reflection ● jason grace

Is Daria a bad person? You could say that.

 Daria needed to snap out of it.

She was getting tired of thinking the same thing over and over again, but it wasn't like she had a choice. Her brain wasn't letting Leila, Reyna, Daniel, or Jason out of her head. Though, she was becoming less concerned with what Leila thought as the day progressed.

It was getting dark now. Daria wasn't a big fan of water – she couldn't feel the ground under her feet, so it felt a little bit like she was flying, and that made her even more nervous, so she wasn't exactly having a great time.

"I'm the ruler of the world!" Dakota announced. They were perched on the mast, but Daria wasn't sure how they got there.

"Yeah," Michael said sarcastically. "And I'm the President of China. Get down from there before you fall."

Dakota stuck their tongue out and didn't move, drawing out their bow and arrow like an archer guarding the wall.

"Koda," Nathan looked up at them. It had been hours, but he refused to let anyone else steer. "Why do you have that?"

Daria knew why he was asking. Dakota didn't use a bow; or rather, they used one sometimes, and it always ended with a trip to the Med Bay. Daria shared a glance with Clara and shrugged. They're your problem now.

"We should take shifts," Daria announced. "At night. Or we'll be exhausted."

"Cool," Clara looked her straight in the eyes, fierce and unrelenting. "So are you finally going to sleep or stay up for the third night in a row?"

She could see Nathan hide his smirk in his hand. "Um." Clara took a step towards Daria as she took one back. "I'll take the second shift, I guess."

"Damn straight," Clara said seriously, her mouth set in a hard line. "Now, what time-"

The ship jerked with a loud screeching noise. Dakota stumbled on the mast, but didn't topple over (although Clara was ready to catch them anyway). Daria, Michael, and Nathan all pulled out their weapons, trying to get the first look into the water.

"What the...?" Nathan leaned over, but there was nothing there.

Daria couldn't see much, and the night was getting rapidly darker. Frustration boiled up in her, She couldn't even feel what they were dealing with at sea.

"Huh," Michael muttered, stepping away. He didn't typically use a weapon when dealing with monsters, but Daria knew he carried a dagger just in case, which was what he had out now. "That's weird."

"Is the ship okay?" Clara asked, approaching their group of three now that Dakota wasn't in danger of pitching overboard. Though, that would have been pretty funny.

"Fine, I think." Nathan looked back at Daria. "Hey, can you-"

Something made a noise like a group of whales trying to sing Happy Birthday. Suddenly, Daria was no longer looking at the son of Mercury. In fact, she wasn't really sure what she was looking at. Everything was black, and shiny, and she was very wet.

The monster in front of her made that noise again. It was so loud that Daria stumbled into the railing. She couldn't see any of her friends, but she hoped the thing hadn't like, eaten them.

"What is this thing?" She yelled. She only had one sword on her. Truthfully, she was surprised she'd hung onto it.

"A sea monster!" Someone yelled back.

Thanks, Captain Obvious. She looked up, trying to see where the thing began, or ended. It was huge, with the body of a whale: slippery and slick. If Daria was going to get any leverage, she would need to navigate to the mast.