Chapter 2: Goddess Found

Bella's POV

I was totally fed up with this. After about three years on the streets, you'd think that life'd get easier for you, at least for a little while. I, of course, had no such luck. The only things that I had to my name were: black floor length trousers, black vest, shirt, knife, and sheath. All of the money that I had gotten for the damn stupid necklace I had given to my gang to give them a break for a while. The little bit that I had kept for myself had long since been used up on food.

I had left that fateful night almost a full three weeks ago. Now, to you, that might now sound like a lot, but trust me, it is. All of the money was gone, and I still didn't have a sure plan to get out of Britain. That old rich snob was probably going to have pictures of "The Thief" up in all of the nearby surrounding towns, like Lakeview, Panamon, and Lizzerly. The only ting that was certain was that I had to get out. Fast. Call it paranoia, or some weird sixth sense that had saved but sorry ass to many times to count, but whatever it was, I trusted my gut instinct.

Exhausted, I walked in a slouch as I entered a new town, right off of the Thames river. Looking around, I saw many different shops and merchant stalls all the down the long, dusty, winding alley, one saying Chandlers House, another, some kind of tavern, Down Street Barrels. Assorted buildings of all sizes and varying layers of filth ran along the street. Then I turned and gasped.

Although I had grown and been weaned by a river, I had never seen the ocean. What I saw was an enormous, larger than life marvel of swirls of blues, purples, greens, whitecaps shattering against the jagged, deadly rocks that formed the only barrier between the sands and the salt. A breeze whipped what was left of my hair, bringing the scent of fish, salt, and adventure with it. My eyes widened. This is what I had been waiting for.

Built on top of the jagged pier were what had to be hundreds of docks. And each dock went out about 100 yards, with the huge, beautiful warships of the king's navy. There were countless ships all the way down the line of endless docks, as far as the eye could see, sails all wrapped up and out of the way of the possibly bothersome wind. Having the ship warped out of port when it wasn't supposed to could be pretty annoying, I bet. Oh, did you know, my friends have often said that I have understatement down to an art.

As I watched, I saw one of the magnificent ships being warped out of port I turned. It was astounding to see all of the sails unfurl all at once, the wind catching hold and not relinquishing it. Small sailors clambered all over the ships, doing different things that I couldn't really guess at. The waves parted at her prow, at least, I think that's what it's called, and whitecaps flew out in graceful arcs, with green water flowing smoothly away. I sighed in envy.

Walking farther down the alley as the sunlight filtered through the early morning haze, which was just starting to lift, I saw a huge crowd of boys, all looking to be in their early or mid teens, gathered around one ship. Upon closer inspection, I saw that this particular ship had, like, two masts, and a lady at the front of the prow, by the bowsprit, that was mostly just totally skin, with very little amount of dress. What there was of the dress was a bright, clear sapphire, with matching lips, and dark brown hair. She looked like a goddess, definitely worthy of the rest of the ship. I'm not gay or anything, just saying.

Now, the ship herself was a masterpiece. What looked like a deep chestnut wood made up the whole hull, and what I could see of the deck itself was completely and spotlessly white. The masts and other wood parts of the ship, and I wasn't at all sure what they were called, were made of the same material as the body of the ship. Aft of the ship was a name delicately painted in the same sapphire blue as the lady, that name being, of course, the HMS Goddess. Not too creative as a name, but, hey, I'll take it. Everything was spik and span neat, the exact opposite of me, but what the hell, I'd deal.

As I approached the group of eager boys, I wanted to know what all this hullabaloo was about. Getting closer, being careful not to trip, I might add, as I happened to be cursed by being extremely accident prone, even if I was a great thief, I heard this enormous mass of muscle of a man yell out, "Alright, then, you little bastards, we're taking on a few of yiz to work your way on this ship for His Majesty. This life ain't easy, and I'm only able t' choose a few of yiz, so what can any of yiz do?"

So, that was what this was about. That sure explained a lot. And it also showed me a way out. I climbed on top of a barrel of God knows what, just to think for a minute. It took me about a grand total of ten seconds to realize that I could do something that most of the buggers probably never even thought about. I could read.

Most people off of the streets can't read, just so you know. That was one of the reasons I was so valuable to my gang. Besides being an awesome thief, I could read, which got us some nice money sometimes to read out the billboards that were posted on the printer's window weekly to the small mob that surrounded us. Otherwise, barely anyone can read, and I just loved it. In some of my many burglaries, I had snatched some of the better books to find. I personally loved Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet was just so, I dunno, special. I used to fantasize about Josh, actually, becoming my Romeo, but that was before I saw him making out with a bitch from another gang. Well, she wasn't really a bitch, I just didn't like her.

A clamor instantly rose up among all of the other street rats, or, more specifically, wharf rats. Murmurings ran through about different special talents, and I won't bore you with all of the different things people shouted, desperate to leave this God forsaken land behind. Finally, after four other boys were chosen, I stoop up and said proudly, "I can read." Instantly, everyone shut up, and then I heard something along the lines of, Who the hell cares about that? Actually, the big burly man ushered me aboard after a moment's consideration. All I could think was YES! I was on my way.


Because of my size, (which is small, about 5'4, and 100 lbs) I had said that I was fifteen. When I had told the other guy with the paper and quill and ink my age, he had said, "Well, isn't that a bit small for your age." If only he knew. Oh, yeah. My new name was Issac Ride, but I told everyone that I met that I like to be called "Ise". NOT "is" more like "eyes", and I was teased a little for it, but it was close enough to the name Isabella, even if everyone that I had known before had called me Bella at my own request, this was fine for me.

Damn. Turns out I was let on board 'cause the scholar aboard wanted someone to help out teaching the other boys. Ah well. I've said this so many times that it's running raw, but I'll deal. As soon as I was aboard the ever so beautiful (and this time I'm not being sarcastic) Goddess, I met all of the other boys. Only one had been chosen after me, so there were six of us total.

Jake was sixteen, bright and happy, with almost black eyes and matching hair. He was always cheerful, and very big, probably at 6'5. He could pass for twenty, easy. Not too bad looking, I noticed. I am seventeen after all.

Mike, quickly renamed Mikey, (NOT Mickey) was, I'd say, 6'0, with the blonde hair and blue eyes that made most girl bat their eyes. He was, by any standards, very hot, but I only thought of him as a friend. He was seventeen, like me.

Willy was just a big hunk of muscle, with the brown hair and brown eyes, sort of like me. His hair was more of a mud brown, but that could just be due to the fact that there was actually mud caked into it. From what I overheard, he was somewhere between eighteen and nineteen. Still hot, or he probably could be if he was clean, but didn't strike my fancy.

Nick was small and happy. He had black hair that stuck up at all angles, and striking gray eyes. He was always with a joke or a story, I soon learned, but kept most of them reserved for me. Nick was dark, too, and secretive. With him around, I could always have a quiet moment to myself, unlike with any of the others. At sixteen, he was very small at about 100 lbs, 5'6, maybe. He quickly became my best friend, in, like, a matter of minutes.

John, now named Johnny, had white blonde hair with the oddest black streaks in them. His eyes were sapphire blue, of course, and he was seventeen. He also had to be the hottest guy on the planet. Even he didn't strike my fancy, oddly.

Because that honor went to the last guys ushered aboard after me. Turns out, he had a reserved place among the sailors, and they were all waiting for him to show up, and then he finally walked up the long, wooden gangway, just as I had a few minutes before.

HOLY SHIT!

He was absolutely gorgeous! The dude (hee hee) was extremely muscular, and looked like he had a six pack. Bronze beautiful hair that stuck up daintily from all over his head had a slight blonde to them, and a few long strands hung down by his startlingly golden-topaz eyes. Yes, topaz. A sort of a gold color. Never in my life have I ever seen such eyes like that before. They showed some distant pain, sorrows never meant for anyone else, and wisdom. He was as pale as white, like, seriously, white. His skin looked like a pale creamy cloud color (on a day when it definitely wasn't going to rain), and looked as smooth as untouched snow.

He came on board right after I had started to talk to everyone else.

"Hey, Ise, ya wanna come with the rest of us to see what kinda food we can scavenge from around here? I ain't et in a week, and I need some grub, and, like, fast, man!" Johnny inquired smoothly.

I was about to answer, "Sure, man, I'm starved!" as Nick, Willy, Jake, and Mikey all said, things like, "Sure, dude, I'll come, I ain't eaten neither!" when I turned around to see him shoved aboard.

He was in dark brown cotton trousers, which were very finely tailored, and probably very costly, with a matching white shirt with some clear buttons down a neat row on his, ahem, finely muscled chest, no boots (not like anybody else had them, anyway), and knife sheaths under his left sleeve.

I was in absolute amazement and had to very quickly shut my mouth before I started eating flies, or something like it, and, anyway, guys don't gawp at other hot guys. Ya know, it just isn't done.

The last new guy walked on over to us, with a slight grin plastered on his face, turning up the corners of his mouth. All in all, absolutely charming. And what did I know about charming things? Nada. Zip. Zero. Did I mention before that he was incredibly hot?

Shit! I can't act like a lovesick girl! Well, maybe if they knew I was a girl, but not as a boy. I started to panic, but managed to momentarily compose myself as he walked over.

Just as I finished that thought, I heard him say, "Hey."

I wasn't really paying too much attention as all of the others introduced themselves, but when I saw him turn to me expectantly, I gulped fast, them murmured, "Issac. Call me Ise, please."

"Good to meet you, Ise. I'm Edward Cullen."