Sea Of Seagulls: A Pirate and Fae Tale

Chapter 35

Theodosia opened her eyes. Before she was a long black hallway, barely lit. She squinted through the darkness, unable to see the end. She forced herself to walk. This was a bad idea. She told herself, nothing good ever happened in long dark hallways. Theodosia broke into a run, her breathing heavy. It's going to be okay. She told herself, everything would be fine. Theodosia quickened her pace, she was getting tired. But she couldn't stop. Not until she reached the end. The end.

Theodosia slammed into a wall flinging her back with a thud. Her vision blurred. She didn't remember a wall being there.

Theodosia's vision cleared, there was no wall! She jumped up and threw her fists against the invisible wall. It was like glass but no reflections and no way of breaking through. Banging and pounding until her knuckles hurt. She leaned her head against the wall, sobbing quietly.

"Theodosia?"

Theodosia looked up,

"Shaye!" she cried as she pressed her hands against the divider between them.

Theodosia looked right at Shaye's, dark circles were under her eyes and her lips were dry and cracked.

"What are you doing here?" Shaye asked, her voice shaky.

"I don't know I just opened my eyes and..,"

"How long have you been here? Are you stuck in this nightmare too?"

So this was a dream.

"Stuck?"

"Theodosia I can't get out, I think it's been weeks but I can't tell. You have to get me out of here now or I'll...,"

Shaye's voice was drowned out by the sound of the gusting wind.

"What!" Theodosia screamed over the uproar.

Black snakey vines crept down Shayes' side of the invisible glass. Grasping her hands and legs, trapping her, pulling her back. Theodosia threw herself against the barricade, punching her fists, trying to breakthrough. Shaye's scream echoed

as she was drawn into the dark.

Theodosia screamed, she threw herself at the wall, a breaking sound rang in her ears. Glass shattered to the floor.

Theodosia ran to where Shaye was but she was gone. That could have been her chance to save Shaye, she had missed that chance. Theodosia fell to her knees where Shaye used to stand. And all that was left of her was the sound of her scream still echoing.

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Noelle dropped down from her horse with a huff. She hasn't spoken to her mother since she revealed her plan. To kill her father. Noelle had never met Rolfe, but she had heard terrible things about him. Both from rumors and her mother. She had been working to come up with a way to convince her that this was a bad idea. But Ansel seemed pretty determined. They arrived in a small town after the day's journey to rest. Noelle used a few of her spare coins to get a room just for the night. Ansel fell asleep instantly, giving Noelle the perfect opportunity to try to warn her friends.

She is going to kill Rolfe. We are almost to Fenharrow. She has the Wyrdkey. She wants to use it to get revenge on him. I'm sorry, Theodosia. I should have known.

-Noelle

Noelle gave the note to a messenger. Noelle hoped it would reach them in time for them to do something. Maybe Shaye would be healed by then. Noelle returned to Ansel's room and fell asleep. Now Noelle could only outwait the storm.

+++++++++

Theodosia had tried ignoring the dream. She had pushed the things she saw back. She couldn't block out the scream that Shaye yelled as she got pulled away. The sound echoed in Theodosia's mind. It was a constant reminder that Shaye was trapped. She was suffering and Theodosia couldn't save her.

Jazmine had been working for days but there had not been much improvement. Jazmine and been using her powers to tear at the dimension Shaye was in. She would hopefully breakthrough soon.

Theodosia got off Killian and made her way inside. She put down the ale and bread she bought. Jack had a sword in hand as Theodosia made her way into the room.

Theodosia looked at Shaye, even though she knew nothing would change. She just laid there, her skin still too hot to touch, her eyes frozen in terror.

"Hey," Jack said from the main room next to Shaye's. Theodosia returned to look at him, flinging his sword, Jack had been working on holding the hilt correctly. Theodosia guided him through different ways to slash the opponent and how to use the sword to guard himself. She wished she had her full attention on training Jack, but screams still rang in her head.

" You seem a bit off," Jack started.

"I-I'm fine. You need to rotate your shoulder more when you raise the sword," Theodosia mumbled, her mind still off somewhere else.

Jack grabbed another sword from the side of the room. Theodosia caught it without looking. She knew what he wanted. She made the first move with the sword. She aimed for the abdomen. He had blocked the blow before the sword hit. Jack grinned, proudly. Theodosia smiled before she turned and kicked him in the side. He struck his sword towards her neck, she ducked and kicked his legs out from under him. Jack grunted as he fell back.

Theodosia headed to place the sword back. She stumbled to the floor as Jack tripped her from behind. She rolled over and looked at him, meeting his eyes. He grabbed her hand, helping pull her up.

"Not bad, but it is still sloppy. You can't control where you are aiming the sword. Work on that or you won't stand a chance in a fight."

"Jack, do you ever have dreams about Kai or your sister?" Theodosia blurted out as she leaned her sword against the wall.

"I used to, I had nightmares of them dying but not many anymore. Why?"

"I had a dream last night. I was running down a hallway and at the end, I saw her. I saw Shaye but I couldn't reach her. Vines wrapped around her and she was pulled away. I couldn't reach her. I could only walk to where she was after she was gone."

"That doesn't mean she is going to die," Jack intervened.

"Jazmine is healing her and she will come back. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

Theodosia looked at him, there was hope in his eyes. He truly believed that she would come back. She understood he was trying to help her feel better, but nothing anyone said could take her mind off of what could happen to Shaye while she was in the closest thing to hell.

Jack looked as if he was about to say something but another voice spoke first. Jazmine's voice.

"Something's happening!" She exclaimed from the next room.

Theodosia and Jack rushed to see what Jazmine was talking about. Sure enough, Shaye had changed. Thin ice coated her skin her whole body.

"What the hell did you do!" Theodosia yelled at Jazmine.

"Woah, Theodosia, no need to yell," Jack spoke from the doorway. Theodosia was about to give Jack a piece of her mind but Jazmine interrupted them yet again.

"I think she is waking up.