Will was surprised. He'd heard Bella talk about how bad hexes were before. "I thought you didn't hex people."
"I don't, usually. It's one of those things the Magistrate really frowns on, but against pirates trying to kill us I'm willing to bend the rules," Bella smiled. She finished crawling around and drawing the second circle as Will tied the mirror to the mast. Inside the mirror Will heard Tonya arrive.
"Sorry it took me so long, I really needed to get cleaned up. What's going on?" Bella's apprentice asked.
"They're being chased by pirates. Bella is going to use the mirror as an energy source to hex them, so we have to replenish the mirror from this side," Janie explained. "Help me draw this circle."
"Woah. Alright. What's he doing here?" Tonya asked.
"Helping," Caine replied.
"You look like you're just sitting there drinking," Tonya snarked.
"That's how I usually help," Caine shrugged.
"Good point," Tonya conceded as she got down on her hands and knees to help draw a circle.
"You should just get a rug made," Caine suggested. "Would save you a lot of time drawing on the ground."
"Woah," Tonya said, surprised. "Bella, would that work?"
"What?" Bella called from the other side. She was only about ten feet away, but the ship and weather were noisy.
"A rug! A big circular rug, woven as a spellbinding circle!" Tonya called from closer to the mirror. "Would that work?"
"I don't know," Bella answered. "I'll think it through later."
Will finished roping the mirror to the mast. Water steadily dripped off the tip of his tricorn hat. The rain was still slow and heavy, but it was picking up. "What now?" he asked Bella.
The naked witch was finishing up the second circle. "I'm going to run through my whole supply of paint on this," she muttered. "Three more circles. Smaller, in a stack. One around the mast and the mirror, one in front of it, and one behind it." She shortened the protractor rope and started the smaller circle around the mast.
"This is a lot more complex than things I've seen you do before," Will said.
"It wasn't my original plan to do things this way. I'm improvising a bit, but I think it will work well. It's probably hard to tell, but there's a lot of things that are coming together in very lucky ways right now."
Will was suddenly very aware of his own equilibrium. Usually that was where he first noticed when his curse might be kicking in. It was automatic. He'd developed a habit of mentally checking in with his own balance anytime things seemed strange. It was a habit that grounded him and helped him stay focused when things started getting out of hand. Things definitely seemed like they were headed toward out of hand, and Bella's talk of luck reminded him far too much of the conversation he'd just had about his curse with Jack.. It was possible that Jack was wrong, but his instincts told him that she was onto something. He couldn't help but feel suspicious of anything involving luck now.
The deck was shifting and the wind was blowing too much for him to notice if he was feeling off kilter. The feeling of the curse shifting things was often subtle, and in the midst of a storm he just couldn't tell.
Will looked out into the black in the direction the ship hunting them had last been spotted, wondering if purposefully trying to engage his curse might have had consequences he couldn't see or feel yet. Or maybe he just had a guilty conscience.
"I hope you're right."
______________________
Lynch opened the door and Jack barged in without any kind of explanation. Lynch stopped her with a stiff arm, but she knocked it aside and kept moving. He reached for her again, but Morant stopped him with a raised hand. Jack gave Lynch a sharp look and finished walking into the room.
"What is it?" Morant asked. He finished buttoning his expensive black coat over his shirt and vest. "A storm?"
"And a ship. We're being chased, and headed into the storm to escape," Jack said quickly.
Lord Morant looked exasperated but largely unconcerned. "I will remain here. Mister Lynch, help see to the defense of the ship." Lynch nodded and headed to a large chest against the wall and opened it.
Jack left, pulling the door shut behind her. She crossed the hold to her own cabin and walked in to find Doctor Kalfou still sleeping.
"Wake up, Doc," she said loudly Doctor Kalfou's face scrunched in discomfort. She rolled her head to the side and cracked an eye. The lanterns shone through the doorway casting Jack in silhouette.
"What?" the doctor asked unhappily.
"We're headed into a storm and being chased by pirates," Jack turned up the lantern on the wall, brightening the room.
"What?" The doctor sat up quickly, fully awake now, squinting and using her hand to shield her eyes from the sudden light.
"Get dressed, arm yourself, and get up top. There's probably going to be wounded before the night's over." Jack opened up her footlocker and began rifling through it.
Doctor Kalfou tossed back her covers and pulled her own locker out from beneath her bed. "Where does the ship receive wounded?" she asked, quickly shimmying into her trousers.
"No idea. Ask one of the Norths," Jack took off her belt and began sliding pouches, holsters and sheaths onto it one by one. She snapped a shoulder strap onto it and put the entire thing on again. The strap ran across her body from left hip to right shoulder, helping to distribute the added weight of the two pistols that now rode her left hip. The sheath of her machete ran lengthwise across the small of her back. She hefted her bulky firearm, settling its sling over her shoulder, and closed her footlocker.
Doctor Kalfou finished pulling on her boots and headed out the door at a run. Jack took a calming breath. "Quinn, I need you."
_________________
Sailing into a storm, at night, at full sail was incredibly dangerous. The swabs were all tied in to the masts and assigned hauling duties. They had ahold of this lines running to the corners of the sails and were pulling under the direction of Mister Reeve. The sails had to be tilted properly to help steer and compensate for the wind, and also just to keep the gusts from capsizing them. Without the swabs helping the riggers would have had no hope of keeping the sails under control. The crew was in a tug-of-war with a thunderhead.
Lightning lit the night again. Will craned his neck around behind him and waited, hoping for another to follow. It did, right as the thunder from the first rolled. He could make out the black silhouette of the other ship. It loomed much larger in the distance than he'd hoped.
"Ship astern, due south!" came the call from above.
"She's gaining, captain," Will called over the storm.
"Gaining, aye!" Vex called behind her, acknowledging him. They couldn't really see each other because of the arrangement Bella had put Will in.
He was sitting in a chair that they had tied and nailed to the deck. Ropes were pulled tight across his lap, tying him to the chair so the waves wouldn't toss him out of it. The tabletop was sitting across his thighs. It was wet, but the glass top had been smartly made to keep water from getting to the maps beneath. The lantern from the mast in front of him was more than enough to see by. He couldn't move much, but he didn't need to for his job. Tucked into his belt was a small silver hand mirror that Bella had given him. He had no idea what it was for, but she'd been very clear that he needed to keep it with him, and keep it safe.
He had to lean to the side to see around the mast in order to have a clear line of sight to Bella. She was in another circle, like his. The pattern she'd drawn was complex. There were three circles in a line. He was in the southernmost one, the center circle held the mirror, and the mizzenmast, the northern smaller circle was where Bella knelt. Around those three circles were the two larger circles she had drawn first. In the gap between the two larger circles she'd drawn a number of symbols Will didn't recognize. The whole things had taken her almost all her paint.
"So, what do I need to do, Bella?" he called around the mast.
"Nothing! Just don't leave your circle! If your curse starts feeling strange, ignore it!" Bella called back.
"Usually if I do that, bad things happen!" he replied.
"I know!" Bella called. "I'm trying to use that!"
"What?!" Will was suddenly nervous.
"It's a fortune hex!" Bella called back.
"Report!" Captain Vex called out.
"Bosun!" Danica called.
"All present!" Reeve boomed
"Rigging!" Danica called again.
"All present!" Lace shouted down.
"Quarters!" Danica continued.
Up from the hold came Mister North's voice. "All secure! Passengers accounted for!"
Danica came up the stairs, holding the rail as the winds and waves buffeted her. "We're ready, Captain. Miss Hunter, Mister Quinn, Mister Lynch, and the rest of Lord Morant's retinue are standing by below decks to help repel boarders should it come to that. I have Doctor Kalfou in your quarters preparing to receive wounded."
"The crew fully armed?" Captain Vex asked.
"Almost. The crew that came up early to respond to the storm didn't bring weapons with them. We need to run weapons up to the riggers. Other than that, we're ready for a fight," Danica said.
"I want Colin here with me. You head to the prow," Captain Vex said, her eyes on the black horizon, focused in concentration.
"Aye," Danica said curtly and headed back down the steps as quickly as she could safely go.
The winds and rain were picking up. Belita could feel the ship's timbers beneath her feet and the straining of the wheel against the hands. Her ship was protesting the treatment she was getting. Captain Vex spared a glance over her shoulder, knowing she wouldn't see anything in the blackness but giving into the impulse anyway.
"Sails to half!" she barked.
