Sitting in the Captain''s quarters, I stared at myself in the vanity mirror next to the bed. I didn''t recognize the person staring back at me, as cliche as that sounds. I had become someone who I swore I''d never be.


    I had become my father.


    I spent years trying to break away from that rage and darkness that he had left inside me. He had used his own to break my mother and when she no longer served her purposes, he had thrown her in a care home. Anders had told me that my father had been a friend of his and that he was a great man, but I always sensed trepidation in his voice. Like there was something he wasn''t telling me. I think they all knew what he was like.


    I felt awful for the position I had put everyone in. Especially Amelia. I let my own emotions get the better of me, and she paid the price. I don''t think she''ll ever fully trust me again. I didn''t deserve it anyway.


    A knock came at the door, and it startled me. I jumped and a jolt of pain shot through my entire body.


    “Erik, are you coming? Do you need some help?” Orion called from behind the door. I left it locked so no one could come in and try to look after me. I couldn''t help but stare into the musty vanity in front of me. I didn''t look frail, but I felt it; like a part of my identity broke along with my body.


    “I’m fine, I’ll be out in a bit.” I shouted back. Orion pounded on the door.


    “Please stop pushing me away.” He called back. I could hear him slide down against the door and sit on the floor outside.


    “You did nothing wrong. I’m not pushing you away.” I tried to sound convincing. Truth be told, I didn''t know how to approach him. He had gone from hating my guts to fawning over me since the accident with Scylla. Everyone told me I had died, but Orion saved me. Clearly he didn''t hate me that much, if the story was true.


    “Erik, please let me in.” He begged. I got up from my chair at the vanity table and stumbled my way to the door, gripping the wall. I threw the latch and opened the door. Orion fell back into my legs.


    “Hiya." He said, looking up at me. I offered my hand, but he shook his head and stood on his own. It was like he was afraid that grabbing my arm would break me. Orion went to work, inspecting my body. He turned my shoulder and moved my arm. Then he grabbed my face and turned my head back and forth.


    “You need to shave. Do you need a hand?” He said, looking at me like I’m an injured lamb. I hated it. I moved his hand away and went to the desk to gather my pack.


    “Let me get it.” He tried to reach for it, and I moved it away from him.


    “I’m fine, really. Please stop.” I couldn''t stand this treatment. I don''t know if it was because it made me feel weak, or because I knew I didn''t deserve it.


    "Erik, you were dead only hours ago, with your whole body broken. As your friend, I have every right to fuss over you." Orion said, putting his hands on his hips and staring at me. I looked down at my pack, ashamed. I waved him over and let him help pack up all my stuff.


    We both moved out onto the deck, Orion keeping my slowed pace, making sure I didn’t fall. He kept an arm wrapped under me. I decided to just let it happen.


    Everyone was waiting for us by the rail, ready to take the rowboat to the port in Athens.


    “Ok, so here’s the plan team. We are going to try to be as stealthy as possible. Anders doesn’t want us engaging with the enemy. We are to set the Queen Anne’s on fire and let the Golem sink to the bottom of the sea. Not only will that cripple their transport, it should take a lot of their fighting force out. We still aren’t one hundred percent sure who we are dealing with, but we know that one of them has an Artifact now.” I told them.


    “Erik, might I make a suggestion.” Orion piped up. I was about to roll my eyes, but I’m just glad he’s not still pissed at me. I knew we were going to have to sit down and have conversation about everything eventually. But the mission came first.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    “Go for it.” I told him.


    “Seeing as how you aren’t in the best shape, and a lot of our resources got used up in the trip here, might I suggest trying to locate some ambrosia and possibly other Artifacts? I know Anders said we weren’t supposed to veer off course, but I know I could use a coffee at the least.” He looked at his feet like a nervous child, but he’s not completely wrong, we had used the ambrosia and much of our travel rations.


    “If we go for a resupply, we may miss our window to get the ship.” I pointed out. He nodded and waved his hand dismissively.


    “No, I understand. That comes first.” He said.


    After running them through the game plan, we all headed into the rowboat. The first mate skeleton thing took us down with Siobhan remaining behind. She had been strangely quiet this morning.


    We tried to be quiet and remain out of sight as the rowboat slowly made it''s way to the dock. The big red hull of the Queen Anne''s Revenge was hard to miss. I could feel the sun starting to come up over the horizon, providing some warmth from the cool air coming off the water. I glanced up at the figures of the Golem, mulling about on the deck of the ship, as if without purpose. I didn''t know if they could see us, as they had no eyes, but they were able to follow basic instructions well enough it seemed.


    As we slowly rowed up beside the ship, Ethan attached a rope to his grappling hook and twirled it up to one of the lower open port holes. He missed, the hook, scrapping along the side of the ship, before plummeting into the water. We all froze and looked up to see if anyone had heard. No one came to the railing to see us, and we all turned to look at Ethan, who was quickly trying to reel the rope back into the rowboat. I took it from him and spun it, just like I would with Mjolnir. Orion touched my forearm, as if to caution me, but I pulled my arm away and let the grapple fly. It took hold on an open cannon port. I looked at the group, feeling triumphant, but it felt like they only smiled back with pity.


    Ethan took the lead, as planned, and climbed up the rope and slipped into the open hole. Tadashi followed after him, then Dyson behind him. Dyson was nervous and struggled to climb up the rope. He opened his mouth to make what I assume was going to be a stupid joke, and I shushed him. Orion went next slinging a bag over his shoulder and moving to the rope.


    “Bringing Santa’s sack with you?” I tried to joke quietly. He got this wicked grin on his face and opened it for me to see. Inside was a bunch of little bottles each glowing green.


    “Is that Alchemist''s Fire?” I asked, referring to the substance created by the Order''s Apothecary division. It was like napalm. I was a bit concerned and curious about Orion carrying around a bag full of the substance which was practically as volatile nitro glycerin. But in the interdimensional space that was Santa’s sack, I suppose, he thought he was safe.


    “Siobhan gave it to me.” He cackled a little and started his climb up. I was suddenly concerned that the explosive had been on the old wooden ship the whole time.


    The idea had been for the four of them to get inside, and spread fire with a few torches on the lower decks, but with Orion''s bag of Alchemist''s Fire would make the job much easier. Amelia waited with me in the rowboat, but she refused to even look at me. I didn''t press the matter, but I knew I would have to apologize at some point.


    On the ship, there was a sound like someone was arguing. I heard the scuffle and then the clinking of the glass bottles. Then I heard Dyson go, “Oh shit.”


    “I think we need to get out of here.” I urged our undead rower, getting him to move the rowboat back. It’s not long before a bright flash went off inside the ship and the four boys jumped out the cannon port and into the water.


    The Queen Anne’s Revenge caught flame quickly, the green chemical fire growing steadily. Part of the ship started to crackle and the wood began to creak under the strain. I began to think that the fire was underwhelming, but then the back end of the ship exploded and I fell over into the rowboat. Amelia jumped, covering her head. Her armor shimmered green with each impact of debris and blast of fire, preventing her from being harmed; and by proximity, myself.


    Wood, canvas sail and Golem flew all about as the ship began to sink. Most of the Golem hitting the water began to dissolve. Some of them tried to cling to the broken pieces of the ship, while others were still trying to tie down the mast, or clean the deck of debris, even as the ship sank.


    I could hear the shouting and panic coming from the civilians on the dock, and I hoped that none of the locals had been hurt. I peeked out from under my arms and looked for the rest of the group. They were swimming to the rowboat, with Tadashi dragging Dyson along behind him, who was flailing and spitting out water. As Orion climbed into the rowboat, he started laughing in between panting and coughing up water.


    “Alright, I blew up the pirate ship, can we get coffee now?” He said with that grin of his that I hadn''t seen in so long. It was like he was revitalized. Or maybe in shock.


    As the rest of the team piled into the rowboat, we drifted back toward the Flying Dutchman, staring at the remains of the Queen Anne''s Revenge sinking into the harbor. Hopefully there wasn''t too many questions about weird sightings that the Order would have to make a cover for. The plan had originally been to do this in the cover of darkness, but the sun was fully up over the horizon when we made it back to our ship. Hopefully it wasn''t too big of a mess for Anders to explain away.