STRANGE STORMS AND PIRATES

Her words circled around as a new reality hit us. We would get wiped out by the tsunami if it came. And if it wasn't one, then we would be facing something much worse.

What a terrifying world we live in. Surrounded by destruction and death. Living for only as long as the sea remained calm and if we aren't caught breaking a law.

There was nothing for us to do.

Even if we got off of this roof, we couldn't escape. We couldn't get to higher ground or even hide in the buildings that were supposed to protect us when the walls couldn't.

I stared off seeing as far as I could in the night, but there was nothing to see. Our walls had protected us against the waves that usually came from a storm, but this was different. This wasn't like anything I had seen before.

The water never left.

The sound of the waves was gone living only an eerie silence for us. The roar of the sea has completely disappeared.

It was so quiet. Too quiet.

There was no escape.

No hope.

"Rachel." I didn't move as George tried to get my attention. "We have to go."

Everything seemed to just fade into the background.

"Leave her."

What was the point in running when it wouldn't matter?

"We need to find someplace safe."

Why do we continue to fight?

"You are the one that told us to go to the roofs, Wall. Said that no waves could touch us up here."

Was there any reason to try and hide if we were just going to be swallowed whole anyways? Was there a reason in trying to escape?

"You're a captain! I don't even know why you're up here when you should be with your crew or with the other damn officials in this lousy city."

Running a hand through my hair I turned to face them. There might not be a point in running, but they were right. We had to do something. We couldn't just go down without a fight.

If I was able to get out of the prison without drowning, then I wasn't going to let this so-called tsunami finish the job. Not before I set sail and find that river of gold.

I still had to make my dream a reality and I couldn't let myself get swept away before I did that.

"Enough." I stepped between Charlotte and George, a prickle of pain shooting through my left arm, as I placed my hands on their chests. "If you want to kill each other, at least wait until this storm is over."

Whatever was coming, I needed to face it head-on. I couldn't hide on a building that could collapse if it made it past the crumbled walls. I need to witness the wave as it tore this place apart.

I need to face this fear of the unknown.

Even if I've never heard what a tsunami was, I knew Charlotte wouldn't lie.

"You're calm," Sakura said as she looked up from her object. "Not afraid to die?"

I glanced down at her. "Are you?"

Her shoulders moved in the slight light before she held up the box she had been working on. "If this works like it's supposed to, we'll be fine. We'll bounce around a bit, but we shouldn't drown."

I felt doubtful that such a thing could happen.

"How would we bounce around? Wouldn't it pop?" George asked as he stomped towards the pair of us.

Sakura made a face at him. She really didn't like it when someone pointed out a problem that her strange creations had. She thought a little too highly of her ideas.

The last time I saw her make something, she used me to see if it really worked or not. That's what made her such a beast. I had almost died because of her so-called 'life jacket'. She claimed it would make people float in the water, said she could sell it somewhere in the north and make a business out of it if it worked.

Had a few pirates not been around doing shady business with our local morning guard at the main gate, and if they didn't have a knife on them, I'd be swimming with the fishes. That was the last time I let her use me as an experiment.

"Of course it won't pop," she stated ignoring his other question.

"How do you plan on getting us to breathe in it? How many can it fit? How does it form around us?" George fired question after question at her.

Sakura ignored him, grumbling under her breath about monsters in this world, destroying dreams. She pulled the box into her lap before she continued to work on it. Doing what else, it was a mystery.

The whole thing was an enigma. How was it supposed to work?

"It's coming."

I hadn't even realized the boy had left his friend, but his words had me looking. My eyes searching for what it was.

He was right, it was coming. The sea. Our deaths.

With each approaching second could be counted as our last.

The wave was large, taller, and wider than I could see from the moonlight. It was too big for a water city like Carlisle. It would easily overtake it and destroy everything it touched.

With the sea, with the wave, came destruction. Chaos. Death.

It slammed into the wall, roaring like a monster that was getting ready to feast. The wall didn't stop it or even slow the beast down.

A hand wrapped around mine. Warm and large. I couldn't take my eyes off the wave but I knew who it was. George.

The wave wasn't alone as it came right for us. It carried a large long ship. The moonlight seemed to wrap around it, showing the ripped flags and broken masts. Underneath the roaring monster, I thought I could still hear the screams of those on it.

I don't know who screamed as the wave hit us. Everything after that happened too quickly. Everything became a blur of nothingness.

Cold empty darkness that threatened to take the warmth we had away. Fear wrapped around my heart as my hand tightened on his. The warmth from his hand was the only thing that made sense in those long minutes.

It was the only thing that told me we were still there. Alive. Breathing.

I don't know how the roaring sea had missed hitting us or how we could still be able to survive. How could it have possibly missed us when it towered in the sky, like a sea monster bigger than Carlisle?

The wave had been strong. Powerful. Overwhelming.

My knees gave in, the ground still underneath me. Cold Hard. Yet, it shook from the crashing current. Cracks appeared in the roof around us, chunks falling in from the force of the wave slamming into the building but we didn't go with it.

Just as I thought it would take the building with it, the wave passed and the morning sun shined over the horizon and through the stormy gray clouds. It was over. Dawn was there, yet I was sure it was moonlight I had seen just minutes before.

Did I imagine the moon? Was I wrong about the time?

The world faded back in, returning the sounds that weren't the roar of the sea and bringing back the warmth of his hand. Crying came from behind me. Boys. A woman.

"We're alive," Sakura breathed out.

"How?" George questioned.

I didn't know how it was possible. We shouldn't have still been there.

"Nonek!" Margry's shouting came from behind.

George helped me to the feet, everything still too much as my eyes scanned the tall buildings that had collapsed and overflowing water that was inches from coming over the ledge of our own building. The noises grabbed my attention, my eyes leaving the front of us and going to the other.

I had been wrong when I thought it was both of them. It was just Jacob, with tears still staining his puffy face. He snuffled when he met my eyes, but it didn't last long as he looked down.

Sakura must have moved at some point as she was closer to the boys than before. Closer to William was. He started to stir awake. It seemed handy to be able to sleep through anything.

I didn't get how he could have. What gave him the ability to ignore the world around him?

Slowly, as I took in the boys looked the same, without a hair out of place, I looked at Charlotte. She must have had a lot of experience when it came to seeing something like this, with how calm and collected she was. It was like she just hadn't watched death almost wrap around her like it had the rest of us.

But maybe, it hadn't. Or maybe she truly didn't fear death.

It was always hard to know what she was really thinking. Especially when I try and search her eyes for such answers, but her head was turned away so I couldn't see directly in them.

Finally, my eyes landed on Margry, who, unlike Charlotte, was an open deck. Her screaming filled the air, the heartbreak and utter fear in it. Tears followed how puffy her face was getting as she continued to look for her husband. As she continued to search for Nonek.

Whatever Sakura had done, whatever she used to protect us with that strange box of hers, it hadn't worked on everyone. It didn't even seem to work on the building as it looked as if it was about to crumble like many of the others.

It wouldn't take much for it to give in.

[to be cont.]