Chapter 2: Experiments

The winds of Marleybone furiously flew in her face, forcing Sestiva to squint as she forced the ship into the windlane. She had to get to get to Skull Island, and fast, but there was no way that she could get there in less than a day. It wouldn't work unless there was some sort of special rift, and there was at least one in every world, though the locations were unknown.

Sestiva had studied them often in books, and she knew one when she saw one. The special rifts often made the scenery look…distorted, though depending on how big it is, or how far away the world is, effects how distorted it may be. Though, no pirate has ever tried going through one, since if they even hit it at the wrong angle they may destroy their ship in the process if it hits the shore or the rocks on the other side. Not only that, but special rifts often moved. Very rarely did one stay in place.

She had no other choice. If she wanted to risk the lives of Marleybone, and her own life, if she didn't flee fast enough. Without her though, no antidote could be developed, and everywhere, everything would become contaminated. Nothing would survive. It would happen if she didn't make a cure fast enough either. She'd rather die at the hands of the Armada than her own weapon.

Luckily, Marleybone was one of the worlds that had one special rift that stayed still and never moved. Right by Big Ben, across from the Isle of Dogs. She would have to sail over the city to access the passageway. Knowing that she might be shot at from the land below, it was worth it. A few charges couldn't hurt…right? Wrong. A few charges could light her ship aflame.

Once she set the ship in a straight course for Big Ben, but at an angle at which she wouldn't hit it. She set it so that she would fly right past it and into the rocks behind it, where she could see the enormous amount of distortion. The distortion showed her where it led to, making out Skull Island in the blurry, blue-green, swirls. Stepping out from behind the ship's wheel, she let down the sails even more than it already was. Letting the ship fly at its max speed, she went back behind the wheel.

Sailing straight into the rift, she didn't really feel anything. Not until she actually passed through it herself. Spatial rifts tend to distort objects too, but very rarely did it have a permanent effect.

Sestiva felt like she was being torn apart. It felt like a hundred swords pierced her body at the same time, then being stretched to her limits, nearly dismembering her. She let out a blood curling scream, tilting her head back, though that just made the pain worse. The moment she opened her mouth, it felt like skin had just grown on top of her lips and she just tore it all up.

The skin on her hand started to peel away from a cut on her finger. The force going through the rift alone was enough to peel away her skin ever so slowly, so painfully, from every possible opening. The strong, hot winds inside gave her several burns on her arms and more seeming to ever so slowly crawl up her leg. There was another forming near her eye as she shut them. A few seconds later, the ship emerged from the other side, coming through the gap between Blood Shoals, and the rocks to the left of it.

Sestiva grimaced from the injuries that formed as she passed through the rift. Everything was sore. She just had to get to Skull Island, which wasn't even that far. Letting the sails up to slow down, she trudged back behind the ships wheel, gripping the splintering wood until she docked the ship at Skull Island.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted Helen's ship, having the same symbol as hers. She staggered off the ship, ignoring as much of the pain as possible. She wound up in front of her old house, stumbling inside, then collapsed onto the couch in the main room.

She did not expect to be in the small building so soon. She heard the door open and shut as Helen walked in. She turned onto her side, so that her back was facing her older sister when she walked in.

After a few seconds she heard a bag fall to the floor.

"Sestiva?" Helen asked, not expecting her to be home after a day. "Is that you?'

"Yes, It's me." Sestiva said, almost dangerously, standing up from the couch, nearly falling over. "There's something really important I have to tell you. You could also say it's a warning."

"Was it that you brought down Beachhead and you don't want me to mess around with you?"

"No, Helen. It's nothing even close to that. I went to Beachhead and—" Sestiva hesitated. "there was no one there. A soldier, a single soldier was left behind and he—anyways I didn't take down Beachhead. Pathogen did."

"Beachhead? Gone? Did it fall just like Cadiz? And Pathogen? No, it can't be. Not before you got there. It stayed contained in one area did it not?"

"No, it's still there. What I was trying to tell you was that um…when I went inside, the lone soldier was stuck in between the two giant doors. When I pulled him out, I lifted up his mask, and there were the crystals, the same from Pathogen itself. It protruded from every possible angle and I realized there was no one there not because they all died. They all fled. They fled from this one."

"Oh. We have to evacuate Marleybone, they're at a huge risk here!"

"And where will we put them, Helen?"

Helen stopped talking all together. She didn't exactly know what to do with the citizens of Marleybone.

Even Sestiva, her genius sister, didn't know what to do.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review!

-SamanthaHawkins