I haul myself up, tracing Vanth’s line of sight to Kavan—slung over a bobbing barrel a ship-length away. Blood gushes from a gnarly wound in his arm that’s torn through by a shard of bone, feeding the ocean and a circling shark three times his size.
My heart flops. Chest constricts.
“Help!” He chokes out a desperate cry. “Brother,help me!”
“The dingy,” I blurt, stare flying to the spot on the deck where the small vessel is usually stored.
All that’s left is a tangle of snapped ropes.
“Gone,” Vanth growls, striding toward a wooden box bolted to the deck. He unlatches the lid, tugs it open, and hauls out a small crossbow.
Bile sears my throat, and I cast my gaze on Kavan now trying to kick at the predator drawing closer with every turn. He scrabbles to fit his entire body on the barrel, only to roll forward headfirst and dunk beneath the waves. He resurfaces, gasping and splashing as he tries to stay afloat with one good arm.
The shark circles closer,closer...
Kavan’s scream shreds the air. “Help me!”
Vanth notches a bolt and cranks it back, face tight, lips shaping silent words. His lids sweep shut for a few drawn beats that hit me in the chest like a hammer.
He opens his eyes and pulls the trigger.
A bolt whistles through the air, grazes Kavan’s tilted chin, and thuds deep into his chest at a skewed angle—straight through the heart.
I flinch, releasing a strangled sound as Kavan’s eyes go wide and vacant. His limp body eases back into the water before he’s snatched beneath the surface in a lather of blood and thrashing fins.
I rip my gaze from the sight, but Vanth watches, motionless, eyes flat and empty.
Captain croaks out a sound, still lying in a heap on the bloodstained deck, bleary eyes peeling open. “Z—Zane …”
It lands a kick to the chest.
Heart thundering to the chorus of screams, I scan the crewmen littering the deck, chest tightening as I comb through until there are none left. Moving to the balustrade, I set my hands on the rail and find the courage to survey the ocean, flicking between bits of bobbing shrapnel, doing my best to avoid the thrashing shadow now feasting amongst a pool of red—all that’s left of Kavan.
I dart to the other side of the boat, drawn to the blue swirl of our torn sail drifting on the surface, kept partially afloat by large pockets of air. Amongst it all, a bright blue pop of material wafts around a small form facedown in one of the puddled divots.
Zane.
I charge down the stairs.
Someone bellows my name, tells me to stop, but the sound fades into oblivion when I reach the handrail, climb atop, and jump.
The wind whips at my hair and steals my breath, stomach rising in my chest.
I slam into the water’s unforgiving face, all the air clapping from my lungs as I sink into the deep abyss, crushed by the sense of its infinite stretch.
When my body finally slows, my limbs power into action, and I push toward the surface with a litter of bubbles, breaking free with a heaving gasp. Ignoring the bellowed words coming from the ship, I throw my head around and gather my bearings, adjusting to the seascape—so different down here amongst the tattered remnants of the ship’s lost bits.
Everything looks bigger. Morealive.
Farther away.
Shoving down nudging thoughts of sharp, shredding teeth, I propel toward the bold blue sail bubbled above the surface, every kick lacking, every pull of my hands paltry and weak and—
Not fast enough.
With chapped lungs and a face full of sting, I finally reach the sail, getting tangled amongst the material in my frantic search as I gather and shove, gulping breath every chance I get, until I finally fist Zane’s velvet cape andpull.Flipping him, I wrench his head above the water.
The sight of his still face and pale blue lips brands my soul.
