26. Vera
Vera
Ithrew myself at the rail to try and catch him, but I was too late. For a heartbeat, Everett flew, suspended between our two ships. I couldn’t breathe. I imagined him falling, imagined the waves devouring him and his body flailing around and around in that whirlpool.
But he didn’t.
He slammed into the opposite rail, fingers slipping and boots scraping the side of the ship. He dangled by one hand as lightning flashed in the distance. Raw, animalistic terror surged through me. The same terror I felt when I had to listen to him scream in agony during Mortep’s tests.
Then his crew was there. Tessa and Kieran grasped his hand, and inch by inch, they heaved him onto their deck. Relief washed over me for a split second before their ship gave another deep, guttural groan. The ship’s bow dipped and barrels slid, smashing into crewmembers.
I scrambled to get a closer look as the whirlpool dragged them deeper and deeper. “They can’t get out of that, Vera,” Starke panted at my side, pushing back his soaked hair. “They’re too far in.”
“Then help them!” I cried.
“How? There’s nothing we can do! I can’t tug a fully-loaded ship without it pulling us in, too.”
Across the way, Everett’s crewmembers were in a frenzy. Several of them jumped off the side of the boat, landing in the water with a splash. When they resurfaced, their small bodies fought against the waves, aiming for ropes now dangling from our starboard side.
“We have to let them come aboard,” I said, already searching for more rope ladders to let down.
Starke matched my pace. “Vera, we don’t even know these—”
“They’re my people,” I snarled, whirling to face him, “and I will help them, with or without you.”
His light eyes flashed, but he didn’t argue. With a stiff nod, he called to his men. “Ropes! Ladders! Get a gangplank; anything that will hold. Lenny, get back to your post. We have to be ready to yank ourselves out of this.”
Their ship’s mast tilted at an alarming angle, ropes whipping around like snakes. I searched for Everett through the rain, then spotted him by the wheel with their helmsman, both struggling to turn it.
I cupped my mouth. “Abandon ship! Get everyone to the White Moonstone!”
Their crew leaped into action. The other deck teetered closer as our ships rose and fell out of sync. The gap between us widened, then slammed shut, wooden railings clanging together with a crash.
“Come on!” I called, ushering their men to our deck.
Kieran came first. In typical Kieran fashion, he barely dipped his head to me in acknowledgment, his focus solely on the mission.
He rushed to help his people as, one by one, they bounded over.
Some clutched lines and swung, while others took a running start and barely caught our rails.
When almost all of their crew had come over, I saw Everett helping Tessa.
Waves battered both our hulls, water spraying as we drifted farther apart.
“Hurry!” I pleaded with them.
Tessa sprang forward, graceful and cat-like, and cleared the space between us, landing in a crouch next to me. To my surprise, she wrapped me in a hug. “It’s good to see you, Vera.”
“You too, Tessa.” I pulled back to meet her dark eyes. “Why isn’t Everett coming?”
“He’s making sure we got everyone.”
My hands balled into fists, so tight my nails cut through skin. We both turned to face the other ship again. Everett came back into view, waving at us and giving an “all clear” signal.
I forced my breaths to stay even. Their ship was at the lip of the whirlpool, and with nobody manning their helm, it was at the mercy of the sea. Everett ran across the deck toward us, but before he could make the jump, his ship tilted forward again.
With a snap, a cannon tore loose, sliding across the deck. Iron shrieked over soaked wood.
“Everett!” I screamed.
He turned right as the cannon clipped his side, knocking him into the rail. Pain carved his features as his body twisted unnaturally. Blood ran down the length of his arm. He grappled for something to hold on to, but the ship shifted again, swinging its stern into us once more.
Everything faded as he fell down, down, down, into the heart of the whirlpool.
I didn’t think. Getting a running start, I pushed off with all my strength and vaulted over the rails.
I crashed onto his ship, the force vibrating my legs. I shook away the sensation and sprinted for Everett, slipping and sliding all the way down the slanted deck. He was several yards away, with his good arm wrapped around a post.
“What are you doing?” he exclaimed.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I called back. I grabbed a loose rope to keep me from falling. “Give me your hand!”
He lunged forward with a grunt, barely snagging my fingers.
I grasped him tightly until he got his footing and pulled himself up.
Blood soaked his side, a watery red trail dripping down the deck.
The ship tilted again, and we both nearly fell.
Barrels and loose supplies flew past us and disappeared into the depths of the whirlpool.
“Bet you regret finding me now,” I panted.
He merely scowled. “Just hold on, Songbird. I lost you once, I’m not doing it again.
” He clutched the rope with one hand, resting his injured one at my back to keep me from falling.
We half crawled, half walked our way back up the steep incline.
Everett pushed himself to the nearest rail and wrapped his good arm around it.
But as I reached to do the same, the ship gave an ear-splitting groan and plummeted bow-first into the water.
My feet went out from under me.
“Vera!” he boomed. Blood-slicked fingers clenched my hand, yanking my shoulder as he caught me. I gasped, feet dangling in midair. His injured arm shook under the strain of holding me, and more blood rushed from his wound, splattering my face.
“Just let me go!” I cried. “Get back to the ship!”
“No!” he growled, neck veins bulging. His eyes flashed in defiance. “Don’t ever tell me to let you go, Vera.”
Water streamed down my cheeks. This was it. There was no way out of this. We were both going to die here, because we were both too stubborn to let each other go. For the first time, I feared death. Because it was going to take him, too.
My fingers slipped. My stomach lurched into my throat, and we both struggled to tighten our grips. “Vera, I swear to the Fates, if you let go, I’m going to—”
A tremendous groan wrenched the air, and I closed my eyes, thinking the ship was going under.
But we weren’t falling. Instead, the ship was leveling out. My knees hit the deck and I opened my eyes, shocked to find us no longer angled toward the whirlpool. “What in the—”
At the stern of the ship was the White Moonstone, several chains linking the two ships together as Starke bellowed orders back to the crew. Inch by inch, the ship righted itself, pulled from the dangerous claws of the whirlpool.
I helped Everett get to his feet, and we bridged the gap between the ships, landing on the White Moonstone's deck with a squelch. I pulled myself up, but Everett rolled onto his back, resting in a pool of blood as his face grew frighteningly ashen.
“Medic!” I called above the shouts. “We need help!”
His groans sent tremors through my heart. I knew those sounds like they were my own. “You just had to go and be a hero, didn’t you?” I choked, gripping his hand.
“I seem to recall you coming to save me,” he said between grunts.
Two men came forward and lifted him, rushing him below deck to the sick bay. His hold on my hand went slack, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
“Everett?” I squeezed his hand. “Everett! What happened?” I snapped to the medics.
They set him on a small cot and rushed around the cabinets. “We need to treat him,” one of them said. “You have to leave.”
They moved by me as if I wasn’t even there, calling out commands to strip the sleeve off his arm. I gasped when I saw the wound the cannon had left. A chunk of his arm had been taken out, muscle and bone visible from layers of flesh and blood.
Someone stood in front of me. “You need to leave. Now.” Hands pushed my body out the door, but I barely felt it.
He was going to be fine, I kept telling myself. He’d been through worse. We’d both been through worse. But it was still the same, every time. His pain ripped through me—every grunt, every groan, every wince was seared into my memory. I had never been able to handle him being hurt.
The door to the sick bay slammed in my face. I sank to the ground against the wall and buried my face in my hands.