Page 3 of Sea's Secret

The man who we were speaking with moved over to a bed. A woman was resting there; her face was wet with sweat, and her eyes were closed, her brown hair spilling around her face in a mess. I walked to her side.

“Your wife?” I asked.

“Yes, she has been quite ill.”

“I shall begin,” I said as I knelt beside her bed.

I was not the best with people. I never had been, but that was one reason why Sands was the perfect companion for me. He was very good with people. I slowly took off my black, leather gloves, the gloves that protected the people around me from what my hands could do to them. I looked at the inky, black, spider-webbed veins that traveled up my arms and then branched out all over my body. Whenever I took away another’s pain, their pain remained inside of me, as that inky blackness. It was only a matter of time, I was certain, before it would travel to my face. The black veins had already reached my chest.

I flexed my hands and focused. As I placed my pointer finger gently against the skin of her hand, I felt her pain. It always came slowly, at first, like a small trickle. Then, once I focused on pulling the pain from a person, it all rushed into me. The first few times I did it, it overwhelmed me so much that I collapsed. Over the years, I learned to focus on the pain, focus on it pouring into me and slipping through my veins. I focused on the darkness slowly taking over my body. When I focused on the pain like that, it only took a few minutes to take it away from the suffering person.

I released her hand and stepped back with a slight wobble. Her pain was not the worst pain I’d felt, but whenever a person I helped had an illness, it caused me to feel ill for a few seconds. It passed as Sands placed a hand on my shoulder, grounding me to where we were.

The woman’s eyes opened. She looked at me with shock before turning to the side to look at her husband.

“Dot?” he asked, kneeling beside her, taking her hand in his.

“I feel so much better,” she said.

“Do you feel any pain?”

“No–I think I can endure this,” she smiled.

“Sleep now. You will be well soon,” her husband said.

He then turned to me, and gave me that same look I had seen a hundred times before–Gratitude.

“Thank you, thank you so much.”

Every time I got that look from the loved one of a person I helped, I waited to feel something–anything rewarding. Like always, all I felt was pain.

I nodded.

Then one by one, I touched the other people with ailments, taking their pain, tenfold, upon myself.

“Are you sure you want to keep doing so many at one session? It cannot be good for you,” Sands asked as we made our way through the streets, back to the palace. Before the night was over, we had one last task to accomplish. I’d already had Sands help me rob the kingdom of just enough valuables so that it would not be noticed, yet just enough to please Veeto.

Sands could steal anything without being caught. I once witnessed him speaking with a wealthy lord, for only three minutes, and right before my eyes, I saw him take a golden bracelet, his long chain with a gold pendant, and coins from his pocket.

I believed he got the name Sands because he was shifty with those hands of his, like sand. He insisted that it was his real name.

“You know, I am strong enough to handle it.”

“Sure, strong–insane, you are something,” he snickered.

“I have to do it.”

“What’s the count now?” Sands asked.

“I am back to being even. Five hundred and forty two,” I said.

“That’s–” he paused, looking at me with those sad eyes of his. Sands was not raised to be a pirate, nor groomed for it as was I. He was raised as a thief, however, and somehow, he kept his light-hearted personality intact through all of the darkness of being a pirate’s prisoner on board the Crimson Blade.

“–A lot of people, I know,” I finished his thought.

“Yeah–well, once we are done with the library tonight, are we headed back to the ship?” Sands asked as we reached my royal guest chambers in Thorn Castle.

The night before was the wedding of Prince Gideon and Princess Briar. I would leave as soon as possible since my royal task had been completed. I hated that I was always helping my mother, the Queen of Walden, when she had never helped nor cared for me, her own son. But Veeto kept up correspondence with her, for he liked the connection I had to the royals.