Whirling around the Whirlpool

"Don't run into them!"

"Grab the sides!"

"Are you fucking kidding me. That's a whirlpool!"

Voices screamed over each other as confusion set in. The words drifting to our boat as we grew closer to another.

What whirlpool?

Romeo and the others looked around, their heads searching for the shouting. I searched as well, my eyes landing on a boat that didn't belong to any of the pirates in the crew. Saylors. Their grey uniforms were messy, their skins a pale color that increased with each passing second.

Only one of them was looking at us. Her eyes zoned in on our boat as they were approaching quickly. The others were looking in the opposite direction.

"We're going to hit them!"

"Don't take us down with you!" Romeo shouted just as he pulled the oar out of the silver so it wouldn't snap.

The boat slammed into us before any of them could stop it and before we could avoid them. Wiley's hand grabbed my arm, as the boats turned. He kept me from hitting the saylors and from falling into the water.

My eyes fell onto the whirlpool that had been shouted about. My heart dropped as I found it too easily.

What was the whirlpool doing here? It was so close to the city.

Could we even get away from it?

A blaring noise filled the air as Violet couldn't stop us from getting sucked into the circle. Like a drain in a sink, the water moved around, in one single direction. It pulled anything it caught into it.

"I told you to watch out!" The woman hissed as she turned to look at the ones that had been rowing. Her voice mixed with the horn. "Now look at us."

I looked to Wiley, fear spreading like ice as we were not only stuck in a whirlpool, but to another boat. This wasn't something that could easily be taken care of. But he knew something had been coming and that said that he might just have a way.

Wiley stared past me, in the direction of the pool. A blank expression on his face, telling me nothing. Finally, when his green eyes met mine, I was sure he had came up with something.

He must have figured out a way to get us out.

"I don't do whirlpools. No idea how to escape," he said.

Like he knew what I expected. Though he probably did considering he had warned us. A navigator he was, but it didn't look like he could navigate something as small as a boat.

"Row!" Romeo shouted, his head snapping to the five saylors that had crashed into us. "Let go of our boat! It's not too late for us."

"You can't be serious!" One of them snapped. "Help us."

It was a demand or a plea. The blaring sound made it hard to tell which tone he had used.

"Help you?" The horn drowned out the rest of Romeo's words, but from the expression that appeared on their faces, it seemed as if they heard him very clearly.

Even as their hands left our boat, nothing happened. They didn't separate. Their boat didn't get pulled away nor were we able to put an inch in between.

It was then that I noticed the water filling our boat. Cool. Wet. A sense of numbing spread through my feet as it wrapped around them.

The fear of what was coming overwhelmed me.

We weren't the only ones that the whirlpool surprised. Other boats were also finding themselves getting sucked into the spiral. Trapped to go to the center without an escape.

There was no escape.

"Use the helical!" The shout came barely above the siren. "The helical!"

The name sounded strange. A memory pushed to come to light, but I fought against it as I struggled to know what the helical was. I looked once more to Wiley, to see if he had heard as well. His attention was no longer on the boat next to us, even if his hand was still on my arm.

"What is he saying?" Violet asked.

Romeo was the one to answer. "It could work. We'd sling ourselves out."

"Sling? Now are you talking about?"

Romeo ignored Violet as he turned back to the saylors. "Pick two and paddle as hard as you can! If we don't do it together, we'll drain!" Even as he shouted, Romeo raised his body and waved at Semund to switch with him. "I don't have all day and you would likely tip us."

Semund scowled but didn't reply.

"What are you doing?" I asked, not sure what plan he had or what he was doing. "Romeo?"

He gave me a cheeky grin. He swayed as he and Semund managed to move around each other. The paddle almost hit me as Romeo didn't raise it nearly as high as he could have.

"He's going to try and slingshot both boats out." It was Juliet that answered as she rubbed the top of her head. Her eyes were locked on him as he settled into his place. "My dad used to do that when a whirlpool would appear, catching us by surprise. He'd paddle to the right part of the rapid water that is moving downwards. He'd use that, but never with two boats."

"Will it work?" Violet asked, as she looked over her shoulder and to the pool. "Get us out, I mean?"

"Yes. Now put your paddle in. We're working with that lot over there." Romeo answered, staring her down until she listened.

Describing how we were able to get free would be like trying to understand or describe the reason that the crew is sailing. Difficult and could in turn, become very complicated. The events were more like a hazy memory that hadn't just happened.

Everything blended in together.

Romeo was shouting orders. The saylors were replying, as if they knew what they were already doing. The whirlpool, while a threat, seemed almost normal to the ones who crashed into us.

Like it was an everyday thing.

The boats rocked, with water splashing onto us. We ran into others, or almost into them. A few curses flown our way when we avoided collisons.

We didn't need more boats stuck onto ours.

The clearest thing I remembered was Violet and Wiley. She looked like she was having as we moved. Wiley, his hand stayed tightened on my arm, never letting go as we went around the whirlpool.

Somehow we went from being within the whirlpool one second to skidding through the water and appearing much closer to the city.

Still, we weren't safe then either, as water continued to fill the boat. Pulling us down with each passing second.

"What just happened?" Semund asked. Lost. Confused. He was just like me.

"You guys must be new." The horn had died down at some point in the hazy memory. Gone. I could hear them much clearer now. "It's always like this. Do you see that building there?"

I looked at her before following her hand as she pointed towards the metal city. There was more than one building she could have been pointing at. Though only one had a pipe connected to it that went into the water and not above it.

"Four, no they moved, so six stories up, in that rainbow window."

As she talked, my eyes swept over the towering building. I counted the floors until I got to what number six would be, but still, there were too many windows that had more than one color to it.

"That's one of the offices that controls the pipes and what they do. Well, that pipe that's in front of the building. The only one that goes into the water on this side. It blows into the water, making a shift in the currents. Well, that in turn, brings out the whirlpools."

They can make whirlpools?

Even when I heard tales, that hadn't been brought up about it. Not by anyone.

"Bastards," another saylor hissed in as they leaned into our boat. Their eyes dropped to the floor where the water was still rising. "Always waiting until we're rowing up. Think it's funny to try and drown us."

His arm was hit by one of the others."Don't joke like that. The rookies will believe you."

"They might not be rookies, Johal." The saylor rubbed his arm. "But it's true. Every time I'm in one of these boats, minding my own business and wanting nothing more than to relax, here comes a whirlpool. They cause it. I know they do."

"Move out of their boat." A saylor with bright blue hair moved, my eyes going to him. "The extra weight will drag them down," Johal, if the saylor before was referring to the one who called us rookies that, said. "Any of you good swimmers?"

I looked away from the saylors and back to my crew, seeing that they appeared unsure about the question. Romeo was eyeing them, his lips pressed into a tight line. Though there was something in his eye that said he liked them.

Violet had her head in her hands, making it hard to guess what she was thinking. With her fists balled, I would have to think that she was feeling the same as the rest of us.

Wary. Unsure of how to continue now we were out of the whirlpool.

"Why?" It was Semund who asked the question.

I turned back to them, taking in the glints in their eyes. "Cause only two of you can fit in this boat. The rest can go to that one." Johal pointed to something behind us. "Captain Seminario is there. The one wearing the blue mask."

The name sent warning bells ringing through me. I looked over the saylors, trying to put faces to someone who could have been at the Going Sally at some point. But none of them looked familiar.

I didn't know the ones before us.

"You're from the Golden Roger?" Disbelief coated my words.

I thought I knew everyone who was.

"Oh, hey, she knows us," the women who had warned them said, high-fiving another of them. "Ya, we're that crew. Who's your captain? Wait, did you come from that Warship?"

I could feel the eyes as they burned into me. Both from the saylors and my own crew. Letting out a slight cough, I tugged on my shirt. The seconds ticked as I figured out what to say.

"We're part of Post-Captain Kyd's crew." I waved my hand at the others, the lie escaping before I had too much time to think about it. "That's Romeo. He's training to be the Lieutenant before transferring to the Mainland. Between us, he's constantly getting sick."

They laughed, looking at him. The lie seemed to work, but I was sure that it wouldn't last long. We would have to figure something else out later. Or they would.

"That's Violet. She's supposed to become a Warrant Officer, but she's transferring here." I didn't need to look to know she was cursing me to the depths where Davy Jones could take my soul. "But she's completely helpless with directions. The rest of us," I waved my hands towards the rest before myself, "aren't nearly as special as them two. We're just Seamen."

Johal nodded, pieces of blue hair falling in his face. "Than the two of them can come on and join us over here. No sense in someone higher ranked having to swim."

"We can make it just fine," Romeo cut in. He sent me a glare, his eyes telling me that I would need to avoid him for a while.

I shrugged at him. We needed something that would keep them distracted and from asking too many questions. If someone wasn't high ranked, or ranked above seamen in this boat, whoever got left behind would've been interrogated.

This way, at least they would have a reason not to talk. It was the only thing I could think of or come up with that could last us a bit.

I also didn't know Post-Captain Kyd's reputation enough to know how he treated his crew. I could barely remember his name and if he hadn't shown up on the moving island like he had, I wouldn't have been able to use him here.

Though, if he hadn't shown up, we wouldn't be here now.

"Make it? You plan to swim the rest of the way then? One pool has already started and if they keep to schedule, in three minutes another will appear and five minutes after that, a third one. There's no way your boat, or ours even, will make it through another," Johal stated. "As a commander I can order you to come over--"

"Commander?" Violet's head raised as she spoke. "Wait, you're a commander?"

Juliet scotted a bit more to the side as the others shifted as well. Not enough to make the saylors question it, but it said wonders. I had dug us into a bigger and deeper hole than I thought.

If he was a commander, that wouldn't stop them from being interrogated. It wouldn't stop the onslaught of questions if there would be any.

"Yes." Johal eyes knotted together. "I'm part of the Commodore Seminario crew. He isn't kneen on the fleet separating and keeps us together."

When did Seminario become a Commodore? I knew he hadn't been ranked that before.

Recently maybe.

"Why do you call him Captain?"

Johal waved his hand. "Well, if you entered the boat I'll tell you, or you can go down with the one your in. The less of you on it, the quicker we can get moving so we don't get swept into the next whirlpool."

I glanced at the others, wondering what they were going to do. Abandon the boat and go to the Commodore? No, I doubt they would risk going to him. But was it any better to stay?

Wiley moved first. "Look, there's uh, the others! I'll take a ride with them."

I spotted Saul's boat then. He was closer to us than the Commodore's. Though it was still a swim to reach him.

"Is that the rest of your crew?" Johal asked.

Wiley was gone before he could be forced to answer that question. The water sprayed us as he dived into it. He stayed under for a long time, before his head broke the surface.

A look at the others, it was clear Romeo was the only one who wanted to join him.

"Well, I should join them too." I patted Romeo as I stood up. "Have fun, you know, not swimming. Let's go Juliet."

I wasn't staying, nor was I going to be joining the Commodore. I could only hope that I looked like everyone else. That I blended in and he didn't notice me.

"Rachel!"

The water was cold and lightly tugged on me. It felt like small fishes were brushing against my hands as I went deeper and deeper. I opened my eyes, not bringing myself to kick so I would leave the silver.

Darkness.

Even still being so close I was surrounded by darkness. The light couldn't reach very far and the deeper I went, the colder it became.

My arms slid easily through the water. Something tugged on my boots. It was stronger than the currents that brushed my fingertips.

I kicked, trying to get away.

My heart pounded against my chest, but I continued to hold my breath. I pushed once more with everything I had with my arms and soon, my head broke the surface. Gasping for air, I looked around to make sure I was heading in the right direction.

I would be joining my Captain and Saul in their boat, even if it was overcrowded. I didn't turn to see if Juliet had followed or if the others were hoping they could kill me with their glares.

Putting one arm in front of the other, I moved for what would bring me out of the water and whatever it was that had tried to pull me even deeper than I had gone.