Chapter 64
God Bless The Beast
Lzzy watched the coast from the ship, looking for some sign of Icy's presence. She couldn't be far. She finally felt her mind close to hers. The sun was lowering on the horizon again, but there was going to be at least one more hour of light.
After Lupo brought her, Desirè and Darcy to the ship (Darcy on that magnificent dragon's back, her and Desirè flying behind it at a safe distance from the wings) they navigated towards Italy. The pirates, much friendlier than what they would've expected, had prepared a bed for Darcy at once and after eating something she had fell asleep, and she hadn't woken up yet. Below deck with her, Stormy and Stella were being her guardian angels. Lzzy, instead, had contacted Icy, she had told her they were South of the Tiber's mouth, and Lzzy had referred to the captain ignoring the uneasiness she felt seeing through his hands, the most transparent part of his body. Thanks to the supernatural speed of the vessel the journey only took a few hours and it was probably easier for Icy, Bloom and Tecna to see the ghost ship than it was for her to see them from the ship without binoculars or telescopes, but that didn't stop her from trying, right?
She thought she saw some movement. She squinted. She wasn't wrong, it was Bloom and Tecna who, transformed, were flying towards the ship, but she couldn't see Icy. "They're too far", she told herself, "She must be hidden by the wings". But they came closer and the other girls were starting to wave at them and she couldn't even see Icy's shadow. When Bloom and Tecna were just a few meters away from the ship, someone covered Lzzy's eyes with frozen hands.
- Guess who's there. - said Icy.
Lzzy turned around at once and she saw her in front of her, floating just above the ground.
- You little... You scared me! I couldn't see you and I thought something happened! - she yelled at her, uncaring of the other girls and the crew.
Icy giggled and canceled the transformation, landing on the deck.
- Oh, come on, if something did happen, you would've felt it. - she said.
- You almost bled out and I didn't notice. -
- I also promised I'd never close you out again. - Icy reminded her, almost sweetly.
- Don't you ever do that again. -
- Okay. No more pranks. - Icy looked around, searching for someone. - Where's Darcy? - she asked.
- She's below deck, resting. - Melesio, one of the satyrs, answered, then he invited them to follow him.
After the newcomers were introduced to Falkenburg, Melesio led Icy and Lzzy to Darcy. A few candles shone over the cots, one of which was occupied by Darcy. By her side, Stella and Stormy were whispering something, stopping as soon as they saw them. Stormy run to hug Icy. She hugged her back: there were few witnesses and her pride could accept it. Besides, it had been incredibly difficult to not be able to contact her or Darcy.
- It would be nice if my instinct wasn't always right, wouldn't it? - said Icy.
- Your instinct has been wrong far too many times, Icy. - replied Stormy.
Icy pretended to be offended. From her corner Darcy opened her eyes, woken up by the voices. She never had deep sleep.
- Icy, is that you? -
The witch of ice walked to her and sat by her side, taking her hand.
- It's me. How are you? -
- Better. I hope I never have to do anything like that again. I'm done with ghosts. -
- You were amazing. - said Icy with a smile, - Rest a little more, you need it. -
- Don't do stupid stuff while I'm asleep, okay? -
- I'll do my best. -
Icy got up and, with Lzzy, she went back on deck.
- I expected her to be in a much worse shape. - she said, once they were far from Darcy's ears.
- She's already much better, she looked dead yesterday. She risked a lot. - replied Lzzy.
Icy shook her head.
- You can't understand how much it costed her. The ghosts may have taken energy from her, lots of it, but the biggest difficulty for her is psychological. The Ancestors possessed all three of us, not just me. -
A shiver run down Lzzy's spine. She couldn't dare imagine what it meant to actively search a contact with ghosts after such an experience.
- She... she never said anything, not even to Xavier. She could have told him she didn't want to learn... -
- That's not Darcy. She wants to know things, especially if they can harm her, to control them better. - Icy explained.
Lzzy would have wanted to continue the conversation, but they were on deck now and Icy wasn't going to say anything Darcy didn't want others to hear, she knew it, thus she kept quiet and thought about it over and over while Icy walked up to the other girls.
They sat on a bunch of ropes that apparently nobody needed and Maria and Rebecca were telling the others the story of the crew. They already covered the part of Falkenburg's shipwreck and his curse and were talking about "Scar", whose actual name was Omoro apparently.
- He was the first member of the new crew, it was just him and the captain for a while. - Rebecca was saying, - Falkenburg crossed paths with a slave ship and Omoro jumped in the sea. No one dared to follow him towards a ghost ship. -
- I hate this era so much... - mumbled Desirè, disgusted by the idea.
Rebecca nodded gravely.
- Then they found Maze, in France. He was full of debts and joined them. Then, in the Northern Sea, they met Alma and Frost. Frost proposed Falkenburg to become the messenger of a network of mages and wizards that look over the portals and he accepted, behind payment of course, and Alma went with him. She's been alone for centuries, that's why she's so distant. -
- It's not like demons are known for their cheerfulness. - Maria pointed out, - It really seems like the lost kids but make it Pirates of the Caribbean: this is all their family because the rest of the world rejects them. Like Craig, he was born with a third eye and was always the outcast. Melesio, Giacinto and Agape were exiled from the satyrs' kingdom and weren't safe in the human realm; Lupo and Wavecutter... well, I think many don't like a dragon tamer. Then there's Samanta, but she's just an orphan that Lupo found on a path while hunting. -
- Alma is so fond of her, she considers her a daughter. - added Aisha.
- The whole crew does. - Maria said.
Samanta was a lively, tiny girl no older than eight. She had olive skin, long red hair and purple eyes. She was the ship's girl, but no one actually gave her demanding chores. She spent most of her time playing around Wavecutter or fixing the sails and nets, which for her meant to play the lady. In that exact moment, she was climbing on the shrouds under the careful eyes of Alma, ready to catch her if she fell.
When Giacinto and Omoro served dinner (stew, from an old hunt of Lupo) they all came together below deck, even Falkenburg who, as a ghost, didn't need to eat.
- He usually stays at the wheel. - Agape whispered to Francesca, - It's a special night. -
He wasn't wrong. When they all ate and went back on deck, Maze pulled out an accordion. Samanta clapped her hands. She liked when Maze sung.
- Is there a song you'd like to hear? - he asked her, smiling.
- The story of the whale, the story of the whale! - answered the girl.
- And so be it. Get comfortable, ladies and pirates, this is a very long story. -
He took a deep breath and started singing.
- Gather weary travelers, I have a tale to tell, it might just save your lives but only if you listen well, 'cause there before the breakers and just along the way there's a sign that says: "Beware!: The Beast of Pirate's Bay!" -
A circle formed around him, messy and chaotic. The rolling of the ship didn't bother him at all.
- Some say he's a guppy a kid threw in the sea. He ate so many sailors now he's bigger than a tree! His teeth are sharp as scissors, his claws they are like knives... and if you think he's ugly wait 'till you see his insides! Oh don't you sail and don't you row and certainly don't you swim, 'cause if you aren't careful you'll end up inside of him. He'll eat you up and spit you out, you better stay away. Heed the sign that says: "Beware!: The Beast of Pirate's Bay!" Some say he's a serpent that came straight from hell to eat the souls of pirates and other ne'er-do-wells. Some they don't believe it. As for me? I've got a hunch... 'cause they used to have some pirates here... But he ate them all for lunch! -
At the second refrain Samanta started dancing with Agape in the middle of the circle as the others clapped their hands.
- Oh don't you sail and don't you row and certainly don't you swim, 'cause if you aren't careful you'll end up inside of him. He'll eat you up and spit you out, you better stay away. Heed the sign that says: "Beware!: The Beast of Pirate's Bay!". Captain Hook, ya heard of him? He came to Pirate's Bay. Seems his little Nemesis had nearly got away. He reached into the water to grab at Peter Pan... There was a crunch and a scream! And now that scurvy captain's got hooks on both his hands! Oh don't you sail and don't you row and certainly don't you swim, 'cause if you aren't careful you'll end up inside of him. He'll eat you up and spit you out, you better stay away. Heed the sign that says: "Beware!: The Beast of Pirate's Bay!" -
Cassandra was confused. They knew Hook and Peter Pan? Did they exist in that universe? Or had their stories been told earlier than in her world?
- Blackbeard the Pirate. Ya know for what he's feared? It's mostly for that dark imposing color of his beard. He saw the beast and now nobody's scared of him because... His beard turned white and all agree: he looks like Santa Claus! Oh don't you sail and don't you row and certainly don't you swim, 'cause if you aren't careful you'll end up inside of him. He'll eat you up and spit you out, you better stay away. Heed the sign that says: "Beware!: The Beast of Pirate's Bay!" -
Samanta stopped dancing and climbed on a barrel while Maze slowed down the rhythm of the accordion and leaned closer to her, singing in a confidential voice:
- Well now the tavern's empty and there's only you and me and, if you care, I'd like to share how this song came to be. So come a little closer if you really want to know... This very sad and woeful tale happened so long ago. Well I was just a little boy when I went to Pirate's bay and there I saw a creature that was very much dismayed. With a harpoon in his dorsal fin and a hook stuck in his side, this mighty whale was in such pain we both began to cry. I pushed and I shoved but he wouldn't give way, into the deeper waters of our shallow Pirate's Bay. All I could do to help him was to keep people away... So I wrote a sign... that said: "Beware: The Beast of Pirate's Bay!". What did it say? Oh don't you sail and don't you row and certainly don't you swim, 'cause if you aren't careful you'll end up inside of him. He'll eat you up and spit you out so you better stay away. Heed the sign that says: "Beware!". Hell, I should know! I put it there! Heed the sign that says: "Beware!: The Beast of Pirate's Bay!" -
Maze welcomed the applause with a pompous bow.
- You're amazing! - said Musa.
- Thank you. I was a bard, before I became a pirate. -
- Why don't you sing something as well, Lz? - Stella asked.
Lzzy tried to back out.
- I don't know, I don't have many ballads in my repertoire. And nothing in this genre. - she chuckled.
- We aren't a demanding audience. - Giacinto encouraged her.
- Indeed. Perhaps it's the time for Maze to learn some new songs. - added Craig.
- He could write one on this adventure. - said Lupo.
Lzzy bit her lip, thinking. Break In? No, she needed to warm up her voice before diving headfirst in that song. New Modern Love? Idem, and for Familiar Taste Of Poison too. She felt like she didn't have a single song fit for a pirate ship in the past. Then she found what she was looking for.
- Musa, can you give me a piano? Or a keyboard, whatever you want. -
- Sure. - replied the fairy, snapping her fingers.
A keyboard appeared, complete with a power unit. Lzzy got up, cleared her throat even though she knew it was pretty useless, and started playing a song she had barely finished writing.
- I hear her words, deep in the night, full of funny logic and beautiful lies. I keep her in chains behind my heart, but I am no match for her when her fire starts. She tucks me in, sings me a song, makes me believe that she's never wrong, the monster I keep, God bless the beast inside of me. -
She wasn't singing it randomly. She was singing it a little for herself, a little for Darcy and a little for that unusual family she had in front of her and that made her smile. No one of them was the beast, no one of them wasn't.
- She's dressed in my clothes, they all think she's me, all my friends turn their heads ashamed to see. She's walking around with her red demon smile and I can do nothing 'till she's satisfied oh. And when I give in she tastes so sweet, but she is not who I want to be, the monster I keep, God bless the beast inside of me. - She looked at Darcy straight in the eyes, hoping she'd understand. - Don't believe her when she says she hates you! Don't believe her when she tries to break you! She never sleeps, God bless the beast inside of me. Sweet misery, God bless the beast inside of me. The monster I keep, God bless the beast inside of me. -
Even though it wasn't as cheerful as Maze's ballad, the pirates liked her song. When Lzzy went back to sitting by Icy, she took her hand and moved a little closer to her. She wanted to be alone with Lzzy, hold her tight and make her feel how much she loved her, erase all her worries. Instead she had to limit herself to hold her hand while their shoulders touched.