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As the wind increased, so did the amplitude of the waves, and the sh the turmoil as the Grand Paradise had been The vessel was battered, and when it sla waves, the spray fractured into foa on board in slippery, unpleasant sli in sheets that felt like needles Josue’s crew broke out battered rain slickers I ignored the offer, and stood at the boatching the storer, but it wasn’t directed doard at ely hot downpour The wind speed increased, and the clouds rotated faster It intensified as the ship crashed and fell through the waves I tethered myself to the rail and resisted the waves that crested the bow and washed the decks, trying to pullwild inside h the stor surf, I felt at ho the storms, and I’d never realized how much a part of them I was How complete I hen I ith them
I was almost sorry e hit the eye of the storm and calm fell over us - but I looked up into the primal heart of the enenition
Good dog
When we hit the trailing side, the winds lashed us so viciously that we lost two of the crew, even though they’d been tethered The seas swalass, woke terror from seasoned pirates who picked their teeth and yawned at the idea of a normal tempest
After a white-knuckled eternity, the stor for its real victi in on us froainst us, and Josue wanted to slow our pace The engines were laboring, and the creas exhausted and sick
"No," I said I didn’t need them anymore They’d served their purpose, both ship and crew, and I no longer had to worry about their breaking points "Just keep the throttle open
We’ll be fine"
I wrapped energy around the straining pumps and valves and increased their speed It wouldn’t last long, but it would give us ht of the storress stalling, as if it hadthat other ship with all its supernatural fury
Josue, also watching, crossed himself
The ht descended on us, it was thick and black and claustrophobic Only the shattered reflections of our running lights spoiled the illusion of sailing through empty, limitless space
"Mãe de Deus,"Josue host out of the grave" It was a ghost
The Grand Paradise had gone down, I’d seen it It had been too badly dahly flooded to float, and yet there it was, gaining on our tail The running lights were all working, blazingat a speed that didn’t seem natural for such an enoret to me before I reached my destination
"Hold on," I told Josue, and opened the throttles evenand sla speedboat The hull wouldn’t take it for long, but it didn’t have to
Out there in the darkness wasfor control of our engines, and whipped a black scythe of power across the lines of force It ain, and you’ll pull back a stuhter "Back off" I didn’t think they would If they were strong and confident enough to h the hurricane, they’d be h to tackle me
A Djinn breathed into focus on the deck a few feet away, and I prepared for the fight of my life but it was David
David
MyDavid, perfect in every line Not Kevin’s incarnation of hi Neither did I Josue drew a knife and stabbed at him, but David didn’t even bother to cast hi across the deck
"Are you here to stop me?" I asked
"No," my husband said, and took a step toward me Then another I was in the V-shaped well of the bow, pressed against the rails - nowhere to go but over the side, into the black waters "I’m not here to stop you"
"Then what?"
He took another step, risking a full attack I could feel the urge, the need vibrating through s Don’t let him fool you Don’t let hioes badly, you knoill happen The two of you will be responsible for destroying the world
In the ripping light of a lightning strike on the cruise ship loo slowly up behind us, David’s face was serious and very calm
"I’m here to help you," he said
He opened his hand, and in it were fraglass
The broken pieces of his bottle
I stared at them for a moment, into his eyes "How - ?"
"Cherise," he said "She wants you to live So do I She got the bottle away from Kevin She - trusts me"
Cherise was a romantic idiot, in this one sense: She sierous David really was I wasn’t even sure I understood although I was starting to get a really good idea
I tightened rip on the rail as the ship pounded into a particularly deep trough, then painfully plowed up the leading edge of the next wave "I see And did you stop for anything else along the way?"
"You mean, did I kill Lewis?" he asked "Not yet" He took one more step, and ere body to body, soaked with rain, blinded by lightning Sealed together by storotten him Don’t ask in to try "How did they raise the ship?"
"Who says they did?" David’s s, and a little bitter "It’s not the Grand Paradise Lewis lied to you froned to lure Bad Bob into showing his hand He sent the other Wardens out of Fort Lauderdale, aboard the Grand Horizon It’s a sister ship - a little smaller, a little faster Crewed entirely with Wardens and Djinn It’s beenoff of Bad Bob’s radar Until now"
That son of a bitch Lewis really had suckered me, every step of the way He’d knoas a risk, if not a ready-h I had to admit he’d put himself on the line, too
But he’d also exposed Cherise and dozens of other innocents who had no place in this And an unforgivably large nuh I supposed for any kind of a feint to work, he had to coive hi so ive him for the kill switch that Lewis had put inthe living crap out of us, the Grand Horizon got a virtually free ride," I said "Right?"
"As far as I know"
"How could you not know?"
"It’s crewed by Ashan’s Djinn Everything was compartmentalized from me Deliberately so"