Hurry” Odette yelled at Sebastian “we haven’t got much time” tensions were on a high in the air for them both, having just left London which was reeked of black death, Odette and Sebastian had just arrived at Brighton. They had sold off all their lives work to get a boat at the pier. They had to escape the epidemic that was said to wipe out England. One way or another they had to get out, so they decided a voyage was due to go far far away from the plague. They didn’t know where they were going, and didn’t care at all. As long as they were safe and alive, that’s all that mattered.

Sailing had always been little sebs dream; his old man had taught him all the tricks of the trade when it came to going offshore. He had been waiting for a voyage like this all his life, but he just didn’t expect it would be in such circumstances.

Rushing through the crowds with bags full of rations at the pier, Odette spotted the Black Pearl, true to its name it was a very large boat one that would be huge for the both of them.

Without thinking, they both leaped on board and threw the sails, even now at Brighton you could see the rats the cargo ships had brought in with them, they both knew Brighton would be the next victim.

Off went the sails and out came the anchor, they were ready to throw the bowling lines and sail off, but it wouldn’t be so easy. Many people begged to let them on board; heartbroken Odette didn’t know what to do. As she reached out to throw the lines on the harbor, she spotted a poor boy on the side. “Are you lost” “no” “are you okay” “no” “do you need help” “yes.” The pleading look on the boy’s face was enough to break her heart, she reached her hand out to the kid, and he was now on board.

Sebastian wasn’t to keen he felt the boy might be infected “if I get (plague) just throw me off board, take my word” said the boy “very well then” Sebastian replied

Now off they were, into the vast and endless ocean.

As the night fell upon them, Odette and the little boy went below deck to get some shut eye as Seb steered, but sleep did not come with ease to Odette as she thought about all the things she had left behind in old London, her past life was now like a distant dream. She knew when morning came that her new life began.

Now shivering and unable to sleep Odette walked out but if it had been cold in the cabin, on deck, it was like ice. The sun was not up yet, but the stars were dim, and the cold, pale sky was the same color as the cold, pale sea. On the land, a white mist rose and fell. Now she could see quite plainly dark bush. Even the shapes of the umbrella ferns showed, and those strange silvery withered trees that are like skeletons … Now they could see the landing-stage and some little houses, pale too, clustered together, like shells on the lid of a box.

In a few hours, they’d encounter the rough waters of the Atlantic, what was to come next they didn’t know, without a magnetic compass they’d gone. But this indeed was an exploration for a new home, a new land, and a new life.

By night fall the next day, the Pearl had passed north of a lighthouse called Costello and was moving through the open ocean in deteriorating weather, with rain, high winds, and an overcast scudding low and fast across steep seas. The boat was still running at full power, but it was slowed now to 17 knots by the impacts of the waves, which regularly rose to ten feet and higher. Sheets of salt water were torn loose by the plunging and driving of the bow. They swept as wet spray across the foredeck and rained against the window-lined superstructure, as high as the upper decks and the navigation bridge. Though the motions of the hull were complex, the ride was rough mostly just in pitch and not in a roll, because the waves, unlike the winds, came from nearly straight ahead.

The ship heaved upward and vibrated in the heaviest water, and slammed down into the troughs, sometimes with a crash. The motions were difficult to predict even for the Sebastian. The little boy grew seasick and retired to his cabin to suffer in private. The waves are bigger by the second and made the ship more uncontrollable to handle, Odette, and he had a decision to make, they had two options either sail out the storm and probably get the boat tipped or dock at first sight of land. The latter option did give the most hope but nor Odette or Sebastian had spotted a piece of land for the last 12 hours, and it could be 12 more when they did.

The wind and rain have not stopped for three days and three nights. The storm batters against rattling window panes agitate the tiles on the roof and sends shivering draughts down the chimney, scattering sooty debris over the rug. They’d have to again wait for daylight to resume their search.

The sun was slowly rising from the clouds a new day was here. The little boy hadn’t spoken the entire journey, all he did was sit at front deck and stare out at the ocean, but today something changed. The boy squinted as the light hit hos eyes, he couldn’t believe it, there it was, sitting proudly with its beach sparkling and its people sailing in their boats. There it was the land! The little boy land to Odette and tugged her dress and dragged her to the front. A sight like no other, gone was gloomy England and the unhappy faces plagued with Black Death, and now here was a happy and sunny country. All three of them in their heart new, they were home.