Jaden walked down the steep steps to the cargo area. The cargo was a welcome dry area as opposed to the rest of the damp ship. But not this time. This time, Jaden had no idea what she would find lurking in the darkness. What the human or creature would be that crawled from the depths. In the dark, anything was possible. She heard the echo of a crate that was banging to her right. She turned swiftly, sword in hand on the ready. She walked cautiously toward it. The box continued to shake as she came closer with each step. She stood solemn for a moment raised the sword above her head, and brought it crashing down on one edge of the crate, opening it. Immediately, she gasped at what spilled out from the inside. Blood spilled out from the bottom of the box as though Jaden had cut into something. Just then, in the gleaming moonlight, she saw it.
Megan threw her head back in laughter along with the rest of the crew. After a few moments alone with Brandon, Shavai, Will, Jack and her found themselves on the deck of the ship with some other crew members trading stories about their last adventure on the high seas. Megan listened intentively as Jack continued,
"And then, tons and tons of skeletal beings came afer me, sword-weilding. But they were no match for Captain Jack Sparrow..." He said as he motioned with his sword in the air, as though fighting an imaginary opponent. "One quick swing like this" He said as he demonstrated the slash through the air. As soon as he finished the swing, a scream filled the air. Everyone stopped laughing.
"Well, appearantly you killed something with your skills." Shavai said. They all cracked up and tried to dismiss it. But it didn't last long before it was heard again. "That was Jaden" Shavai yelled with realization. She took off to the cargo area, with the rest of them following.
Jaden found herself staring at an unconcious girl that lied in her arms bleeding from where the sword had knicked her on the shoulder. The girl was dressed in nothing but an over-sized pheasant shirt that covered her just above her knees. Obviously a man's. Just then Shavai stumbled down the stairs with the rest following her. Jaden sat on her knees with the girl, trying to stop the bleeding. Everyone stared in a mix of shock and silence and did nothing but observe. Suddenly, the nun pushed her way through the crowd with a glowing lantern.
"Move aside, move aside" She said as she pushed her way to the girl. She looked down at the girl in awe and fell to her knees.
"Nun. What is it" Shavai asked keeping her sword in it's position, ready to attack should it be something unpleasant. The nun upon closer inspection began to hypervenilate.
"It can't be..." She muttered as she tied a handkercheif to the wound and fixed a tourniquet from it.
"What is it, Nun" Shavai repeated.
"Stop calling me 'Nun'! I have a name" The nun yelled as she sprung to her feet. Shavai didn't even blink. She was the one with the sword here.
"What is it" She inquired lowly, venom dripping from every word.
"Persephone."
-
The next morning everyone woke up early to check on their new discovery. She was put on a cot in the prisoner's cells below deck. Megan and Shavai went to inspect the girl and find out her purpose.
"Persephone, who is it" Megan asked. "I mean do you know her"
The nun went over to a bowl of water and soaked a cloth in it.
"I do." She said. She brought the cloth out of the bowl and wringed it until it was slightly damp. "Her name is Tisiphone. She also answers to Tess though." Megan and Shavai laughed a little at her name. "I'd hold my tongue. Do you know Roman and Greek mythology"
They shook their heads.
"Well, then you should be familiar that Tisiphone is one of the three furies from ancient times." Persephone continued, since the others appeared to be lost. "Furies were the givers of vengence. If you killed someone, she would know and she would come after you."
"Oh, I see. So she's kinda like that whole guilt thing that follows you around and makes you sorry for your crime" Shavai concluded. Megan kept her suspiscions and ideas to herself.
"Almost, but not quite. They get into your mind and drives you insane."
"Then why the heck are we taking care of her" Megan asked not seeing much sense in the nun's logic of keeping her around.
"Look, she's not human and she's something that could hurt us. I say we kill her on general principal." Shavai said grasping her sword. The nun rushed forward and grabbed her hand.
"No! Don't you get it? She's a deity! A goddess! If you kill her in human form she only becomes something bigger, and badder and more dangerous" She yelled.
The woman on the cot stirred and turned her head away from them.
"Look, if we kill her, she'll kill us for sure. Now, leave her until she's well" Persephone said, pushing them up the steps.
Once outside, the girls ran into Jaden who anxiously waited for news, with Jack, Will, and Brandon.
"How'd it go" Will asked.
"What happened" Jaden asked.
"Is she virgin" Jack asked. Jaden slapped his face without even looking at him.
"I mean, what is she" He adjusted his question.
Megan and Shavai looked at each other in a bewildered way and answered in unison,
"Not human." And they continued walking.
They didn't understand what she was. Something big was going on, and whatever it was, it was bigger than the necklace. Bigger than Roberts. They felt everything was surreal and not everyone was what they seemed to be.
-
Persephone looked at the gril and stroke a few pieces of stray hair from the girl's face and smiled smuggly. The nun began to speak to herself.
"This is going to be much easier than I anticipated." She said as she paced to the door slowly. She looked back at the sleeping girl as though she could hear her. "They really have no idea. They don't know what you are." The nun turned to face the girl and a red ball of light formed in the palm of her hand that she blew to the sleeping girl. The ball of light travelled to the girl and appeared to enter her mind.
"And because you won't ever wake up, they won't."
