Follow The Raven

"You're sick," Damian stated, lounging in a chair on the other side of the captain's office.

"Gee, thanks," I sneered, not at all in the mood for anything. To say it simply, I feel like hell. I probably look like hell too.

"Not like that, you're ill," Damian clarified, glaring at me.

"Enough. You two need to lay off each other for five minutes," the captain inputted, not in the mood for anything either. I stuck my tongue out at Damian, only for him to roll his eyes at me.

"He's right though, you are ill," the captain said, feeling my forehead then the nape of my neck.

"You're feverish, your eyes are puffy, your losing color, you're not eating, not sleeping, you're probably weak. I don't know what could be wrong with you, these symptoms normally don't go together, not in this world," the captain pondered, starting to pace around his office.

"Sea-sickness?" Damian offered, staring at the ceiling.

"No, too simple. She'd only be vomiting," the captain replied, continuing his pacing.

"It was raining the day we left, maybe she caught cold?" Damian said.

"No, stomachache and a headache would have been the worst, and it would have showed up sooner," the captain replied, shaking his head.

"You're not pregnant are you?" Damian accused, looking over at me. What?!?!

"WHAT?!?! NO! Good grief, no," I exclaimed, flabbergasted. Thanks for thinking so highly of me, Damian, I really appreciate it. Stupid git. That's insulting. Do I even look pregnant?

"I'll have to agree with her answer, its physically impossible. The fact that she's alive and here is astounding, but if, let's say, she was pregnant, she would be dead. She got through, the baby most definitely would not have gone through, killing her in the process," the captain explained, continuing his pacing.

"She's turning," Damian stated, getting a serious look on his face.

"That's true," the captain said slowly, his pacing seizing.

"Alright, that's all fine and dandy, but what does that mean for me?" I asked, turning their attention back to me. Yeah guys, I am here, you might as well talk to me instead of talking about me like I'm not there.

"It means that everything that's happened to you so far is catching up to you now," the captain replied. Wait, didn't I say that over breakfast? Whatever, as long as they figure out what's wrong with me and what to do about it.

"Okay, so what do we do?" I asked, trying to get a plan formulated, but that probably won't work considering our obvious lack of decent plan-making skills.

"We knock you out; keeps you quiet and puts you to sleep," Damian stated, already pleased with the prospect. He's so mean to me. How did I get stuck with him again?

"Or, better idea, you rest, try to get some sleep, and we'll see from there," the captain offered, joining me in glaring at Damian.

By some absolute miracle, I fell asleep, after hours of just sitting in the captain's cabin reading a book about navigation. Why did I read a book on navigation? Because I had nothing better to do and it could always come in handy. That's why.

I woke up to find complete darkness and two arms gripping around me. I think its safe to assume that Damian at one point picked me up and brought me to the cabin we are forced to share. My headache kind of subsided, which is nice, considering the fact that it had reached the point of actually beating in my temples. I didn't even bother trying to figure out what time it is, this world isn't equipped with fluorescent alarm clocks. Since I've been here, I haven't had a single clue about the time of day.

I tried to go back to sleep, but naturally, I couldn't. Not because I'm not tired, because you know I am. Not because I haven't eaten in thirty hours, I'm not even hungry anymore. But because I feel watched. You know that stupid feeling you get, when its all quiet, not a creature is stirring, and suddenly you get that nagging feeling that someone is piercing your back with their eyes? Yep, that's the one.

I scanned the room with my eyes, trying as hard as possible to see through the darkness. When I couldn't see anything, I thought it better to leave it at illness-caused paranoia. That is until my eyes locked with a pair of blue eyes, making me freeze completely. I've yet to meet anyone with blue eyes, other than Oliver who stayed in London. Damian, we've already said, has red eyes, and the captain has brown. So who, better yet what, is this?

Time, as slowly as it feels to me, seemed to come to a complete halt. I can't be seen. It's basically the only thing Damian and I can agree on, the fact that its better if I remain unknown to the crew until we land in France and we never see them again. If this is a crew member, that plan just went down the tube considering that sailors are some of the biggest gossips ever. Seeing movement from blue eyes other there, I did the only thing I could think of in this situation, I jabbed Damian in the ribs with my elbow, making sure it woke him up and that it hurt as an added bonus.

He grunted from the shock of it, but said nothing when he seemed to lock onto the unwanted visitor. Seeing this, blue eyes, as I have so dubbed them, made a beeline for the door, Damian jumping up and quickly following them. I'll stay here then, shall I?

Hearing shuffling outside, I sat up and lit the candle next to the bed. I made an attempt to stand up, but immediately buckled and fell to the floor in a heap. Great, now I can't even stand up. Can this get any worse?

The door burst open, Damian holding a kid by the neck, closely followed by the captain. The captain quickly shut the door and walked over to me and picked me up off the floor and back onto the bed. Thanks captain.

"Who are you?" Damian hissed, holding the boy up by the neck, a good three feet from his toes to the ground. Blue eyes, turned out to be a boy, no older than fifteen, with curly blond hair and a look of absolute terror in his eyes. I don't blame him, he's about to be killed by a vampire.

"Remy, the cabin boy," Captain Dover answered, seeing that the boy was just going to sit there in the air gaping.

"What were you doing in here?" Damian continued his interrogation.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," the boy stammered, in a rather squeaky voice. This is a boy right?

"Speak! Before I permanently remove your ability to do so," Damian hissed, threatening to rip out the...kid's voice box.

"Damian, don't do anything rash," I said, wrapping myself up in the blanket, realizing that it's actually pretty cold right now.

"Stay out of this, woman, after that rude awakening you get no say in this," Damian said glaring at me. I huffed, glaring back at him. Fine, be that way.

"She's right, don't make a mess of this," the captain warned, scratching his head under the nightcap, then realizing that he still had it on, quickly pocketed it. He hadn't changed out of his regular day clothes, he just put a nightcap over everything. Ready at all times, I guess.

"Answer the question, boy," Damian said, turning back to the boy, completely ignoring us.

"I was only doing my job!" The boy spilled rapidly, starting to move around.

"What's your job?" Damian persisted. Wait a minute, isn't he the one that gets mad when I ask too many questions? So unfair...

"Cleaning the cabins," he answered, starting to move more. Out of the blue, Damian just flat out dropped the kid on the floor, then grabbed a chair and sat in front of the door.

"At this hour?" The captain asked suspiciously, looking at his 42 hour pocket watch. Its like a 24 hour pocket watch, but with many more lines.

"Rupert ordered me to do all the cabins, I didn't know anyone was using this one," the boy cried out, not even getting up from his position on the floor.

"Why?" The captain persisted.

"I-I spilled the soap this afternoon," the boy, Remy, replied, starting to play with the hem of his shirt in a nervous manner.

"Did you now," the captain said, not really believing him.

"I'll check that story out in the morning, but now that he's seen her, what are we going to do?" The captain asked Damian. Yeah, that's it, I'm still not here.

"Throw him overboard?" Damian offered, already happy at the idea. The boy freaked, crawling over to me and started to plead in German.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Don't throw me overboard with the serpents, I swear I won't tell," he cried, latching onto my legs. Damian, seeing this, got up and picked the boy up trying to rip him off. Unfortunately, for me, the boy had a ridiculous grip on my legs, causing me to fly straight up along with him and back onto the floor when Damian kindly dropped the kid.

"Thanks Damian," I said sarcastically, rubbing the back of my head.

"Sorry, didn't know he had that good of a grip," he said, almost apologetically, picking me up and putting me back on the bed...again. Could I please stop being tossed to the ground possibly?

"Here's a solution, the boy will keep Lara company," the captain said, basically coming to a conclusion.

"What?!" The rest of us cried.

"Since Damian is never around and I cannot always be in my office, the boy will stay with Lara. It'll keep him from seeing the rest of the crew and avoid him telling, and, he'll keep Lara company when we're not around," Captain Dover concluded, standing up and looking around the room. He took his nightcap back out of his pocket and placed it back snuggly on his head.

"Remy, from here on out, you are ordered to stay with Lara. You are forbidden from speaking with anyone from the crew, if you disobey, you will be whipped, and Damian will throw you overboard," the captain ordered, making the boy gulp but nod nonetheless.

"Good night everyone," he said brightly, walking out and closing the door behind him.

"If his order isn't clear enough, I will kill you with my bare hands if you tell anyone about her," Damian threatened, pulling Remy by his feet and tossing him on the seat at the other end of the room.

"Is that clear?" He hissed, putting a dagger to his neck for emphasis. The boy nodded again, shrinking into the seat. Satisfied, Damian walked back and flopped back onto bed, falling asleep almost instantly. After all this, he can still fall asleep! That's so not fair, I thought to myself as I turned to myself trying to fall back asleep as well.