CHAPTER 20

The Lightning Net

In the wan light of what passed for morning, Fin watched from the ship’s bow as Ardent’s tower came into view. He hadn’t known what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t this. He’d seen a whole lot of towers in his time on the Stream, from the waving towers of Jellyfurrow to the Great Upside-Down-and-Around-Again of Saint Baslington’s Stoop. But none of them compared to Ardent’s.

It thrust up directly from the Stream, with no evidence that it actually sat on any land at all. Its base was made of rounded stone, the surface worn smooth by time and the swirling currents of magic.

Several hundred feet in the air the stone branched like a tree, each arm constructed of different material: feathers and clouds, whispers and words. How a structure could be comprised of such things, Fin had no idea. Now, of course, it was all consigned to the Iron Tide. But there were still hints of what had once existed underneath.

Each branch, he realized, was a hallway, leading to a different set of chambers, like leaves on the tree. Some led to mazes of flowers, others to spheres or stars. Others twisted around one another until he couldn’t tell what came from where. It was massive and beautiful and overwhelming, all at once.

“It used to be a living thing,” Serth said, moving up beside Fin as they drew closer to the tower. “Every branch was dedicated to one of his passions, a different arm of his study. In the day, it would shift depending on Ardent’s mood. At night, it would shine like a beacon.”

“It sounds amazing,” Marrill said. Fin could hear the ache in her voice, the desire to disembark and run down the corridors, exploring the mysteries within. He felt the same way. But that would have been suicide—the iron would take them before they managed a second step.

Fin squinted. “I don’t see the Iron Ship. Or Rose.”

“But the Master is here,” Serth said. “I can feel his power on the wind.” He turned away, but not before Fin heard what sounded like a wistful sigh. “He’ll be in the central tower, the one at the top.”

It took Fin a moment to determine exactly which one he meant. Because unlike the rest of the elaborate structure, the central tower was fairly normal—so much so that it almost disappeared in the grandiose nature of the whole. “Why that one? How do you know?”

Serth tapped one of his long fingers against the railing a moment. “It’s where Annalessa chose to stay, when she lived here.”

Marrill practically choked. “Wait, Annalessa lived there? With Ardent?”

“In a manner of speaking. After Meres, when I was ill, they brought me here. Annalessa, in the hope she could help mend my addled brain. Ardent, in the hope he could learn the secrets contained in said addled brain.”

“Yeah, well, it didn’t work,” Fin said, pointing out the obvious.

“No,” Serth said simply. “It did not. That is how I know Ardent will be in the tower. Because it is the one place he could have turned the tide of the future, if only he’d been willing to look beyond himself.” He gave Fin a knowing glance.

Fin shrugged it off. “The longer he stays up there, the better for us, anyway. Let’s find Rose, fast.”

It was Marrill who answered. “She’s up there with him.” She pointed. Fin saw it now. A scribbled smudge, circling above the tower. Marrill took a deep breath. “We were right about her luring him here.”

“Great,” Fin said with a smile. “Now all we have to do is get her to meet us in the middle. Bring us higher, Remy!” he called to the captain.

“Aye, aye,” she shouted back. The Kraken shifted, tacking a path up through the air.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Marrill said as they moved closer. The lowest limbs of the tower were practically on them. “She has to know we’re here. Why isn’t she coming down?”

Fin shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s not like there’s anything keeping her up there.…”

“Yes,” Serth said. “Something keeping her from…” He suddenly sprang into motion. Alarm filled his voice. “It’s a trap! Get down, children!”

As he dove to the deck, the hairs along Fin’s arms and neck stood straight up. His skin tingled; his teeth hummed. A millisecond later, the sky above the ship exploded in a web of red.

Lightning streaked between the branches of the tower as a massive net of electricity burst into existence. He heard cracking as bolts struck the ship, shattering the dullwood masts. The accompanying thunder wasn’t so much a sound as a force that rolled through him, shaking his bones.

In a heartbeat, everything was chaos.

The ship listed downward. Overhead, the rigging was a tangled mess of ropes and splintered wood. The top half of the mainmast leaned at an impossible angle. Rigging squealed as Ropebone strained to keep the debris from crashing to the deck and crushing them. Pirats scrambled everywhere, trying to fix what they could.

Serth still stood at the bow, legs braced, pushing upward with all his might. Overhead, the net of red lightning flexed and lifted off them.

Vell stalked across the deck. Debris rained down on him, but it bounced off, leaving him unscathed. “A trap,” he spat, leveling a finger at Fin. “Your enemy set a trap, and you ran right into it.”

Fin jumped to his feet. His angry response was cut short when he was forced to duck as a shower of splintered wood fell from above.

Marrill intervened. “It’s not a trap for us,” she yelled. “It’s for Rose. Another way to keep her caged.”

Fin slapped his hand against his forehead. Of course. The Master couldn’t catch her on his own. But he could hem her in. “Great,” he said. “Now we’ve got a rescue mission on our hands.”

He thought for a second, taking stock of the damage and trying to figure out their next move. They had to get through that net somehow if they were going to free Rose. He looked up. High above, a motionless figure stood on a balcony, one hand stretched downward, pushing against Serth. Fin couldn’t see the blue eyes behind the visor, but he knew they were watching him.

The Master was holding the net in place, he realized. Suddenly, a plan came together.

“Come on!” he shouted, motioning to Marrill and Vell. He scrabbled across the deck, dodging and weaving as the shattered rigging fell apart around them. He looked back as he reached the stairs to the quarterdeck, waving the others on.

Marrill was practically there already. At first, Vell paused, apparently uncertain at the very concept of following Fin’s orders. But at a hiss from the Salt Sand King in the lantern dangling from his fingers, he joined them.

“Okay,” Fin said quickly, ushering them over to the wheel so Remy could join the conference. “Here’s the situation. If we can distract the Master, the web will go down. We’ll go up, and Rose will come to us.”

Remy’s knuckles were white as she gripped the wheel. “Super plan, Plus One. Now how do we distract the Master when that lightning will incinerate anything that touches it?”

Fin looked at Vell. Vell looked back.

“Not anything,” they said together.

“Keep your ship steady,” Vell ordered Remy.

A flash of fire blazed in her eyes, but the captain stifled her grumbling as she bent over the wheel. The muscles in her arms strained as she fought to bring the ship under control.

Grudgingly, the Kraken stabilized. Vell clambered his way up the broken rigging. Fin had just started up the mizzenmast after him, when someone grabbed him, dragging him down and shoving him to the deck.

It was Remy. Marrill crouched beside her, her face a mask of concern and fury. “What do you think you’re doing?”

He held up his hands, protesting his innocence. He had no idea why she was so angry at him.

“Vell is the invincible one,” Marrill hissed. “And more to the point, we need him to stay that way.” She poked him roughly in the chest. “So no more risks! Your part of this job is to stay out of sight and safe while he goes and gets Rose.”

Fin bristled at being told what to do. He was starting to feel more and more sympathy for Vell every second.

“Get me closer.” He heard his voice shout from above.

Rubbing it in, he thought.

Marrill narrowed her eyes at him. “Look, I’d throw you in the brig if I didn’t think you’d escape it in ten seconds flat.”

“Brace yourselves,” Remy mumbled. The Kraken shifted upward, another loud splintering accompanying it. Remy groaned, squinting up at the rigging. “This isn’t looking good.”

At the very top of the fractured mast, one of the great branches of Ardent’s tower came perilously close to brushing the ship. One graze against the iron would spread the Tide and mean death to them all.

Just beneath it, Vell coiled. The lightning net crackled mere inches from his face.

He leapt, lantern still clutched in his fingers. Lightning snapped, sparking across Vell’s exposed skin. But as Fin well knew, his Rise was truly invincible. Vell landed on the branch, balanced, then raced along it toward the tower.

They all tensed, watching. There was still no guarantee Vell wouldn’t go rogue and turn on them. Or that their plan would work at all.

Marrill’s hand slipped into Fin’s, squeezing tight. Reminding him that despite everything else, they were still in this together. It gave him courage as he steeled himself for what came next. “Ready, Serth?” he called.

At the bow, the wizard rolled his shoulders, flexing his long fingers before curling into fists. “Ready,” he yelled back.

Fin watched his Rise shimmy up a narrow iron branch, sneaking closer to the Master’s balcony. It was impressive, Fin had to admit, that Vell had made it that far without the Master turning on him. But that wouldn’t last for long.

Not that they needed it to.

“Ready, Remy?” Fin asked.

Remy nodded, squaring her shoulders as she gripped the wheel.

Overhead, Vell pulled himself onto a branch just below the Master’s balcony, directly in the wizard’s line of sight. At first, the Master barely even seemed to register Vell’s presence. Then his hand came up quickly. A blast of energy smashed into Fin’s twin, sending him flying.

But not before Vell sent off a volley of his own.

Fin could just see the small black object soaring through the air. He could just see the flame within, flickering and growing.

He held his breath, watching, waiting.

Marrill’s hand squeezed his tightly.

And then the lantern smashed against the face of Ardent’s tower.

The fire burst free instantly, as though it had been starving and they’d just laid out a feast before it. With a cackle and a crackle, the Salt Sand King raced across the metal, spreading flames everywhere. It roared toward the Master.

“Let’s give that fire some fuel!” Fin shouted.

The tall wizard spread wide his black-robed arms. “Wind!” he called. “Take your revenge!”

The tips of Fin’s hair began to drift around his face as a breeze struck up behind them. It quickly grew to a hurricane, tearing shreds of sails from the yards and snatching the air from their lungs.

Remy struggled to keep the ship from capsizing or being dashed against Ardent’s tower. A task made even more difficult by having to keep her eyes shut against the punishing gale.

The wind howled, almost gleeful, as it swept around them. Fin watched as it ravaged Ardent’s tower, battering the Master so forcefully that he threw his hands up against it, even stumbling back a step under the onslaught.

The flames exploded, raging up and down the face of the tower, transforming it into a tree of fire. The web of lightning flickered, then vanished.

Serth, meanwhile, seemed to exist in his own bubble of calm, not even the hem of his robe ruffling. With a twitch of his fingers the bubble expanded, and the wind’s assault on the ship ceased.

“Let’s go!” Fin cried, tugging at Remy’s sleeve.

“On it,” she said. The Kraken soared upward through a blaze of limbs, threading between fire and iron to retrieve the Compass Rose.

Marrill clapped Fin on the back. Remy grabbed his shoulder and shook it. “Great plan, Plus One!”

Fin stood up, taking a bow, then leaned his head over the side of the railing, trying to see where Vell had fallen. It was a long way down. Even for a Rise, that had to hurt.

“That was for Mom!” Fin shouted through his cupped hand. He turned back to Marrill. “We’ll have to remember to go get him,” he said with a laugh.

It was short-lived, though. Because a second later, a blast of red lightning smashed through the center of the Kraken, nearly shearing her in half.