"Storm!" Zoya called from the navigation station. "A big one. And it's moving directly into our path."
I felt it then, the disturbance in the Gallery's fabric. This was worse than the storm we'd encountered on the way to Nytheris. This was a hurricane wherethathad been a squall.
"Can we go around?" Kora asked, appearing at my side.
"Not without adding several weeks to our journey," Cypher said. "And our supplies won't last that long. We burned through too much."
"So we go through it," Jask said, sounding as horrified as I felt about that prospect.
"That's suicide. This storm is at least three times the size of the last one we encountered." Cypher's hands were white-knuckled on the helm. "But we don't have a choice. Everyone to your stations. Secure everything. This is going to be rough."
We scrambled to obey. I helped Knives secure the cargo below deck, double-checking the straps holding our precious Last Lights. The codex was in Cypher's cabin, locked in a magically reinforced chest with the crown.
"Are you ready for this?" Knives asked as we finished the last of the tie-downs.
"Not even remotely."
She grinned. "Me neither. But we've survived everything Nytheris threw at us. What's one more storm?"
Famous last words.
The storm hit us like a wall. One moment we were sailing with full control, the next we were in the middle of a maelstrom. The ship bucked and rolled, throwing me against the bulkhead. Knives grabbed my arm and hauled me toward the stairs.
"Get to the deck! Cypher needs you for navigation!"
We fought our way up through passages as the ship pitched. When we finally emerged onto the deck, the sight stole my breath. The storm was magnificent and terrifying. Energy crackled through the darkness like lightning, and the currents were visible as swirling rivers of different-colored light. The ship's wings strained against the chaos, and I could hear the hull groaning with stress.
Cypher stood at the helm with Jask, both fighting to keep the ship on course. When he saw me, relief flashed across his face. "I need you to navigate. Find us a safe path through."
I made my way to him, using the rail for support as the deck tried to throw me overboard. When I reached his side, he wrapped one arm around my waist, anchoring me to him.
"Can you sense a way through?" he asked, his mouth close to my ear to be heard over the roar of the storm.
I opened myself to my rift senses, and the storm's full fury slammed into my awareness. It was chaos. Currents were colliding and fragmenting, energy building and releasing in random patterns. But there, threading through the worst of it, I sensed a channel of relative calm.
"There!" I pointed. "Bearing thirty degrees port, descending angle. It's a channel, trust me!"
He hesitated before nodding curtly. "Jask, new heading! Thirty degrees port, descend!"
The ship angled suddenly, and my stomach lurched. We dove deeper into the storm, and the chaos intensified. Lightning arced across the deck, leaving scorch marks on the wood. The temperature plummeted, and ice began forming on the rigging.
"Stay with it!" Cypher shouted. “Scavenger, keep calling out adjustments!"
I did, my voice hoarse from shouting. "Five degrees starboard... hold steady... climb ten degrees... now port again..."
Time lost meaning. A massive surge of energy, bigger than anything we'd encountered, slammed into the ship's port side. I felt the impact through my bones. I heard the shriek of tearing metal. The ship listed violently, and Cypher's arm was torn from around my waist. I tumbled across the deck, fetching up hard against the starboard rail. Around me, I heard screams, shouts, the sound of things breaking.
"Juno!" Cypher's voice.
I tried to respond, but my head was spinning from the impact. I tasted blood. I'd bitten my tongue. Another surge hit, and this time I couldn't catch myself. I felt it, the very distinctsensation of a hand, grabbing the back of my void mantle. Before I could react, I was tugged over the rail and into the open Gallery. I screamed and screamed, reaching back toward the ship.
Not again… This can't happen again…
Three long days, I'd spend lost in the Gallery, floating through nothing while echoes whispered to me. I couldn't go through it again. I wouldn't survive it.
Strong fingers wrapping around mine. I looked up to see Cypher. We'd been pulled off the ship together, because the idiot had jumped overboard after me.
In the blink of an eye,I was tugged backwards again. Suddenly, we weren't in the Gallery anymore. We slammed into solid ground, rolling and tumbling before coming to a stop in a tangle of limbs. I lay there gasping.
