,” said a familiar voice. Tristan squinted up at the sun and saw Luna smiling and a curved figure standing beside her.

“If you look up my dress I'm going to stand on your face,” said an unforgettable voice. 

“Scarlet,” Tristan said. “What are you doing here?” 

He stood up and helped Jayce to his feet. 

“We’re off to be tested at the academy,” Jayce said, as he threw his arm around Tristan and knuckled his head. “I told you this already. We are arriving a week before classes start to get a feel for the place.”

Scarlet shrugged.

“All three of you?” Tristan asked.

Luna nodded and Jayce grinned sheepishly.

“We all received our summons a month ago,” said Jayce. “I still can't believe I’ve been invited for testing.”

“I’m not as excited as our simple friend,” said Scarlet. “But you can't refuse a summons unless you want to spend the rest of your life on the run from the academy.”

“It's only a year,” said Luna. 

“The training’s free, hoa” said Jayce. “And the food is meant to be really good.”

“Free food is the cost of buying a person’s soul,” said Scarlet as she turned away from us and walked toward the staircase that led below deck and to the cabins.

“Scars a sweetheart when you get to know her?” said Jayce.

“Really?” Tristan asked.

Luna punched his arm and Jayce laughed. 

***

The cabins below deck were tiny. Jayce and Tristan were sharing a room but the room was too small for them to be standing in it at the same time. Instead of beds there were hammocks and under each hammock was a chest that was chained to the wall so it didn't slide around in rough weather.

Tristan lay down on his hammock to give Jayce space to put away his luggage.

“I don't know if I can sleep in this thing?” Tristan said. As he wriggled around trying to get comfortable.

“Haven’t you ever slept on a ship, hoa?” Jayce asked.

Tristan shook his head.

“How’d you get to Westwind?” Jayce asked.

“I told you the story.”

“The one about Malice, flying ships and a green haired girl?” Jayce asked.

Tristan shrugged. “The story hasn't changed. You still don't believe me.”

Jayce finished packing away his gear and then threw himself into his own hammock.

“I can't say what I believe,” he said. “There are some strange things in this world.”

Jayce gestured at Tristan’s sword which was lying in the open chest below my hammock. “You completed it.”

Tristan reached below my hammock and drew the sword out of the chest.

“Feel its weight,” Tristan said. “It’s lighter than it looks.” 

Jayce waved his hand at him. “I don’t touch weapons,” he said.

“I don't like fighting either,” said Tristan. “But sometimes you need to defend yourself. Especially in this place.”

“I heard about the serpent king, hoa,” Jayce said. “Glad you’re ok.”

“That serpent didn't care if I was a pacifist or not,” said Tristan. “If Scarlet hadn't stuck the thing full of arrows I’d probably be dead now.” 

Jayce lay back in the hammock and rested with his hands under his head and stared up at the wooden ceiling.

“I used to get in scraps all the time,” he said. “I used to come home with cuts and bruises most days. But when the magic came it changed me, hoa. Now I can’t attack or even touch weapons made for killing.” 

“Is it the same for Luna?” Tristan asked.

Jayce shook his head.

“The magic changes us all,” Jayce said. “But in different ways. Scar, she became… well she became Scar. She used to be the big sister in the village. After her brother died. She was sad but still herself, you know what I mean, hoa.”

Tristan nodded, not really understanding.

“But when the magic came.” Jayce grinned. “She beat up every bully in town, she even fought the ex-mayor over some fishing dispute. She took up one cause after another until there was no one left to fight, except herself.” 

Jayce rolled over and looked at Tristan. “You should know all this, you have the magic too.”

Tristan wanted to tell Jayce everything at that moment. To say that he wasn't from their world and that he didn't know anything. Instead he shrugged and climbed out of the hammock. 

“I feel like a snack,” Tristan said. “Wanna join me on deck?”

“Sure,” said Jayce. “You buying, hoa?”

“Of course,” Tristan said, and he jiggled his coin purse.

Jayce laughed. “Good cause I’m starving.”

***

They met up with Luna and Scarlet in the cafeteria on the mid deck. The kitchen served salted fish, hard cheese and dry bread.

Jayce dished up a double portion of each. 

“You need to take two sips of water for each bite of bread,” said Jayce. “Otherwise you'll choke on that stuff.”

Tristan took a bite of the bread and felt the moisture being suckd out of his mouth.

Jayce laughed.

“My pa used to say you could plug the hole of a sinking ship with the hardtack they served on ships.”

The captain, who had taken off his bowler hat and now sported short gray hair that cascaded in every direction, stood next to the lamp on the right side of the window overlooking the shoreline. 

“You boys don't get seasick,” he asked while puffing out his yellow stained mustache.

“I’ll be fine as long as there's no storms,” Tristan said. 

The only ship Tristan had been on was a cruise ship one of his mothers ex boyfriends had taken them on. Apart from the mandatory food poisoning and being forced to laugh at all of his mothers ex-boyfriends bad jokes, it had been a fun trip.

“The weather poses no danger,” said Jayce. He slid his tray of food onto the table and sat down beside Scarlet. 

“Have you done any sailing?” asked the captain.

“He has a feel for these things,” said Scarlet. 

The captain nodded.

“We’re on our way to the academy,” said Luna, as if that explained it all. 

The captain’s eyes narrowed but he said nothing.

Tristan sat, opposite Jayce and next to Luna. He cut a slice of cheese and put it on top of the grilled fish so the heat would soften the cheese a bit.

“So you can sense danger?” Tristan asked. “Is that magic?”

Jayce grunted, “Something like that,” around a mouthful of bread.

“Scarlet, you can turn arrows into shackles,” Tristan said. “What else can you do? Can you turn them into fireballs or lightning bolts?”

Scarlet looked at Tristan as if he was something bad she’d stepped on.

“No,” she said. “But I can crush your balls in ten different ways without even leaving my chair.”

Tristan smiled weakly.

Luna changed the subject. “Porthaven is not too far from here,” she said. “Have you thought about what you are going to do after you have spoken to the Master?”

Tristan shook his head. “I guess it depends on what she has to say,” he said. 

Tristan wasn't sure he wanted to go back home. For the first time in his life he felt like he belonged. He had friends. But if life in Umbra turned bad Tristan wanted to be able to return home.

“Have you guys been to Porthaven before?” Tristan asked.

Luna nodded and Scarlet ignored the question.

“Once when I was a boy,” said Jayce. “My pa took me fishing in Porthaven. We caught a few pikerays and a stonefish. They were too small to eat. It's definitely worth a visit but you’d get bored there after a day or two.”

***

That night after dinner, they sat together in the main cabin. 

Jayce sat alone at a table whittling a piece of driftwood he had gotten from a sailor he'd made friends with. Scarlet and Luna sat in silence with books in their hands each tangled in their own thoughts.

Tristan looked through the collection of books and picked one one. It was called, The Nesting Habits of Seabirds, which was as boring as you’d expect. He put it down and picked up a book called, Tales of Sea Monsters and the People who Fall in Love with Them. 

After reading a passage about how the kraken was a misunderstood creature who saw ships as friends and just wanted to hug them all.

Tristan gave up on reading and sat down next to Jayce. 

The figure Jayce was sculpting was starting to take shape, if squarish and squat counted as a shape.

“What are you making?” Tristan asked.

Jayce held the wooden figure out to Tristan, who took it, turned it in his hands and squinted. His mind tried to find one reference point on it so that the shape would make sense. 

“A fish?” Tristan guessed.

Jayce frowned and took the sculpture from him. “It's more of an abstract idea,” he said.

Which Tristan took to mean the sculpture hadn't come out the way Jayce wanted it to.

“It's great,” Tristan lied.

An idea from his own world came to his mind. “Do you have any more of this wood lying around?” he asked.

Jayce gestured at the corner of the room. 

Tristan inspected the pile of wood, then selecting a few narrow, choice pieces, he sat down again.

“Do you have a spare whittling knife?” he asked.

An hour later Tristan had managed to make thirty two ugly yet recognizable shapes out of the wood. He blackened half of them in the kitchen fire and then took a piece of paper and drew a black and white grid on it.

“What is it?” asked Jayce.

“Chess,” said Tristan. “It's a board game.”

Jayce picked up the pieces and inspected them.

Tristan explained the rules to Jayce twice and then they sat down to a game.

Jayce won the first time. Tristan figured it was beginner’s luck and set the board up again for another game.

Tristan wasn't the most skilled at chess. He had played chess on his phone when he was bored but he was no chessmaster.

Jayce won the second game as well.

“You’re a fast learner,” Tristan said, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

“Another game?” Tristan asked.

Jayce smiled and nodded. “This game’s fun, hoa” he said. “What did you say it was called?” 

“Chess,” said Tristan through gritted teeth. He set the board up again.

The girls had put down their books and came over to watch the game.

The final game was over in ten minutes.

“Check mate, hoa,” said Jayce, leaning back in his chair with a satisfied grin on his face.

“How?” asked Tristan.

Luna laughed. “His dad was a local chess master,” she said.

“You have chess here?” Tristan asked.

“What’s that supposed to mean, hoa?” asked Jayce. 

“Nothing,” said Tristan. “You could have told me that before we started playing.”

Jayce laughed. “Where’s the fun in that?” 

***

That night Tristan lay in his hammock, listening to the sound of the ocean and Jayce’s snoring. He thought about all the similarities between the worlds, it seemed like more than just a coincidence. Tristan wondered if Master Fannen would have the answers. 

Just as he finally got comfortable in the hammock he realized he needed the toilet. Tristan untangled himself from the hideous bed and made his way down the passage to the bathrooms. He stopped at the kitchen for a glass of water and then on his way back to his cabin he noticed the lamp was still on in Scarlet’s cabin.

As he passed by he heard her talking to someone.

“How am I supposed to do anything with so many people around?” she asked. She sounded angry and maybe a bit scared.

“I vowed to get it done and I will.” 

She fell silent. Footsteps scuffed along wooden floors and Tristan realized she was walking towards the door.

He backed away from the door too slowly. The door swung open revealing Scarlet dressed in a thin slip dress.

She stared at Tristan for a moment and then her expression hardened.

“I see you living up to the name, pervert,” she said coolly. Tristan looked past her into her cabin and saw no one in the room.

He held up his glass of water. “Just getting something to drink.”

She examined his glass and then shook her head. “We’re arriving in Porthaven tomorrow morning. You should get some rest.”

Tristan nodded. “Good night then,” he said.

She closed the door in his face and a moment later she turned off her lamp. Tristan stumbled back to his cabin in darkness, all the while thinking about what he’d just heard and what it could possibly mean.