CHAPTER 5

You heard Dare,” the man told us. “Lead on.”

When Alice held her ground, he stepped forward and jabbed his rifle into her stomach. She stumbled and fell. Instinctively I reached for the barrel, but before I could pour my element along the metal shaft, shocking the man, Alice grabbed my ankle. “Don’t do it, Thom,” she muttered. “Think of the others.”

The men stared at the deck planks, as if they were visualizing people hiding out below. But I was looking at the ocean instead, and the figures floating beside the hull of the Sumter ship. Rose lay on her back in the water, eyes closed; it was probably only her element—water—that prevented her from drowning. Ananias and my father continued to watch me, waiting for the sign to board. But with Dare still on the Sumter ship, that would be suicide.

“Let’s go,” the first man said. “Now!”

Head down, shoulders slumped, Alice led us to the hatch.

If the men were suspicious, they didn’t show it. But they weren’t taking any chances, either. Two of them pointed their rifles at her, while the others nudged me along behind her.

I stole a final look at the Sumter ship, and our families bobbing up and down in the water. There was nothing I could do to help them, or to warn them that Dare was still on board. It seemed obvious now that someone would stay to secure the Sumter ship. But why did it have to be Dare?

A rifle barrel snapped against the backs of my legs, urging me onward. Alice and I pulled open the large hatch door and let it swing onto the deck with a crash. I figured that Father would know that sound and realize we were heading below deck. Since I hadn’t signaled to him, he’d also know there was a problem.

I was first through the hatch. I walked down the stairs slowly, keeping the others close behind. Although I couldn’t see them, I was sure that if we were bunched up, it would be harder for the men to move their weapons about.

The worn wooden stairs creaked under the weight of six people. The men were breathing heavily—was it from exhaustion, or fear? True, they had guns, but they must have realized that they were heading into the bowels of the ship, where they’d be outnumbered by elementals.

Sure enough, the footsteps stopped. “I’ll wait here,” said the last man in the procession. “We need to cover ourselves.” There was a murmur of agreement. “I don’t think the girl should go on, either. Doesn’t take both of them to show us where everyone’s hiding.”

I craned my neck to check out the men’s positions on the stairs: two immediately behind me, rifles raised; another two behind Alice, also poised to fire if provoked. Each man grasped his weapon with both hands, which meant that they didn’t have hold of the rail that ran along the wall.

Alice gave a slight nod and flexed her fingers in readiness. “Go ahead, Thom,” she said calmly. “I’ll be right here.”

I spun around and grabbed the two rifle barrels immediately behind me. My pulse was racing and my element surged through them, shocking the men. Alice whipped her hands back and jerked the other men’s rifles forward. Off-balance and without a free hand, all three of them tumbled down the stairs and careened into my two guards. I jumped out of the way as the five bodies crashed to the base of the stairs.

Alice seemed to take the brunt of the fall, but she was also the first to emerge from the pile. One guard separated himself from the others and tried to extricate his rifle, but he was still fumbling with it as I kicked it into his chest. Another man ripped it from him and swung it toward me.

I grabbed Alice’s outstretched hand. Even before we combined—before the fire leaped out—I imagined it. Felt it, even—the shape of the flame and the intensity of the heat. And as the fire burst through the air, it was exactly as I knew it would be.

The men shrank back. Not one of them held on to his weapon.

It was tiring to combine, though, and Alice seemed surprised by it, maybe even unsettled. Barely a moment passed before the flame weakened. Sensing it, the men shielded their faces with raised arms and edged toward us. Alice and I backtracked halfway up the staircase, anxious to escape while we still had control.

One of the men retrieved his rifle, but the wooden stairs were smoldering. Smoke obscured his view. He aimed the barrel in our direction, but there was only a harmless click as he pulled the trigger. It must be the heat, I thought, but neither Alice nor I waited to find out. As he roared in anger, we scrambled up the remaining steps and rolled onto the deck.

I slammed the hatch door and Alice slid the large steel bolt across, imprisoning the men below.

“Let’s go,” she said.

We were halfway across the deck when there was a new sound: blunt objects pounding against the hatch door. It bulged slightly with each strike, straining the hinges.

“They’re going to break through,” said Alice. “We need to get everyone on board the other ship, and quick.”

“Are you crazy? Dare’s still on it.”

She ran a few steps and peered at the ship. “He’s not on deck.”

“So?”

“So this is our chance. Give me a moment and signal to the others to get on board. And whatever happens, keep that hatch door closed.”

Right on cue, the men struck it even harder than before. One of the hinges came up with it, freeing the metal screws from the splintered wooden deck.

Alice took off running. She stretched one foot onto the deck railing and launched herself across the gap between the ships. I held my breath as she landed on the other deck with a thud and rolled to a stop.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away until she stood. Favoring her left leg, she hobbled over to the stairwell and out of sight.

Beside me, four rifle butts drummed in alternation, rocking the hatch door. The men were like trapped hornets, growing fiercer with every passing moment. They would break through soon, it was obvious.

I scanned the deck for something to use against them. There were no weapons here. No other elementals with whom I could combine. But there was a large wooden crate, so I pressed my back against it and drove with my legs, sliding it toward the hatch.

Another hinge broke free from the deck, but with some of the crate resting against the hatch, the door didn’t budge at all as the men pressed against it. I took a deep breath and pushed again so that the crate was centered over the hatch. Enough to hold them back for a little while longer.

I sprinted across the deck and leaned against the rail. Father was signaling frantically from the water. Tarn cradled Griffin in her arms. With only one good arm each, Ananias and Jerren struggled to stay afloat.

Where was Alice? Where was Dare?

I was scared for her, but she was right: We couldn’t wait any longer. No shots had rung out from below deck, so maybe Alice hadn’t found Dare. Or he hadn’t found her. Either way, getting everyone on board would increase our chances of overpowering him.

I climbed over the rail and jumped onto the deck of the Sumter ship—not as dramatic as Alice’s leap, but the landing hurt plenty. There was a lightweight metal ladder hooked over the deck rail, so I unclipped it and carried it to the bow, secured it to the rail, and extended it into the water.

Father drew the others closer to him. I would have stayed to help them climb, but a loud crack from the other ship confirmed what I’d feared: The crate wasn’t heavy enough to keep the men trapped.

It was hard work to climb back up the other ship. The rope tethering them together was thick, with razor-sharp wisps that pierced my skin. No wonder the Sumter men had labored to cross from one vessel to the other.

As I reached the deck, the chest moved slightly. A hard thump from below and it dipped as though it were sinking.

“You need to go,” I yelled to the elementals on the next ship. For a moment I wasn’t sure that anyone except Ananias had made it on board, but then Jerren climbed over the rail as well and the two of them sprinted to the mainmast, following my instructions. I released the metal grappling hook that held the ships together and tossed it onto the deck of the Sumter ship.

Still no sign of Alice or Dare. Something was terribly wrong.

I grabbed a wooden pole from the deck and stood guard beside the crate, which was perched precariously above the hatch. I just needed to give the others time to get the Sumter ship moving, but with each strike from below, the crate shifted. As a narrow gap opened up to one side, I drove the pole through and stabbed blindly. One man cried out. Another grabbed the end of the pole and wrenched it, dragging me forward. I landed on the crate. Hard.

The hatch door finally gave out.

Sprawled across the crate, I dropped onto the top stair, which promptly collapsed under the weight. I reached up and grabbed the edges of the deck as the staircase crashed to the ground.

My legs dangled uselessly below me. I knew that if I let go, I was as good as dead. It wasn’t a question of if the men would kill me, but how. One of them broke free from the carnage and found a rifle.

Ananias was shouting my name. Father too. Even with all the other sounds—the men’s groans and the creaking ship—I clearly heard the fear in their voices.

Summoning all my energy, I swung one leg onto the deck, and then the other. I kept waiting for the man to fire. He wouldn’t miss from such close range.

The bullet never came.

I pulled to a stand. The Sumter ship loomed large before me, but not as close as before. Too late, it dawned on me that the reason they’d been shouting to me is because they were leaving. Everyone stood against the railing, arms stretched out as though they might catch me as I jumped.

As I ran across the deck, the last thing I heard was the men screaming Dare’s name. Maybe they were imploring him to stop us, or maybe they were angry for listening to him. I didn’t care anymore. I was too focused on getting away.

Just as Alice had done, I drove one foot onto the top railing and launched myself at the Sumter ship as it eased away. The air rushed past me, the ship seemed to draw closer, and I honestly believed that I was going to make it across.

Instead I came crashing down in the water. I was close enough to feel the hull as it brushed past my fingertips.

I sank under and resurfaced as the stern glided by.

I was stranded.