Moonlight Magic

Chapter 6

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The sun was just rising on another part of the world as Freak appeared in it's dark night sky with a flash of purple. The boy froze at the unfamiliar feeling, but quickly started flailing helplessly when he realized that he was falling in midair. Panicking at the sight of the ground far below him, Freak tried to calm down and remember what he had learned from one of Dudley's movies. Training his eyes to the sight of the fast-approaching earth, Freak frantically tried to spot any type of a body of water near him.
Another bamf sounded through the air as Freak disappeared again, only to splutter for air as he was plunged into water. Nerves shot, Freak attempted to doggy paddle, trying in vain to remember the few pieces of advice Petunia had given to Dudley when they were at the neighborhood pool. His fur seemed to drag him down though, and against the six-year-old's waning strength, his doggypaddle did nothing more than cost him even more energy. With one last vicious movement of his limbs in some semblance of a swim, the boy sunk beneath the surface. Exhaustion pulled at his body, and with the lack of oxygen to his brain, Freak fell unconscious as he drifted downwards.

-

Jolting awake to grunts and screams, Freak panted, his hands gripping his knees. Freak's eyes darted around in panic, but he couldn't make out anything in his dark landscape. Feeling oddly heavy, Freak's flinch was delayed when he saw something swish through the air, causing whatever the thing was to get stuck in his hair. Furrowing his eyebrows, Freak slowly reached up to grab it, only to have it slip through his fingers.
"...?"
Flinching back again, but this time in shock, Freak wondered what happened to his voice. As his mind whirled, bubbles floated in front of his vision.
Reaching out a hand, Freak's fingers made the bubbles sway and move, which was odd to him. He remembered bubbles popping when touched, as they had one day when Freak had been allowed to go to the park.
With the memory pulled to the forefront of his mind, Freak remembered that the bubbles had gone towards the ground, rather than upwards. Looking up after the retreating bubbles, Freak spotted a large dark shape, but no clouds or sun.
Standing up in alarm, the Nightcrawler attempted to narrow his eyes in on the moving object. However, his attention was quickly diverted when his tail knocked into his shoulder.
Turning his hips to partially see behind him, Freak's eyes widened when he saw that his pre-hen-sill tail was wrapped around a wriggling fish. His jaw dropped in surprise, and only then did Freak notice the water as it rushed into and down his throat.
Coughing to get the water out of his lungs, Freak looked at his surroundings in wonder. How was he breathing? Deciding to experiment, Freak took a short, sharp breath in through his nose, and immediately started coughing again. Tears gathered and disappeared from his eyes as he decided experimenting wasn't very fun. Trying to take his mind off of his burning nose, Freak jumped off the floor and quickly recognized the feeling of floating.
Swimming for the surface, Freak followed the wake of the large black shape. Excitedly, Freak realized that it must be a ship. That meant he might be near a port, and a port meant pirate ships. Swimming faster through the calm waters, Freak smiled widely in anticipation.
Getting closer to the ship, the Nightcrawler noticed a square whole in the bottom of the ship near the back, a place to fish Freak guessed. Deciding to inspect it closer later, Freak quietly broke the surface of the water, looking up into the dark night sky and admiring the constellations.
Slowly treading water to keep up with the slow-moving ship, Freak set his gaze on the sides of the ship. It was high up, but Freak couldn't see anyone walking aboard the deck.
Grabbing hold of the side of the ship, Freak thought of what he would do to climb aboard. Looking out, Freak couldn't see any close area of land.
Feeling a slight tug on his arm, Freak slipped out of his thoughts, and remembered what his mother had told him in her letter. Were 'strong adhesive hairs' like suction cups?
Propelling himself out of the water as high as he could, and slapping his hand onto the side of the ship, Freak giggled as he hung there, suspended half-out of the water.
After a few moments, the little Nightcrawler did as his name suggested and crawled the rest of the way to the top of the ship's side, peering over the railing he hung from to stare at the deck of the ship.
It was empty, save for a few boxes and other pieces of equipment. There weren't any people milling around either, but Freak attested that to the time of day. The moon hung high in the sky and the stars twinkled brightly down at him. There was still someone guiding the ship though, even if the six-year-old couldn't see to the top deck.
Deciding to stick to the shadows as he had often done at the Dursley home- and hadn't his mother said something about being invisible in the shadows?- the little quasi-human climbed over the railing and snuck around the deck, looking for a place to dry off.
Freak creeped around the boxes, being careful to stay light on his feet. Who knew if the wooden deck creaked like the floorboards on the stairs? The little being didn't want to find out.

Freak explored the ship like this, sticking to the shadows and only opening doors up wide enough for him to barely slip through. Staying light on his three-toed feet, the Nightcrawler found the crew's barracks, the captain's quarters, the kitchen, the cargo hold, and the gun deck.
It was on the gun deck that Freak decided where he wanted to hide- the ship's secondary crow's nest. It had the highest vantage point, so he'd be able to see all the surrounding water and any awake crew members skulking about.
It was as he crawled into the nest that Freak's luminous green eyes widened in awe and delight. He hadn't really been able to tell what symbol was on the flag the ship was flying, since he was too far away, but now that he was so close to it, he could just make out the symbol present on every pirate flag he had seen and read about- the skull and crossbones.
Settling into the crow's nest for a delightful night of watching the starry sky and the lapping waves of the ocean, Freak felt content and at peace for the first time in his short life.