Chapter 2

After that scenario, we decided on our next course of action - I mean, I decided on our next course of action.

"So what do you think we should do next?" I asked.

"I don't know," Rudy replied.

"How about we find a ship?" I questioned.

"Whatever you want," Rudy responded.

"What island should we go to?" I said.

"It's your choice," he answered. I sighed. Was everybody in the outside world like this? If so, I may have to rethink about my decision of leaving my island.

"I suppose we have to find a ship, first, if we are going to continue on our travels," I decided, "Along with supplies and a map."

"Sure, there's a guy at the dock I know who can probably give us something that will at least get us to the next island. And I know the shopkeepers well, too, since I deliver the neighbors' and my family's crops."

"Great! Then let's go!" I said, "But we'll have to stay under the radar so you're family or the men don't see us." While Rudy once again led me around the unfamiliar streets, I looked around and took the time to actually take in all the things around me. I had not done this earlier, I realized, due to having to find a job and learning about the Tunnels of Myth. One stand was selling hand-crafted jewelry, and another was selling these weird snail things. "Hey Rudy, what are those?" I asked him, pointing to the snail things.

"Oh, those are the Den-Den Mushi I mentioned back in the Tunnels. They're snail phones, you speak into them and you can converse long distance with people," he explained.

"Cool," I added. I nearly crashed into him since I hadn't been focusing when he stopped to talk to an old lady running one of the food stalls.

"Morning Rudy," the lady greeted cheerfully.

"Good morning Mary! Listen, I'm about to tell you something that you can't tell anyone else, okay?" said Rudy.

"My lips are sealed," Mary promised.

"All right, I and my friend here are what are called Guardians. We're being hunted by these men in suits so we have to leave the island,"

"And you're going to need supplies," assumed Mary.

"Yep, so…" Rudy looked at Mary with a pleading look.

"All right, all right," she grunted. She went to the back, opened a door, and she looked around inside, blocking my view. I caught a glimpse of a rifle, and suddenly I panicked, because it was the same kind the men had been using. Why would one of those rifles be inside her shop? Wait that could only mean she was helping them! Nervously I looked away as she came back to the front with a bulging sack, which she handed to Rudy. "Here you go boys, and have a safe trip! Now shoo!" Rudy started to say thank you, but there was no way I was staying there any longer. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and ran off in a random direction.

"Hey, what are you doing, White? Let go already!" demanded Rudy. Doing so, he stood up and hit me on the head. It didn't hurt, but I pouted at him anyway.

"I saw one of the guns the pinstripe men used in her backroom," I informed him smugly. When I saw his reaction, I regretted my tone.

"So, does that mean she's working for them?" Rudy asked.

"Probably, and it makes sense, since it seems Mary knows a lot about you,"

"If she is working for them, then she might've poisoned the food," he groaned. I simply shrugged, and I gestured for him to hand me the sack. I opened it, and I pulled out a round red fruit. I could use my Whispering to check if it was poisoned. But I didn't sense anything lethal inside it.

"Look, there's a note!" exclaimed Rudy. I turned the fruit around in my hand and indeed, there was a small square of folded paper taped to the bottom. Rudy tugged it off and took a moment to unfold it, as it had been folded quite a number of times.

"What does it say?" I nagged him repeatedly.

"Can't you wait a bit?" he snapped, "You're, what, a year older than me and yet you're more childish!"

"Sorry, sorry," I apologized. How could he be shy yet easy to anger at the same time?

"Well, it says, 'Dear Rudy, I have been forced to obey the commands of a mysterious group called the Shadows. They have told me you have a dangerous power and a threat, but I would not believe them. I knew from this news you would have to leave the island. That is why I wrote this letter in advance. Please stay safe'," he read out loud. There were a bunch of squiggles on the back that I couldn't make heads or tails of.

"Hey Rudy, look on the back," I pointed out. He flipped the paper over and examined the squiggles.

"It's a map of the East blue. Wow, I can't believe Mary thought this far ahead," Rudy breathed.

"That's quite convenient, and now we just have to get a boat," I said.

"All right, let's see…The docks should be that way," before I knew it, I found myself being the one dragged along as he raced off to our right, holding onto my wrist. Man he was fast, I was having trouble keeping up. In fact, I was so focused on not tripping, I crashed into his back when he stopped and we both tumbled forward. We were stopped as I crashed into the legs of somebody, yet the stranger didn't budge an inch. She turned around and watched me as I stood up and helped Rudy onto his feet.

"What are you boys up to in order to be in such a rush?" the woman asked. She had long, dark brown hair, green eyes, and was tall with muscles, not too big but enough to tell that you didn't want to be caught off guard in a fight with her. For a moment her eyes seemed to fill with sadness when she looked at me.

"Officer C-Cassandra! We're terribly sorry, please forgive our clumsiness!" Rudy apologized.

"Relax, and call me Casey," she insisted. For a second her voice sounded like she was trying to prevent herself from choking up, but only a second.

"Sorry, Cassandra, I mean Casey. It's just that my friend here is about to leave the island to travel the world, and he told me he's never left his home land before now, so I'm traveling with him," Rudy explained. He didn't talk about the men who tried to kill us, and I wondered why not.

"Oh, I see. Where's your boat?" Casey questioned.

"You see, that's our current problem. Rudy said he knew somebody who could probably lend us something, but I'm not completely sure about this guy," I answered. Rudy looked at me with an offended expression.

"Are you saying you don't trust me?" he accused.

"That's not what I meant, just that-," I started.

"Then what do you mean?" Rudy demanded.

"Boys, boys, stop fighting! Why don't you guys board my ship to the next island?" Casey interrupted.

"Really, are you sure?" Rudy squeaked.

"Sure as I'll ever be. Don't worry, I'm about to leave for the next island, and us Marines are supposed to be helpful. The men could use some entertainment, that's for sure. And what if you two run into some pirates? If you two got hurt it wouldn't be good for my conscious," she assured.

"Y-you are so kind, thank you Casey," Rudy said.

"As I said, we're leaving soon, so you get your butts on the ship!" she commanded, and we scrambled up the board leading to the deck of the Marine ship. Cassandra followed after us much more gracefully, and she barked out orders which her crew hurried to carry out. We just stood there, feeling quite awkward while they scurried about, until a kind yet very, and I mean very intimidating woman with badly cut black hair similar to a boys walked up to us. She could easily be mistaken for a male, as her chest was quite flat, too. Actually, I wasn't sure if she/he was a woman. I took a good but quick look at her/his face. One eye was green, the other blue, but her/his skin was flawless, save for a ragged scar that marred the forehead.

"How'd the mission go?" she/he asked Casey.

"Fine, as always. Can you keep a close eye on these two, Bret? They're going to be on this ship until we get to the next island,"

"'Kaaay," Bret replied casually, "I'm Bret, part o' Cassandra' fleet, nice to meetya'."

"It's n-nice to meet you, too. I'm Rudy Primrose, and this is my friend White Blank," Rudy stammered. They shook hands, and I looked at Rudy. He simply gestured with his eyes for me to do the same. Despite the heat, Bret' hand was extremely cold, and I almost pulled my hand back. When we dropped hands, Casey went off somewhere on the ship, and we were off.

"Ya' know, it's quite rare for a Navy Officer to just give somebody a ride on their ship, 'especially Cassandra," Bret informed us.

"Why?" I asked.

"Cassandra doesn't have a pleasant past, and she won't trust any stranger, especially if they're a boy. It took 'bout a year for her to even begin to trust her own fleet! I was the only person she would confide in, since ya' can't tell my gender. She must see something in ya' two if she was so kind ta ya'," Bret said.

"So, do you know why she joined the Marines in the first place?" I asked.

"Actually, that's one o' the few things I don't know," she responded, "Now, ya' best get below deck, since anything could happen out on these seas, anytime." We were led down a staircase until we reached a room filled with hammocks. "Since a situation like yours is rare for us, we don't have guest rooms or anything like that, so ya'll just hav'ta sleep with the men, I suppose."

"It's alright, we're thankful enough for you guys giving us a ride," I said. Bret brightened up at my reply.

"Well, it's getting late now, so ya' better get some shuteye while you can, since this ship's very noisy in the morning," she/he advised. Once I was sure she was gone and out of hearing range, I hurriedly pulled Rudy inside the room and closed the door behind us. Before he could ask what was going on, I spoke up first.

"Rudy, I think this is a little suspicious. There just happens to be Marine ship when we are about to leave, the captain offers us a ride, and for some reason that Bret' hand was ice-cold," I told him, barely keeping myself from rushing my words.

"Jeez, White, why are you so wary of everything? It's starting to get annoying, no offense, wait, I'm terribly sorry, White!" Rudy whimpered.

"Its okay, Rudy, but maybe your right, maybe I should be less cautious. Just in case, how about we just keep our guard up?" I suggested.

"Fine then," he finally relented, "Now which ones aren't already taken?"

\

"Probably whichever ones are actually clean," I supposed. Most of them were either covered in dirt, small bloodstains, or blankets. Only two, one above each other, in the far left corner were actually tidy. It was a perfect spot to prevent someone from escaping or to ambush them. All we had was the sack of fruit so we just dumped it under the bottom one, which I took while I had to help Rudy onto the top one. He really had to drink more milk if he wanted to get taller.

Once we had settled down, several men had begun filing in, seemingly they had already been informed about our presence on the ship by the way they weren't that surprised upon seeing us in the hammocks. The men went on with their business, some going to the showers, others just going straight to sleep without second though, and a few making use of the fading sunlight streaming through the windows to read or something like that. Rudy fell asleep at record time, and eventually I, too, closed my eyes and dozed off. Remember when I said my dreams were never usually very normal? Well, now the strangeness came.

My dream showed the cabin me and Rudy were in, from a birds-eye view. While we slept peacefully, silently the other men got up and neared our hammocks. 3 or four of them were carrying ropes which I had no idea they got. One young man with brown hair grabbed my wrists, thus waking me, but I couldn't struggle as they tied up my wrists and ankles. The process also woke up Rudy, who screamed, kicked the head of the brown-haired men, and passed out all in 5 seconds. He was tied up along with me, and both of us were dragged out of the room, to what horrible fate awaited us. That is, unless I did something to prevent that fate. My eyes slowly opened, and I glanced around the room. The moon could be seen through the window, and other signs told me I had slept for a few hours. None of the men had gotten up, so I still had some time to get off the ship with Rudy.

Carefully, I stepped onto the wooden floor, cringing when the boards squeaked, but none of the men stirred. Did that mean they were asleep or were they only pretending, waiting for the right moment? First, I roused Rudy, but I had to clamp my hand over his mouth like the Marines in the dream because he was quite surprised.

"What's going on?" he whispered.

"My dreams are usually very odd, and I had a vision that the Marines were going to tie us up. Come on, we have to go, and no, I'm not lying," I added when he gave me an accusing look.

"Okay, I believe you," he sighed, and with my help stepped down soundlessly. I looked around for our bag, but found the bag completely empty of its contents. Those greedy pigs! Leaving the sack on my hammock, we started toward the door but were interrupted by a knock from the window.

Abruptly I turned around to find Bret waving from behind the glass. Wait, how can she be looking out the window? It's on the side of the ship and higher than boats can reach so…Slowly I made my way to the glass, and up close I could see that she had buried her nails into the wood, keeping her in the side of the ship. How did I miss the length of her nails? Bret gestured for me to open the window, which for some reason I did not have at the moment, I opened.

"Don't be alarmed. I'm trying to help you guys, partly because I want to, and partly because Cassandra ordered me to do this. She really has a soft spot for you two," she/he told us softly, "Now come on, we got to leave. Casey will make sure we get a head start. I'll tell you more once we're a safe distance away from here."

"You want us to jump out a window?" Rudy squeaked from beside me, but shut his mouth quickly. He backed away, but before he could get far, Bret reached through the window and hauled him overboard. I just jumped over willingly, and not a moment too soon, as I could hear some of the men getting to their feet. Clinging on to the window frame, I impulsively waved, quite annoying them, and leapt onto the deck of the small boat.

"So much for a stealthy escape," our rescuer grumbled.

"Sorry," I apologized.

"Oh yeah, Casey wanted me to give you this,' she said and looked through one of the three sacks in the boat. Bret took out a necklace made out of a thin silver chain and a photo made into a pendant. Also, she handed me and Rudy a paddle, so I absentmindedly started to row while I stared at the picture. It showed a younger Cassandra with an arm around a lady with long, silver hair and blue eyes. In the silver-haired ladies arms she clutched a white-haired baby. That baby was me.

I stumbled back, and sat down on one of the benches built into the boat. Rudy eyed me worryingly, while Bret gave me a questioning gaze. From the Navy ship, I could hear Cassandra shouting for her men to get back to their beds, and I turned around to see her in the distance. Even this far away, I could still sense the sadness on her face. I kept staring, until Bret hit me with her paddle from behind since I had stopped rowing.

"What are ya' spacing out for? Get rowing already!" she/he complained and I rushed to fulfill the requested bidding while Rudy speeded up with his rowing. I was pretty glad neither of them asked to see what had startled me. But what did the photo mean?