Clara shook her head. She didn’t know what to make of the captain and his pirates. Was she truly in heaven or had she been saved by their lot? Pirates were ruthless, unforgiving and above all, immoral. They plundered fleets of ships and terrorized the high seas, spreading their evil corruption into the shores of isolated lands. That was what she'd been told by the servants in hushed whispers whenever she asked them about pirates. The servants had called them “savages”. Back then, she had been a child.

Now, as Clara met the steely eyes of the captain, she was not so certain anymore. They couldn’t possibly save a dying woman, much less one who had sunk several feet deep into the sea, could they?

The memory of the servants and her home brought back something else. She remembered her traveling bag and its contents. Her clothes, jewelry and money were still in Esperanza. Whatever had happened to the survivors was beyond her knowledge. She hoped they had survived.

My diary…gone!

She chocked silently for air and felt anguish leave the inner chambers of her heart dark and empty. Her mother’s gift was forever lost and so were the myriads of memories she had confided in the pages of the treasured book. Her fifth birthday when her mother was still alive, her father telling her bedtime stories on countless nights, Ms. Pauline teaching her how to read and write, her first meeting with Josephine, Timothy instructing her how to punch someone in the nose…all of those cherished memories were now gone. She felt empty inside as though a large part of her soul was missing. Without the diary, Clara would be unable to feel her mother’s holy presence watching over her.

Placing a hand over her chest, she thanked the heavens when her fingers grasped the metallic surface of the locket. The necklace was still there, safe and sound. She remembered the trails of light that had surrounded her when she was drowning and the ticking of a clock that had rhymed with the beating of her heart. If she was truly alive then the necklace must have saved her through some unnatural power. It was the only assumption she could raise. The captain’s voice pulled her out of the whirlpool of thoughts.

“I’ll tell you what happened. Me and me hearties were preparing the ship to sail under the surface when I saw a lass floating on a raft in the middle of the grand sea!” He adjusted his mask to a proper position. “My crew pulled you out and here you are.”

Swallowing a lump that had formed in her throat, Clara did not know how to respond other than acknowledging the captain’s words with a nod. He spoke of a raft and she couldn’t remember that. She had been drowning and there had been no raft in the vicinity, let alone a stray piece of wood. He didn’t make any sense. Nothing made sense anymore.

“So you tell me where you came from, aye? ‘Tis not everyday I be seeing a lass floating in the middle of the sea.”

For a moment she felt afraid and her fears heightened when the captain slid a hand over the hilt of his rapier holstered by the belt around his waist. He pointed the tip of the thin blade close to her neck, swung his head back and laughed raucously. His crew joined in the laughter, their malicious mirth ringing in her ears like the chimes of a devil’s bell. He stopped laughing, turned to his crew and glowered at them. Afraid of their captain's wrath, the pirates went back to work.

He bent down so that he was at eye level with her. Strands of silver hair fell down from his shoulders to the floor. He opened his mouth and was about to speak when something heavy bumped the bottom of the ship. Scowling, Saberlot straightened his back and listened. There it was again, a second thump that had a stronger force than the first one and it emanated from the right side of the ship. The pirates glanced at where the noise was coming from but like the captain, they were too bold to be startled.

From the other side of the deck, where the crewmen were not looking at, three robbed figures materialized out of nowhere. Clara could not see them clearly because the transparent figures were distorted into unrecognizable forms. They seemed more like unearthly beings than physical entities. It was like looking at the warped images reflected by the surface of a pond. The outline of their figures depicted hooded men. She caught the sight of something shiny from one of them - like the glint of a sword. By the time the sailors turned to face the trespassers, the three beings had moved. They attacked the pirates in swift motion, swinging their near-invisible weapons with a deadly precision. One by one, the pirates fell.  

Afraid for her life, Clara crawled to a row of barrels at the farthest end of the deck and hoped that she would not end up in the line of fire. Grunts, curses and yells resounded in the deck as the crew fought the intruders. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t jump out of the ship since they were underwater. Having no idea how deep they were below the surface, taking such an action would be suicidal.

The captain growled. “Catch the intruders! Move!”

Taking a peek from across the deck, Clara saw the ship master fending off one of the ghostly beings amidst his fallen shipmates. Captain Saberlot jumped back as his opponent made a diagonal slash with the intention of severing his left hip all the way to his right shoulder. Each time his foe attacked with what looked like a curved sword, Saberlot intercepted by blocking the strikes. So the beings were physical after all otherwise the captain’s rapier would have passed right through his opponent’s weapon.

Nonetheless, his adversary seemed to be in control of the intense combat between them and so it didn’t take long before he was outmatched. His enemy struck him in the head, sending him reeling backwards. Clara stared as Saberlot fell on his back, his eyes closed. He had passed out. His attacker knelt down to pluck out his mask from his face and then turned towards her direction.

Panting for breath, she hastily ducked behind the barrel and closed her eyes, squeezing her small frame and bending her back so that she would remain unnoticed. In the midst of the war cries from the valiant pirates and the yelps of pain from their wounded companions, a shadow fell across her. She was being watched. A chill raced through her spine and the undulating waves of panic coursed through her veins.

“Come, I will help you escape...”

It was the strangest voice she had ever heard and it came from the ghostly being who had defeated the captain. The voice was definitely one of a male but it sounded like an echo as if many voices spoke at once, each with a varying tone. That strange creature stood a few feet from where she was hiding. She froze in terror and prayed that he would lose interest in her.

“Follow me before it's too late.”

What did she have to lose? There was nowhere else to go and if that hooded creature promised her freedom, she had no choice but to believe him. It was better to leave than to stay. Saberlot had threatened her with a blade and she didn’t want to consider what would have happened if the intruders hadn’t made their magnificent entrance. She could only hope that she had not made an impetuous decision.

Oh, scratch that! I’m already insane as it is, were Clara’s thoughts as she stood up and followed him. He guarded her towards the edge of the deck, where the railing was.

“Take a deep breath and hold on to my hand. When I say jump, do it. I will lead you to safety. Do not loosen your grip. Are you ready?” he asked.

She nodded and interlocked her right arm with his left one. It felt odd to hold onto someone who was so undistinguishable that he might have been an undiscovered creature from an unknown civilization. Glancing at the deck, she noticed that most of the buccaneers were lying on the floor. There were no blood-spattered ripped clothes or torn body parts to signify a bloody battle had raged on. From what she could see, they had only been knocked out cold. The other two intruders walked to them.

Her supposed savior took out a deformed device from his robes, blew through it and a shrilling sound pierced through the air. It was as loud as the whistles of a train’s horn. He thrust out his right arm as if to punch an invisible enemy.

In that instant, his hand connected with something solid and a crack began forming at the tip of his knuckles. A glass wall flickered in and out of existence before it became fully visible. Understanding dawned on Clara when she saw the wall. So that was how the ship could sail beneath the sea! There had been an invisible wall protecting the ship. It was as if the ship was encased in a gigantic air bubble which served to keep air in and control the pressure from the water.

The infectious cracks branched out as she stared in awe, spreading upwards and downwards, left and right, at an incredibly fast speed. From where the cracks had spread out, a part of the wall shattered and a large hole was formed. It was wide enough to allow two people to pass through. Water immediately gushed in.

“Jump. Now!”

Taking a deep breath, Clara vaulted over the railing and passed through the gaping hole the moment he had told her to do so. He leapt out of the deck the exact moment she did.  She held on to his arm tightly as he swam away from the ship. His companions were right behind them. As they swam further upwards, tremendous vibrations issued from beneath them. She glanced below and noticed a deep shadow emerging below them at a height of about four hundred feet. Its movements were erratic and swift. They stopped swimming as if enchanted by an enthralling spell.

That murky shadow was not what it seemed. It was in fact, a behemoth of a fish, large as a whale. An odd clicking sound stemmed from the freakishly enormous creature whilst it glided towards them at a surprisingly fast speed. Clara quailed at the sight of the monster. She tried to break free from her rescuer’s grip but he didn’t budge. 

The creature closed in on them, its black mouth snapping open to reveal an equally black tongue. The world around her dimmed and then darkness reigned.