“The fog is thick, we’ll have to slow our pace,” Mason’s voice was cool and quiet. I glanced up at him, his eyes were narrowed, scanning the dense fog. Everything was quiet, making the hair on my arms stand on end.

“It’s kinda creepy,” I mumbled, rubbing my arms. He looked down at me, even in the dim, red light of morning I could see his ringed with red from tears.

“We’re in the middle of the Crimson Sea,” Mason said softly. All the life seemed to have been sapped from him. “There are many Pirates who sail this area.” I shuddered. The rising sun reflected of the crimson waters leaving us washed in a dense red fog. The fog was so thick we could hardly see a few feet in front of us.

“Are we safe?” I questioned softly, Mason scoffed.

“We are never safe,” he said. “I should wake the crew, but I can help but let them sleep. I love being out here in the mornings. The silence gives me time to think.” I felt a twinge of guilt. I didn’t mean to intrude on his peace, but I had come out here to think and saw him up here alone.

“I can leave,” I said softly stepping away. His hand snaked out grabbed my arm pulling me back. I frowned and looked up at him. “I don’t want to intrude.”

“Don’t, please,” he asked, he sounded almost vulnerable. Faintly out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw shadow dart behind us.

“We’re going to get her help,” I promised. “I will help her.” I saw a ghost of a smile cross his face.

“Thank you Willow,” he whispered. Before I could stop myself I pulled him into a tight hug and buried my face into his chest. He froze for a moment and then wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly. He buried his face into my hair. I was just big enough his duster almost encompassed me while I hugged him. It was really nice.

I broke away and looked up at him, he looked so broken. I don’t my heart had ever hurt so much as to see someone look so defeated.

“Willow this is my fault, she wouldn’t be endangered if it hadn’t been for -Willow!” The words came out in a rush and before I could react to fear in his eyes I felt pain explode in the back of my skull. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground as the shadows swam around me.

“Watch her! Do not let her out of your sight!” I recognized Adam’s voice as I came too. The seemed to reek of death, blood, and salt and I winced as I opened my eyes. The harsh red glow hadn’t dissipated and the fog still heavily in the air. I squinted to see who hovered above me, or the who’s. I sat up and struggled to stand, my head suddenly buzzing.

“Willow, you shouldn’t be standing!” Ashe’s voice came from beside me, I felt her put a hand on my arm. “You took a hit to the head!” I moved my hand to the back of my head, my hair felt sticky and my fingers were slightly red.

“What’s going on?” My words were faintly slurred, Ashe looked at me with concern.

“We’ve been ambushed,” Oliver’s accented voice come from my other side.

“But, how?” I questioned.

“He may be the prince of the sea but in this fog, you can never tell,” Oliver mused. “It’s a pirate life.”

“Come on, we need to get her below deck, it isn’t safe up here,” Ashe said, gripping my arm. She began pulling me forward, I could make out people moving around us and here the distinct clank of sword. I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my mind.

“No-no,” I shook my head, digging my feet into the wooden planks. Ashe tried to pull me forward but I didn’t budge.

“Please, Adam wants you too,” Ashe begged. “Willow now isn’t the time to argue.”

“No Ashe-Fire, I’m going to fight,” I snapped, pulling my arm from her grip. Oliver paused from looking around to look at me. His eyes wide with amusement.

“Let the girl fight if she wished to fight,” Oliver voted. Ashe glared at him.

“Ashe, please,” I said, my voice sounded stronger than I thought. She looked at me worriedly. The way her mom looked at her the time she got the flu.

“Fine, but we need to find you a weapon,” she sighed. I grinned.

“Here take this,” Oliver pulled a saber from the sheath in his belt and handed it to me. I took it just as someone came up behind him. Without missing a beat he whirled around buried his blade into the pirate’s shoulder. Blood sprayed out staining the guys clothes. I covered my mouth in horror as the man fell to ground, Oliver pulling his sword out. Blood bubbled in the pirates mouth just before he finally fell still. I felt Ashe begin pulling me away.

I stumbled after her, my mind clearing more and more as I moved. We ran to the main deck of the ship and narrowly avoided the mass of moving bodies. I was yanked back, just out of reach of Ashe and a shadow stepped between us. I spun to find a slinky looking man dancing back and forth in front of me. He was spidery and grimy looking, not near as clean as what the pirates on Mason’s crew looked like.

The man bounced back and forth on long, thin legs, what hair he did have fell lank around his gaunt face. His eyes were hollows and I could see dark veins underneath his pale skin. Veins that were strikingly similar to the ones my mother bore. He wasn’t a pirate, he was a warlock. Tainted by magic. Before I could process, the pirate threw out a hand and I slipped backward onto the hard deck by an unknown force, knocking the breath out of me. He was on me before I could scramble backward, his breath smelled like he was decaying from the inside.

“Ooh, ooh, she wants you alive, to hell with the rest,” he cooed. His voice demonic and inhuman, almost impish.

“No, she wants me to join you,” I snarled, spitting in his face. His snaked up and gripped my hair, angling my face back. I struggled against his body weight. He brought his dagger up and slid it across my face. White hot pain exploded on my cheek.

“It won’t be such a bad thing, think of the power,” he grinned, cocking his head. I closed my eyes, not knowing what was coming next. I felt him drag the blade down my arm and then across my chest to my heart. I felt hot tears run down my cheeks.

I took in a deep breath when everything slowed. My mind seemed to find an unreal clarity I hadn’t had before. My blood seemed to burn, I opened my eyes and looked up at the pirate above me. It was almost as though I felt his soul, it was dark and vile. I could beat him, easily, I had the power.

Taking in a deep breath I reached up and grabbed his face in my hand. Water cleanses, darkness must be cleansed, he must be cleansed. I knew I shouldn’t but the call of the power was too much. The clear image of water filling his lungs blurred my vision, I held his face tightly, transferring the power, the spell into him. It was only a moment but it felt like an eternity before the pirate began to cough, trying to get away from my grip. He jumped up off of me but I kept eyes trained on his, watching them go from fear to panic. Water spilled from his lips and he clawed at his chest desperately trying to get air.

I knew I should stop but it itched, it was an indescribable feeling of need to push on. To watch him suffer. I know it was only a matter of minutes but it felt like it had been much longer. The pirate slid to the ground of the ship, motionless. The trance was broken, I stared in horror at the bloated corpse in front of me, momentarily oblivious to the war raging on around me.

“Willow!” A hand slid around my arm and pulled me to my feet. I spun around to defend myself only to freeze, Mason eyes were trained intently on me. Then they relaxed as they look at my face. “What happened?” He brought his hand up and ran his thumb across my cheek, just below the throbbing pain. I glanced quickly at the dead pirate than back at him, biting my tongue.

“I didn’t mean too,” was all I could manage to say. His green eyes flooded with concern but he shook his head.

“It’s okay, come on, fight with me.” A ghost of a grin danced on his lips as he grabbed my hand. He pulled me along through the fog toward the noisiest part of the battle.

“Mason, the marvelous prince.” Mason went rigid all over, I turned to see another pirate. This one just as grimy and also tainted by dark magic. I felt the power begin to burn in my veins but Mason squeezed my hand, dragging me back to reality.

“Didn’t we banish you from the seas? You know the consequences,” the authority in Mason’s voice was frightening.

“Fight me like the pirate you claim to be and I might consider it,” he snapped. Lightning flashed across his eyes, I looked up at Mason, surprised at the uncertainty I found there. He looked down at me for a moment then released my hand, taking a step forward. He unsheathed his saber and raised it to his opponent.

“The seas are mine, but I don’t need their power to defeat you,” Mason snapped. He lunged for the other pirate without warning, but the pirate was ready. I watched in awe as the swords connected, sounding almost musical. Finally the fog began to lift, sending a ray of sun through the haze, sparking off their blades. I flinched, remembering the vision I was shone.

Drawing my sword I turned to go find someone else to fight but the fight found me. A pirate stood a little ways a way, closing the distance drastically. He closed the distance and raised the blade to strike but I blocked his blow and grabbed the dagger from the sheath on my thigh, burying it into his stomach. Blood trickled from his mouth and his eyes rolled back. Strangely, though it was my first legitimate kill, I didn’t feel anything.

I took a few steps backward as the guy hit the ground with a thud. The flesh near the wound sizzled and it almost smelled like it was burning, and it turned a black color of rot. I glanced at the dagger, thick dark blood sizzled on it.

“Willow,” I felt Mason’s hand slip onto my shoulder. I glanced back at him, almost absently. I should’ve been relieved he was okay but I couldn’t find that emotion. Mason’s brow furrowed as he looked at me, his pale green eyes round in concern.

“I killed him,” the words seemed foreign on my tongue but I heard myself say them. Mason looked at me for another moment.

“You had too,” he whispered gently. “Look, the fog is lifting,” he motioned around us to where it was becoming clearer outside. The sun evaporating the thick blanket that had enveloped the ship, taking the pirates with it.

I looked around the main deck, bodies were littered all over it, some friendly pirates, and others bad. I saw Adam standing a few feet away conferring with Ashe, Oliver wandered around making sure the crew was alright, but Meeks was nowhere in sight. I turned back to Mason, desperately trying to find some sort of emotion but all of them simply evading me.

“Willow, are you alright, we didn’t know where you went!” Ashe cried as she ran up to us. Adam right behind her. Adam grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug and Ashe joined in. I know it should have felt nice but I only felt cold. They left me go and I looked up at Adam, his dark eyes concerned.

“I’m okay,” I said softly.

“Your face, what happened to your face?” Adam’s voice took on a fatherly tone, he reached done and ran his thumb across the cut on my face and then on my arm.

“It was nothing,” my voice didn’t sound like my own nor did it sound reassuring. I saw Adam cast an uncertain glance to Mason who was frowning.

“Mason? What happened?” Adam asked, there was a warning in his voice.

“I walked up after she had taken down one of the pirates, she used magic,” he sighed. He moved over to me and slid his arm around my shoulders. “It was powerful magic, the body's over there.” He pointed to a bloated corpse on the other side of the ship. I felt my eyes heat up, but couldn’t figure out why.

“It’s a side effect of using dark magic,” Meeks’ voice came from behind me. I turned to look at him. Catching me by surprise, Meeks’ hand shot up and he gripped my face tightly. I felt Mason twitch beside be but then I heard Adam’s soft warning.

“Is she okay?” Ashe-Fire asked, her voice coming from beside me. Meeks’ eyes scanned my face, it almost felt like he was looking into my soul.

“No, she isn’t,” Meeks mumbled. “The problem is, is that being the wiccan she can fight the draw to the dark magic more than we can. But since we’ve never come across someone like her, we don’t know how much she can take before she slips in. And she’s slipping. There is no-no emotion inside her. She channeled to much of it into her spell and when the high wore off it took it with it.”

“But will she be okay?” Mason asked.

“Yes,” Meeks sighed. “She just needs sleep and she’ll be fine. But Willow, no more dark magic, at all.” I nodded absently.

“This is my fault,” Ashe mumbled. “I should’ve just taken her below deck, I shouldn’t have let her fight.”

“I’m right here you know?” I snapped. They all looked at me, almost surprised I was speaking. “And Ashe, it isn’t your fault. I chose to fight.” Ashe looked at me, her dark eyes beginning to water.

“There are bigger problems at hand,” Adam said, stepping in. “Someone betrayed us.” His gaze swept the circle, lingering a little longer on Mason. Mason looked uncomfortable.

“You can’t possibly think one of my crew members betrayed us,” Mason said defensively. He stepped up as if to challenge Adam, though he seemed hostile his eyes were dark and clouded.