Ocean's Justice

by Demelza Carlton

  I attempted to swallow, but I couldn't. I couldn't even draw in enough breath to speak. William would die if this man prevented me from waking him. No. I wouldn't let that happen.

  He slammed me against the bulkhead again, further abusing my already bruised body. "I found him in the hold. You didn't know he was meeting me there, did you? You killed him and sank the ship, bitch. You're trying to kill us all – just like I bet you did to your last ship. And I'm going to make sure you...gurnghk!"

  I dropped my knee from his crushed balls, sucking in a deep breath. "William!" I screamed. I had to save him – there was so little time. The ship was sinking fast.

  Sciarra's fist met my jaw, engulfing my head in blinding blackness, and I crumpled to the deck. He was on top of me, wrenching at my pants before I could even see. "I'm going to fuck you right here outside the captain's cabin for that, bitch. And then I'm going to leave you here to drown with the ship."

  I gritted my teeth. "No."

  My pants ripped and a meaty hand bruised the bare skin of my thigh. His other hand fumbled between us for his own pants as he shoved his knee between my legs. "Yes," he grunted.

  "No," another voice said as a gaff slammed into the side of Sciarra's head. Sciarra crashed against the bulkhead and didn't rise – I hoped he'd been knocked out cold. He and Barrett had agreed to meet in the hold, where they'd imprisoned me. Both of them had planned to rape me and neither would survive the night, I vowed.

  A clatter caught my attention as William threw the gaff down and extended his hand. "Are you all right?" he asked as he helped me to my shaky feet.

  I nodded, swallowing in the hope of finding my voice. "Thank you, William."

  He grinned. "Any time, lass. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner – before he hurt you." He waved at my torn clothes, reddened, and averted his eyes. I glanced down. My breasts were visible through my torn shirt and my pants hung low on my hips, exposing more skin. I tried to cover myself up with the shredded shirt, but I fought a losing battle. "Let me get you another shirt. I'll have to buy more when we make port – I've never met a woman who liked to destroy my clothing so much." He took my arm and tried to pull me into his cabin. "I've been looking for you all day. I need to explain, to apologise, to–"

  I shook my head and pulled back. "Ship sinking. Must go." I pointed in the direction of the lifeboats above. It was my turn to tug on his arm, trying to convey my urgency. I didn't know the right words to make him move. "Not...die," I said. I turned away, almost crying with relief when I felt the heat of his body against my back. I scrambled up the ladder, trying to keep my pants from tangling around my ankles. Strong arms encircled my waist, holding my pants in place as he lifted me to the deck. My skin tingled from the touch and I wanted him to touch more, but that could cost him his life. I needed to get him to a lifeboat.

  His longer strides carried him ahead of me, so it wasn't long before he was dragging me behind him and I struggled to keep up as my sinking pants threatened to trip me. "Maria!" he called, glancing back. "Maria, hurry!"

  I did hurry, but the ship gave a lurch and I tripped, losing my grip on my pants.

  "Don't be afraid, lass. I'll keep you safe." William scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the lifeboat. He passed me to the other crewmen before scrambling in after me. They started lowering the boat into the water and I turned my gaze to the dark surface beneath us. Adrift on the ocean again – perhaps that was my fate. At least the ocean's depths would claim my attackers. Ocean's justice. I smiled.

  Twenty-Two

  "Sciarra!" a voice shouted. "The ship's sinking, man! Get into the lifeboat before you drown! We'll swing around and pick you up!" I stared at the ship, now sitting far too low in the water. Waves were already washing across the deck – the Trevessa wouldn't remain on the surface much longer. Yet as I watched, a figure staggered and splashed to the remaining lifeboat. Sciarra. If he reached it, he'd survive.

  NO.

  I tensed, readying my muscles for flight. I could remain in the lifeboat with William and the non-hostile crew, perhaps even helping them to safety, or I could ensure the violent bastard died for his crimes. Bitterness and bile or fleeting hope?

  Men started shouting about cutting the boat free before the ship dragged us down with her. Panic ensued as several men sawed at the ropes holding us to the sinking ship and I saw my chance.

  William grabbed my arm. "No, lass. Stay with me so I can make amends to you for last night. You don't owe the man anything. He'll reach the lifeboat and have as much chance as any of us. Don't risk your life for him."

  I melted beneath his cold fingers, wishing I could simply sink into those welcoming arms and forget all that had happened since they had last held me. But I did not forget, nor forgive. The violent human had hurt me and he would pay the highest price the ocean could offer. I sprang, clearing the distance between the lifeboat and the sinking vessel, and grabbed the rail. Laboriously, I hauled my aching body aboard to the sound of William shouting himself hoarse. A wave crashed over me, filling my mouth with seawater as it knocked me flat. I coughed up a lungful of liquid and felt a searing pain in my scalp.

  "I knew you wanted me. Now we'll have a boat all to ourselves until we reach land. You're going to learn to please me, bitch, or I'll let you drown like Barrett," Sciarra said as he dragged me across the deck, his hands knotted in my hair. He threw me into a lifeboat and the impact made me expel all my breath in one hit, so I could neither breathe nor respond. It didn't matter – he needed to cut the lifeboat free from the ship before he could hurt me again. This time, I'd be ready. I pulled a breath into my searing lungs, followed by another. Quietly, I began to sing – a different song to the one I'd sung in the hold. This one had teeth and blood lust to boot, for this song had sunk the Emden.

  The keel bumped across the railings and I saw the ship loom above us as she tipped on her side, hiding William and the rest of the crew from me – and us from them, I realised. It was now or never. I struggled to stand, surveying the swell. Did I imagine it, or did a fin cut the water of a wave? No, there was another...and another. Sharks and shipwreck – a duo Sciarra would not survive. Not to mention me.

  Sciarra sawed through the last of the ropes and sank to the bench seat before he saw me. "Get down, bitch." He brandished a knife. The blade glinted in a flash of lightning.

  I shook my head and smiled at him. Moving my weight from one foot to another, I started to rock the boat. He clung to the sides, shouting at me to stop. I shifted faster, letting the gunwales touch the water before moving my weight to the other foot. I raised my voice, singing loud enough for him to hear me over the storm. He slashed at me with the knife, but I dodged and he overbalanced. He landed on top of the blade, skewering his hand. He gave a roar and leaped to his feet, charging at me.

  I jumped, landed hard, and felt the boat tip beneath me, throwing us both into the waves. Cold water kissed my skin as I pulled off my ripped pants so that I could shift to my true form. I clothed myself in my own skin – the shallow-water blue of a Maori wrasse – and opened my gills to take a life-giving breath from my ocean home. Behind me, the sound of stressed steel screeched beneath the surface as the ship sank. I breathed deep, letting the draught of dissolved oxygen cool my instincts to those of the killer I knew myself to be. I blew spent water out of my gills, taking another gulp before I searched for my prey.

  Heedless of the sharks, Sciarra swam for the boat, trailing blood behind him like burley. I darted toward him, overtaking the human easily, and seized his foot, dragging him down to where he couldn't breathe. His face showed his panic as his arms clawed wildly for the surface.

  I raised my voice and sang a command to the sharks, which started an intricate, spinning dance around their supper. He screamed sweetly as they shredded him, piece by piece until the screaming ceased.

  Blood swirled in the turbulent water as the sharks churned it further, looking for more to eat. None were frenzied enough to approach me, but my pants were not so luck
y. Two sharks fought over the floating fabric, thrashing the water into foam so that I didn't see the boat approaching until it was above me.

  "Maria!" William's anguished cry smote my heart.

  Oars scattered the sharks and one carefully lifted my shredded clothing from the water.

  "Those were Maria's," I heard William's voice say. "The sharks must have...oh God, I hope she didn't suffer. She saved us all – even tried to save Sciarra. She was an angel sent to save us all."

  I itched to surface and show them that I still lived, but caution stayed my fins. I'd need to shift back into my human form without them seeing my tail and that took time. It would be dangerous for them, too, with hungry sharks still swimming nearby. I was safer beneath the surface and lost to them.

  "God rest her soul," said another man. "The ocean takes her own. Always has."

  Yes. The elders of this ocean might reject me, but the ocean herself never would. I was one of the people of the ocean's gift, after all, and this was my home.

  "Time to set sail. If we mean to survive, we must make Madagascar or Mauritius. Land is to the north-west and a long way from here. The men who take first watch may have the first cigarette ration when the storm is over. Volunteers?"

  My mangled pants landed in the water above me and something golden-brown slipped from the pocket. My comb – the gift from William. The only thing I owned and it was sinking. I dove after it, snatching it from the water. This wasn't my home any more – home was with William. I surged to the surface.

  The boat was gone. I rose to the crest of a wave, searching the ocean for my love. A glimpse of white in the trough between waves, far from me, told me I was too late. I could never catch up to them now. The boat sported a tall mast and a white sail caught the gale, driving them in the direction of land. I farewelled William with my eyes, not daring to say the words aloud as he sailed away with my heart.

  I wondered what to do now. I couldn't return to my people, so my choices were a solitary existence out here or attempt to reach land and make a life among humans. Men like Sciarra and Barrett – but men like Giuseppe and William, too.

  If I hadn't stupidly pursued my trinket, I might have shared the lifeboat with William and I'd be winging my way to a human life with him. Instead, I had the open ocean and an overturned lifeboat all to myself. Wearily, I sent a wave to tip my boat upright as I shifted my tail to legs and hauled myself over the gunwale. I tucked the precious comb into my hair.

  The bottom of the boat was awash, so I opened one of the footlockers, searching for a bucket. Instead, I found a sail and some tins of condensed milk. Further scrabbling unearthed a can opener, so I pried the milk can open and drank the lot. The sweetness made me gag, but it seemed wasteful to pour the milk over the side. Using the empty can, I bailed water from my boat until my arms were too tired to lift the tin any more. I wrapped myself in the sail and stretched my aching body along the bottom, letting exhaustion and sleep claim me. At least I had a boat to sit in while I awaited rescue from the next passing ship – far better than the raft I'd borrowed last time.

  Twenty-Three

  I woke in daylight, squinting at the grey clouds that gave no indication of the time of day. The storm wasn't over yet.

  My boat had taken on more water overnight, topped up by my tears at losing William, so I found the floating milk can and returned most of the seawater to the ocean. By the time I was done, my stomach demanded breakfast. I eyed off the milk cans in the locker before closing it firmly. I'd had enough human food for a while. With no humans in sight, I chose a more tempting meal.

  I lowered my aching body over the side and into the numbing water. I dipped my face beneath the surface and started to sing, careful to keep one hand firmly on my boat. The fish that answered my call was precisely what I wanted – a small wahoo, young enough to be curious, but big enough to make a meal. One snap of his spine was all it took to end his life before I threw him into the boat. I hoisted myself in after him and proceeded to eat my fill of his dense flesh. The wahoo certainly beat a fresh tuna, not to mention a marmite sandwich. Humans ate some very strange things.

  Feeling pleasantly full, I threw his bony carcass into the waves and reclined. For a long time, I watched the clouds until the day turned to dark night with no stars or moon in sight.

  Once again, I curled up under the sail and sank into slumber.

  Twenty-Four

  The boat rocked beneath me, reminding me of the lifeboat I should have been on. The one that the crew had winched into the water. The one I hoped still held the man I wished I was with. William.

  Light blinded me and my heart leaped, for the light came not from the sun but from one of the handheld tubes William had called a torch. "William?" I asked.

  "Get the captain. He needs to see this," an unfamiliar male voice said. Not William.

  "Yes, Mr Alexander." Footsteps on the deck faded away.

  Mr Alexander directed the light away from my eyes and my sight slowly returned. "Were you on the Trevessa?" he asked.

  Pressing my lips tightly together, I nodded. If they'd found my boat, perhaps they'd also found the other lifeboats and rescued the man I loved. Tears sprang to my eyes. "William?"

  Another face peered down at me.

  "Captain?" Mr Alexander said quietly.

  The new man shook his head. "I've never seen the girl before in my life. She's in one of the Trevessa's lifeboats, yet there's no record of a woman aboard the ship. There was a William listed as a passenger. Some Scottish name. McKenzie or something. Is that the man you mean, girl? William McKenzie?"

  I swallowed. "William McGregor," I whispered.

  "Was he on the lifeboat with you? For you were the only one in it when we found you." I shook my head and he continued, "We haven't found the other lifeboats – only yours."

  William wasn't here. I should have followed his boat and kept him safe. I started to sob, covering my face with my arms so the men wouldn't see my naked grief. A light touch traced the bruised flesh of my arm.

  "Did McGregor do this to you?"

  I shook my head violently, glaring at the captain for even suggesting such a thing.

  "Fetch Mrs D'Angelo and ask her to meet us in her cabin. Explain to her that we need her help on a matter of utmost secrecy – and it's an emergency."

  Mr Alexander nodded, striding out of my field of vision. The captain remained.

  "I'm Captain Dunnet of the Trevean. We're searching for survivors from the Trevessa and you're the first we've found. We'll keep looking – no sign of the other lifeboats is a good sign. Do you know if they made it to the boats before the ship sank?"

  I nodded.

  Captain Dunnet pressed, "Was your William aboard your boat?" I shook my head. "Then there's hope for him yet. If we don't find him, the other boats may reach land. Captain Foster was a good man and a good friend. If McGregor is with Foster, then he has a better chance at sea than any man alive."

  He reached for me and I cowered against the boards at the bottom of the lifeboat, pulling the sail close around me. He sighed. "Not all men are like the ones who hurt you. I'm here to help." He held out his hand and I took it, accepting his help to rise to my feet, clutching the sail to hide my nakedness. I wasn't going to make the mistake of showing my body to the men of this ship as I had the last – I'd been through enough. I wanted to take a rest from killing people so that I could learn what it was to be human. To become one of them, if only for a little while.

  Holding Captain Dunnet's hand, I followed him down the ladder to my new cabin.

  Twenty-Five

  Two steps inside, I stopped dead. It appeared I was to share this cabin, too, but with William's opposite.

  Instead of a smiling young man, I met the gaze of a frowning older woman. Her cold eyes drifted from me to the captain. I heard the click as he closed the door behind him.

  "If you expect me to keep her condition a secret, you're sorely mistaken. No woman deserves to be beaten like this. Where did you
find her and who is responsible for the deplorable act?" Her voice rang with authority – she sounded like my mother.

  Captain Dunnet's voice was low as he replied, "We fished up one of the Trevessa's lifeboats today and found her aboard. Whoever did this was aboard the Trevessa. There are no women listed as passengers, so she must have been a stowaway or someone smuggled her aboard. Even a stowaway's entitled to some dignity – to be put ashore at the next port, in the hands of the authorities, but it looks like she was kept a secret and...ill-used instead. Now, we're committed to searching for survivors, but if the rest of the crew hear of this, half of them will want to call off the search, while the other half will want to continue, to bring the offenders to justice. If we find survivors, what will happen if we bring aboard the men who did this to her? I'm asking you to keep her hidden from the crew and keep her safe until we reach port in Fremantle."

  I returned the woman's stare with fish-cold eyes. The two humans might be engaging in a power struggle, but I wouldn't submit to either of them. I'd killed two men and sunk one ship already this week – what was one more?

  "Very well. Someone must take care of the girl, so I shall. But if the men who did this survive the shipwreck, heaven help them, for I will see them charged for this." The woman waved him away and he left without another word.

  "Sit down," she said to me, gesturing at the bunk. I perched on the edge of the mattress, tucking the sail around me. She continued to stare at me, her eyes raking me from top to toe. After some time, she sank onto the bunk opposite me. "What's your name?"

  "Maria."

  "Tell me what happened."

  I swallowed. I didn't know the words to explain half of it, but I was determined to try. "Ship sank."

  She shook her head and pointed at my arm. "To you, Maria. What happened to you? Did someone hurt you?"

  I nodded curtly, glancing down at my arms. The bruises formed a dark rainbow that looked quite disturbing. No wonder these humans were so shocked.