Chapter 20

I ‘awoke’ the next morning to a loud pounding on the door to my sleeping quarters. I’d been too excited to do much more than cat nap in bursts, but it was show time now. You’ve only got one chance at this, Rose.

“Get up, girl!” Even muffled by the thick, metallic door, Captain Zhang’s voice was unmistakable. “You’ve got work to do, if you can manage that much.”

“Coming,” I called back, forcing sweetness into my tone.

My uniform hung drying in the corner. It was still clammy to the touch, but I had a spell for that. I’d simply had to wait for it to be not quite sodden. “Spot Clean.” All of the water and crystalized salt gathered to my hand in a ball, which I dropped down a metallic grate on the floor. I’d been told that the Wizard Corps uniforms had special dyes to resist that exact spell, and I’d accidentally turned my black Nagoya uniform jacket white once forgetting that.

There was more banging. “C’mon, hurry up!”

I changed into my uniform slowly, wanting to make him wait a bit. I wouldn’t want him thinking I was too eager. Not that I was, but he might have been suspicious if I’d jumped out ready for the day.

“Good morning, Captain Zhang,” I said, bowing politely. Was that a thing in this part of the world? I couldn’t recall; I’d picked up the habit while staying in Japan.

Either way, he didn’t seem impressed. “Took you long enough! Come along, girl, you’ve got a mess to clean up.”

“Whatever do you mean?” I asked as we ascended the stairs to the deck, where some of the crew was gathered, along with Zack and O’Connor.

“You really are blind,” he said. “Some wizard you are.” He pointed into the distance, where an angry mass of clouds loomed overhead.

My hand went to my cheek as my mouth gaped open. “Oh, my!”

O’Connor glared at me, making a kill signal with his hand.

Nodding, I dialed my stilted performance back. “You’re right, I didn’t notice those at all.”

Zhang rolled his eyes. “Well, do something about them! They’re right in our path, and I’m not taking any chances after last night.”

I made a show of reaching out my hands. Half formed runes appeared and vanished around my hands as I started and stopped a half-dozen simple spells.

“I don’t get it,” I said, furrowing my brow in false concentration. “Those clouds won’t listen to me either!”

“Try. Harder.” Zhang’s voice was more a guttural snarl than words.

In an award-winning performance, I let my legs buckle, letting Zack just barely catch me. I hung my head in shame. “I’m sorry, Captain, but I can’t. These unnatural storms are too much for me.”

“You worthless little idiot, you can’t even do that much?”

A single bolt of lighting sprang from the dense clouds. I had to fight back a smirk as some of the men jumped. I hadn’t been able to resist. The whole mass of black was of my making. Like I’d told O’Connor and Zack the night before, building up storms was easier than dissipating them. The only challenge was making sure my creations didn’t drift too close, but I’d given us some cushion.

“I’m sorry,” I said, sounding completely defeated. “It’s just beyond me.”

“That’s going into my report,” said O’Connor, looking down on me with disdain. “I can’t say the Wizard Corps is going to be pleased.”

A chill ran down my spine, like when I let down Dad or Mum. He was way too good at acting; then again, he was a spook.

He was in on the scheme, of course. So was Zack, who was busily tapping away on a tablet.

“Captain, I have the latest satellite images here,” he said, handing the device over. “It looks like if we go north for a ways, we should be able to bypass it.”

“Matt,” Zhang barked, summoning a sailor wearing a red bandanna over his head, “does this agree with your weather report?”

“Yessir,” he replied, glancing over Zhang’s shoulder. “His is higher res, but he is military, after all.”

“Fine,” he said, spinning on his heel. “Chart our course, and get on it. I don’t want to spend a minute in this godforsaken place longer than I have to.”

There was some grumbling among the crew, and most of them looked completely exhausted.

“Alright, fine, you big babies, go get yourself an extra ration of coffee.”

That perked them up right away.

“And you, girly,” said Zhang, finally noticing me. “Just look pretty and try to stay out of our way. Do you think you can manage that?”

“Yes, Captain,” I said, lowering my gaze. My face flushed, but I pretended it was with shame and not indignation.

There were too many eavesdroppers around to share any words as the sailors dispersed, but Zack and O’Connor both gave me a little nod.

*************

You could have cut the air with a knife as we went north, and not just because of the tropical humidity. Everybody was on edge.

That might have been my fault. I stood on the bow, subtly creating distant clouds and the occasional flash of lightning to keep them from getting any ideas of leaving the Spratlys too quickly. It wasn’t that any particular cloud was a threat, but all of Zhang’s crew was wary of strange weather patterns.

“You should give ‘em a break, yeah?” whispered Zack. “They already don’t like us enough.”

“I’m not just torturing them,” I said, pointing out to the islands. They were mostly scrappy little sandbars, but some of them were starting to be big enough that Albert could have disappeared among the trees. “If Albert’s out there, he should notice what I’m up to and make his own signal.”

“I really hope it’s him out there,” he replied. “It’d be weird saying hello after I said goodbye, but I’m willing to put up with some awkwardness to get my old friend back.”

“Yeah,” I said, not sure what else to say. “Hey, Zack?”

“Hm?”

“When this is done, how long are you staying in Labuan?”

“I couldn’t tell you,” he replied. “I’m sure the rear admiral is going to have more errands for me.”

“What exactly do you do for him? If you can tell me.”

He shrugged. “I deliver messages to High Command they don’t want on the networks, check up on his little projects in the homeland, little stuff like that.” He sighed, resting his head on his fist on the railing. “When I joined the national navy, I thought I was going to serve on a ship, yeah? Instead, I did too well in my Japanese classes, made a good impression when he visited my naval academy, and I got snatched up as an errand boy. I spend more time in a plane than on the water.”

“The Wizard Corps hasn’t been everything I thought it would be, either,” I said, joining him. “I thought it was going to be evewryone against the Horde, but there’s so much bollocks getting in the way.”

“Well,” he said, smiling at me, “the assignment hasn’t been all bad. It’s been nice seeing you again, for as long as it lasts.”

“Same here,” I said, leaning against him.

Before I knew what had happened, he had cupped my chin and planted a kiss on my lips. It didn’t take me long to get with the program, though. A light breeze played at the tips of my hair, but I didn’t pay it any mind.

“Stay in touch, yeah? Whatever else happened, you’re the best part of this mess.” He glanced around, seeing if anybody could look.

“Of course!” I said. I coughed, not wanting to sound too eager. “Of course,” I tried again in a more measured tone. “Though don’t say goodbye just yet, yeah?”

“Y’know, you don’t have to copy me.”

“What, you don’t like it?” I asked.

“No, I love it. It’s cute as heck. Then again, there isn’t anything about you that isn’t.” He reached up, tracing a finger along my cheek. “Your freckles are adorable up close, and your bum’s to die for, even in that uniform.”

“Wh-what?” It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that sort of talk, but it had seemed to come out of nowhere.

“I’m thinking,” he said, coming closer to my ear, “that when we get back to Labuan, whether we have Albert in tow or not, I’d like to show you just how cute I think you are. I don’t want to leave with any regrets.”

My pulse quickened. “You don’t think he’d try to kill you anymore?”

“I think it’d be worth it,” he replied, before kissing me again. Oh my. I felt like the earth was shaking beneath me.

Wait. The Sipadan really was shaking beneath me!

A bright light flashed, visible even through my closed eyes, a heartbeat before a deafening boom rocked us. All at once, the sky turned black, and another bolt of lightning struck the water nearby.

“Rose, calm down, I’m not that good of a kisser!”

“I’m not hot and bothered!” Well, not hot and bothered enough to summon that storm, at least. “This isn’t natural!”

As if to punctuate my words, the Sipadan lurched as wind and wave buffeted it, the sky joining in to unload a torrential rain upon us. She shuddered to a halt as the storm’s fury doubled and redoubled.

Zack wrapped his arms around me, having the presence of mind to get us away from the bow.

That left my mind free to try and take in the sight before me. The largest island I’d seen yet loomed before us, surrounded by the more typical sandbars.

“Rose, stop it!” shouted Zack.

“It isn’t me!” I realized with horror that the storm had sprung up right overhead. I wasn’t going to be able to use the pressure zone trick to carve us a safe zone this time; there wasn’t a single obedient patch of sky as far as my eye could see.

Through Zack’s efforts, we had managed to get back from the edge, though the waves cresting over the sides of the ship told me it wouldn’t help us. We clung desperately to handholds on the sides of the ship. “We need to get O’Connor!” I had to shout to be heard over the deluge.

“He’s already here,” he shouted, coming up alongside us. “This better not be your doing!”

“I wish it was!”

“Do you still think it’s Albert?” asked the American.

“I…” It sank in all at once. “After that storm yesterday? He’d barely be awake by now.”

The sailors had given us a wide berth, but the poor, waterlogged men emerged in force, trying desperately to tie down anything loose.

Then it happened. Slowly at first, but picking up speed, the Sipadan listed right.

“We must have run aground!” shouted Zack. “Rose, O’Connor, we could use some magic right about now!”

“Yeah, I’ll use my affinity for moving warships with my mind,” O’Connor snapped.

I broke out of Zack’s grip. “Blessed Bathysphere!” The energy dome enclosed Zack’s head. I couldn’t hear what he said, but I could read his lips, and I won’t repeat it. Oh, well. Survival trumped his fears.

I repeated the spell as many times as I could. O’Connor got one, as did the struggling sailors. I wished they were a bit closer, but I think I got them, ten in all.

Last was myself, just in time as we went completely horizontal. The sea rushed up at us, the powerful undertow carrying submerging us in a heartbeat.

I kicked my legs, but I realized there was no beating the current. I could only go along with it.

Everything was cast in shadow, with one brief flashes of tumbling bodies and loose debris visible. My breath came out in ragged gasps as I tried to get control of my breathing. I tried, but every fiber of my being told me I was drowning, even if I had a good supply of air.

My shin struck something unyielding, sending pain shooting up my leg.

Well, I could fix the light problem, at least! “Merlin’s Lantern!”

My magical torch only made things worse, half-illuminating a shadowy shape that cut through the swirling water without effort. It was gone in a moment, but it looked like…

No.

No, it couldn’t be the meridraken. It must have been a shark, not that it was much better!

“Svalinn’s Mercy!” I formed a shield as tall as I was, shaping it to include a handle that I gripped for dear life. Without the Merlin’s Lantern, I was blind again, but I was ready to pivot the shield if I needed to.

At least, that had been the plan. The current suddenly changed direction, and I learned the limits of Blessed Bathysphere. It was designed to hold up to water pressure, but not sudden blows. My head whipped forward, and my air pocket popped an instant before my temple slammed into the unyielding energy barrier.