The Pool of Souls
Chapter 26
Piper opened her eyes to the sound of people talking. She sat up on her blanket and saw most of the crew walking around the campsite frantic and confused. It was still dark yet everyone was awake and scurrying around the campsite like they were looking for something. Names were being thrown around as well as questions that began with "Has anyone seen…" and "Where is…" Blankets were being tossed as if some of them expected to see someone underneath. Piper, confused by what was happening observed the camp for a while and took notice that the crew looked awfully thin in it's numbers. Something was wrong.
Nicky, out of breath and panting quickly came down to her knees in front of Piper "Hey get up, we have a situation. Alex is missing."
"What?" Piper asked. She quickly came to her feet at the mention of Alex being gone and walked over to where she had been sleeping. Her mat was empty too but the blanket had been moved in such a way that suggested that she had gotten up from it herself.
Now it was Piper's turn to ask, "Has anyone seen Alex?!" she looked at the panicked faces of those that remained. No one had an answer.
Piper cupped her hands around her mouth "Alex!" she waited but there was only silence and she called her name once more "Alex!"
Nicky stopped her to get her attention "Piper it's not just Alex, half the damn crew is missing…" her voice saddened "Lorna is missing too."
Piper felt a pang of sorrow for Nicky when she heard the distress and concern in her voice.
"What happened?"
"The fuck if I know. They're just gone, all of them, just gone. It's like…they've all just vanished into thin air." Nicky sat down on the ground and let out a few raspy wet coughs. Piper saw the specs of blood on her wrist and immediately knelt down by her side.
"Take it easy Nicky." she said as she clutched Nicky's forearm and rubbed her back.
"What the fuck is going on around here?" Valla asked everyone "Where the hell is everybody? Where is Lollis?"
"Hey Suzanne is gone too we can't find her anywhere." said Tasha standing by an equally worried Cindy.
Commotion erupted around the camp as each shipmate tossed out the name of one of their missing comrades.
Piper stood up and waved her hands to address all of the crew "All right everybody we need to calm down and think this through for a second." Though calm was the exact opposite of how Piper was feeling. She understood everyone's concern. "We're trying to figure it out. Who is still here?!" she asked. Piper looked around at the remaining crew as everyone sounded off.
"Okay did anyone see where they went? Who was keeping watch?!" Piper asked almost irritated that the person who was supposed to stand guard was neglectful in their duties.
"It was Lolly," someone spoke up "But Lolly is missing too."
"Maybe they're on the ship?"
"The sails are still drawn up and the captain is gone too." said Nicky "And Vause wouldn't leave without saying anything to anyone."
"So no one saw anything? Heard anything? People don't just vanish there has to be an explanation." Stella said.
"I'll tell you what the explanation is." sassed Valla as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Stella, though she was actually speaking to everyone. "Once again we've made an error in judgement and we are not alone on this island."
"But that's impossible." someone said "We've searched this island a dozen times and we found no one, nothing."
Cindy held up a finger and stepped forward "Hold on, Suzanne did say something while we were out on patrol, she said she saw some girl."
Piper stared at Cindy with a confused look "Wait a minute so you did see someone? Why didn't you say anything?"
Tasha stepped up in Cindy's defense "Hang on we didn't see anything but apparently Suzanne did. We searched everywhere and found no one. Honestly we thought she might've imagined it. You know how Suzanne can get, she makes friends out of broom sticks and comes up with all kinds of ways to entertain herself. We thought it was just another one of her imaginary friends, she described her as a little brown haired girl and even said her name was Maureen."
"That's really specific for her to have just made that up."
"Look we feel bad enough as it is for not believing her, question is what are we going to do about it now?" Tasha asked.
"I'm sorry." said Piper. "You're right."
Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes and everyone alerted their attention to it. Running out of the darkness tired and out of breath was Lolly. She looked a mess and terrified. She was covered in dirt and mud, her shirt was torn like something had slashed it. She was bleeding from a cut just beneath her eye and from the one on her mouth.
"Lolly?" Piper asked. She started to run towards her and soon others followed "Lolly!"
When Lolly saw Piper coming towards her she screamed and whipped out her knife and started cutting through the air like a crazed woman. Piper and the others reeled back "Lolly stop it's us what are you doing! It's us calm down!"
"Get the fuck back I know what you are get the fuck back!"
Lolly slashed the knife through the air and nearly cut Piper's face "Lolly stop!"
She stopped only to point the knife directly at Piper "You can't fool me I know what you are, you're that thing! You're that thing and you've come to take me away!"
"What thing?!" Piper looked down at the knife Lolly was holding "That's Alex's knife." she whispered to herself. "You've seen Alex? Where is she?!"
"You should know, you took her! You tell me! Is that your plan? You plan to take us all?!"
"Lolly you've got to calm down. You're not making any sense. It's me, Piper! Who took Alex away?!"
"You did! And you're not Piper. I'm not falling for it again!"
Lolly was trembling in fear of Piper and refused to put the knife down. Nicky stepped out in front of Piper and slowly approached Lolly when she saw that she wasn't making any progress with her.
"Okay Lolly, I need you to relax, you're among friends now, you're safe."
Lolly quickly shook her head "No, no, no, it's a trick she's lying to you, she's a monster!"
"And you might be right. She could be, so just in case she is, the second she shows any signs of wanting to kill us, if she makes any sudden movements…" Nicky drew her pistol from it's holster, grabbed Piper by her shirt collar, and pointed the barrel of the gun up under Piper's chin. "I'll shoot."
Piper froze up and her eyes looked down at Nicky as if she were insane. Nicky briefly made eye contact with Piper silently telling her to shut the fuck up and just go with it.
Lolly who seemed satisfied with Nicky's response surrendered the knife to her and not Piper. "Use it in case the gun doesn't work." Lolly said. "She's really strong."
"Oh I will. In the mean time why don't you come over here around the camp fire and tell us exactly what you saw and what Piper did."
Lolly nodded and followed everyone back to camp but she made sure to steer clear of Piper. When Lolly was gone Nicky removed the gun from up under Piper's chin and released her hold on her collar.
"Was that really necessary?!"
"We have a serious situation on our hands Lorna is missing, Alex is missing, we need to figure out why and what happened to them. Sometimes in order to get through to crazy people you have to speak the language a little bit."
"I guess. We're you really going to shoot me?"
"Only if she was telling the truth."
They all gathered together around the fire and looked to Lolly for answers. She was instructed to be quick but to give all the major details. The entire time, Lolly was watchful of Piper like she was waiting for her to pounce at her. She reiterated that she expected Nicky to stay true to her word that she would kill her if necessary.
"Okay so you're saying that you went out into the woods because you were following Alex?" Piper asked.
"Why was Alex going into the woods did she say?"
"No, but I'm guessing it was because she was following someone too."
"Who? Who was she following?"
"I don't know."
"What happened when you caught up with her?"
Lolly took a moment to think really hard. "She was upset… very upset, she looked like she had been crying."
"So you followed Alex into the woods and then you were both attacked by something that looked like me—"
"It was you." Lolly snapped at her.
Piper had to bite her tongue "She was attacked by me but then I changed into something else. And whatever it was…it took Alex away?"
Piper looked over to speak to Nicky "How in the hell could something look like me?"
Cindy spoke up from behind "You know what, this is starting to scare the shit out of me and I hate to say it but this is all sounding a little too familiar."
"How do you mean, what sounds familiar?"
"I've heard this story before, or something very similar anyway. Back on the plantations when I was little my mama used to tell us this old scary folk tale to get us to come in before dark and to teach us not to talk to strangers. I thought that it was just a scary story but…"
"Wait, how does the story go?"
Valla stood by and pinched at her forehead with her fingertips "Are we seriously going to listen to this?"
Piper fixed Valla a look "Yes. Folk tales often have some measure of truth to them. There might be some usefulness in it to help us figure out what the hell we are dealing with." Valla glared right back her.
"So how does the story go?"
"Well, back home we called it the tale of the nightly nymphs. The short version of the story is that there were these creatures that came out at night and preyed on the people in the villages even the children, especially the children. Lured them away from their homes, captured them and fed on them during the day while they slept."
"So what's—what's the long version, how did they do this?"
"Mama said that they had the ability to change into whatever they wanted. Into things that might be appealing to a child but the worst of it is they also had the ability to go inside your head and bring your deepest darkest fears and insecurities into reality."
Piper stopped to think. Lolly said that she attacked them in the woods, something that looked like her but it obviously wasn't. She had been here the entire time. And then she thought back to the beach when she had been collecting those water buckets and Alex had said those horrible things. Alex had no idea what she was talking about when she confronted her about it, probably because she honestly didn't know what she was talking about. Which would only mean that the Alex she saw at the beach was not her Alex but something else. The thought sent a cold chill down her spine. If that wasn't Alex just who or what the hell was she talking to?
"Wait a minute that doesn't make any sense if the goal is to capture their victim why personify fear, if you're afraid of something human instinct tells you to run away from it."
"Okay, I don't know what the hell personify means. But that's just how the story goes that's what they do. My mama used to say that the nymphs are playful but they're cruel. They have a twisted sense of humor."
"So basically what you're saying is, they like to fuck with people?" Nicky stated.
"Pretty much, they like to fuck with people's heads like a kid enjoys playing with a ball. There ain't no reason for it, just something they like to do."
"Just what the hell kind of bed time story is that to tell to a kid?" asked Nicky. "That's fucked."
"Hey I know it's fucked but it's what she told us. I believed the hell out of it as a kid and you can bet your ass I was always inside before sundown. Then I got older and I realized that maybe all it was was a scary story but now based on the situation at hand…it all kind of fits. But they can't be real right?"
Everyone looked at each other in silence.
"After everything that we've seen" Piper mused "It wouldn't be so surprising. I'm starting to think that there's nothing in this world that couldn't be real."
"Will you all just fucking listen to yourselves!" Shouted Valla "Seriously half the crew goes missing and you want to blame it on some creature from some ancient legend!"
"Lolly said she saw it with her own eyes and the description she gave matches Cindy's story." Piper said harshly, having had quite enough of Valla's shit. Honestly she had had more than enough of Valla. The lies she told Alex, the hatred Valla had towards her. Piper had had way more than her fill of Valla. She truly wanted to bash her face in.
"So we're really going to believe that some creature has been casting illusions on all of us, impersonating people to deliberately fuck with us so that it might capture and kill us. Is that what we're going to believe?"
Piper was a breath away from telling her to shut the fuck up when a thought suddenly came to her.
"Illusions." she whispered.
"Piper?" Nicky asked.
Piper looked over at her "Illusions…the island."
In the shock of her discovery she slammed a hand onto Nicky's thigh "Nicky, it's the island!"
"Ow!" Nicky said in an exaggerated yell.
Lolly jumped and motioned for Nicky to shoot Piper but they both ignored her.
"What? What's the island." Nicky asked.
"It's the island!"
"All right Piper I'm going to need you to start making sense."
Piper looked around at everyone "Do you all remember that passage from that book that Alex was talking about. The riddle that she read out loud to us?"
They all shook their heads. "Well, I do and I've been thinking about it a lot" She decided to recite it again to remind them all of it.
"I speak the curse of which she's bound. It is the blue moon upon which she's birthed, one period of life and 50 for death. Make haste for though I am harmless I will kill her just as I kill all things. Beyond the black hole, through jagged teeth, and the realm of giants. Keep your wits, do not be fooled take heed and beware of the chimera…"
Piper repeated the last part again for emphasis "Keep your wits, do not be fooled take heed and beware of the chimera…"
"I think we've misinterpreted the last part of the riddle and have taken it too literally. It's been bothering me because the way we interpreted it's meaning doesn't fit within the context of the phrase. Why would one keep their wits or be fooled by something as obvious as a goat with a lion's head? Unless that's not what it was referring to."
"Still waiting for you to make sense Piper."said Nicky.
"What I'm trying to say is we thought the chimera would be this obvious creature from legend that guards Tylassa with the head of a lion and the body of a goat. But in fact the word "chimera" actually has two meanings. And the clue was right in front of us the entire time."
"And what clue was that?"
"The name of the island: Phantasmagoria." Piper ran both hands through her hair feeling frustrated "I feel so stupid for not having noticed it. It was right there. If you break down the word itself it literally means: illusion. This is an island of illusions. Another word for chimera is illusion. The chimera and this island are one and the same. If you rewrite that passage from that book it actually makes more sense: Keep your wits, do not be fooled, take heed and beware of the illusion. I think the riddle was actually warning us to stay away from here because of the creatures that dwell on it…these night nymphs, if that is in fact what they are."
"So the chimera is the island?" Tasha asked.
"Yes."
Cindy made a sour face "Well shit, why did the guy who wrote the damn book have to be so fucking cryptic about it why didn't he just say that?"
"So now that we've figured that out what's the plan?" asked Nicky. Surprisingly enough everyone was looking at Piper for an answer. She was taken aback by all the eyes that were staring at her waiting for her response.
"We get our captain back, we get all of our friends back, we get the hell off this island, and fast. If this is truly like Cindy's story than we have until sunrise to find them. I'm willing to wager that there is a reason why they only come out at night." Piper looked back at Lolly not caring if she was afraid of her or not "Lolly, do you think you can lead the way to where you last saw Alex and where it might've taken her?"
Lolly flinched but she nodded "If I show you, will you promise you won't kill me?"
"I won't kill you." Piper said in annoyance.
"This is horseshit!" Valla blurted out "I say we get the fuck off this island now and forget about the others. We take whoever's left and we leave it's as simple as that!"
"That sounds awfully cowardice for someone who doesn't believe that the night nymphs are real." said Piper.
"Excuse me?"
"I called you a fucking coward!"
Piper stood up to face Valla "Our friends are out there somewhere. And Alex—" she paused as her emotions caught in her throat "They could all still be alive right now and you're seriously willing to leave your shipmates, your friends, behind? Lollis is missing too do you even care that she's gone?!"
"I'm thinking about myself now. As you all should!" Valla said addressing everyone.
Mina gave Valla a questioning look. Stella who had been standing right beside her just continued to observe. She looked curious and almost amused to see which way the scales would tilt.
"The captain and everyone else are gone, most likely dead by now. It'll be a waste of time."
"We. don't. know. that! If it's like Cindy says than we have until sunrise to get them back. We can still save them! But we are wasting time!"
"Listen to me." Valla looked passed Piper towards the remaining crew. "Do you all seriously want to risk your lives rescuing those who might very well already be dead? I say we embrace one of the oldest and basic of pirate traditions: if you fall behind you get left behind. That includes our beloved captain."
"Valla, you are not running things here." Piper said through gritted teeth.
There was an awkward silence in the camp and everyone seemed to freeze, a deep tension was building around the fire. Everyone watched Valla and Piper.
Valla sashayed her way towards Piper. Both of them stood face to face staring at each other "Oh and who is? You?"
Piper stood there fists and jaw clenching.
"Oh that's funny, the princess wants to play captain now. You all done playing the whore is that it? Don't make me laugh. Like I'd ever follow orders from you." Valla's voice came in a low hiss "You are pathetic and the worst thing to have ever happened to this crew. You are the worst thing to have ever happen to Alex."
That did it. With all her strength Piper drew back her arm and punched Valla right in her jaw. Valla quickly recovered and threw a punch right back knocking Piper on her stomach. She picked herself up on her palms and came up swinging. Before long Piper and Valla were grappling in the sand, throwing brutal punches back and forth. The crew looked on in shock and steered clear out of the way forming a circle around them both. Every punch that Valla threw was hate filled like she had been waiting for this moment. But Piper was bottled rage unleashed. This was the woman that lied to Alex about her and Stella, the woman who was responsible for making the person she loved most in the world despise her, the woman who thrived in making her life a living hell. And now Alex was missing and Valla was preventing her from getting her back, Piper was at her wit's end. She used all of that pent up anger and frustration as her source of power and came at Valla with blind with fury.
Valla grabbed Piper by her hair kneed her in the gut and slammed her into a tree. Piper reversed it and slammed Valla's head against the bark before throwing her back to the ground. She straddled her stomach and started throwing rapid punches to her face until blood covered her fist. Valla splashed sand in her face and Piper cried out when it got into her eyes leaving her temporarily blind and crawling around on the ground.
Wiping the blood from her nose and mouth Valla stood up and repeatedly kicked Piper again and again in her already bruised ribs. It hurt so bad Piper was tearing up. She struggled to open her eyes and felt the grainy sand rubbing against her eyelids. She moved around blindly and struggled to get back on her feet but Valla wouldn't allow it. She kicked her again and this time Piper felt a rib crack. She collapsed to the ground and held her side screaming in pain.
Nicky winced when she saw Piper take the blow. She scowled at the triumphant look on Valla's face and even more so when she saw that some of the crew were actually rooting for Valla.
"Come on Piper get up!" Nicky yelled "Get up! You can do it get up!"
It hurt so much. Piper felt like her sides were on fire.
"I know it hurts Piper but get up! Don't let this bitch win! Listen to my voice, roll to the right!"
Piper tried to ignore the pain long enough to focus on Nicky's voice and did as she said. She moved just in time to get out of the way of Valla's boot.
"Now go right!"
Piper continued to follow Nicky's instructions allowing her to be her eyes. "Good stay out of the way until you get yourself together! Duck!"
Piper's vision was just starting to clear up a bit just enough for her to start swinging back at Valla. She landed a punch and Valla stumbled. Then Piper tripped her up and she fell to her knees.
In awe of Piper's comeback, Piper's one man cheering squad that was Nicky grew to several others that began rooting for Piper and helping wherever they could.
Piper came up behind Valla with her arm locked around her neck and began to strangle her. Valla slapped her hand against Piper's arm gasping for air. She threw her from her back and the two of them were back rolling around on the ground right up against the campfire. Piper was on her back with Valla's hands around her throat and she was applying pressure with her thumbs. Piper couldn't breathe.
Valla looked down at her smiling viciously "You blue blooded cunt!" Valla grunted out, her teeth painted red with blood.
"C'mon Piper don't give up!"
Piper was starting to lose consciousness. She looked over at the burning embers of the fire and her hand slowly inched for one of the burning sticks. Piper grabbed hold and quickly pressed it to Valla's face. Her skin hissed and sizzled the moment it made contact and she practically jumped off of Piper. She held up a hand to comfort the burn.
Piper coughed until her breathing was back to normal. She came up and threw several more punches at Valla and Valla couldn't come back, too disoriented from the burn. Again and again Piper came at Valla, yelling a vicious battle cry with every punch. With one final hit Valla was down and unconscious. Piper stood over her victoriously, fists still clenched. Her hair was like a wild curtain around her face partially covering her blue eyes, her bloodied lip, and the cut on her cheek. She was breathing hard, adrenaline leaving her body allowing her to really feel the pain in her ribs. One of the sleeves of her shirt was torn at the shoulder so she ripped it off the rest of the way leaving her arm bare. She clutched at her side as she winced in pain.
Everyone looked down at Valla and then at Piper in astonishment. They all became silent.
Piper took in and let out a shaky breath "Now as I was saying, we're going to rescue Alex and the others and then we're getting off this fucking island. Does anyone else have any objections?"
Everyone shook their heads without comment and Stella looked on at Piper in amusement.
"Good. Now Lolly, lead the way."