The Girl With The Blue Eyes (Killian Jones)

Chapter 27 Red Sky

"Blackbeard! Which direction are we heading?" I asked. 

"Northwest until you see the stars in the sky. Then bear left to the East about 30 degrees. Straight on after that." I nodded and started sailing the ship. The sea was steady as there were no waves. The air was soft and warm against my face as my hair blew back. I stared out at the open sea, hoping that the place we get to will have answers. 

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The night was peaceful. The stars looked brighter than usual. The moon was almost full. Despite the calm nature of everything around me, my mind was still racing a mile a minute. Between everything that happened, I felt I had no control, apart from guiding this ship. 

The crew were asleep down below. Blackbeard sat on some barrels, drinking some rum and staring out to sea. I was doing the same. Anything to clear my mind. I debated on going down to the Quarters to see Hook, but it'd only make me more miserable. Instead I placed the rope on the wheel and sat down on the ground, leaning against it; letting myself fall asleep to the sounds of the waves crashing and the gentle rocking of the ship.

 I woke up to a large wave crashing against the ship. It jostled the ship back and forth for a moment then everything stilled. The waves were bigger now and more powerful. I sat up and stretched, feeling the stiffness in my back and trying to relieve it. I pulled out my compass to make sure we were still heading in the right direction. We were. That's when I noticed the sky. The sun was rising, but it wasn't the color any pirate hopes for. It was a deep, fiery-red. That meant danger. 

I quickly made my way to the hold where all the crew sleeps. I found a small wooden plank and began banging it against the stairs. It wasn't loud, but loud enough to startle everyone awake. 

"Man your stations! We might be heading into some trouble and we'll need all the energy we can muster up! Let's go!" They all started looking around for their shoes and clothes as I walked back up the main deck. It had only been a few minutes I was down there, but as I breached the main deck, the wind whipped my hair all around. I quickly pulled my hair back, as the crew and Blackbeard were now on the deck. 

"What's with all the yelling this early?" Blackbeard said in annoyance. I pointed to the sky in the distance. 

"Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning..." I paused and Blackbeard finished my sentence. 

"Sailor's take warning." The breeze wasn't warm anymore and there was a nervous feeling all around us. No one said anything as we watched the sky. The more time that passed, the darker the sky became. I ran to the study and searched around for one of the maps. I grabbed it then headed back to the main deck. I rolled out and set it on top of one of the barrels. Blackbeard stood next to me. 

"We're on the same path, we haven't strayed too far at all. Do we have time to dock somewhere? Is there anyplace close?" Blackbeard looked at the map. 

"No. We'd have to make a sharp right and go West. Whatever storm is headed our way would reach us before we made it to port which would be hours. It's coming fast." As he said that another cool breeze blew around us and a big wave crashed against the ship. "We can only hope that it dies out quickly." 

"Do we anchor and stay where we are?" He shook his head. 

"We keep moving. At least that way we might be able to avoid the center of it. We can sail where the waves aren't that bad." I nodded and folded up the map. "Keep your course. Only change direction if we're about to head to the center of it." I've never been in a storm before. 

"How will I know that?" Blackbeard looked out to the sea. 

"You'll know." Just then, it started to downpour on all of us. "We must get ahead of this storm." I ran back up to the helm as the water ran down my face, making the lose hair stick to my face.