Chapter 12 #2
A girl with curly brown hair and the gold wings introduces herself as Selene.
Her friend with cropped blond hair and a tiny gemstone in her eyebrow announces herself as Taren.
The final girl stands with her arms crossed over her chest, and her foot taps fast on the deck.
Her chestnut hair falls in her face as she says, “Elayne.”
“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” Lira assures her.
My stomach flips as the five of them shuffle to the deck rail with Lira.
Although the rational part of me knows the wings will support them the minute they jump off the side, I can’t help the clammy sweat on my skin.
It’s like watching Ivander on the silks, holding my breath as he drops from the ceiling and catches himself at the last second.
We wait for Lira’s signal as she moves down the line to check straps. Asralyn shoves me out of the way to kneel in front of the kids, giving them additional warnings. My shoulder bumps the girl whose body trembles with nerves. “Sorry,” she mutters. Elayne, I think.
“Are you okay?” I whisper so that her friends won’t overhear.
Elayne bites her lip. “I … didn’t really want to do this but my friends wanted to. Can’t disappoint them.” She lets out a fluttery laugh that isn’t convincing.
I’d be scared to jump too. Even on a clear day, the smooth-as-glass indigo water of the Rivenwind Sea looks bottomless.
The violet mist cloaking the base of the ship is as ominous as it is beautiful.
It makes me wonder if any desperate staff members have tried to jump over the side, although we’re too far out to sea for them to get anywhere.
I’ve gotten somewhat comfortable with the heights of the silks thanks to Ivander, but I can’t imagine pitching myself off a moving cruise ship.
“Lira’s right,” I tell her. “It’s a clear day.
And crafters are some of the most skilled Morphics. ”
It’s true, although Lira’s operating off a limited sense of touch. I’d be surprised if she can feel anything at all.
“I guess,” Elayne says as Selene and Taren let out a cheer of excitement when Lira tells us it’s time to jump. Sage and Ezra leap with no hesitation. Their aunt’s worries dissolve from their shoulders like melting snow. Then the two young women jump, calling for Elayne to stop being such a baby.
“Hey,” I tell her before she works up the courage to jump. Elayne turns over her shoulder to look at me. “You won’t fall,” I say. “I can catch you if anything happens.”
I can’t tell if she believes me, but she must trust me enough, because she leaps over the side. The wings carry her into the air. The hum of resurrection surges beneath my skin. I’m holding back the power less often lately.
I won’t let Sage or Ezra fall, not from the ship my family created.
Standing beside Asralyn and Vance at the railing, I watch with intense focus.
The wings cast large shadows over the sea, and the kids pump their arms to soar higher into the air.
After a few tense minutes, Asralyn and Vance relax beside me. Even Elayne shouts with excitement.
Vance pats his wife’s shoulder. “I’m going to get a drink from the bar.” When I move to get the drinks, he holds up his hand. “No, you stay put. Watch the kids and keep Asralyn company.”
I throw a glance over my shoulder. Niko’s surrounded by a large crowd at the bar and—
Ivander’s with him. He must have heard about Niko getting moved to Swells & Spirits for the day and stepped in to help between performances.
Ivander catches my eye from across the deck and busies himself with the drinks again.
He’s in constant motion, arm muscles tensing as he scoops ice and stirs cocktails.
He tries a spoonful of the cocktails before handing them off to the guests since Niko cannot taste them himself.
Niko mixes a drink called the Nocturne, named after Nashorne’s most well-known celebration where all lights in the city go out and the only illumination comes from elaborate fireworks.
The drink glass holds a pitch-black, smoking liquid interrupted by bursts of vibrant colored lights exploding from the top.
While Niko enhances the cocktail with magic, Ivander gives a female guest a dazzling smile, and I feel a surprising stab of jealousy.
Niko’s still a newer staff member, which means his retrial chances are low, but that doesn’t mean he should tank his shot at a job he’s not prepared for.
Guests who take repeat cruises might remember.
Again, Ivander is going out of his way to help his friends.
But the longer I watch, the more guests crowd the bar and exchange easy banter with Ivander.
Every guest walks away from him with a twinkle in their eyes, and a part of me wonders if Ivander’s garnering their goodwill for more than just a retrial.
I still meet him in the theater a few nights a week to practice on the silks.
Whether it’s helping me blow off steam or not, he constantly reminds me, despite my unwillingness to listen, “You have a lot of pent-up power inside you. Focus your anger, your energy, in here, and you won’t let it out on them.
” I could be wrong, but taking punishments from the bosses has earned some respect from Ivander.
He’s telling me I’m a liability less and less.
And after he helped me get seats before the show, I’m less bitter toward him. Even if most nights in the theater end with us arguing over something as complex as the value of the council or as simple as the fastest shortcut to the theater, I almost enjoy it.
Fingernails dig into my skin as someone seizes my forearm.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
Asralyn points at the water that was clear as glass minutes ago. The deep indigo has shifted to dark midnight. Small whitecaps form as the water turns choppy.
I call for Lira’s attention, but the wind picks up, and my words are lost. Sage and Ezra cry out as a gust of wind billows against their wings and sends them spiraling through the air.
This doesn’t make sense. The weather’s behaving as if we’re sailing through a storm, but the sky’s still clear and the sun’s shining.
Staff members scurry across the deck to tie down chairs and secure loose equipment.
They try to corral guests away from the railing, but the choppy waves are making some of the guests seasick.
“Do something!” Asralyn bellows to me. Her eyes glisten. While a deck chair flies behind me and a woman splatters the deck with vomit, Lira yells for the fliers to head back to the ship. Even if they heard her, the wind is too strong to let them obey.
Other guests scream when they see the fliers turn over in the air. I think of how scared Elayne was to fly, and I still have the imprints of Asralyn’s nails in my arm.
Without a second to think, I raise my arms and connect to the realm beyond life. The silvery tether pulls taut as I resurrect spirits on instinct alone.
The spirits of two men, a woman, a tiger, and a stallion burst free. I don’t have time to care who they are. Spirits aren’t of this plane and can float through the air like clouds, but I need to make them solid enough for the kids to land on.
The spirits feed on my desperate energy and know where I want them to go.
Now I have to hope they’ll agree to help.
The ship pitches with the choppy motion of the water.
I regain my footing as the spirits surge forward.
One man refuses to move, and I send him back to the spirit world.
I draw upon the realm again and bring forth a spirit that resembles the bat-bird from the ship.
Somehow I’m pulling spirits from several hundreds—if not thousands—of years ago, when Morphia roamed free.
“How can I help?” Ivander’s beside me. His voice breaks through my concentration.
“Take care of them.” It’s all I can manage, and I hope he understands. Asralyn and Vance can’t distract me.
Ivander speaks in a soothing register to Asralyn. It’s the same low voice he uses when Zora’s nervous about a performance or Isla’s in pain. Although his words aren’t for me, they calm the rapid beating of my heart. He takes care of the other guests, not just Asralyn and Vance.
As a crowd forms around us to watch, they fire off questions I don’t have time to listen to or answer.
A man with sandy hair runs his suntanned hands over a necklace of shells and stones, a good-luck token made from materials found in the swamps of Gorthe.
I try to block out the sharp clinking as he rubs the necklace between his fingers.
“Ignore them,” Ivander whispers. “You focus on getting the others down.”
“My part’s a lot harder than yours,” I mutter under my breath.
Ivander’s brows raise. “Would you like to trade?” Even in a dangerous situation, he won’t let go of the chance to act superior.
I allow myself a quick glance at the mob of guests and the puke spattering the deck. “Would you shut up and let me concentrate?”
“Only if you promise to work faster,” he replies easily.
We work together for the next few minutes. In fact, it reminds me a bit of a performance. Ivander’s in charge of the front of house, placating the guests and addressing their fears. I’m working behind the scenes to fix the actual problem.
It doesn’t take long once I’ve got the spirits underneath the fliers.
Ezra falls onto the back of the tiger spirit and hangs on.
Each of the spirits may be solid, but my haste to raise them from the dead has left them more corpse-like than whole.
The tiger’s fur covers its back, but rib bones protrude from decaying skin on its abdomen.
I’m glad Ezra can’t see its face from this angle because the skin appears to be sliding off the skull.
But I don’t need them to look pretty. I just need them to carry the guests to the ship.
Another wind gust threatens to pull Sage farther away from the ship, but the feathered creature soars beneath her. She whoops as the bat-bird surges forward. For her and Ezra, this is all part of the activity.
But the university-aged girls realize the danger, and when one of the human spirits grips Elayne tight, she screams as she sees that half his head is caved in.
Eventually, my spirits maneuver all five of the fliers back to the ship as I tug the tether that connects us.
It doesn’t take me long to reel them back in.
Spirits are used to the currents of the afterlife, which are much more intense than wind.
Elayne lets out a sob the moment her feet touch the deck.
Sage and Ezra exclaim that they want to do it again.
Some of the guests clap, but most just whisper. Most of them have never seen resurrection before, and I didn’t have time to make the spirits look alive and whole.
With the wind still high and the ship rocky, I urge the Stallards to head inside.
I expect Asralyn to yell at me, but she remains tight-lipped and silent.
I make sure to check on Elayne before I go.
Her eyes are wide as she looks at me, and her chestnut hair whips in the breeze. “Was that … supposed to happen?”
Luckily, I don’t have time to answer before her friends descend on her with adrenaline-fueled laughter. I back away with my gut swirling. Whatever just happened could have left someone hurt, or worse.
Ivander follows me as I lead my family to the crowd of guests trying to exit the deck. A few staff members help the seasick passengers exit first. When I catch Ivander’s eye, he looks away. “What?” I demand, nerves frayed.
He clears his throat. “Your Morphia saved their lives.”
I’m tongue-tied by the respect in his voice. Any pride I might have felt diminishes when I think of the danger the fliers were in, and all from the jars of Morphia stored below.
He must notice my shakiness because he asks, “Are you okay?”
My knees may be wobbling, but this isn’t my first day.
I can’t faint this time. I give him a brief nod and join the crowd of guests pushing their way to the stairs leading to the lower decks.
I try to keep it light even while my hands tremble.
“Like you said, you had the harder job. I’ll take saving lives over dodging puke any day. ”
I sneak a glance at the floorboards and imagine a monster clawing its way through the gaps in the wood. It’s not just the hallways anymore. Nowhere is safe.