14. Everett
Everett
Wind and salt water sprayed in my face as the Shattered Spine loomed closer.
That same gray mist clung to the water, revealing vicious stone reefs that jutted from the surface.
Geysers of steam hissed between them. When I squinted through the fog, I saw glowing red veins snaking up the rocks where molten heat came from beneath the surface.
“Fates,” Tessa muttered. I’d seen the jaguar Shifter face mutated Veridians and monsters alike without so much as a wince, but this had her features turning ashen.
The Grand Dragon of the Sea shuddered as she turned to a small gap between the rocks. The change in angle brought the first line of reefs into sharper view. They were taller than even our ship. Massive and craggy, each one bulging up out of the shallow water, waiting to snag our hull.
“Tell me again why we can’t just go around this thing?” Tessa asked.
“Can’t skirt the edge if yeh don’t know where the edge is,” Rossa said around his pipe, puffing out a stream of smoke.
Tessa squinted at him. “What does that even mean?”
“The Shattered Spine goes on for thousands of miles,” I explained, picturing the maps I’d perused. “We would be out at sea for weeks simply trying to find where it ends. The smartest, most efficient way is to go through, not around.”
“Yeh,” Rossa grunted. “That’s what I said.”
As if summoned by his words, a geyser exploded from a vent up ahead, sending steam into the air. Sweat beaded at my temples.
It was eerily silent. The ship came upon the first narrow strip of rock, with shadows from the reefs on either side casting towering silhouettes over the deck. My gaze snagged on one long, skinny stone spearing up from the water, as sharp as a dagger. My stomach rolled when I saw what hung from it.
“Somebody please tell me that’s not what I think it is,” Tessa said, pointing a finger at it.
A human chest was skewered on the end of the rock.
Bits of old fabric clung to decayed bones, parts of its body hanging on by mere threads of flesh and sinew.
Birds pecked at what was left of the skull.
Beyond the dead man was the remains of a shipwreck—splintered wood, pieces of a hull, shredded sails.
Wind whistled by, cooling the back of my neck as we slowly, slowly sailed past it.
The first impact came from below. A sickening grind reverberated through the hull, and Tessa and I both grabbed the rail as the deck jolted.
“What was that?” I demanded.
“Just a scrape,” Captain Rossa grunted. “She’ll hold. Easy does it, now.”
The ship crept forward through the heavy fog and reefs, each creak and groan more menacing than the last. Sweat trickled down my spine as the mist pressed closer. Reefs towered on either side, close enough that if I stretched out an arm, I could almost touch them.
A sudden gust of wind slammed into the sails.
The port side lurched into the rock, and the helmsman scrambled to right us, sending the ship tilting too far in the opposite direction.
The overcorrection caused the main boom to hit a stone column shrouded in mist. Loose rope snapped like a whip, and the boom swung, catching a deckhand high in the chest.
I realized too late that it wasn’t a deckhand.
“Kieran!” Tessa shrieked.
Kieran went over the side with a shout, vanishing into the churning water between us and the reefs. My heart jumped up my throat as Tessa and I both lunged for the rail.
“Rope!” Rossa bellowed. “Get a line out!”
Kieran surfaced, gasping for breath as the current dragged him toward a jagged outcrop.
“Grab the rope!” I called down. He grappled at the rope, hauling himself up several feet.
“Pull ‘im up!” Rossa barked. I helped the others pull the rope, slowly raising him to the rail.
But then the ship veered to the side, nearly crushing Kieran against the rock wall. He let out a sharp cry and lost his grip as he disappeared beneath the surface again, the rope falling against the hull.
“No!” Tessa stumbled forward, and I caught her just in time as another blast of steam erupted where Kieran had been moments before. A blistered arm broke the surface, followed by his head. His skin was already red and bubbling where the boiling water had hit him.
He lunged for the rope again, wrapping it around his wrist. Rossa, Tessa, and I pulled with everything we had.
When he got close enough, Captain Rossa hooked an arm beneath his shoulders.
Together, we dragged Kieran over the rail.
He collapsed onto the deck in a heap, coughing up seawater.
His skin was raw and red, one arm held tight against his ribs as he sucked in ragged breaths.
“Next time,” he rasped at me, “I’m staying in Drakorum.”
Tessa gave a watery laugh as she dropped to her knees beside him, pressing her forehead to his shoulder. I sagged against the rail, legs shaking.
What felt like hours later but was surely only minutes, the mist thinned. Bright sunlight broke through the fog beyond the bow, and the reefs on either side gradually gave way to open water. Ahead was a peaceful, endless blue sky, as if nothing had happened at all.
Tessa came up beside me. “There’s no going back now,” she said heavily, taking off her hat and holding it to her chest. “Are you sure you’re ready for this, Ev?”