𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 6𝚝𝚑 1834

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘𝚎𝚜. 𝙰𝚜 𝚒𝚏 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚖. 𝙸 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚠.

𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚠𝚗. 𝚆𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍. 𝚆𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚝 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚗 𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗.

𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚂𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚐. 𝙵𝚘𝚐 𝚜𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚖.

𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚔 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚜. 𝚂𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍. 𝙸 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚞𝚙 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚓𝚘𝚋. 𝚆𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔. 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚋𝚒𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛. 𝙾𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚠 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜. 𝚆𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚍. 𝚆𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚜. 𝙽𝚘𝚠, 𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚠𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚌.

Edmond Conway rubbed his temples, needing to stop writing to rest his head. It was late, and he was ready for bed. He was getting used to the nonstop headache he seemed to be stuck with. The pain was a dull hum, constantly reminding him of the incident that brought them here.

Tomorrow, he would need to begin fishing. The researchers had brought much food with them for the journey, but they were eating it so fast that it hardly made any difference.

He put out the lantern and felt his way to his bed. He climbed onto his bed and laid back. He let the rocking of the ship soothe his troubled mind. Although, tonight, it wasn't working. He was thinking too much. About everything. About the absurd circumstances surrounding them. As well as this delay, keeping him from home longer. He let out a long and tired sigh. He wondered what Maryann was doing right now. If she was sleeping peacefully or if she was out on the harbor with her nightgown blowing in the wind. If only he could hold her right now. It would do them both some good.

As he rested his eyes, his ears picked up on something.

A soft... whimper?

A weeping?

A woman?

For half a second, he thought that perhaps it was only his mind, imaging how Maryann would be sad to see how late he was returning. He knew she would be worried sick at night while lying alone in their bed.

Edmond sat up to listen more intently.

There it was.

He could hear it still. Muffled. From... somewhere.

He quickly climbed out of bed and lit his lantern once more. He held it before him and paced about the room to try to get an indication of where it was coming from. He felt mad to be hearing it at all.

Outside of his room.

He walked about, following the sounds of the crying. On occasion, it would stop abruptly, only to start up again after its short pause. He checked his men. All of them below deck were asleep. Not that he figured it was one of them anyway. He left them to sleep and continued his hunt.

The sound led him to the cargo hold. He heard it clear as day. There was definitely a weeping woman somewhere nearby. He was concerned for a moment about some sort of stowaway. But how could a woman have snuck on board with none of the men seeing her. It would have been impossible.

The weeping was soft and weak. Yet seemed to echo off the boards around him. It was eerie in a sense. He shined the lantern around to each crack and crevice, only to find nothing.

"Hello?" Edmond called out. There was no way he could have missed her. He searched everywhere. The longer he searched and the more he listened, the more unsettled he became. Her cry sounded... wrong. Less of a natural cry and more like some kind of recording playing in a loop. It was the same cry over and over. A weep, followed by a gasp, followed by a soft wail, followed by a whimper. Then silence. On repeat. It made his skin prickle up with goosebumps.

The crying stopped again. He narrowed his eyes in the dark to strain them further. "Hello?" He called again. "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."

Nothing.

No response.

"You okay?"

A voice from behind the captain made him jump. He flung around to shine the light behind him. One of the researchers. The same one he always spoke to. He assumed the other one didn't speak as much English as this one. He only wished he could have remembered his name. At this point, it was too awkward to ask again.

"You only scared the life out of me." Edmond said in a winded gasp. "What on God's earth are you doing down here so late at night?"

"I thought I heard something." The man said with a serious tone. "You?"

The captain took a second to think about this. He wasn't sure if he would sound like a mad man. Did the researcher hear it, too?

"What did you hear?" Edmond decided to ask him.

The researcher shrugged. "Hard to say. Sounded... unnatural." Maybe he had heard it. Either way, the captain wasn't sure what to think. The man let out an awkward laugh, "Emmalien's Constellation isn't haunted, is it?"

Edmond didn't find the notion to be funny at all. As if the researcher were calling the ship cursed or something.

"No." He reassured the man.

"Captain!" He heard someone calling out above deck. "Captain!"

He could hear a lot of commotion from outside. He rushed past the researcher and hurried above deck to meet Keller.

"Captain!" Keller closed the gap between them.

"What's wrong?" Edmond asked, following Keller as he waved his hand, indicating he wanted Edmond to follow him.

"It's Davis! He went overboard!" Keller said in a panic. Edmond saw now that Willas was standing with Bell at the side of the ship. Both of them were struggling with a roped net. They were screaming down below for Davis to grab on.

Edmond reached the edge of the ship to see what he could do to help. Then he heard the singing. The echoed voice traveling across the waves. Edmond saw Davis. He wasn't trying to grab the rope. He seemed in some sort of daze. He merely bobbed up and down, looking away from them.

"Davis!" Edmond yelled in his most commanding voice, "Grab the rope!"

He wasn't sure what he expected. The man ignored him, too. Bobbing about with the waves, staring out into the inky blackness.

"We'll have to go down and get him." Edmond insisted. He immediately took off his jacket and socks. He meant to retrieve the man himself. By the time he grabbed the rope to climb down, he took one last look at Davis, just to see him disappear under the surface. It was as if he was violently yanked down. The man didn't even have time to scream.

"Davis!" Willas called out to no avail.
The men scanned the water. It was too dark to see anything, really. If Davis managed to resurface too far out, they would have no way of seeing him.

"Davis!" They each took their turn to yell for the man, trying to give him a chance to scream back in return.

"Was it a shark?" Bell asked. "You think something got him?"

"Davis!" Edmond didn't want to give up. He still paced the deck, looking for anywhere this man could pop up at.

Suddenly, a scream could be heard.

An ungodly scream.

A scream of a man in undeniable pain.

They looked to where he had disappeared but saw nothing.

The scream carried over the deck. He must have somehow wound up on the other side of the ship. The men rushed to the other side and saw Davis. He clawed at the side of the ship, trying to climb his way in.

"The rope!" Keller yelled. The men worked together to get the net to the other side of the ship. They dropped it down next to him in the black water. He managed to clutch his hands around the rope so tightly that he might as well as had talons instead of hands.

He kicked and screamed his lungs out as they pulled and pulled and pulled to lift him from the water and back onto the ship.

He landed on the deck along his stomach with a sickening wet thud. He never stopped screaming. He flung his arms and legs around wildly.

"Davis!" Edmond hunched over him, "Davis, talk to me!"

He grabbed the man's shoulders and rotated him over, all while trying not to be hit himself by how wildly he was swinging around.

After he was rotated, the sight took all the men by shock and surprise. Davis was still screaming. As any of them would be. For he was missing his eyes and his lips. Gouged right out of his head and ripped right off his face. The hollowed-out holes in his face were still bleeding. His exposed teeth stretched out in his continued scream.

"Get... Get Halcreek!" Edmond suddenly screamed to the men. "Someone get the doctor!"

Willas somehow tore himself from the horror to fetch Halcreek as quickly as he could.

Edmond grabbed hold of Davis to try to still him. The man was thrashing about to a point that Edmond was worried he would harm himself further. Edmond sat on the deck and pulled Davis between his legs to wrap his arms and legs around him. He had to restrain and calm him.

"It's okay, Davis. Halcreek is coming! You're okay now!" Edmond tried his best to deescalate the terror his man was feeling.

Davis was shouting something. But without lips, there was no way to determine what he was trying to say. Whatever it was, he was screaming it repeatedly. Something that sounded dangerously like "Devil."