Chapter 20 #2
The woman beside her giggled. “It would have been better for everyone if that mandrake root had never thrived. A withered plant would have been better than this.”
Ambrosia’s shoulders sagged beside me.
“Well, are you going to stand around gaping all day like a heathen?” the first woman snapped. “Sit down.”
Ambrosia rushed to comply, taking a seat at the only chair available, beside the woman who watched the necromancer with sharp, scrutinizing eyes. Ambrosia perched carefully at the edge of her chair, but that clearly wasn’t good enough.
“Don’t slouch,” a woman across from her chided, leaning forward with a frown. “Your posture is terrible. Are you a woman or an orangutan?”
“I—I’m terribly sorry,” Ambrosia stuttered.
“Now drink your tea.”
Teacups had materialized in front of each woman, and they all took a measured sip at the same time, save for Ambrosia, who stared down at her cup with horror.
Curious, I approached the nearest table and gazed down at thick, black sludge.
It smelled awful, like feces and blood, and I immediately turned away, barely able to keep from gagging.
“Go on now,” the woman beside Ambrosia chided. “Don’t tell me you’re too good for tea. You always were an ungrateful thing.”
“A blight on the whole family,” another woman agreed.
Ambrosia turned pleading eyes on me, brimming with tears. I almost felt bad for her, but I looked away.
“Of course,” Ambrosia said, reaching a trembling hand down to her teacup. She slowly raised it to her mouth, then gasped, turning away.
“Amber,” the woman beside her said, sternly.
Ambrosia nodded, then took a dainty sip. Almost as soon as the foul liquid passed her lips, she leaned over the side of the table and vomited.
People around the room tittered, while others offered horrified gasps.
“I suppose it can’t be helped,” the woman beside Ambrosia sighed. “We’ll have to start your training all over again.”
Ambrosia stiffened. “No, Aunty. Anything but that. I can do it. I can be good.”
Her aunt sneered. “Apparently, you cannot.”
I watched Ambrosia, looking smaller than ever, her green skin an even sicklier hue than usual. I pitied her, but her sins were great. She deserved this fate, until Lucifer finally came and consumed her soul, and she became one with oblivion.
I said nothing. I turned and walked back out through the portal, leaving her behind.
I let out another deep breath as the salt air of the ocean hit me once more and the portal closed at my back.
Freya gasped as my spell finally wore off, and she slumped to the deck of the ship, sobbing. “You actually did it,” she said.
I smiled, then watched as the crew around me blinked, the green glow fading from their eyes.
They looked around, dazed, as if unsure of where they were, or how they’d gotten there.
One of them snapped out of their stupor enough to begin directing others to put out the fires on deck.
Captain Mary wouldn’t be pleased about that.
Speaking of the captain, I didn’t see her and searched for her momentarily, until I heard the sound of splitting wood.
My eyes snapped to the pirate ship. The planks traversing the two ships had cracked and split as the clipper ship began to sink back into the ocean, no longer held aloft by Ambrosia’s magic.
My heart skipped.
Auggie.
I didn’t even think. I ran to the edge of the deck and dove overboard.
I sank into the water, prepared for the cold this time as it surged around me.
Luckily, I hadn’t had time to remove the tooth wrapped in mermaid hair from inside my cheek, its bubble allowing me to breathe until I could resurface.
Once I did, I watched the ship sink in slow motion, its belly lifting so the bow faced straight up in the air, bobbing briefly like a cork, before the sea could reclaim it once more.
I saw Auggie bracing himself against one of the masts. I waved to him furiously. “Jump!” I yelled. “Jump!”
I wasn’t sure if he could hear me or not, but Narcissa streaked across the sky in his direction and hovered over him.
Auggie nodded and carefully picked his way over to the side of the vessel.
He pulled himself over the edge and leapt as far clear of the sinking ship as he could get, so as not to be pulled under.
I swam to him quicker than even I knew was possible and was there when he resurfaced, sputtering. “I’m here!” I told him as he clung to me. “You’re all right.”
“I’m all right,” he repeated, staring at me.
I smiled at him encouragingly, then wrapped an arm around him, under his armpits, and began to drag him back toward the Koriko when I spotted my broom still hovering low over the water. I changed direction and helped Auggie to grip the handle. “There you go,” I said softly. “You’re safe now.”
A commotion behind me drew my attention, and I turned to watch the clipper ship nearly swallowed by the ocean. But a figure was at the bow.
My enhanced sight allowed me to make out Captain Mary, yanking desperately on her boot, which had gone through a rotten floorboard. In a flash, she was yanked beneath the surface as the ship fully submerged.
I cursed. “Stay here,” I ordered Auggie, then dove down into the water, kicking hard after the sinking ship.
Thankfully, the ship’s descent was slow. It appeared ghostly as light from the sun overhead filtered through the water, sending streaks across its retreating form. I grimaced as I kicked harder. Captain Mary was beginning to struggle, eyes rolling as her attempts to free herself grew weaker.
It took nearly a minute to close the gap between us, and the captain was floating as if lifeless by that time. Immediately upon reaching her, I pushed my forehead against hers, the bubble surrounding my head extending to hers as well.
“Breathe.”
Mary’s eyes flew open, and she drew in a deep gulp of air, then another. She stared into my face as she took breath after breath. Water was rushing past us faster than before, as the clipper ship gained momentum in its descent. We would need to surface now if we were going to.
“Just a moment,” I told her. “Deep breath.” Then I bent down to examine the rotted board her boot was stuck in.
It was wedged in infuriatingly well. I withdrew my dagger and sawed at her boot, until there was enough room for her to wiggle her foot out.
Once free, I returned to pressing my forehead against hers and she breathed again, sighing in relief.
The ship continued its descent without us.
Captain Mary shuddered. “Thank you. I thought it was my time to go down with the ship. Only I imagined it would be my own ship.”
I chuckled and stared up at the surface far overhead.
Then my eyes found the green glow of the orb at my chest. My heart sank.
It was nearly gone. Opening the portal to Hell had used up almost all of what I’d had left.
Only a sliver of energy clung to the bottom of the orb.
The bubble would give out in another few minutes, not nearly enough time for a slow ascent.
I sighed with resignation. Once my energy reserve was gone, my own body’s energy would sustain the spell, but that would buy maybe one additional minute, if that.
“In a moment, you’re going to need to swim as quickly as you can to the surface before the bubble pops.
You might have a little more than two minutes of air. ”
Captain Mary nodded.
“Good,” I said. I reached into my mouth and withdrew the hair-wrapped tooth. “Hold this in your cheek.”
She did as instructed, and the majority of the bubble covered her head.
“Now, on the count of three,” I told her. “One, two …” I took a deep breath, and as the captain pulled away, the bubble remained around her head, leaving me exposed to the water. Captain Mary made furiously for the surface.
She had good form. It was impressive to watch.
I began to kick upward myself, but my eyes stung.
Without the protective bubble, they were exposed to the seawater and growing irritated.
I squinted, then closed my eyes, continuing to kick upward. Or at least in the direction I hoped was up. I opened my eyes again a minute later to gauge my progress, but as I floated there, I couldn’t tell which way led to the surface.
Panic flared in my chest. A potion. Something could surely help me in this situation. But no, I needed to keep feeding the spell for the captain to make it to the surface.
My limbs began to weaken all at once, like energy was spooling from them. That would indicate that my energy reserve had run dry. The spell was using magic directly from me to feed it now. On top of that, my burning lungs were protesting.
I closed my eyes and kicked, hoping for the best. I stopped again after a minute, lungs screaming for air.
My body was cold. My magic had depleted.
I could no longer feel it in my veins. I hoped the captain had made it to the surface before I’d had nothing left to feed the spell.
All I saw was how far I still had to go.
And streaks of gold. I looked to the right and realized it was fire, above the surface. Narcissa was trying to signal to me which way was up.
I adjusted my position and began to kick in that direction, but black dots appeared in the corners of my vision, growing larger and bleeding over my sight.
I needed to breathe. I didn’t know how much longer I could go without opening my mouth, desperate to draw in anything, even if it was the salt water that would serve as my grave.
Something grabbed me around the waist, and the air emptied from my lungs as I was yanked along, cutting through the water at breakneck speeds.
I refused to draw in a breath, despite my lungs screaming at me, until I finally felt the water give way, and fresh air met my cheeks.
I gasped, coughing. I dragged in lungful after lungful of sweet oxygen.
My breathing was slow to return to normal, as were my eyes. My vision cleared after another minute.
I leaned on the figure that had pulled me from my watery grave and blinked at Therese, floating in the water beside me. “You … you saved me,” I said.
“Of course,” she said, frog head nodding. “Frogs are good for hopping, but also for swimming. I’m infamous.”
“Infamous?”
“Amfamous,” Therese corrected herself, frowning.
“Amphibious?”
“Yes, that one!” she squinted at me. “Are you all right, Mr. Witch?”
I smiled. “You beautiful girl, I’m quite all right, thanks to you.”
It took several minutes for my strength to return enough to climb the ladder up to the deck of the Koriko. But once I did, Captain Mary wasted no time in readying the ship for departure, her crew running around the deck, ensuring everything was in order.
Freya sat down beside me as Auggie conferred with the captain about something or other. She sent me a sideways look.
“What?” I asked her.
“Thank you for seeing to Ambrosia.”
I smiled tightly. “You aren’t mad? I thought you’d perhaps want to do it yourself.”
Freya considered. “As satisfying as it would have been, I don’t think that would have been possible, given her ability to control me. Watching her end was as close as I could come to seeing her pay for her deeds.”
“Then I’m glad I was able to do that for you.”
Freya huffed. “Yes, well, you’re quite the hero, Callum. Even I was surprised to see you go after the captain.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
She tilted her head. “You didn’t have to save her. It served no purpose other than to help a human being in need. You got nothing out of it.”
“Yes, well, I couldn’t just let her die.”
“But I think you would have. Before.” Freya fixed me with a stare. “Callum, you risked your own life for her. You could have died. You almost did. That was very selfless of you. And of your many frustrating qualities, that was never one I associated with you.”
I absorbed her words for a moment, then cocked my head. “I have no frustrating qualities. Of that, you’re mistaken.”
She laughed.