Pirate Princess (48 page)

He sighed. “Fine. Be quick though.”

He held onto the dock to steady the boat for me and then I lifted my mask to kiss him quickly. “A kiss for good luck.”

“Oh I don’t need it, darling, but I appreciate it anyways,” he said smugly.

I put my mask back down and jogged down the dock to land and to a dark alley to turn invisible. I waited a couple minutes and then used the spell to make myself invisible before heading towards Captain Thomas’ ship. I jogged towards it, moving around the people on the docks and was ecstatic to see that the plank was down onto the docks so I didn’t even have to find a way on. I walked gingerly up the plank so it wouldn’t sway or creak and tiptoed onto the main deck. The crew was sitting around talking quietly to each other with anxious expressions. I maneuvered around them, making certain not to touch any of them as I headed towards the Captain’s cabin. The door was closed. If I opened it and Thomas was in there he would know something was up. Where was Thomas?

One of his crew headed towards me and I was worried my spell had failed or he could see me, but he knocked on the captain’s door and waited without turning towards me. I waited right next to him, prepared to slip inside with him. Thomas opened the door for the man before returning to sit on a chair inside the cabin. The man hesitated so I walked in before him and positioned myself in one of the corners out of the way. The man walked in and shut the door behind him. Drat! If he had left it open I could have snatched the treasure and ran out without causing any questions. I could still grab it and run, but they would know I was leaving and run after me. I didn’t know if Thomas had powers or not or if his crew did and I wanted to get as much of a head start as possible before they realized something was wrong.

I waited and debated what to do.

“There’s rumor that Jax ain’t dead,” the crew member said to Thomas.

Thomas was sitting in a thickly padded chair and asked, “Why is that?”

“Finn’s got a girlfriend who is a pirate. Seems logical that it is the same girl just with a different mask.”

Thomas shrugged. “I don’t care if Jax is alive or dead or pretending to be someone else.”

And you shouldn’t. “Well if she is Rocco’s girl we could make a name for ourselves if we defeat her.”

Thomas said, “Or incur the wrath of Rocco.”

“Just a thought,” the crew member said with a shrug.

“I would rather not cross Rocco,” Thomas said, “If she is his daughter then he is likely to be protective.”

The crew member looked like he was ready to leave. I sidled over to the case where a large diamond was marked with the red tag. I held my hand over the lock and waited for someone to talk again so they wouldn’t hear it unlock.

“Well alright…”

Click.

“…then Captain. I was just offering a suggestion.”

I grabbed the diamond carefully, closed the door and relocked it. Luckily the spell made anything I held or was touching my body go invisible as well, so they couldn’t see me clutching the diamond.

I followed behind the crew member and just as he opened the door Thomas asked, “Did you touch my case?”

The man turned around with a frown. “No, sir. I was standing right ‘ere talking to you the whole time.”

“Right,” Thomas murmured.

The man moved closer to Thomas who was standing up now to head towards his case. I ran out the door as fast as I could, swerved around one person and then bumped into another, but he just turned and looked at the guy beside him with a frown. I slowed as I walked carefully down the plank and then ran down the docks towards Finn’s boat where he was already sitting with Jason and Sloan. I was almost to the boat when Thomas burst out of his cabin and down the plank. “Where are you?” he yelled.

I jumped into the boat and said, “Row!”

Jason and Sloan stared at Finn and he said, “You heard her! Row!”

Thomas spotted Finn and drew his sword.

“I can’t turn visible or my secret will be out,” I told Finn.

“I know. It doesn’t matter if he sees me,” Finn said smugly and then the idiot raised his hand and saluted Thomas.

“You’re insane.”

“He doesn’t know I can run fast. He won’t believe I did it. He will think it is a coincidence.”

“Search the docks!” Thomas ordered.

“See,” Finn said.

We made it to the ship and I climbed up and to the cabin with Finn on my heels. As soon as he shut the door I released the spell and set the diamond on the table with a victorious smile.

“Nicely done,” he said and then set a dagger with a golden hilt on the table.

“We are two up,” I said, “and two others are one down.”

“Who should we go after next?” he asked.

“I think we should sail to a different area where some of the others are so we can get as much as we can,” I said. What I didn’t say was that I wanted to steer clear of Thomas for a bit.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll go tell the crew,” he said and headed out to talk with the crew.

I took off my mask and tiara and put our new treasures inside with the rest. I had just sat down and relaxed when someone said, “You’ve progressed pretty fast.”

I jumped out of the chair with a dagger in my hand despite knowing the voice. “Faxon, where are you?”

He appeared in the chair across the table from me, drinking hot tea out of one of the cups I usually used. “Next lesson will be teaching you to detect another magic user even if they are invisible.”

“That would be very nice to learn,” I said as I sat back down and calmed my racing heart. “What are you doing here?”

“Checking up on you. We hadn’t heard from you for a bit and we are supposed to be keeping up on our lessons.”

“They said I could participate in the festival,” I reminded him.

He shrugged. “There’s always down time to practice magic.” He snapped his fingers and the cup in front of me filled with hot tea.

I picked it up and sipped it, knowing he liked his tea extra hot. I wondered what it was like to not have a care in the world. To know that you are the baddest, toughest around and even if five mages snuck up on you, you could defeat them with a flick of your finger. It had to be boring.

“You’re bored aren’t you?” I asked him with a smirk.

He sighed. “Incredibly! So please, amuse me.”

I laughed at him. “Why not stay on the ship and you can experiment on the unusual members here. Within reason.” If I didn’t give him boundaries we would find half the crew strapped to tables with him doing who knows what to them.

Finn walked in and stared at Faxon and me sipping tea in the cabin. “Hello, Faxon.”

He didn’t turn around. “Captain Finn.”

“I didn’t know you boarded,” Finn said as he walked around to sit beside me.

“Neither did any of your crew,” he said with a smirk.

“Be nice,” I chastised him.

“I’ve come to continue lessons with Tilia,” he explained.

“Because he is too bored to sit at the castle or listen to Jared complaining that the tournament is too far away and we should have had it sooner,” I explained.

“Right,” Faxon said.

“Next time a little notification is preferred,” Finn said.

Faxon smiled. “Don’t worry I won’t harm you or your crew.”

“The thought didn’t even cross my mind that you might,” Finn said with a pleasant smile.

“So, where to next?” I asked Finn.

“There are a few ships on the opposite side of the Walin Island. We can drop anchor just out of sight on the island, and then I will run across the island to where their ships are and steal their treasures.”

“What about me?” I asked him.

“You can stay and guard the treasures we have,” he said with a smile.

“Oh boy,” Faxon murmured.

“Why can’t I come help?” I asked him.

“Because it’s faster if I go and do it myself. You can’t argue that I’m faster than you.”

He was right, but I didn’t want to admit it. “Fine, I will stay here with Faxon and he can teach me a new spell.”

Finn nodded his head and left the room.

“You gave in faster than I thought you would.”

“Who says I’m giving in?” I asked him with a smirk. “I happen to know there’s a third boat close to where he is likely to drop anchor and I will go steal from that one while he is off after the other two.”

“You are so sneaky,” he said with a shake of his head, “I don’t know how we didn’t see it before.”

“That hurts,” I said as I put my hand over my chest.

“So, let’s work on your meditation,” he said as he sipped his tea.

“Meditation? Why?” I asked with a groan.

“Because it helps center you and restore balance to yourself and that is something that you need.”

“I don’t think that was a compliment,” I muttered.

“Sit,” he ordered.

I sat down on the floor cross-legged and closed my eyes. “Any special instructions?”

“Nope, just meditate. I want to look at you while you’re doing it to see what your magic is up to.”

“What my magic is up to?” I asked and opened my eyes to look at him.

He waved his hand dismissively, “Just meditate.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I obeyed. I closed my eyes, took deep slow breaths, and focused on the feel of the swaying ship to relax me. Release your worries. Relax your mind. Forget everything.

“Tilia!” he yelled at me.

I inhaled deeply and opened my eyes. “What?”

His eyes were wide and he was standing right in front of me with his hands out and white glowing around them. White meant healing, which seemed odd since I wasn’t in need of healing at the moment. He stared at me a second and then whispered, “Remarkable.”

“Faxon, talk to me.”

“While you were meditating your magic seemed to disappear,” he said and started pacing back and forth in the cabin. “Your breathing slowed, your heart rate slowed, and your magic disappeared. I thought you were dead.”

“Really?” I asked in shock.

“I wonder if this happens every time you meditate?” he asked himself.

“How can my magic disappear?” I asked nervously.

“Maybe you just conceal it, or put metaphysical walls around it.”

“Does this mean I don’t have to meditate anymore?” I asked hopefully.

“On the contrary,” he said as he spun on his heel to face me. “It means we are going to have lots of meditating sessions to see if you can control it.”

“Is it necessarily a bad thing?” I asked. “Maybe it’s just a way for me to completely close down and relax.”

“Or you could kill yourself,” he suggested.

“All the more reason not to try it!” I said in shock.

“What’s going on?” Finn asked as he walked in.

“Your girlfriend tried to kill herself,” Faxon said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“What?!” Finn yelled.

“I did not. He’s being dramatic. He asked me to meditate and when I did he said he thought I was dead. I am perfectly fine.”

“Oh, that, I’ve seen her do it before,” Finn said with a shrug. “She just slows everything down when she meditates, why is that bad?”

Faxon turned and looked at him suspiciously. “Can you see magic?” he asked. Finn shook his head. “She also makes her magic disappear so that I can’t see it.”

“Strange,” Finn said, “But not life threatening.”

“Why are you freaking out if he isn’t?” I asked Faxon.

Faxon eyed Finn and asked, “Yes, why aren’t you freaking out?”

That wasn’t exactly what I had asked.

“Because that’s how everyone meditates where I’m from,” Finn said.

“Where are you from again?”

“Far away,” Finn said with a smirk.

“You’re going to get experimented on,” I warned him.

“Are there lots of fast people where you’re from?” Faxon asked him.

“I don’t have time for interrogation. It’s time for me to steal some treasures,” Finn said and walked over to me where I was still sitting on the floor. He squatted down and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’ll be here,” I lied through my teeth.

Faxon raised an eyebrow and then reached out and touched Finn. I saw a spark and Finn grunted. “Ow, no touching.”

“Interesting,” Faxon whispered. He snapped his fingers and a book and pen fell on to the table in front of him. He opened it and started writing in it.

“Good luck,” I told Finn with a smile.

“Stay on the ship,” he ordered me.

“Have fun,” I told him instead of answering him.

He looked back at me and then left the room.

“Want me to come with you?” Faxon asked.

I stood up and stretched my arms over my head. “No thank you. I’ll be back before you know it, but if Finn returns before me don’t let him sail away.”

“Alright,” Faxon said and then returned to writing in his book.

I put my tiara and mask on and then turned myself invisible. “Can you assist me for a minute?” I asked him.

He sighed, set his pen down and walked to the door. “You’re a pain sometimes.”

“I love you too.”

He opened the door and walked out on to the deck, which gave me a path to escape and wouldn’t tip the crew off that I was escaping. I jogged across the deck, swerved around Jason, and then jogged down the ramp to the island.

“Who among you has magic powers or powers like Finn that aren’t magic assisted?” Faxon asked the crew.

Oy, those poor people. I would have to hurry so that he didn’t have long enough to start testing them. Hopefully he would only have long enough to make a list of them and the things he found interesting about them.

The sun warmed me as I jogged and I enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach beside me. Why couldn’t the castle in the Capitol be on the beach? I would sleep so much better if I could hear the waves at night.

The ship came into view and the crew who were mostly lounging on the beach drinking and eating around a large fire. The food smelled incredibly good. No, you can’t eat. You have to steal treasures. I ran faster, darting around drunken pirates and up to the captain’s cabin. I had no idea whose ship this was, but I didn’t really care. The captain’s cabin was wide open and no one was inside. I stopped outside the door and looked in. It was suspicious that it was so open. Was the captain just stupid? Or did they think they would see someone coming and be safe? They had to have seen us sailing by. Maybe it was a trap?