Blood ⤘ In The Heart Of The Sea [Thomas Nickerson]

Chapter X

"Portside!"

"We're away!" Verona heard Mr.Lawrence yell, soon joined by the mixed voices of the other men.

The crew made their way to the edge of the ship, a string of questions and exclamations leaving their mouths.

"Where are they?"

"You see anything?"

The girl finally moved from her place on the shrouds, jumping onto the deck and making her way towards the men, finding herself next to Thomas.
The two exchanged a quick look, both smiling at the sight of dozens of white whales skimming the water not too far from the ship. Finally.

"Those could fill up thousands of barrels!" Thomas exclaimed, his eyes crinkling.

"We made it," Verona sighed. Yet, the second the words left her lips, a feeling of dread washed over her. She pushed the thought aside. She wasn't about to let idle superstition get in the way of what could possibly be their salvation, their ticket home. She believed her mother's words, as well as Captain Pelaez's, but if she let the wonders of the White Whale get in the way now, it would get her nowhere.

Though she always told the men to have faith, she too had been losing hope during their fourteen months at sea. But now, seeing those beautiful beasts right under their noses . . .
It was sad to her, really. She'd always hated the thought of having to kill such wonderful creatures, but it was what had to be done. As gruesome as it was, they didn't have a choice. And she, for one, wasn't going to let the men do all the work.

Verona finally turned, rushing away from the deck as she excused herself from Thomas and scanned the ship for her father's first mate.

"Owen!" She called once she spotted him, but her voice was drowned by her father's yelling.

"Lower away!"

"Lower away!" The rest of the men echoed, and every body on the Essex started moving, bustling about to get to their stations.

"The Devil take the Mexican grounds," Owen said as he gripped George's and Matthew's shoulders.

"Owen!" Verona called again, trailing after the man.

"Not now, Verona," the man called back, going to grab a harpoon.

"But I need to talk to—"

"We'll talk later, Verona."

The raven's face went red then. She despised being ignored, but she hated being dismissed even more. So, before she knew it, she'd reached forward and had taken the harpoon from Owen's hands, slamming the butt of it on the ground as hard as she could.

"Owen Chase, you listen to me right now."

Her tone was loud, but it was the calmness and evenness of it that made the man turn around, looking at her with his brows raised.

They both ignored the snicker that came from Thomas as he passed by.

The girl looked straight into Owen's eyes, bue mixing with blue.

"I can help."

Owen shook his head then. "I can't let you do that, Ver. Your father would have my head."

"But I can  help!"

Owen started turning around, the raven following him anyways.

"I know more about hunting than some of the men here! You've run the drills with me—"

"On board," Owen pointed out.

"—but I've read my mother's journals! Besides, I'll never learn if I don't try."

Owen just kept walking, his back to the raven.

"Owen, I have a bad feeling about this, please let me come with you."

Still no response from the man.

Verona sighed heavily then. "My mother was allowed to hunt. Why can't I?"

"Because it cost her her life."

Verona turned sharply, Owen following her movements.

"You will not be getting on one of those boats, am I being clear, Verona?"

George stood tall behind his daughter, his white vest contrasting the dark blue of Verona's simple town skirt.

"But father," the girl started, "I have a bad feeling about this. If you would only let me—"

"Verona," his father said with a warning tone, "I will not allow you to get on one of those boats. Now you can either stay on deck and fetch the tools for the men, or go into your chamber and stay there until I send someone to fetch you, am I being clear?"

Verona glared at the man before nodding. Her father had understood throughout the months that giving his daughter a choice rather than imposing something on her was the best decision, but he could only hope she wouldn't end up on one of the hunting boats.

"I've already lost your mother," George said in a low voice, "I can't lose you too."

Verona opened her mouth to reply, but George had already nodded at Owen, and the two men disappeared in the movements of the ship, leaving the girl alone, shaking her head and turning to the harpoons loading as many as she could into her arms and moving to disperse them in the boats.

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i haven't updated in forever and this chapter
is just plain shit but i promise the next one's
gonna be way longer and actual events
are gonna take place, but in my defence
this was sort of a filler, soooooo
i'm sorry :(