We were now a days sail away from where the gate to Pactolus is located. But the sky a head of them did not look friendly.
"Get those cannons tied down!" The silver haired quartermaster yelled over the howling of the wind. The crew of The Great Illusion were in a mess, running from one side to the other trying to make sure everything was secure.
They were headed for what looked to be a messy storm.
I climb down the mizzen mast after helping Wooyoung get the back sails down.
"Katerina!" I turn to the quartermaster. "Get in your cabin! You don't have enough experience to be out on deck in this weather!"
"What if someone needs help?" I was honestly worried to leave the rest of the crew to fight the storm, while I hid in my cabin like a coward.
"Little Kat!" This time it was Wooyoung yelling my nick name over the roar of the wind. "Just go to your cabin. We got this. We don't need you falling over board!" I sigh in defeat. They were right though, everyone but me on this ship have dealt with plenty of storms on the ocean.
So with a low head, I fight the strong wind making my way into my room.
--
I decided since I was stuck in my room while the rest of the crew were out in the rain, fighting to make sure we did not sink, I was going to try to get some information from Jonah.
I sat in the middle of my cabin floor, eyes closed completely focused on contacting the angel that convinced me to stay on this ship. It felt like hours of trying to call out to the angel before a few words flutter into my mind.
There will be a book on the forecastle of the ship after the storm calms.
Jonah? Is that you? I called over and over again until I heard a knock on my door, snapping me out of my subconscious.
I stand dusting my pants off before walking over to my door. I pull the door open to see a smiling Wooyoung.
"We made it out of the storm." He says calmly, leaning against my door frame.
"That's great." I say a little stunned when I see that the sun was barely shining over the horizon- hours have went by without me knowing.
"Captain wants us in the quarter room." When he stands back up straight I take notice that his hair and clothes were still damp.
"Hold on." I walk to my bathroom and grab a cloth. I walk back to where I left the green eyed man, holding the cloth out for him. "Dry off so you don't catch a cold silly." I say when he gives me a weird look.
But his confused face turns into a soft smile. "So does that mean you care about me?" The soft smile that had danced on his lips for a second was now replaced with a teasing smirk.
"No, I just don't want to have to do your work while you're sick." I say simply.
"That hurt Little Kat." He puts his hand over his heart in mock pain. We both burst into laughter after a moment of silence.
After we calmed down our laughing, Wooyoung brings his left hand out from behind his back to grab for the cloth. But instead of the usual smooth pale skin, there was a bandage wrapped around his hand.
"What happened?" I gasp as I drop the cloth to gently hold his hand in mine.
Wooyoung freezes as the dark haired girl held his hand in her smaller ones, he had forgotten about the injury for a moment when she offered him the cloth. She held it like some would hold a fragile vase. It made something foreign stir in the boatswains heart.
"I'm fine." He pulls his hand away slowly, "I just burned it on a rope. Nothing that hasn't happened before."
"Oh.." I felt like I should do something. "Can I show you something before we head to the meeting?" I ask him, cutting my eyes back and forth to make sure no one was around.
"Umm.. sure?"
Even though he sounds very unsure I still grab his wrist and drag him into my room. Shutting the door I make him sit on the edge of my bed, not caring if he got my covers wet. I sit next to him, twisting my body to face his.
"Hand." I hold my hands out, palms up waiting for him to give me his injured hand. I don't know why I was showing him this, maybe it was because I felt like I should have been out there helping them. And plus I felt like I should do something nice for him after what he did for me the other night in the crow's nest. He had helped me lift a small part of my past off of my chest, so I could at least heal a wound for him.
He slowly sets his good hand in mine. I snap my eyes up telling him with my eyes to quit playing around. He rolls his own eyes at my seriousness, but none the less he gives me his bandaged hand.
"I have to take the bandage off." I warn him before I peel the already worn cloth from his hand. Under the off white cloth his hand was a mess. His fingers all had angry red marks cut deep into them, his palm had a matching mark right in the middle of it. The rest of his skin was pruned up from where the bandage had been wet. "That looks like it hurts.."
"Don't worry Kat, I've had worse." He smirks as if this was no big deal. I mean I've had so many wounds I don't know why I was so worried about seeing another person wounded, even though he too was used to having his skin marred all the time.
"Well, as long as I'm around you don't have to worry." I take a deep breathe before bringing his hand up to chest level. "This maybe... a little weird..." I then bring his hand up to my lips.
I place my lips on the tip of his pointer finger.
It takes everything in Wooyoung not to pull his hand away from the girls grasp. It's not that he was grossed out or anything- no he had never had a women be so gentle when their lips touched his skin. He felt his cheeks heat up from the contact. It was such a pure feeling when her soft lips touched his finger, all she wanted to do was help him, something he had never felt from a woman.
The next second the boatswains thoughts stop. The blue eyed girls fingers and lips start to glow a soft gold color, like rays of sunshine were coming from her skin. He then felt the warmth of a fresh spring morning moving from the girls lips down his finger, before it spread over his torn flesh. He could feel as his skin knitted itself back together- he could see it as well.
"Done." I say softly as I sit up, letting his hand go. He pulls it close to his face, turning it over and over looking for the now gone wounds.
"Wow.." He whispers. He lifts his eyes from his healed hand to lock eyes with me. "Thank you. That was amazing.." His voice was still coming out in a whisper.
"No need to thank me." I smile as I stand up.
"San better watch out, you may put him out of a job. Though the idea of you kissing all of our wounds better seems a little odd." Wooyoung rambles as we make our way to the quarter room, where the rest of the crew was waiting for us.
"What seems odd?" Called a voice from behind us. We both turn around to see the Mastergunner.
"Hey Mingi, long time no see." I smile to the tall man.
"Hey Katerina. How have you been?" He falls into step next to us as we cross the still damp main deck.
"I've been well." I was about to ask how he was, but was cut short as we enter the quarter room.
We all take the 3 empty seats on the left side of the table. Wooyoung sat on my left as Mingi sat on my right, across the table from me was Yunho, to his left was Yeosang, and then on his right was San and on San's right sat Jongho. At the end of the table sat Seonghwa.
"So, what are the damages?" Hongjoong cuts straight to the point.
"Not many sir. Two torn sails, some of the water made it in the storage room wetting some of our supplies. I have men down there cleaning the mess now. Other then that, just a few tired men." Seonghwa relays what the storm had done to the ship.
"Good. We will rest for tonight before we continue to Pactolus, we all need to be in top shape before we cross over." The captain looks us all over, making sure we understood that we still did not know what all we would be facing in this dimension.
"San any injured?" Seonghwa turns to the pink haired surgeon.
"A few came in with rope burns including Wooyoung. His was the worst out of all of them." San turns to look at his crew mate. Said man hid his hands in his lap with a smirk.
"Will it hinder you any?" The blonde captain turned to the smirking man.
"Not at all." He tells his captain.
"What do you mean? It looked bad Wooyoung." The surgeon's eyebrows knit together in confusion at his friends cockiness. Yes Wooyoung was a tough young man, but how the rope had burned him would make it painful to grab anything in that hand for at least a few days.
Wooyoung burst into laughter. Everyone besides Katerina thought that their green eyed friend maybe caught a fever from the rain, and that was making his act more crazy then usual.
"Wooyoung." His captain had enough of his laughing.
"I'm fine captain. See!" He holds his hand up for everyone to see. The burns that had disfigured his hand were gone without a trace.
"H-how?" San stands up, snatching his mates hand over the table. Turning it over and over again trying to see if there really was no burn. The surgeon knew for a fact that the boatswains hand had bad rope burns all over it.
"Little Kat here." Wooyoung turns to me with a proud smile on his face. "She healed it." The crew all turn to stare at me. My cheeks instantly heat up as they all stared at me with wonder in their eyes.
"How?" San now turns his question to me.
"She kissed it better." Wooyoung adds smugly. I snap my eyes to him, glaring him down.
"It's not like that!" I quickly turn to the rest of the men in the room when I notice their eyes go wide in shock. "I just... uhhh... kissed the tip of his finger....But my lips have to touch near the wound to heal it!" I stutter while trying tp explain to them. But I felt like I made it worse.... I huff as I hit my head on the table.
Stupid! I scold myself.
"You know what Wooyoung..? " I turn my head that still laid on the table towards the dark haired man. Shooting daggers into his soul.
"Yes Little Kat?" The smirk never leaving his face.
"I take back what I said.. I will never heal a wound for you again." I say lowly, dark blue eyes cutting into his emerald green ones. He just sits there for a moment, before he straight up falls off his chair from laughing so hard. I bang my head into the table once again at that.
"I want to see!" San yelled over his friends laughter.
I snap my head up at his request. "What?!"
"I want you to show me how you do it! Please!" He all but begs on his knees.
"Why?" I was blown away, why would he want to see how I do it so bad?
"Because I'm a surgeon! Duh! I heal people! There is no trace of Wooyoung's burns. I have to see this!" The surgeons curiosity was going to drive him crazy if he did not see it with his own eyes.
"No one here is hurt though.." Wooyoung stopped laughing when he heard what his pink haired friend wanted.
We all snap our heads to the front of the table when the sound of something sinking into the table cut through our ears. Then all of our jaws drop when we see the captains dagger stabbed into the table, but that was not why we all looked so shocked. The dagger had blood on it.. The crimson liquid slid down the sharp silver blade, before rolling down and staining the wooden table.
My eyes trail from the red stain on the table top, to the sharp edge of the dagger up to the cross guard, then over the top of the handle to the captains chest. My eyes continue their path from the captain chest all the way up to his now bleeding hand. A big jagged line cut across the palm of the captains hand. Bright red blood runs down from his raised hand to his elbow, cutting a red river over his pale skin.
"What the hell capain'?" Mingi's usual deep voice comes out a few pitches higher then usual.
The blonde haired man just shrugs his shoulders with a nonchalant smile on his face. "I was curious as well, and she needed a wound to show us. So here." He turns from his worried crew to me, holding his bleeding hand out to me.
My mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. What the hell is wrong with this man?! I almost yell out loud.
"It's bleeding to much! I don't want to get blood on my lips!" I scream in horror, trying to get over the shock still. The captain just rolls his eyes before pulling out a handkerchief, pressing it on his wound.
"There." He raises an eyebrow to the pale faced girl.
My eyes dart from his hand to his eyes then back to his hand. After a moment I sigh in defeat. I can't leave his hand like that.
I stand making my way over to grab a small stool from the desk tucked behind the table, before making my way over to the hazel eyes captain. I sit down in the space between him and Wooyoung. I hesitated to grab his hand because his arm was covered in blood. Seonghwa offers me a cloth to wipe the blood away, which I take gratefully.
I wipe the blood away before grabbing his wrist, pulling his hand closer. I look up to see him watching me intently. I snap my eyes back down sighing. I use my other hand to cup under his injured one. Like I did with Wooyoung, I place my lips on the tip of his pointer finger. My eyes glance up to his before closing.
The men in the room had wide eyes and batted breathes as they watch the girl- save for Wooyoung. He watched with a bit of a sour taste in his mouth.
Hongjoong watches as the girls lips and fingers glow a golden color. He felt his hand go warm, so he removed the cloth. Everyone watched as the skin stitched back together, leaving nothing but the dried blood to show that there used to be a injury there. The blonde haired captain did not really mean to cut his hand, but when the thought of Katerina's lips touching another man that wasn't him made something stir in the pit of his stomach, causing his body to act on it's own. When his crew had questioned his actions he played it off on curiosity- which was not a complete lie.
"Done.." I stand, heading back to my seat with my head low. I did not want anyone to see how red my cheeks were.
"That was amazing..." Mingi whispered from my side.
The surgeon quickly grabs a cloth, wetting it to clean the blood from his captains hand. Eyes wide when he saw for a fact that the skin on the blonde mans hand was back to the way it was, before he had cut his own hand out of no where. San was slightly worried that his captain might have a fever from the rain as well, so he reaches his hand up to place it on his captains forehead. But Hongjoongs temperature felt normal...
I watch the interaction between San and Hongjoong, holding in my laughter as the surgeons eyes go wide.
"He doesn't have a fever..." He turns to us, dark brown eyes even wider then before. The look on his face broke all of our resolves, the room then filled with uncontrollable laughter.
--
After San had concluded that his captain was indeed not sick we had all been dismissed to go eat.
Once I had got myself a tray of food, I dart out of the kitchen avoiding the rest of the crew.
I was half way through chewing up my bread roll when I remembered what Jonah had said to me earlier.
There will be a book on the forecastle of the ship after the storm calms.
Shit! I hope no one has taken it.
I dart out of my room, mouth full of bread. I run straight to the forecastle, ignoring all the weird looks the night time crew were sending me.
Once I reach my destination, I search franticly. I probably looked like a mad woman right now, but I did not care.
Just as I was about to start shaking nearby crew members, I see it.. Tucked away in the shadows was a cream colored book. I snatch a lamp from a passing crew member, ignoring his yell of surprise. I lean over holding the lamp closer to the book to read the words written across it's cover.
"A path across the dimensions"
No way this book could be exactly what we need.. That would be to good to be true... But at the same time Jonah, an angel sent it.
I grab the book and then rush to the navigation room.
"Yeosang!" I burst through the door, scaring the poor dark haired navigator.
"Is everything okay?" He asked in a panic from the floor. When Katerina had burst through the door, Yeosang had been half asleep hunched over his desk. The sudden sound of her yelling his name made him jolt upright to fast, resulting in him falling to the floor.
"I have something!" I rush over to the fallen man, setting the lamp on the table before reaching down and helping him stand. Once he was on his feet I shove the book in his face.
"What is it?" He goes cross eyed trying to read the cover of the book, but it was to close so he took a small step back. "No way.."
He pulls the book from my hands, rushing over to hold the book close to the lamp I had set on the table. Making sure he was reading it right. "Where did you get this?"
"I.... umm.. found it..." I don't want to say an angel sent it because I don't know how they would react. I don't know if I fully trust them yet... But I knew I had to share the book with them- that was the whole reason Jonah had sent it.
Yeosang doesn't ask any father as he starts to flip through the book.
Chapter One, The path through Pactolus.
I watch over his shoulder as he flips through the book in a fast pace. Once he reached the second chapter it was blank.. actually the rest of the book was blank. Save for the first chapter and then the last page of the book, the last page had one word.... Patience..
"Patience.. what does it mean by that..?" I ask Yeosang, still standing on my tippy toes to look over his shoulder at the book.
"I'm not sure... I guess we will just have to be patient." He let's out a chuckle at his own joke.
"That was lame." But yet I let out a giggle as well. "We need to show captain right away."
"Yes."