Sea Of Seagulls: A Pirate and Fae Tale

Chapter 33

The moonlight shined through the window. Jazmine had done her first session of healing with Shaye. Theodosia had no idea what that entailed but she hoped it would work. Theodosia sat on her mattress and leaned her head against the wall. She had never been so exhausted. Every part of her was tired. Her body craved sleep and her mind needed rest.

She laid her head on the mattress looking at the ceiling. This all started with her and Shaye looking for the wyrdkey. It felt like forever ago. Shaye not being there made hours feel like days. Theodosia hated herself for not remembering Shaye's voice. She had such an assertive voice. A queen's voice one day She reminded herself.

Even if she woke up, they would eventually go their ways. Still, Theodosia would trade anything for her to wake up. It wasn't her time yet. It couldn't be.

The door creaked as it opened. She didn't have to see his face to know it was him. Ansel wasn't the type of person to come check on Shaye or her. Theodosia gave him a slight smile even though he probably couldn't see her well in the dark.

Jack walked to Shaye, looking for any improvements but none were made. He walked up to the mattress Theodosia laid on. He made eye contact with her to ask, may I? She gave him a slight nod.

Jack sat at the other end of the large mattress. He rested his head against the opposite wall.

"I had a sister," he spoke with his eyes closed.

"Had?"

Jack opened his eyes and sat up straighter. He took a breath before he spoke again.

"It was years ago. She was 12 at the time. There was this party, and I left to go, but our mother told me to stay with her. I went anyway. Kai had been out with our mom that night. When I got home from the party, she was gone. There wasn't a single sign anyone had been there. We looked for her everywhere.

It was 3 years later when we found her. Her body had been dumped outside of a brothel. They just left her there waiting to be found. Her hair had grown out to her waist, and she was painfully thin. She had cuts and bruises as if she had tried to fight it. The largest bruise went around her neck. Someone choked her to death."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you and I both drove ourselves crazy over someone. Shaye isn't dead but I see the fear you have when you look at her. Kai drove himself into a bad place. He never was the same person. He lost hope in people and left people before they could leave them."

"How did you cope with all of it?"

"I didn't. I came home every day thinking I would see when I walked in. I saw my brother starve himself. My mother didn't speak much. She and Kai used to be the crazy ones. I tried pushing it all away. I hid from the fact that she was in that place for 3 years and we never found her. I would have rather killed myself than to know that she was being used for so long only to end up dead at 15. I buried the thoughts and her death trying to make them go away. Then I took a moment to realize that she wouldn't come back. What I was doing to myself wouldn't turn back time. I wasted so many years not giving my sister the light of day. I never thought I'd lose her like that. She was gone. Doing nothing seemed like a waste of a life. I tried to help Kai. I tried to be there for him but he never accepted what happened. He blamed himself even though I was the one who left her alone.

I wanted things to be normal again, but I knew deep down that things could never be the same. She got her life taken away like it was nothing. After all the nightmares and hallucinations of seeing her. I moved on. It hurt like hell. She wouldn't have wanted my life to be over just because hers was. So I moved on and continued my life."

Theodosia tried to think of something to say. She wanted to say something but no words came out.

"I gave up on my sister too early. If we had kept looking, maybe we would have found her. Shaye isn't gone yet. Don't give up on her either. And if something goes wrong and she is gone, I know she wouldn't want you to give up on your life. She would want you to live because she couldn't"

"I-I'm sorry. For Kai."

"That wasn't your fault. Don't make it your fault when it wasn't."

Theodosia remembered waking up and seeing him on the ground. Jack lost two loved ones and he was still ok. Theodosia couldn't imagine losing both Noelle and Shaye. Then another thought hit her. How many people's loved ones had she taken? How many lives had she ended? How many people cried themselves to sleep because she killed someone they loved? Theodosia never saw them as people with families before. Theodosia always saw them as people in her way. How selfish was she?

"That's why you ran after the girl, isn't it?"

"You ran into the fight with no weapons or training. You saved her because you couldn't save your sister."

He gave her a slight nod.

Theodosia looked at him. He just sat there the whole time being so calm while telling that horrific story. She was never that calm. Shaye wasn't even gone yet she was going insane.

"I wished I had the same control you do," Theodosia mumbled.

"I guess I'll just have to teach you," Jack grinned.