Traveler (7 page)

A deep crimson blush crossed her cheeks.  “I....I already started reading it,” she whispered in shame, looking at him for a brief moment before she couldn’t hold his gaze any longer, studying her jeans.

Of all the bloody times...
This time Alexander did sigh deeply.  “Well, that cannot be helped now.  However you must not read any more.  There are some things that not meant for the eyes of the unprepared.”

Her eyes glittered a little as she looked at him in curiosity.  “But...how does one become prepared then?  In order to read more...?  What danger could there be in reading a book?”  A flashback came to her of her hallucination in the pool.  That’s all it was...a hallucination...right?  But she could still taste the salt water on her lips, could still feel the currents pulling against her.

“There is no...preparing to read this book.  Truthfully...there are relatively few who can read that book without consequence, and you are not one of those few.  Do not read any more of the book, and return it to me as soon as possible.”

Aislin looked at him curiously, pursing her lips as though she wanted to say something more. She did want to say something, truth be told, but she doubted he would like the direction her questions were heading .  If he wanted the book that badly...well, then she’d do her best to try to get it to him.  But, she might read it first.  It was, after all, a book.  How dangerous could it really be?  It was just papers and leather, a little bit of ink...right?  

                Instead, Aislin turned and walked away, a determined glint in her eye that she’d inherited from her mother so many years ago.  Maybe it was time to start an adventure.  If someone didn’t want her to read this book...well then, that was exactly what she had to do, wasn’t it?  

                The rest of the day went by in somewhat of a haze.  Every chance she got, Aislin stuck her nose in the book, attempting to read as much as she could between her classes, while walking down the hallway, every second she got.  The only thing that she did watch out for was the face of the librarian.  He, of all people, would be the one that would take the book from her...and stop her from reading it.  

                It was at lunch time that Aislin discovered the most interesting secret of all; the book ended.  All books end, they have to have an ending, but in this book, the words stopped but the pages kept going.  A frown creased her forehead as she kept flipping through the pages.  There had to be more than just...one chapter . Right?  She had to have answers.  And it seemed to...jump, quite a bit.  There was a section with children, then it was just adults.  
Interesting
, she thought to herself.

                Deciding on a whim to skip her classes for the afternoon, she ran to the library.  She needed to ask Mr. Bookman some questions.  Her red hair was in complete disarray and there was a flush on her cheeks from running across the school.  She skidded to a halt in front of his desk.  “I need to ask you a few questions,” she said breathlessly, her green eyes bright.

                The dark-haired librarian had spent the majority of the morning going through the motions of his job while pondering the situation at hand.  It simply was not safe to allow the book to fall into untrained hands, and yet it seemed to want to be in this girl’s possession.  No matter how endearing the child was, he had to find a way to retrieve the book and keep it away from her before something horrible happened to his world.  A brow arched in surprise as the sudden appearance of the girl drew him from his plotting.  
What in the world?
 “What would those be, Miss Oriole? And shouldn’t you be in class right about now?”

“Class is unimportant compared to this,” she said quickly.  “Why does the book only have a few pages of writing in it?  Why are the rest of the pages blank?”  Her gaze was frank and unyielding.  This was the one man who could give her the answers.  “And if you don’t want to tell me, then I should go try to find someone else who will.”  If nothing else, he would want to placate her to keep the book a secret...maybe take her somewhere private so they could actually talk.  He was a good-looking man, a bit too old for her tastes even if she was eighteen, and he was maybe in his late twenties, so people would think something much different if they saw them alone, but that was how it went.

Did she seriously just attempt to play this game with him?!  This was not the first attempt by a student in this school, and Alexander was beginning to wonder what type of school this really was.  There was an icy rage growing in his pale blue eyes as he stared at the audacious teenager, gathering his thoughts before he spoke in a deceptively calm voice.  “Forgive me, child, but class is the reason why you go to school in the first place.  So I disagree...it is important, and if you hadn’t guessed by the way I handled your classmates yesterday, you should know that I don’t deal well with those who seek to threaten me.  So now...let me address your...questions.  The book...well, as I told you earlier, it is not meant for the unprepared, and obviously you are unprepared for such knowledge.  Do you really think that the book will allow you to show it to just anyone, child, when it won’t even allow you to return it to its proper owner? I would not have taken you for foolish.”

Aislin bristled under his gaze.  “It was not a threat.  If I wanted to threaten you, I would have threatened you.  I gave you merely an ultimatum.  No, I have guessed that it won’t let me show it to anyone, but it seems to want to help me, not anyone else, so if I wanted to find answers, who else would it help but me?  Even now, if I were to reach into my bag, where the book has been all day, the book wouldn’t show itself to you.  So now...will you answer my questions, or do I have to find the answers on my own?”  She was getting irritated with the way he was dodging her questions.

He shook his head in obvious amusement, a faint laugh escaping him.  It was sad...he had thought this girl might not be as foolish as the other girls who fluttered about, but apparently he was wrong.  “There is no one else to answer your questions, child.  And if I wanted to, I could make the book reappear...but do not mistake my kindness for weakness.  You have gotten all the answers you are entitled to, and will receive no more.  Return the book before the end of the day, or there will be consequences.”

“I can’t,” she said in exasperation.  “I’ve tried now.  Twice.  It doesn’t want to come back to you.  So how can I make it come back to you when it doesn’t want to come back?  And I am not a child.  I’m eighteen.  So if you can make it reappear...then do it.”  Her eyes flashed the unspoken end to that sentence.  I dare you.

“If you persist in acting like a child, then that is how I will treat you.  It is just that simple.” Alexander remarked casually, knowing that would likely irritate the girl.  Stepping around the counter, he towered over her, pale blue eyes boring into hers.  There was a flare of unseen energy before he grabbed her bag and reached into it, a smirk twisting his lips when he pulled out the book.  “Ah...I believe this is mine, child.  Now...get to class before I decide to assign a detention.”

Her eyes got wide as he made the book appear seemingly out of nowhere and she opened her mouth to demand to know how he did it, but the look in his eyes made her think twice about it.  She ran out of the library, feeling somewhat empty with the loss of the book.  Why would it have appeared for him, if it was meant for her?  It made no sense.

Her reaction made Alexander grin wildly and shake his head in amusement before he turned and headed towards his office in the back of the library.  His eyes drifted to the book held securely in his hand.  
You, my friend, are going back under lock and key, and don’t even think about leaving again...
Once inside his office, he closed the door before going to the wall safe.  His back was to the hidden camera he wasn’t supposed to be aware of as he put in the combination and opened the safe.  Retrieving a silken bag from the back of the safe, he wrapped the book in it before tucking it far in the back of the safe.  
There...now stay put...foolish thing...

Aislin made some excuse for the rest of the day to the school nurse, saying she felt feverish and sick.  The nurse, buying the whole charade after Aislin had put a fireball under her tongue for a few minutes to actually give herself a fever, and she was allowed to go home.  It was probably just as well.  She didn’t want to be in that school with that librarian any more.  It was just...too irritating.  

Her stepfather wouldn’t be home for hours still, which meant that Aislin actually could relax.  She dropped her back on the bed, not noticing the silk bag whose corner peeked out from it, and shed her clothing, determined to take a very nice, warm bubble bath.  She tied her red hair at the base of her neck and slid into the warm, soapy water.  It felt so nice to relax and soak....it wasn’t long before she drifted off to sleep with her neck resting against a hand towel.  A nap sounded so nice...

Chapter 6

The water in the tub felt so nice as it lapped against her, feeling as if she were floating on air.  She opened her eyes slowly, her eyelashes fluttering on her face.  The look turned to one of horror as she became aware of her surroundings.  All around her was water.  Waves, lapping against her, throwing against each other...water everywhere.  

“Oh shit,” she muttered as she stopped floating, instead beginning to tread the water in the ocean.  Where was she?  How had she gotten here?  Where was her tub...?  Her eyes scanned the horizon.  No land in sight, only water; salty water, at that, judging by the taste on her lips.  And a large, looming thing headed straight for her.  It was a ship, she could tell, as she saw the masts and sails coming closer.  The masts were dark wood, and looked well weathered, with the sails flapping in the breeze as it moved towards her. It was a two-masted ship, one of impressive size.

“Ho swimmer!”  she heard coming from the ship.  “Grab this rope!”

Aislin took a moment to actually grasp that they were talking to her.  “Here!  I’m here!” she called.  Wherever she was, she needed to get out of the water.  She raised a hand above her head to wave them down, quickly realizing she was still naked as the day she was born below the surface.  “Shit!” she yelped.  

Too late, though, the rope threw down into the water, plopping next to her with a splash.  With a few sure strokes, she was at the rope.  “Tie it around your waist!”  a voice called from the ship, deep and strong.  

Dutifully, Aislin did so, and was rapidly pulled towards the ship before she could really grasp her situation.  The water moved by her, salt spraying into her mouth, as she watched the large, dark-wooded ship loom above her.  As she passed the hull, really seeing its size, realizing how small she actually was compared to it.  It was a warship, then, of some sort.  If she was going to get through this, she would need to adapt, and take in every aspect of wherever she was.  The rail came up faster than she had expected and abruptly there were many hands on her, rough, callused, male hands.  Aislin let out a yelp and curled in on herself, dropping into a fetal position on the deck.  

“Here now,” a voice rumbled above her, the same deep baritone that had yelled at her over the side of the ship, “Back off lads.  Let’s give our little mermaid here some breathing room.  Petra, fetch me a blanket, please.  And a dress from the hold.  She needs to be decent when the cap’n comes abovedecks.”  

Aislin was about to say something when she decided that it may be better just to keep her mouth shut at this particular point in time.  This was a strange place, a place where people apparently dressed...like pirates, complete with eyepatches, tattered clothing, and swords that certainly looked real.  She wasn’t willing to test out her theory to see if they were or not. The man who had spoke, a tall man with no shirt, well-muscled chest glistening in the sun, brown messy hair, and bright green eyes, squatted down next to her, leveling his gaze to hers.  

“Now listen here, mermaid.  We are out in the middle of the ocean.  How, in the Gods’ names, did you come to be in this place?  We have not seen a ship for days, and no land for longer.  Make this easier on me.  My lads already think you’re a mermaid risen from the depths.  But, you have no fins with which to swim.  And, your skin is already pruning.”  He took her hand in his, feeling his fingers, rough with calluses, along her smooth ones.  “So you are not one used to being in the ocean.”  Aislin’s skin, though smooth, was definitely wrinkling from exposure to the salt water.  

“I...I don’t know how I got here,” she said honestly.  “I woke up...and I was here.  I don’t even know where I am, much less how I managed to get here.”  She needed to use her head if she were to survive this.

The pirate who had fished for her, whose name was Luc, narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t believe her story.  “For now, I’ll take that answer, mermaid.  We need to get you dressed and away from these prying eyes.  There are men here who haven’t seen a woman in months.”  

Deftly Luc unwrapped the cord around her waist, his fingers working as if they had done this a number of times before.  Just as fast, he wrapped the rough woolen blanket that whoever Petra was had gone to fetch and directed her to her feet.  “I’m bringing this mermaid below decks, lads,”  he called.  “Back to yer business.  The captain won’t be pleased if you’re dawdling.”

He led her across the deck, navigating through piles of rope and other such things on the surface of the ship, towards the stairway leading down into the underbelly of the vessel.  Downstairs, he led her to a cabin, allowing her to navigate the narrow hallway.  Aislin looked around her in wonder.  It looked so old, and authentic.  It looked...perfect, like something out of her books.  “You’ll stay here,” Luc said gently, “Until the captain is ready to see you.  Understand?”  Aislin nodded her head mutely, her eyes wide and somewhat frightened.  “Good girl.  Nothing will happen to you, so long as you behave. Now, get dressed, and make yourself comfortable.  Welcome to the Maiden’s Voyage.”