THE SEAGULLS cawed overhead as the sun beat down on my head and warmed the deck. The breeze billowed the loose white shirt Leland had given me the night before. It had fit him well, but it was loose enough on me to hide the bandage around my arm, and with my vest buttoned over it, nobody could tell it wasn't my shirt. I had hesitated to wear the shirt, but I didn't want to risk anyone discovering my injury by trying to get one from below-decks.

I heard an exasperated groan behind me as Leland's sick and green figure stumbled up the stairway and onto the deck. Following behind him was the rest of the crew looking rested and ready for the day.

Prince Grey bounced up the stairs and onto the deck; his eyes blinking from the unexpected sunlight. He made his way across the deck and up to the wheel where I was standing ever vigilant.

"How long have you been up here?" He asked me.

I shrugged, "All night."

"All night?" His eyes met mine, with a glint of worry behind them. "You didn't sleep at all?"

"Nope," I replied, popping the p. I look at his furrowed eyebrows and sigh. "It's fine. I'm fine."

"You haven't slept all night. You aren't fine." He grabbed my hands and removed them from the wheel. He goes over and takes control of the wheel, nudging me out of the way, obviously hinting that he wanted me to go elsewhere and let him do his job.

"Okay, fine," I grumped as I backed away from him and the steering wheel, hands up.

I was happy to see Prince Grey take charge and do what he had come here to do. I wasn't going to stand in his way. I meandered down to the main deck with a slight swell of pride found myself standing next to a very green commander. Leland leaned over the railing retching up bile.

"On a scale of one to ten, how dehydrated are you?" I asked when he came up for air.

"Probably 8 going on 9. I haven't been able to keep anything down since I stepped foot on this blasted boat." Leland spat out in irritation.

"Well, that's too bad. I'm glad seasickness is one battle I've never had to fight." I teased.

"Well at least both my arms are intact." Leland snapped. Note to self. Don't poke a sick, dehydrated commander when you've already irritated him by taking his job.

I rolled my eyes at his lame combat. He did have a point about my arm though. I still had no strength in my right hand. When we got to Calflalm I was going to have to find a medic and get it stitched up.

"Hey guys!" came the call of a concerned Grey from the helm. "We have a bit of a situation."

I could see what he was referring to. Ahead of us loomed a wall of white and gray. Deadlock Coil. I felt the tension rise around me as the crew realized where we were going. I saw their eyes go wide and their hands fidget as their nerves became overstimulated.

Deadlock Coil was a section of thick, heavy, swirling fog that protected Calflalm from outsiders. The fog was so thick that it filled your lungs and made you feel like you were drowning. It completely enveloped the whole island, concealing it from the rest of the world. Only those who had set foot on the island had been through the Coil. Most sailors knew the general location of Calflalm, but none had ever been there before.

The crew around me panicked as we drew nearer and nearer to the approaching wall. I marched back to the helm and took the wheel from Grey.

"This is beyond your job description," I told him. He backed away from the wheel and looked at me with nervous eyes.

"Have you navigated that before?" he asked.

"I've been navigating through Deadlock Coil since before you were old enough to hold a sword," I replied. Everyone on the island learned how to sail in Deadlock Coil. You learned, or you shipwrecked. It was that simple.

I watched the bow of the ship disappear into the gray fog. One by one the crew members faded from my vision as they were encompassed by the fog. On either side of the ship, huge black boulders took shape and disappeared again as we moved forward. I closed my eyes and let my memory take over. Deadlock Coil took 5 minutes to sail through, but it felt like an eternity.

Suddenly my eyes were blinded by brilliant sunlight. We had come through the Coil and there ahead of us laid Calflalm in all its glory, a sight I hadn't seen in 3 years. The island itself was more of a mountain raised out of the sea. It was covered in rolling green hills and a clear blue river ran from the snow-capped peak of the island to the shore where it met the green sea in a mix of colors that would make the songbirds envious.

The main township laid along either side of the river, footbridges connecting the two halves. Stone buildings three stories high lined cobblestone streets and footpaths. Along the seaward side of the town was a stone wall 15 feet high, lined with a row of shiny black cannons and interrupted by a heavy wooden gate, a guard posted on either side. The river came through the wall in small streams through small tunnels and rained down on the dock below. It was meant to be a fortification, not a dam.

As we drifted to the dock, I saw a crowd of people gather at the wall. This always happened when a ship came in since it was so rare. The island was entirely self-sufficient so it was unusual for people to come by sea. The crew of my ship jumped over the railing and tied the ship off as Grey, Leland, and Evander stared at the island with eyes wide and mouths agape. August, Arius, Gareth, and the others jumped to the dock and put their newfound seafaring skills to the test as they helped tie off the ship and drop the gangplank.

"Pretty isn't it?" I said as I sauntered past the starstruck men. I put my hand under Leland's chin and closed his mouth as I walked by and made my way down the gangplank and onto the dock. I determinedly walked up the dock and straight to the gate in the wall.

"I am Aislin Amulet, of the Calflalm Amulets and I request entrance," I called loudly, knowing the gatekeeper was slow to make his way to the entrance.

"To claim to be of the Amulet line is quite a claim. Do you have any proof of your identity?" the stout man called down from the ramparts. He must have been new. I didn't recognize him and he didn't recognize me or he wouldn't have asked that.

I reached inside my vest and removed a platinum pendant from my breast pocket. I held it in the air of my head and called "This is the token of Lotus Amulet. Is that proof enough for you?" I demanded. "If it isn't, go to The Three Crowns Tavern and anyone there can verify my identity."

"I don't think that will be necessary." called the gatekeeper timidly. The heavy wooden gate swung open and I strode through it trailed by my small band of soldiers. The sailors would stay with the ship until we departed again. The people of Calflalm did not look kindly on outsiders and I was already bringing enough in to cause an issue. I didn't need to make it worse by bringing the whole ship's crew with me. The fewer people who knew about Calflalm's inner workings, the safer the world was.

We admired the Kingdom as though it were a masterpiece of heroic art. A chorus of breathless gasps echoed behind me. Even before we arrived, it looked as though it had been painted by hand, with each detail coming to life in front of our eyes. As I drank in all of Calflalm's glory, my lips grew slightly. Remembering that this was my home, that this was where I came from, and that I wasn't afraid to say it gave me a sense of pride. A light wind blew over us, catching my coal-colored hair and throwing it around my face in a sea of black waves.

×××××××××××××

Author Note!

Hi everyone, Mickey here! Thanks again for writing this for me Nan lollllll for conveying my ideas perfectly.

i'm posting early because of school. yk how it is.

Chapter 22 babyyy!

Thoughts >

Feelings >

Predictions >

Random >

How is your day today? Was it bad? Good? In between?

QOTD: If you had a superpower what would it be?

Out of allllll the superpowers in the world, I would have to pick flying and stopping time.

Imagine your having a really bad day, and you just need to stop, but you can't because you a teen and you have school work, chores, cook dinner for the family, take care of siblings, your parents are breathing down your neck for good grades. So you stop time, just to take a breather. Then you look outside and notice its a beautiful sunset so you fly up into the clouds and sit there. For as long as you want, looking at the sunset.

I wish..