At the moment Lexi didn’t care one bit about the skull or the curse, or even Sid’s threats. All she wanted was distance between her and this incident with Neo. She realized that there was no romance between them, even though last night and this mornings’ encounters were sweet and hot. Lexi knew that what happened today was a mixture of not enough time to know each other better and maybe mixed signals. She didn’t hate Neo, but she just needed space to be unembarrassed and unviolated by what had just happened.<br/><br/>Grabbing up her backpack, Lexi plunged into the deluge and double stepped toward her apartment, not waiting to see if anyone would come with her or not. What difference did it make right now in the grand scheme of things if some curse swept her out to see. Amid the thunder and distant lightening that damned sound rolled in from the West. Lexi clamped her hands to her ears and ran pell mell toward the safety of her flat.<br/><br/>Once home, Lexi stripped off her clothes, leaving a sodden trail behind her to the shower. She switched off her mind in an effort to erase the beautiful sex from earlier. She scrubbed her skin until it was scarlet and roughened the skin around her mouth with the loofa until she made her lips bleed. Reaching out from the shower, she brought in an economy size of Listerine and gargled until her throat was sore.<br/><br/>Finally, she emerged as bright as a parboiled lobster but with a measure of order restored to her world. Dry eyed, she stood in front of the plate glass window in her bedroom and stared at the mountains in the distance, towel drying her blonde hair. Flinging the towel across the room, Lexi dressed in warm Seattle Seahawks sweats and then went to sit at her computer to do more research. There had to be some reference to that captain.<br/><br/>On the fifteen page of reference, there was a tiny blurb that was part of a scholarly publication dated 1934 that mentioned a Captain Blake Hutchinson. Lexi leaned closer to read the fine print that had been evidently microfiched into a document.<br/><br/>“ His crew had mutinied somewhere off the coast of Puget Sound for his cruelty during an Alaska voyage. They had tied him to a canon and taken turns “accosting his derriere” . Lexi shuddered. She hoped that only meant that they hit him, like a spanking of sorts. Shortly thereafter he had summoned a demon to exact revenge for him. He sold his soul to the Devil. His deeds were so foul after this that no one dared document them but five years after his pact, his new first mate beheaded him in his sleep. The head was lost and his mutilated body buried at sea.”<br/><br/>Lexi reached for her cell phone but before she could make the call to Sid, a knock on her door shattered her solitude.