Flying Dutchman - Part Three

As Grace steadily lose more sleep, she became more and more irritable and short-tempered, whereas Kiri grew more and more anxious, even fearful of the nights when they were forced to somehow figure out a comfortable enough position so that they could both get sleep. After a few days, they were so sore that it hurt to even stand in the morning. Their food was brought to them and left on the floor, and a rat had taken to coming to investigate the scraps left over.
One morning in particular, just after their breakfast had been brought in and the rat appeared earlier than usual, Kiri pounced and caught the rat, half dragging Grace along after her. Grace, none too happy about being jerked around, snapped angrily. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Silver needs to eat too.” She responded quietly, lifting the snake from her pouch. His scales, Grace saw, had grown almost dull. He scented the air lazily, his tongue barely flicking out of his mouth. Kiri’s brows furrowed worriedly. The cold temperature wasn’t good for him and he was barely responding the food she offering him.
“Well, you could’ve warned me.” Grace said, angrily rubbing her wrist.
“Grace, please, stop shouting.” Kiri muttered, biting her lip as she watched Silver move slowly towards the rat.
“I’m not shouting. This isn’t me shouting.” Grace replied, her temper flaring even higher, wisps of her hair picking up around her as a breeze began to circle about the room.
“Please, Grace, stop it.” Kiri cried, staring at Grace with eyes wide with fear. “I just need to get him to ear. I’m afraid he’ll die.”
Grace calmed slightly, guilt filling her eyes before she turned quickly away. “Just, warn me next time.” She said, still rather snappily.
“Sorry,” Kiri replied sadly. “Can I borrow your dagger?” She asked. Grace gave her a strange look and then handed the blade over, turning her head away when Kiri scored into the rat’s skill, exposing the grey brain tissue of the brain. The brain, however, enticed the snake and he moved closer towards the rat with interest.
Satisfied, Kiri turned to her own breakfast as Silver made to swallow the rat whole.
“How can you watch that and ear?” Grace asked, glancing around. “And why’d you cut into its head?”
“Silver likes the smell of the brain.” Kiri replied, earning a shudder from the nymph. “The cold his putting off his appetite. I just hope he keeps this one down.”
“Yeah.” Grace said, pulling a face as the memory of Silver’s last lunch coming back up for a reappearance just the day before. Hungry though she was, the snake put her own appetite off and she had to turn away to eat at all, her stomach winning out against her slight disgust. Normally, she didn’t mind snakes at all, but the ship was really getting to her.
When they’d all finally finished eating, they carried their plates through the ship and into the galley, putting the plates in their designated area and they set about watching them which was not an easy job when you were shackled together. It was difficult and hardly productive, but no amount of reasoning made the others free them of their bindings. Grace was tempted many times to pick the lock, but they both knew it’d only draw attention to them, and bring about some kind of punishment.
The crew weren’t making their stay any easier, and were used to seeing them stuck together. They had even taken to taunting and tormenting them, something that only drove Grace’s anger to her boiling point.
A tall man, someone they knew as Thomas, stepped up to them and grinned down at them before pulling a lock of each of their heads, chortling as he did. “Little girls, doing the dishes like they should.”
Grace spun to say something, but Kiri caught her hand. Begrudgingly, Grace turned away from him and back to her dish as Thomas walked off, snickering under his breath. “I can’t stand this. We have to do something.” Grace hissed.
Kiri didn’t answer until after the cook bustled past with another pile of dishes, depositing it in the sink with an order for them to wash them. They muttering under their breaths before setting about to clear the sink of all the dishes. They worked well into the night and, when they finally finished, went to return to what had quickly become their room. Once inside, Kiri finally spoke. “What do you think we should do? Go to Kerrin again?” She asked.
“I don’t think we have many other choices at this point in time.” She said, struggling to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. She didn’t do a very good job of succeeding, unfortunately. They set off and quickly found Kerrin. He almost always seemed to be working in the quest part of the ship, well away from any of the other crew members. It was hard to tell whether he looked for the most secluded area to work or if the others just avoided him.
Grace approached Kerrin first, almost hesitantly though, something that surprised Kiri. “We need to talk.” She said simply.
“I wondered when you’d come back.” He said without looking up. “What makes you think I should listen to anything you have to say?”
This time it was Kiri who grew annoyed. She’d seen Grace’s temper flare time after time on the ship, all over the place, but Kerrin had her friend on edge and Kiri couldn’t afford for the nymph to lose it. Though Kiri had been brought up like a lady, she didn’t act like one and was getting really sick of being talked down to, as if they were nothing more than a slave. She stomped forward, dragging Grace behind her. She stopped when she was just a few inches away from Kerrin, her face so close to his that he was almost inhaling her hair. “Where I come from, it’s considered rude to not look at people when they talk to you.” She breathed furiously.
Kerrin looked down at her with a wide grin on his face. Without warning, he reached out and caught a lock of her hair between his thumb and forefinger, letting it slide through his fingers. “And where I come from, little girl, people don’t wait a week before asking for help. Let’s face it, I’m the only one on this ship that is even willing to help the two of you.” He said.
Kiri batted his hand away and took a step back. “You didn’t seem very willing to help us last time. What changed?”
“Let’s just say that a little birdie told me you two were so sweet and that I had to help you.” He teased.
Kiri scowled, fighting to keep her composure. “Are you going to help us or just keep poking fun?”
He looked thoughtful, but then broke out in a grin. “A little bit of both, I think. That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Let’s see if you’re really as smooth as you think you are.” Kiri practically growled.
“Why did the Captain want you so badly?” Grace interjected, drawing Kiri back to the problem at hand. Her eyes were the color of cold steel, and her expression read nothing short of loathing and desperation. Kiri felt guilty for allowing Kerrin to distract her.
“Firstly, I am as good as I think I am.” He said, looking at Kiri before turning to Grace. “And second, I’m not really sure either of you have earned enough of my trust to know that truth yet.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Kiri demanded.
“We’ve no reason not to be trusted.” Grace put in. “You said you tried to escape. Three brains are better than one. With your help, we might be able to get off this ship.”
“How about this? You tell me what you can do, your little talents, and I’ll tell you what I can do. Does that sound fair, sweetheart?” He asked, reaching out to stroke a thumb across Kiri’s cheek.
“I can survive.” Kiri said in all seriousness, her brown eyes locked on his golden ones.
“That’s it?” He asked rather sharply.
“It’s seemed to serve me well enough thus far.” She replied coldly.
His lips twitched into a smirk before he turned towards Grace. “And what about you? What tricks do you have stuffed up your tight sleeves?”
Grace glared for a short second before closing her eyes. As she did, a small gust of wind swept up around them, just strong enough to blow Kiri’s hair across her face. The younger girl realized that Grace was only going to show Kerrin enough to catch his attention. She was smart enough to keep some things hidden, in case things went south.
Kerrin’s eyebrows bobbed, lifting higher with something close to disappointment. “So, you can blow breezes, and you, sweetheart, can’t do anything. That’s a shame. I was hoping you’d be more interesting.” He said with a frown.
“And what about you? What can you do?” Kiri spat. She wanted to fling herself at him and claw his eyes out. He infuriated him more than anybody else ever had. The fact that they needed his help did nothing to settle her fury, either.
“I said I’d show you if you both showed me what you could do.” He replied simply. “And you, my dear, haven’t shown me a thing yet.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Kiri cried, her voice cracking with a note of desperation. “I told you, I don’t have any special powers. Do you want me to humiliate myself any more, or is that enough for you?” Her voice had lifted an octave.
Grace stepped forward, catching the raging emotions that Kiri was barely managing to keep contained. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as the wind she’d summoned from before kicked back up, far more ferociously, throwing her hair about wildly. “We did what you asked of us. Now, we’re going to find a way off this God-forsaken boat with or without your help. But if you want off this ship, you’ll figure a way to get over yourself enough to help us out.” She threatened.
“Temper, temper, little girl.” Kerrin purred, his lips pursing in a sickening grin. “While your parlor tricks are quite entertaining, they don’t amuse me enough. I could kill you in a heartbeat if you give me reason to. So you might want to be a tad bit nicer.” He advised.
“You could kill us, but you already said you tried to escape and failed. So you might need us if you have any hope of getting off. After all, we can’t help you if we’re dead.” She replied.
Kerrin grinned, almost playfully. “You’re both really bossy, you know that?”
Grace’s eyes flashed silver and the temperature began to plummet, her breath soon hanging like a patch of fog in front of her mouth. Grace, Kiri noticed, stood absolutely motionless, her eyes practically glowing in their sockets. Kerrin, she saw with a sense of pleasure, looked unnerved.
“You’ve made your point. Now give it a rest. Can’t say I’m too much of a fan of the cold.” His breath hung before his mouth, and his brows were furrowed together.
Grace allowed the temperature to stabilize, but not immediately. She was thoroughly enjoying his discomfort, perhaps too much, but finally relented when she saw that Kiri’s skin was bright red with the cold, her lips tinged with blue and her hands visibly shaking. While Kerrin, she suspected, wasn’t entirely human, Kiri was and didn’t have a strong resistance to Grace’s abilities. Before she could apologize to her, Kiri stepped forward. “It’s your turn, now.” She said in a steady voice.