Voyage of the Damned

by Frances White

My father always says: ‘You can’t run from your responsibilities,’ but he lacks imagination. Besides, I’m not running. I’m sidestepping. Crossing the road so me and my responsibilities don’t make eye contact and aren’t forced into awkward small talk both of us know isn’t going anywhere.

A twitch of a smile. ‘And that’s why you’re wrong. The hero isn’t the dragon. The hero is the fish.’ My arms drop. ‘The fish?’ ‘The fish did not have to share the burden. The fish could have survived without it. But it sacrificed itself because it saw the suffering of others. The world would have been doomed without the fish.’ She holds my gaze, her expression utterly serious. And in that moment, I am, for once, speechless.

‘No. I mean, because of Eudora’s—’ ‘Death!’ Grasshopper screams with such glee I wonder if she planned it herself. When I stare at her, she says, ‘She will turn to dirt and the circle is complete.’ In a totally-not-at-all creepy way.

‘Because I can’t do it by myself,’ I state. ‘Because I’m not smart, or brave, or talented. People don’t like me. I just annoy them. I’m all round useless. You said it yourself—I’m of “no value”. So, I need your help.’

‘You see the world in a way nobody else does. You’re better than all of them.’ He rested his forehead against mine, fingers knotting in my tousled hair. ‘Because you don’t need a Blessing to be a miracle.’

‘He left it when he heard Cordelia screaming.’

He loves Cordelia - motivE to get rid of ravi

Wyatt doesn’t press the issue. Maybe I’m the only scion who dares ask another

My heart swells. That’s a good way to categorize the world—to eat or to love. Although sometimes things can be both. I smirk.

A few months later, a terrible plague swept through Bear Province. Horses died in their thousands. They failed to complete the cattle run for the first time in history. The resulting food deficit meant the entire empire had to eat piscero, even the nobles. The horse plague was so widespread and sudden the cause couldn’t be determined.

I add Shinjiro’s ‘shitting’ alibi, and also record the lack of wounds on Eudora’s body.

‘I...’ A spray of glitter appears before me. A sharp harmonious melody. Then Dumpling slaps me. ‘Is that a...fish?’ ‘You advised me to let you know if your borders had been breached.’ I nurse my cheek. ‘What?’ ‘Someone is in your room, Master Fish.’

are times in life when things are utterly shit, no matter how you slice them. For example, being jump attacked (while wearing only a small towel) by a fourteen-year-old pyromaniac with anger-management issues and a long-held grudge after years of expert ‘winding up’, which in hindsight may not have been the smartest course of action against a fourteen-year-old pyromaniac with anger-management issues.

Him with his slack body. As if all life has been drained out of it. Tears falling from empty eyes. There is something familiar about it—that stance.

I hadn’t realized that loyalty did not just mean sending fish and saying prayers. Loyalty also meant hate. Indiscriminate, unquestioning hate.

Cordelia gasps, utterly horrified. ‘How could you say such a thing?’ ‘Words are born in my head, then escape from my mouth!’ Grasshopper turns to me, beaming with pride, but I’ve frozen in my seat, staring at Cordelia. ‘Dead people don’t come back.’

Why is it that I want women to beat me up and men to gently embrace me?

Grasshopper shuffles forward. ‘Heart-bonded people shouldn’t be apart. Your hearts are meant to be together. Or they’ll get sad, and break.’

She’s cutting off the weak to save the strong. No, not even that. Cutting off the poor to save the rich.