34. Jet
JET
“It’s not her! It’s not her!” I hear myself screaming over the sound of waves crashing against what may as well be a canoe given the storm.
“Hold on!” Sev yells from the helm where he’s trying to keep the boat steady. It’s an impossible task.
I stand and am immediately tossed to the other side of the boat. I grip the edge of it and try to get to Sev.
“Go back! Turn it around!” I’m yelling but the storm washes out my words, soaking me with freezing water as the boat crashes loudly from one wave to another taking on too much water.
Sev is soaked. He’s gripping the wheel but it’s no use.
I get to him, take hold of the wheel to turn it.
“What the hell are you doing?” he calls out.
“It’s not her. It’s not Amal!”
He glances back at the woman in red lying dead in a pool of blood and sea water.
“She’s still back there. We have to get her.”
The castle is so far away already, though. The current has already pulled us out into open water.
“I can’t control it!” Sev yells.
“We have to go back!” But it’s no use, we’re at the mercy of the sea.
The storm is trying to kill us. Finish what The Society started.
The boat slams into another wall of black water. Salt stings my eyes and rain lashes my face.
But all I can think of is Amal.
She’s still back there. She’s all alone back there.
“There,” Sev says, pointing at something.
“I’m going back.” I look around, frantic, leap for the bench with the latch, throw it open. Inside it are life jackets. I grab two.
“Are you crazy?” Sev asks, fighting with the wheel as we crash yet again, this drop knocking the wind out of me.
I hold out one of the life jackets for Sev. He takes it and slips one arm in. I take hold of the wheel, fighting it. The engine roars.
“I’m going back. I’m not leaving her there,” I yell, turning, looking at the castle. At the side of the boat.
He grips my life vest. “Are you crazy? You’ll fucking drown.”
“I’m not leaving her!” I shove him off me.
“You jump and you’re dead and if you’re dead so is she. Fucking think!” Sev shakes me.
A flash of white cuts through the darkness. I squint, turn away, thinking at first it’s lightning.
“Look. Fucking look.” Sev points to the source of that light in the distance and I see it. It’s another boat. This one bigger, steadier. It’s heading toward us.
Right fucking at us.
That light, it’s a beam. A search light. And now that it’s found us, it remains fixed on us.
Sev’s jaw is set, squinted eyes locked on the vessel.
Is it more men sent to kill us? To make sure the job is done?
Sev cocks a gun. I guess he took it from the captain. I’m not sure what it’s going to do against the vessel bearing down on us.
I hear a familiar sound, one I haven’t heard in days. It takes me a minute to realize what it is.
My phone.
I reach into my pocket. I’d tucked it in there by habit, and it’s nearly drained of battery, but it is ringing. It is fucking ringing.
They’d blocked the signal on the island but we’re far enough now that we have reception. Not that it should do us any good, but I see the name on the display, and I answer because even if we can’t be saved, Amal can.
I swipe to answer and before I can say a word, a voice comes over the speaker.
“About fucking time you pick up your phone!”
Cassian. It’s fucking Cassian. I need to tell him to get Amal. I need to tell him before I run out of charge or that boat runs us over because it sure as fuck looks like it’s about to.
“Tell your fucking brother to put his fucking gun down before one of my men takes him out!” Cassian barks before I can speak.
Sev and I exchange a glance.
“Where the fuck are you?” I yell into the phone.
“Right in front of you.”