We decide to camp out overnight on the island. After all, what other choice do we have?
It's not so bad; the sand covers our bodies like blankets. But as the sun sets, the temperature refuses to stay warm, and with the darkness comes the cold. I try to ignore it.
K.O. doesn't sleep. He's too worried to close his eyes. And while I do share this same worry, I'm far too tired to even think about staying up much longer.
Kirstin and Avi are huddling together for warmth, Avi stroking Kirstin's hair as she sleeps with a faint smile on her face.
I try to close my eyes, to sleep, to dream, but it's no use. Whenever I close my eyes for an extended period of time, I see Lindsey again. But this time, not so friendly. My dreams depict her with red, hungry eyes and an evil smirk. It's funny how she had gone from such a sweet girl to an absolute monster in just one day. As I see her in my dreams, she morphs into the sea dragon that had so mercilessly destroyed our ship. Tentacles grow out of her sides, and fangs begin to form in her mouth as she cackles and yells...
I open my eyes with a start, and quickly decide that I can't go back to sleep. Lindsey...isn't actually like that, is she? She'll go back to normal, to herself, hopefully, if we find her. When we find her.
I notice a body shivering next to me. Mitch. His eyes are shut tightly, and his whole body is shaking because of the cold. He's so small and skinny, it's no wonder that he gets cold so easily. "Cold?" I whisper, hoping he can hear me.
"Just a l-little," he stammers, cracking open one of his eyes.
I would give him my jacket, but at the moment, it's hanging on the branch on one of the nearby palm trees, trying to rid itself of the saltwater that probably won't ever go away. "Come here," I say finally, opening my arms to him.
He looks at me with uncertainty, but after a moment he obliges and crawls into my arms. He feels smaller and looks more vulnerable in my embrace as I hold him tighter, doing my best to ward off the cold.
"I'm sorry," he says quietly.
"For what?" I inquire.
"For making you do this. For bringing you on this crazy, stupid wild goose chase with me, and for not listening to what you wanted," he explains. "And I've decided. You don't have to help me find the Sapphire anymore. I guess I just wanted someone to help, but..."
"But what? I haven't been very helpful?" I joke, grinning.
"No, that's not it," he says seriously. "I just think you deserve better than this. Once I get the ship back from the Alvarados, I'll take you back home."
Back home? I had been so set on the idea of returning just a few days ago, but now the word "home" seemed relative. In the time that I'd been here, my motivation had been returning to London, to see Miss Faulkner again, to see all of the kids that I'd grown to love. But now, at the idea of actually going back to the orphanage, of just returning to my clockmaker profession in my boring, day after day routine, after knowing about magic and pirates and immortality...well, it seems crazy.
"Look, I wished for something to change, and then I got it. And though I didn't realize it at first, it was one of the best things to ever happen to me," I tell him.
He scoffs. "What, being kidnapped? Being forced to find something against your will? Being forced to see me and my crew every day?"
"Yes. I never really had friends or family back home. But with you guys...we've only known each other for a little while but you guys already feel like my family," I reply.
Mitch looks at me, his eyebrows knitted together. "Wait a minute. I know what you're doing."
"What?"
YOU ARE READING
The Clockmaker and the Pirate - EVERMORE BOOK 1
Fanfiction"The only thing I've wanted my entire life was to die, to die, to die. But then -- by a twist of fate you found yourself onboard my dinky little ship and you flashed your stupid smile and you gave me the opposite," he tells me. "What's that?" I...
