Destiny calls, p.9
Destiny Calls, page 9
After he exited the cabin, I raised my index finger and thought of the wind blowing to cool myself off in what was then a very stuffy cabin.
A faint breeze of air blew from my finger, which wasn’t enough. I opened my palm, and then a shot of air blasted Millie's hair in every direction.
“Yeep! What was that for?”
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“Eh—sorry. I meant to cool myself off. I was feeling so hot.” I pointed two fingers toward my face and from them blew a gentle wind.
“Like Wesu, do we? I saw how you turned red when he kissed your hand.” Millie winked.
“Very funny.” I was embarrassed, but what she said was true.
“It’s your birthday, and your powers appear to be your main present.” Millie sat down on a couch. “It’s pretty cool, actually.”
Caleb, who had been looking out the porthole, turned to us. His eyes were wide with dread.
“There’s something weird coming toward us.”
“What do you mean?” I squeezed in next to him to peer out of the porthole. Crimson and lavender clouds floated toward the ship.
Tall, dark waves crashed against the hull while heavy rain fell from the sky. More thunder boomed above us. Seaspray showered the side of the ship. In the distance, I spotted what seemed to be a black shape skittering on the turbulent water.
Water pelted the glass of the porthole, making it hard to see what the thing was. I thought it might be a humungous sea worm. When the 137
creature got closer, I saw that it had an arched tail high in the air over its body. Foolishly, I opened the porthole to get a better look.
“What the—?” Caleb said. “Do you see what that is? It's coming right for us! Close that porthole!”
“A creature?” Millie jumped onto the bed.
I gasped. “A scorpion is out there! What are we going to do?” With my insides wrapped so tight, I wanted to hide. Terrified that the scorpion might sink the ship and kill all my friends, I closed my eyes. I needed a plan. I thought hard. What would the Daughter of the Wind do?
“Maybe Fulan knows about this thing?” said Delmon desperately.
“No,” I said.
“Somebody has to do something,” yelled Millie.
“Quiet. I need to think. Please.” I paced the cabin. “A thought pushed into my head: I have to go up to the main deck and fight this thing, it told me.” I spoke with feigned confidence. My insides melted at the thought of fighting a giant 138
scorpion. Still, there was an intuition, a compulsion, drawing me upward.
“Fight it? With what?” Thema stared at me.
“You will need a cannon or something.”
“I'm supposed to be able to use the wind, aren't I?” I didn't know how I would do it or even if my new power would be enough. I only knew that I was being drawn by an invisible force.
Thema glanced at the porthole. “I guess you don't have a choice.”
Shaking inside, I tried to think of how I would take this on. “This thing is not a normal creature. Have you ever heard of a scorpion walking on the sea? A scorpion that size?”
Millie ran her hands through her hair and closed her eyes. “This is all so strange. I don't know how you can fight it. Even if you are a wind spirit, or whatever. That thing is huge, and moreover, you barely know what you're doing!”
I took a deep breath. “Every part of me wants to hide, every part of me thinks I will die up there. But I have to go.” With whatever resolve I could muster, I started toward the hallway.
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“Stop for a second.” Millie walked toward me.
“I can't stop a wind goddess, but don’t die up there, okay?” she hugged me.
I gritted my teeth. “That is not my plan.”
As I stepped into the stairwell, I noticed Wesu coming up from the C-deck.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“There’s a scorpion—a monster out there. If I have these powers and my fate is to control them, it might be that our only chance to survive is if I fight the thing.”
“I’m going with you,” said Wesu, holding on to my arm. “I heard what you did with Miss Zusa.
If there’s a monster up there, I'll face it with you.”
I smiled at him. Together, we went up the stairs. Before exiting onto the main deck, I paused to survey the situation. My mouth went dry, and my body became hot.
Wearing a rubber suit, hat, and gloves, the captain yelled, “All available hands! Down the sails! Gad, prepare to lie a-hull!”
I whispered to Wesu, “They are going to close up the ship?”
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“That’s right. The captain will take down all of the sails and seal the bulkheads.”
I scanned the horizon and saw that scorpion making its way toward the ship. “The captain is so busy; he hasn’t noticed the monster!”
Naphtal worked to loosen a tangled rope while the captain held the wheel. A wave swept over the deck.
Captain Asher wiped the sea spray from his face and turned just in time to see the oncoming creature. “What the devil is that! Ephra! That creature! Why didn’t you tell me it was coming!”
Ephra called down, “It’s a demon, Captain!”
Issachar and Jud spotted Wesu and me at the doorway.
“Elise, get down below! Wesu, take her below!” Jud yelled. “It’s very dangerous! There’s a terrible creature out there!”
I took a step toward the sailors. “No. You know why I am here, and you know who I am.”
“You have your powers?” Jud asked desperately.
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“Yes. I have all my powers. I can take on this monster.” I didn’t really know that I had all my powers, but I said it anyway.
Jud yelled out, “The Daughter of the Wind is on board. He will fight the creature!”
Issachar beamed. “Yes! Captain, Elise will save us. She is the wind goddess!”
Captain Asher yelled, “You both will need to be tied down or you’ll get tossed overboard. Put these harnesses on!”
A gale blasted the ship, pushing it over on to its left side.
“Slack the mainsail!” yelled the captain. “Cut down the rest!”
A wave washed over the deck, sweeping Jud into the water. He swam back toward the ship until another wave engulfed him. Seaspray was so thick everywhere that it was difficult to see the creature coming toward us. Bursts of flame shot out of the scorpion’s tail as it came bustling. Issachar worked to close the hatches on the main deck.
A bolt of lightning hit the crow’s nest as Ephra tried to climb down the netting. His body hit the deck hard; he lay motionless until the 142
rolling of the ship caused his body to slide into the water.
Menas tried to secure a rope, which flew in the wind. A pulley from above landed on his head. He, too, was swept into the water. I knew I had to do something or more people would die.
With the crimson clouds above, I spread out both arms. Air exploded from my shoulders upward into the sky. My rotating arms created a cyclone of lustrous air. The hurricane swept back and forth in the sky above the ship enveloping the crimson and dark purple clouds.
“No more deaths!” I yelled with my face tipped upward.
I enclosed my arms above my head with my palms coming together. Then I opened them in a swift motion, and the cyclone shriveled down to a wisp and popped out of existence. Above the ship, gray clouds floated calmly with blue bits of sky showing through. Wesu ran over to the lifeboats, trying to release one from its stand.
The scorpion sped up in its path toward the ship.
“Get below! NOW!” yelled the captain to his crew.
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The others remaining went below. A lifeboat fell into the water, dragged by the ship’s motion.
Delmon pushed past the captain and ran toward the mainsail that had been split in half.
I turned my back away from him to watch the scorpion heading our way.
“No!” yelled Wesu. “Get below, you fool!”
Delmon screamed at me, “Morgoto sent the scorpion because of you, Elise.” While I watched the scorpion, Delmon slipped a rope around my neck. He pulled the rope tightly until my throat burned, and I could barely breathe. “Time to die.
Windless, are we?”
Wesu pulled Delmon off me. I saw the two tumble on the deck. The rope around my neck loosened a bit. Wesu pulled back his arm to punch Delmon squarely in the jaw. For a moment, Wesu appeared to be a gray lizard with a long tail swatting Delmon across the face. I closed my eyes, and when I looked again, he was in human form struggling with Delmon.
Delmon pulled out a knife, broke free of Wesu’s grip, and rushed toward me. “I saw what you did to Miss Zusa. If you’re dead, that scorpion will let us live.”
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As he got closer, Wesu kicked his hand, and the knife flew on to the deck. Wesu grabbed Delmon, and the two wrestled on the main deck until a wave hit the ship and Delmon tumbled into the sea. Wesu's harness kept him from joining Delmon in the water.
Captain Asher stood near the bulkhead.
“Wesu, come on now, you must go below! Let her fight the scorpion. He’s the only one who can!” Wesu, drenched from head to toe, stood resolutely. “No. I will stay up here with him!”
Tall black waves hurtled over and against the ship as it rolled, and the ship bobbed high in the waves.
“Be careful, dear,” the captain yelled as he went below and closed the bulkhead hatch. The scorpion’s curved tail sprayed a sickening black mist into the air. Smelling like rotting corpses, the mist surrounded us. Wesu fell to the deck, coughing.
“No!” I undid the harness. Blasts of air shot from my feet, raising me high in the air above the ship. The rancid smell made me dizzy, and I saw Wesu unconscious. I extended my arm, moving it in a circular motion. A pearly wisp of wind shot out. I heaved the whip toward the scorpion, pulling back right at the last minute.
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This caused the whip to snap at its tail. CRACK!
The black horns on the tail shredded. The scorpion's poison further sickened me and caused Wesu's skin to turn brown and shrivel, his arms and legs reduced to bone and sinew.
At that moment, I believed Wesu to be dead.
The scorpion hissed at me as it stood on the ship. It spun to the right, swiping my lower legs.
I tumbled and landed in the water. The scorpion came so close that I saw its black pincers near its mouth. Its two solid black eyes on top of its head and three eyes on each side watched blankly as I reeled back my silvery whip. The scorpion reached out a claw to grab me. With a burst of air, I shot higher in the sky, narrowly missing it. I reeled back and snapped the whip around its head. Holding on as hard as I could, I pulled in the opposite direction with all my might. I heard a loud wet squish as if a large squirt-fruit had been dropped on the floor. The scorpion’s head flew off its body and into the air and its torso wriggled as it toppled into the sea.
I caught the scorpion’s head in my right hand and blasted as far as I could.
Below, I spotted a skeleton where Wesu had lain.
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“Wesu!” I dropped to the deck and kneeled next to his body. As I leaned back on my knees, I cried as I put his head in my lap. With the sea now calmer, the bulkhead hatch opened. Out came the captain and Issachar. Behind them stood Millie and Thema.
“Go get Fulan!” yelled Millie. “She’s needed up here!”
I wailed as I picked up Wesu’s skeleton hand.
“Wesu, you stayed up here for me,” I whispered to him. Tears fell from my face.
Within a few moments, Fulan stood on deck with the captain, Thema, Millie, and the nerean sailors looking on.
Fulan knelt beside him and put her hand over his mouth and then his chest. Slowly, the flesh returned to his bones, his internal organs, heart, muscles, and outer skin. Fulan concentrated more, and he started to breathe. I noticed a collective sigh of relief from all the onlookers.
“Wesu, welcome back.” I ran the back of my hand up his cheek.
He looked around to see the captain and the sailors staring down at him. “Where’s the scorpion?”
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I held Wesu's hand. “It’s dead. I almost thought I was going to lose you. But Fulan brought you back.”
The ship jerked. Gad scrambled on deck.
“Captain, the ship is still sinking. The pumps can’t work fast enough. The lower decks are filled with water.”
The captain darted to the left side where two lifeboats were tethered. “Get all the passengers on the main deck!”
“Wesu, take Elise and these three passengers with you in this lifeboat. Row as fast as you can away from the ship.”
“Where’s Caleb and Magna?” I asked the captain. “They should be up here!”
“There is a hole in the ship on the B-deck,”
Gad replied. “I tried to save them. I couldn't get to them fast enough.”
“Get on the lifeboat and get moving,”
commanded the captain.
Distraught, I climbed down the rope ladder with Wesu behind me. He held the lifeboat steady for Fulan, Millie, and Thema. Thema grabbed a cloth from her pocket and dabbed her eyes. The lifeboat had various metal boxes, and 148
canvas rolled tightly under the seats and in the bow. Wesu grabbed the oars after untying the boat.
“There’s a compass under the seat! Go east!”
yelled the captain.
Issachar dove into the sea behind us. He grabbed the back of the boat and paddled hard.
The boat went faster in the waves with him helping. As soon as we were a reasonable distance from the ship, he waved us on and returned to the Ascension.
The bow of the Ascension stuck out of the water with the boat’s rear wholly immersed.
A lifeboat fell to the side of the sinking ship; Miss Zusa, and the cook boarded with Gad and Naphtal helping. They managed to get away from the ship when the headless scorpion emerged from the water. With its right claw, it grabbed and swung Captain Asher high in the sky, and with its left claw, it grabbed his legs and pulled him in half. The scorpion tossed both halves in the water. Turning toward us, it climbed to the sea’s surface and scurried in our direction.
“Get down! Get as low as you can in the boat!”
As the scorpion came closer, I stood up both 149
afraid and frustrated that I may not have the strength for another battle, and with my palms cupped, I formed a pearly ball of swirling air. I kept the ball swirling until it became a solid mass of vibrating, blue energy. I hurled the ball with all my might at its chest. The scorpion exploded into a thousand pieces—all of which rained down around us.
Millie sat back, staring at the sinking ship.
“Ugh. I'm going to vomit. The captain, yuck. Did you see what that thing did to him?” He leaned over the side of the boat to throw up. “Freaking headless scorpion.”
“Poor captain.” I sat down, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. Some of the fear that had filled me abated.
“You are very brave to face that thing.”
Thema’s eyes sparkled.
Wesu, bare-chested, pulled the oars to his lap for a moment. “Delmon came on board and tried to kill Elise.”
“Creep. I didn't like him at all,” said Thema, turning to Fulan.
Fulan's red leaf lips turned into a smile.
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Wesu rowed a bit, but I could see he wasn't in any real condition to do much after his ordeal. He'd been reduced to a skeleton; I couldn't expect him to have his full strength so soon.
Wesu grimaced as he stretched out his arms.
“Millie and I can row,” I said. “Millie, are you up to it?”
“I guess. I’m still a bit sick,” she said.
Millie scooted over next to me, and Wesu moved. Both of us picked up the oars and rowed.
“The evil is dead now,” said Thema. “We have nothing to worry about.”
“What happened to me?” asked Wesu. “I don't remember anything.”
Millie and I rested a bit and then began rowing again.
“Fulan saved your life, Wesu,” I said. “You were dead after the scorpion sprayed the boat—
remember that awful smell? That spray turned you into an old man and then reduced you to a skeleton. Fulan brought you back.”
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Wesu looked over at Fulan, who averted her eyes to the bottom of the boat. He touched Fulan's cloak. “Thank you for saving me.”
Thema put her arm around Fulan. “You are incredibly special. I’m sorry how the others treated you earlier on.”
I created a breeze to push the boat, but without a sail, it made only a slight difference.
“Let me row a bit,” said Thema, who sat beside me after Millie moved out of the way.
“I am not strong enough to help, and without my tree, I won't live long on this boat,” said Fulan.
“What do you mean, your tree?” Thema focused heavy eyes on Fulan.
“The Leaf People can only live if they have their ancestral tree with them. This was the tree from which I sprouted. I must rest in the tree at night. In the daytime, the tree's birds attend to my leaves.” She gazed in the direction the Ascension went down. “My tree is at the bottom of the sea by now.”
“If we get to shore, will another tree work?”
Millie asked.
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“No. I need a specific tree with specific birds.
Our trees grow in clusters, forming small villages. The roots are all connected to the mother tree. My tree had been separated from its roots and planted in a soil box. That was what I had in my cabin. At night, I rest with the tree and it restores me. The birds on the tree remove parasites and help to keep my leaves healthy. Without all of that, I can't survive.” Her charcoal eyes slowly scanned the sea as if she expected her tree to pop up. She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. “I accept what I know to be true.”
