Chapter Twenty-One

Royce had been wrong before, but he got one thing right: lifejackets. Big time. Gavin bobbed in the water next to me, clutching a pile of our gear in one arm and the edge of my vest in the other.

I could barely hear anything over the roar of the ocean, the waves slapping at my head, the wind and thunder roaring above, rain pouring over us, the sum of all that force whacking me right in the face, stinging my eyes.

Behind us, the capsized ship bobbed in the water, thrashing in the waves, drifting dangerously close.

And there was no sign of Royce.

“Gavin! Can you see Royce?” I yelled over the storm, taking a mouthful of water as another wave splashed against my lips.

Royce had thrown on a life vest before the worst of the storm caught up with us, but like he’d said, the thing wouldn’t buckle around his huge chest.

“No!” Gavin yelled back.

I had to find him.

The rain was falling so hard that it was almost painful, made it nearly impossible to see straight, but I had to concentrate.

When the boat capsized, a wave tossed it end over end. Gavin and I cleared the edge of the ship, but Royce went beneath it, and I didn’t know if the boat had hit him as it crashed into the water.

But if anyone could find Royce in this mess, it was me.

I forced myself to go into hyperdrive, willing that stupid mesh to kick into gear as I frantically scanned the ocean for any sign of Royce.

He might be dead already, pushed to the bottom of the seafloor.

There had to be a chance he was still alive, floating somewhere. Maybe the lifejacket had stayed on him long enough bring him up to the surface, keep him from immediately drowning in the ugly sea.

Gavin coughed next to me, gagging as he went under the water after another vicious wave broke against his shoulders. He came back up a second later, but lost his hold on my vest, and we started drifting apart.

“Jin! Grab my hand!” he said.

I fumbled, slapping at the waves, trying to move close enough to get hold of him again. Finally, I connected with something solid and snatched it, screaming as the force felt like it was pulling my collarbones in half.

Gavin screamed too, and as his fist came out of the water, it was bent in all the wrong directions, fingers splayed, wrist hanging at an unnatural angle. Something had crushed his hand when the boat capsized.

“Oh god, Gavin,” I said, starting to let go of his wrist.

“No! Don’t let go. Hold onto me. I can’t lose you,” he said.

He was right, we couldn’t lose each other, but we also couldn’t lose Royce. Without him, this whole thing was pointless, and now Gavin’s hand needed urgent medical attention.

Plus, as much as I hated to admit it, I cared about that stupid lug.

I wanted to cry, but I grabbed Gavin tighter, refusing to let us drift apart, feeling his body tense with pain as I crushed his wrist.

Focus.

I had to do it.

As much as I hated implants, I wished I had Alice’s mermaid augments. If I could see and breathe underwater, I might be able to find Royce before it was too late.

And even if he was dead, he deserved for someone to find his body.

I closed my eyes, tried to harness the damned mesh, and opened my eyes, scanning the waters for any flashes of movement.

By the ship, dangerously close to the wreckage, a spot of red.

Red.

Royce’s shirt.

“It’s Royce!” I yelled. “I have to save him.”

“Don’t let go of me,” Gavin said.

“Hold our stuff, stay above the water. Use it to float. I’ll make it back to you. I promise.”

I wasn’t strong, but I was fast, and I had to believe that I could overcome the current. It was going to hurt. A lot. But there was no choice.

I unfastened my lifejacket and looped it around Gavin’s arm.

“No! Jin, please, no,” he said.

“Hold onto that. I’ll be back.”

He screamed at me, but his words were swallowed by the storm, and I dove under the water, using my small size and speed to my advantage, plunging through the water like a torpedo, getting under the currents, riding the tide when I could, heading right in the direction of that red cloth.

With each stroke, I felt like my chest was being ripped apart, and I tried to swim with my feet, like an actual mermaid, but the current was too strong. As soon as I ran out of momentum, I had to use my arms to push me through the water.

Bones cracked in my shoulders.

I reached the edge of the boat and surfaced, scanning quickly. Diving beneath the waves, I opened my eyes in the tumultuous water and caught just a glimpse of color.

With a big push, I dove deeper, arms out, kicking so hard I almost ran face first into his limp body.

Now the hard part.

I grabbed his arm, and swam with all my might towards the surface. The burning pain in my chest and in my lungs, I ignored it as I held on and hauled with everything I had until I breached the water. Head swimming with agony, I gulped air and pulled Royce up, making sure his head was above waves.

He moved.

Not much.

But he moved.

Alive. Royce was still alive. We could still save him.

I screamed as I put one arm around his neck and shoulders, and with every bit of my strength, I swam towards the shore, away from the perilous wreckage and back to Gavin.

He floated in the current, the orange life vest a bright beacon in the dark waters. I just had to get there. Make it back to Gavin, and then hang on for dear life until we hit the coast.

“I’ve got him,” I yelled as Gavin’s figure dipped beneath the sea.

Swimming harder, I reached his side out of pure tenacity. I took my life vest from Gavin’s hand and draped it around Royce’s shoulders, looping it around one of his arms.

I blinked, sucked in air, held onto Royce and Gavin as we were mercilessly battered by the storm.

Gavin looked me right in the eye and said, “We’re going to make it. I don’t care what happens, but we’re making it to land. I won’t watch you drown.”

An illusion of distance, it looked like we could reach out and touch land, teleport to the shore with one snap of the fingers.

But it was so far.

“You’re Jin. You can do anything,” he said, getting a better hold of me and the case. “We can do this.”

“No one stops SEI,” I said. “Let’s go.”

The most important part of gambling is never letting your opponent see that you’re scared or doubtful.

I just hoped Mother Nature couldn’t tell that I was bluffing.