I awoke in a cold sweat and tumbled to the floor. I looked around, disoriented, hoping that last night was just a dream and I'd find myself on the floor of my bedroom, but there was no such luck. I was still onboard the ship and below deck in the main room. All the hammocks were packed up and out of the way which meant I was alone. Suddenly my groggy mind realized what all this meant and a wave of nausea washed over me.I ran above deck to the railing and threw up. After that was over I slumped against the railing and rested a little still not feeling well.
"Are you all right Sir?" A voice above and to the right of me said.
I looked up to see a young boy probably not much older than ten with dirty blond hair and concerned blue eyes. "Yeah, I'll be fine." He must be the cabin boy, I thought, no one else would've called me Sir. He reminded me a bit of when I was a cabin boy on the Hispaniola and another wave of nausea washed over me.
"I'm Timmy," he introduced himself, "and are you sure you're all right Sir"
"Yes, I'm fine, and call me Jim, not Sir." I sad a little harshly.
"Sorry, Sir, I mean Jim." he stammered.
"Nah, don't be. You didn't do anything." He relaxed a little bit only to be shoved sideways by a crew member who had come up behind him.
"Remember me?" I squinted up at him. He looked a little familiar.
"Morgan?"
"Yes. You marooned me on Treasure Island." Ah Treasure Island, that sure brought back some unpleasant memories. Ever since then I'd taken a disliking toward the sea.
Something wasn't adding up though, "Weren't there three maroons?"
"Yes, but unfortunately the other two died of fevers before Silver could rescue us. Why'd ya leave me there lad? Why?" He looked as if he was about ready to give me a sound beating.
"Morgan, go vent your anger on something else like, oh say, your work." Kat said appearing behind him and grabbing hold of his shoulder.
"Yes, but-" He tried to argue.
"Piss off now Morgan!" Her tone dangerous.
"Cap'n says ladies like you shouldn't curse." He taunted, starting to walk away.
"Yeah? Well, I don't fucking give a damn, now piss off!" He sauntered back off to work grumbling. "Oh, hey, look who's up." Kat said, turning her attention to me and casually leaning back against the railing as if nothing had happened. "Sea sickness?" she asked.
"Something like that."
She looked disappointed, but quickly replaced her casualness "Bad dreams"
It wasn? really a question. She seemed to know. I raised an eyebrow to this.
"Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm a light sleeper. You kept me up for hours and then woke me up early. I don't appreciate that." annoyance clearly showing in her voice.
"Hey hey, what're you on break?" Sliver walked up, wanting to know why Kat was just standing around.
"Sorry Cap'n. I-"
Silver cut her off suddenly noticing me. "Oh Jim you're up. How ya doing"
My stomach lurched, and I was doubled over the railing sick again. Silver was yet another reason why I hadn't set foot on a ship since that accursed Treasure Island venture.
"Sea sickness." Kat explained to Silver, "I told you he'd be no good. All those years on land and he's gone soft."
"Or maybe whatever was in that dart you used hasn't quite worn off yet." Silver said, defending me as much as himself.
"Maybe, but unless someone woke him up it has." proving that she was not to be blamed.
The Captain frowned, "All right. Give him a day or two to get his sea legs. You'll see." He left to go see to another group of crew members who had also decided it was break time.
Kat was watching me curiously. "It's not sea sickness is it?" She paused to let me answer but I said nothing. "No, it couldn't possibly be sea sickness." she turned around and gazed out over the railing at the sea. "It's a beautiful day for sailing. The water's as smooth as glass, there's a nice strong breeze in the top sails, and there's not a cloud in the sky." She paused again and looked at me. I stared straight ahead, keeping my expression neutral. "Fine then. How 'bout something to eat? You look starved."
My gut twisted into a knot and whatever was still in my stomach left just then.

Even though it was already past noon, it was only the beginning of a very long day.
Silver had given me the entire day off to get my sea legs. So, I spent the it examining the ship, watching the crew work, and trying to stay out of everyone's way. Everyone except Silver seemed to dislike the fact that I wasn't working, but Kat was the only one who showed her contempt by irritating me at every opportunity she got. Before the day was out Kat managed to have me exasperated. Finally, I could stand it no longer. No matter how hard I tried to ignore her or get back at her it didn't work. I just walked right up to her and punched her, she wasn't a girl she was a demon.
She dodged my punch all too easily and backpedalled out of reach. "Can I help you?" she said with just a hint of mocking in her voice.
"Yeah, you can, by holding still so I can throttle you!" I said outraged.
"Oh, now why would I do that?" she scoffed.
I charged at her and she danced out of the way laughing. "Stand and fight like a man!" I bellowed before I could stop myself.
"'Like a man' huh?" she jeered.
"Yeah!" that seemed to have gotten to her, "You fight like a girl!"
"Do I?" she said glancing around, "Well you'll soon find out that's quite a compliment"
I glanced around as well not sure what Kat was looking for. The entire crew it seemed had stopped working to watch, then I caught Silver out of the corner of my eye. He nodded just ever so slightly as if giving someone the go ahead.
Something connected hard with my neck followed moments later by something connecting much harder with with my chest and then my entire body was laid flat out on the deck.
I stayed there gasping for breath. The side of my neck burned. I reached up to feel it and pulled back wincing. The sweat on my hands had gotten into four, long, bleeding scratches on the left side of my neck.
I noticed Kat glaring down at me and scrambled to my feet. "Hey, that was uncalled-for!" I gripped.
"Oh, I'm sorry." she said, not sorry at all. "So, walking up to me while I'm working and punching me isn't?" I opened my mouth to protest but then she added, "Well, almost punch. You missed... twice."
I walked right up to her, so that our faces were only a few inches apart. She stayed as still as a statue. I pulled myself up to my full height which wasn't more than a couple inches taller than her, not quite the effect I was going for, and said as threateningly as I could, "This time I won't miss." and I punch at her point blank, I couldn't miss, but I did.
She had barely moved, just twisted her skinny self sideways and I had completely missed. Before I could recover and pull back my arm an explosion of pain shot through the entirety of my arm and then I was spinning, or was I falling. My head connected with something very hard and then I was sprawled out on the deck at Kat's feet.
Kat had somehow grabbed hold of the arm I had just punched with, which was now tingling as if it had fallen asleep. She twisted my arm around so I was lying uncomfortably on my stomach with my face half smashed into the deck, and then sat on me making it difficult for me to breathe.
Kat took a deep breath, "You know I could kill you right now. You're no more of a threat to me than a mouse is to a cat"
"Then why don't you do it?" I challenged.
"It wouldn't go over too well with the Captain, and it would defeat the purpose of me capturing you in the first place." she replied, and then added, "Plus, cats love to play with their food."
I was about to say something but she got off me suddenly and I gulped air. As I was getting up I noticed my right arm was completely useless. The muscles didn't seem to work right and numbing pain shot up it every time I tried to move it. So, I had no choice but to let it hang limply at my side.
Kat noticed this immediately, "Hmm... Looks like punching me doesn't work, maybe you should try a new tactic."
I considered this for a moment. Should I try a different attack, or would she be expecting that? Or should I try punching with my good arm? Or would she be expecting that since she thought I might not take her advice?
While I was arguing this over with myself Kat stood well out of range of any attack I could throw, watching me, looking very detached, as if she was just a spectator and not actually participating in the fight. This infuriated me more. She didn't even seem to be fighting back, yet my arm hadn't deadened its self.
I decided Kat deserved a nice, sound roundhouse kick to somewhere in her upper body region. I measured the distance between us with my eyes. It looked like I would only have to take about three large steps to get within range. Planning to kick offensively, I put my left foot forward and then took the next two steps at lightening speed. Then I kicked, and missed. I had misjudged the distance. No, Kat had moved just out of range and I felt the trim on her jerkin catch just for a moment on the toe of my shoe.
I watched her right arm shoot up and then her left to complete the capture, and then both twisted my foot around before I realized that this could be a problem. My upper body twisted completely around putting me on all fours with my right leg up in the air. Another explosion of pain in my captured leg and it went numb. My right arm gave out and I keeled over.
Kat plopped herself down on top of me again. "Why don't you just give up? All you're doing is hurting yourself."
"You would like that wouldn't you?" I didn't want to lose to a girl especially by just giving up.
"Actually no, it's kinda not fun anymore when the mouse just stops fighting back, but for your own sake I suggest you stop." Now I was slightly confused. Could she give any straight answers? Kat hopped off me and stood an arm's length away. "Looks like the kicking didn't work too well for you." She had a point.
I stood up but then had to sit down immediately feeling very ill. The three points where Kat had hit me: my arm, my head, and my leg were throbbing terrifically. Everything stared swimming in and out of focus. All of a sudden lying down seemed like a really good idea.