She lay right next to me and I could feel her steady breathing. Arrie, that was a nice name, it suited her. I had one wing draped over her. I think she thought it was a blanket or something because she was gripping it very tightly and trying to pull it further over her.
I gritted my teeth and prayed she would let go soon, it really hurt.
Fearing she may rip my wing, I reached over and prised it slowly out of her hands. Cursing as her nail scratched down the delicate membrane, I stood up and walked over to the food to check that it was cool now.
After checking it by dipping a finger into the mess I brought it over to her and placed it by her.
Now all I had to do was wake her up.
I crouched down beside her and went to pinch her arm. Wait, is that how you are supposed to wake girls up?
I retracted my outstretched hand and leaned back against the side of the crate. That’s how the pirates woke each other up but she isn’t a pirate. I contemplated this for a second and finally had an idea.
Standing up I walked out of the open end of the crate and coughed.
Loudly.
Really loudly.
I heard her stir inside the crate. I stopped coughing and went back inside.
“Sleep well?” I asked cheerfully.
“Um, yeah, sort of.” She was still facing the wall but her voice was stronger and she turned to face me.
“Oh good, you can move now.”
“What the hell are those?” She suddenly shouted.
“What? Oh, these, yeah they are, um, my wings…” I scratched the back of my head as I searched for the right words.
“I can see that they are wings! Why do you have them?”
“I don’t really know, I was born with them I guess.”
“What kind of creature are you?”
I was insulted by her calling me a creature and replied, “The kind of creature who is an orphan and doesn’t know what he is. Anyway, what are you?”
“Human”
“What? Human?” She nodded and I swore.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“So, you can’t do magic then, none?”
“No, why?”
“Oh well there are only about seventy odd pirates who are all capable of rendering you helpless for, a very long time!”
Thankfully she caught on to what I was saying and the danger she was in finally dawned on her.
“So, so you can’t do that? Can you?”
“Um well, yes actually.” She looked horrified. “But don’t worry, I would never, ever do that to you.”
“What would stop you?”
“Well, I… I just wouldn’t ok. You are going to have to trust me on this because I am the only hope you have of surviving this un-tampered with.”
I walked out of the crate and sat down leaning against the side. I felt something jolt my back slightly and I realised she must be doing the same thing inside the crate.
I smiled but stayed where I was. I put out my left hand and created a small tornado which spun around the palm of my hand.
Slowly the small cyclone morphed into a shape of the ship on the sea. Then a crate and a picture of us both leaning on each side of the crate’s face spun and danced over my hand and through each of my fingers before going up my arm and perching on my shoulder.
I sighed, normally a little bit of magic like that would cheer me up. Not this time. I was in too deep and I knew it.
Swearing again I stood up and kicked an empty barrel over before turning back around to go into the crate.
I walked straight into a solid mass and fell over backwards. “What the… oh, it’s you.”
Arrie lay on the floor nursing a bumped head. “Yeah, it’s me.”
I stood up and offered a hand to help her up. She took it and stood up to. We faced each other. Our noses were about another nose apart. I blushed fiercely and turned away muttering something about the cold soup on the floor of the crate.
She started to say something but then stopped and walked shakily back into the crate.
I crouched with my head in my hands. I really had to get a grip of myself.
Sighing once more, I stood up and breathed deeply. I walked purposefully into the crate.
“Arrie, I…” It was at this point my courage failed again and I quickly lay down facing away from her hiding my blush. “I am going to sleep, goodnight.”
There was a pause and then she said “But we only just woke up.”
I paused and replied, “I am part bat, and I need my sleep.” I closed my eyes and hoped she would leave it at that. My heart was hammering against my chest and I wondered if she could hear it too.
“Oh” she said softly. I heard her eat the soup. I listened to her fussing around for an extra blanket. I felt her reach over me and grab the blanket behind me. I shrugged the blanket I was using and wrapped my wings around my bare torso. Remembering that I couldn’t wear shirts made me blush even more. Great, she would have to stare at my pale body every time she looked at me. This day just gets better and better I thought.
I shuffled a little, closed my eyes and tried to forget all that had just happened.
~SishBee~
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