Red

11. Deactivate

a very special surprise in the following chapter (; HEHEHEHEHE

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I was slowly swaying back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. That much I knew.

Inaudible voices drifted in and out of my ears like far away music. My mind was awake. Foggy, but awake. I just couldn't seem to open my eyes or move my body.

Nausea slowly built up in my stomach as I aggressively fought my spell of immobility, trying to thrash around by squeezing my muscles as tightly as I could. It didn't seem to do much. My nausea grew with each waking second, along with the onset of panic in my predicament.

What was wrong with me? Where was I?

I began to remember the last thing I could. Kail in my bedroom, disguised as Rome with the use of magic. What did he do to me?

Everything was dark and murky after that, and I couldn't seem to retrieve any memories of what happened after I found out it was him. It was as if there was a blocker lodged inside my brain, stopping me from seeing what I didn't remember.

The voices I had absently heard began to sound clearer and louder, disrupting my deep train of thought.

"—won't find her."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, Your Majesty."

Footsteps retreat and I hear a door close, silence instantly filling the space around me. I begin to fight the paralyzation I was in again by trying to beckon forward my magic, pulling it from deep inside my chest like a hook to a fish. It began to fight with me and ever so slowly I fought to lift my eyelids. I blink once, twice as bright light fills my vision when I finally open my eyes.

My hands regain movement and I use them to shield my face from the light as I adjust. Movement follows to my right.

"How did you escape my trance, dear Scarlett?" Kail's voice sends tremors throughout my body, and I instantly fly upward. I was sitting in a bed in a room made completely from wood. To my left, a window overlooked the broad expanse of the ocean blue sparkling in the sunlight.

The ocean. Oh God.

I was on a ship. For who knew how long or where I was even heading to.

"What the hell is going on?" I shoot up from the small bed I was laying in and let my eyes scan around the room, finding nothing to tell me anything about my situation, except for Kail. He was sitting in a dark brown chair next to bookcase that stood against the wall across the room. In front of him laid a map on top of a wooden coffee table, along with a cup of red wine and a few pieces of bread.

"Slow down, Scarlett. You've only just awoken. Your body is probably still adjusting to the movement of the ship, so I'd advise you sit back down." Kail says calmly. He takes his glass of wine and swirls it around inside the cup nonchalantly before taking a sip, all the while keeping his deep blue eyes pinned on me like a hawk.

At his words, I noticed the nausea in my stomach hadn't gone away, and instead had only intensified. I quickly place a hand over my mouth as my body lurches forward with stomach content rising fast in my throat.

Kail moves hastily upwards and sets down his wine before grabbing a bucket next to his chair, shoving it towards me as I began to wretch. He must've known I would wake up with sea sickness.

     I take the bucket from him and hold it right in front of my face as I vomit, my stomach lurching with each involuntary shudder.

     Kail places a hand on my shoulder and pats me as I finish vomiting. "There, there. Let it all out. We will be sailing for quite awhile to get back to my kingdom so I'll leave it by your bedside."