XVI

“I feel the waters tremble,” Zee said, the grip she had on the wheels tightening, her golden eyes stuck on the horizon which was splashed with purple, orange and yellow. “Twilight.”

“It is our duty to make sure that the humans are transported safely,” Raaf drawled, his accent thick, his stance beside Zee like that of a soldier’s. “But I fear that this journey isn’t going to be easy. Our enemies—”

“Oh, hush now Raaf. Nothing is going to—” She stopped herself, like she suddenly realized that she had said something wrong. She looked sideways at her blank-faced brother, his towering figure casting a shadow against her. “I apologize for my mistake,” she said stiffly, dipping her head in respect.

“No worries. You were only trying to say that it’s not our enemies. It’s the enemies of many others, minus ourselves.” He tightened his hands which were clasped behind his back.

Zee exhaled through her nostrils and they both watched cautiously as the sun vanished into the horizon and dark clouds painted the sky like ink. “Rose Water is always angry at this time of the year.” She furrowed her full eyebrows.

Raaf snorted lightly in amusement. “Don’t start talking like those humans who know nothing.”

“It helps with coping with the truth.”

Her corkscrewed fringe danced over her forehead as the wind suddenly picked up and sloshed the waters below.

“They’re here.” Her eyes moved around and she turned her head to look up at her brother’s calm face. “Everywhere,” she whispered, her fingers tightening around the wheel.

Raaf nodded lazily and turned around to leave. “I’ll notify Lord Ọbafi.” His steel-toed boots thumped loudly against the metal floor as he walked briskly to the door and pulled it open. “Wish me luck.”

Zee hummed in response, her eyes fixated on the waters ahead. “I had questioned Jaeger so many times why he had wanted this journey this time of the year,” she hissed lowly through gritted teeth. “And he had answered every time with, ‘it’s all going to be fine.’ ” She shook her head. “Crazy man.”

*

Kimi listened silently in the dark as Illiad sang a slow tune to help Silver stay asleep. He held his phone to his beating chest and let the tune bring back familiar feelings. They were feelings of comfort and protection. Aurum had provided those feelings of comfort and protection, and he was still the same person who was the maker of his nightmares. Tears of confusion and panic threatened to cloud his eyes but he bit down on the tears, as if he could bite down on the truth. The painful and bitter truth.

Illiad held Silver to his body and tapped a finger on his boyfriend’s head in line with the tune, Silver’s face buried in he crook of his neck. He rubbed his back and sang the tune repeatedly, his voice a cloud that dropped rain in Silver’s mind, washing away the unwanted and forgotten. The others listened quietly as they laid in bed, sleep keeping them dizzy.

“Oh for the love of...” Raja sighed and buried his head in a pillow, irritated with the show of affection that Illiad spawned.

Everything remained serene, except for Raja’s few sighs and Andrew’s soft snores. Illiad sang into the night, until sleep fell upon a few, as if a thick blanket was burying them. And the sleepiness was unordinary. It was supernatural and domineering.

Raja suddenly sat up and turned on the torchlight that was beside him. “Something’s going on.” He climbed down his bed and moved to Duan. He held his shoulder and softly shook him. “Duan. Duan.” His friend didn’t budge and he confirmed his suspicions.

The people—humans specifically—were under the control of one of the cadavers onboard.

“Level Os are here,” Rin whispered as he opened his eyes. They faintly glowed gold in the dark. “A lot of them.”

A knock on the door drew their attention and Raja moved to it and pulled it open to find Dae-yang standing there with a hard expression.

“Dae-yang?”

“We shouldn’t have come,” she whispered as she walked into the room, a sheathed sword in her hand. Worry was written on her face, her brows deeply knitted together.

Her gaze immediately dropped on Kimi as he tried to blink away drowsiness. She raised an eyebrow, confused at the sight of his fight against sleep. Something was not right with the way he was blinking rapidly, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“We need to get to the deck,” she started stiffly, her gaze shifting to Raja. “Coach Tobe is waiting for us. He said that we should hurry. There’s a lot of them.”

Raja nodded in understanding and moved to grab something from his bag. As he passed the bed that was shared by Silver and Kimi, he asked, “what about Silver and Kimi?” He looked at Illiad.

“Silver will come up later. Just go,” Illiad said with furrowed eyebrows.

Raja nodded in understanding and looked up at Kimi. “And what about you?”

“What about me?” Kimi narrowed his eyes, his face squeezed in tiredness, dark  circles under his eyes.

Dae-yang walked closer to his bed, a concerned frown on her face. “Don’t you know?”

“Know what?” He raised an eyebrow.

“There’s thousands of cadavers waiting in the sea to kill us all,” Rin said dryly as he moved towards the door.

Kimi went wide-eyed at Rin’s words, and his body went harder than any brick or cement could. How did the cadavers find him?

Author’s Note: I know that this chapter is short. It’s this way because the next chappy will be longer, and it’ll contain a fight scene. Get ready to see Dae-Yang in action. 👊 Please vote, comment and share. Thank you all for the reads.