Curses rise over the waves as Mikey and I shift. As I prompt other Bleeders to transform, the Megalodon becomes restless and hits the side of the ship again.
Maverick barks orders, doing his best to keep his voice above the insane whirlwind in our ears. The rain dulls his words despite our super-hearing, but even if I completely understand him, everything would probably go over my head. Like every other kid growing up, I liked pirates, but I learned next to nothing about the ships they used. I know some of the lingo, sure, but how to sail one? Not a chance.
“Something’s got to be controlling it,” Mikey tells me, getting closer so I can hear her better. “Like the Kraken.”
“You think so?” I shout over the howling wind.
She nods, wiping water from her face and turning to climb the crow’s nest. The man up there is a part of the wood, unable to move. She takes his spyglass and looks through it before deciding it’s useless as I sidle up next to her.
“Do you see anyone?” I ask as the Megalodon thumps the side. A wave from the other direction keeps us upright, but it nearly throws us from the ship. The railing splinters under my grip as my feet slip in the gathering rainwater. I fling my hair out of my face, but it doesn’t stop the ravines from attempting to drown my tongue.
“Get below an’ help the rest,” the man in the nest crows, his Irish accent making it more difficult to understand him in the cacophony. Mikey waves him away.
“There!”
She points into the distance before we sail over a huge swell and dip into a low trough. The only thing keeping us upright is the increasingly agitated Megalodon. It makes a wide arc, its long body terrifying as it rises to eye-level inside the wave. Screams and shouts peal from below, and our band of misfits fight for their lives as the Meg comes dangerously close to smashing our hull.
The ship’s overcome, but somehow we stay afloat. Those with water abilities must be using everything they have to keep us from capsizing. I haven’t actually met them, but I also haven’t had the time. I’ve been preoccupied with sleeping and whatnot. No more dreams with that lady, though.
“Over there,” Mikey says, pointing again as she keeps a death-grip on the edge of the crow’s nest. I follow her gaze to a ship in the distance, moving in the same direction. It’s larger than ours, with four masts and painted navy. There’s a bubble of blue light surrounding it as it slices through the waves, like some divine force is keeping them safe.
Why, it doesn’t seem like you would know a god from a fairy.
“Is Daemon a god?” I mumble.
“Huh?”
Mikey’s question cuts off as the ship tilts sideways. Liquid ice wraps around me as we’re flung into the salt water, plunging up my nostrils and filling my lungs. The waves spin me in circles as my vision grows blurry and I attempt to gather my bearings.
Something smacks into me, sending me spiraling as pain flares along my entire backside. A plethora of things inside me snap, and I cry out, bubbles escaping from my mouth and ascending with fervor. My pupils adjust and focus on the Meg as it swims away from me.
It’d struck me with its fin.
Crackling spears my eardrums as bones heal. My blood permeates around me as a nauseating trickle of numbness slams through my system in a gentle gust. Within a few seconds, my healing factor restores me to full health.
Panic sets in and I swim as hard as I can toward the ship, which looks to be floating upright again, but grows heavier as water cascades through ginormous holes. I notice some being expelled, I assume by magical means, but it’s not enough to stop its sinking.
The Megalodon turns sharply to its right, slamming its back into the hull and worsening the damage. Its mouth opens and shuts, black scleras void of all emotion—which, of course, they would be—it’s an animal. But between its teeth is a single girl, platinum hair drifting into her line of sight as she rips her way out.
A girl that can’t swim.
I pick up the pace, tossed down and pulled upward by the current as blackness stretches below me. Mysteries untold lie at the bottom, but I’m the last person who wishes to discover them. There’s a strange moment where I’m weightless, trapped between two worlds amidst the white noise of a storm on the ocean. One day, I’ll have that kind of tranquility. One day, I will wake up, and my existence will have nothing but peace. No life-threatening wars. No secret society playing the world like a dissonant orchestra with bleeding fingers. One day, no one will press a gun to my temple and dare me to defy their corrupted, twisted demands.
I have to hold on to that. Because I wish it with all my might. I have to believe it will come to fruition, because it’s all I can do to keep moving.
The Megalodon winces as Mikey claws at its jaw, finally freeing herself. I grab ahold of her and guide her toward the surface, the elephantine shark sending a shockwave through the water as it assaults the ship again. We gasp for air as another wave drags us under. I bring her near and do my best to hold on to her wrist as I reach for a hole in the ship's bottom. The Megalodon dives deep, blue sparkles radiating from its gills. I’m mesmerized for a moment, watching as it turns and begins swimming straight up.
I let out a startled cry and shove Mikey into the ship. I follow behind as the shark quickly grows nearer.
“Look out!” I shout at the nymphs and druids pushing the water out, but we’re waist deep.
The monster crashes through the ship, splitting it in two. We’re immediately submerged, liquid forcing itself into every orifice as I lose my grip on Mikey.
I break the surface as it breeches and slams against the surface, creating a tsunami. Screams convert to gargles as we’re shoved under once more.
“Don’t let this ship sink!”
Maverick?
I turn and see him leaning over, ready to help me into a dinghy. I tumble in next to a knocked-out Mikey and cough up salt water, my throat growing raw. He assists two more people before diving in. He tows more onto large parts of the ghost ship, and I’m suddenly glad the sun isn’t out, or there’d be nothing to cling to.
Life vests float past, personless.
“How the frick do we kill something like that?” I mutter under my breath as Mikey wakes, coughing so much she almost pukes. My chest loosens at the sight of her breathing, and I promise myself she’ll have that future, too. She’s fought for so long…
I grab her arm and squeeze it gently. Her attention darts around like she’s looking for something. “We need to get to that other ship.”
“Yeah, right,” I begin, when she brings her fingers to her lips and whistles. It lances through the insanity like a blade, drawing several eyes. One nymph’s ears perks as she rests atop the surface, trying to maintain her balance. She has her arms outstretched, using whatever water she can to save the ship from sinking. More creatures stand around, forming water into semi-solid platforms as they do the same. They keep their knees bent as swells lash beneath them like the ocean’s throwing a tantrum.
Lightning strikes between us, severing our eye-contact before the water creates another valley.
Mikey waves her over as the Megalodon attacks again, rising higher than the waves. A swell passes beneath, almost tipping over our small boat.
The nymph, panicked, makes her way over. “Yes?”
“We need you to take us there.” Mikey points to the distant ship, still easily cutting through the storm. “Can you do that?”
“But Maverick—”
“This could save everyone,” she pleads as a wave crashes onto us and we capsize. Thankfully, the boat doesn’t shatter.
Mikey holds on with white knuckles as we flip it back over and climb on with the nymph’s help. All passengers are accounted for, it seems. “Please.”
She bores into the girl, who doesn’t look a day over sixteen. Only after a smaller swell passes, and another crack of lightning balloons the water, she finally relents.
“Okay.”