Page 50 of Autumn L.A.W

And somewhere among the stacked containers, an ancient sentient force remembered and waited.

CHAPTER 12

Sahara tilted the phone to find the one sweet spot on the bridge where the signal bars hadn’t completely given up on life. One bar. Two. One again. The Atlantic glared through the forward windows, gray and endless, refusing to cooperate with human technology.

“Come on,” she muttered. “You got me this far. Don’t quit on me now.”

Ezra leaned against the bulkhead a few feet away, arms folded, expression amused in that quiet way of his. “Talking to the network, or the ocean?”

“Whichever one listens,” she said. “If I lose this call, Rayna will assume I’m dead and start planning a resurrection.”

“That sounds labor-intensive.”

“You have no idea.”

The bar flickered back to two. Close enough. She hit connect on the group call before the Atlantic changed its mind.

Rayna’s face appeared first, slightly pixelated and scowling in concentration. Behind her, Sahara caught a glimpse of the mansion’s library: books, candles, and what looked suspiciously like a plate of Brianna’s cookies on the table. Mmm… cookies.

“Finally,” Rayna said. “Do you have any idea⁠—”

Joell’s shoulder crowded into the frame, then her whole face as she stole half of Rayna’s square. “You’re connected! We were getting worried. Hey, you look a little green.”

“It’s the lighting,” Sahara said. “And the part where I’m on a metal box floating over certain death.”

“Very flattering,” Joell said. “Ship chic. I like it.”

A third square popped up: Bas, in what looked like a hotel room somewhere, very clean, minimal, and Scandinavian. She wore a neat dark suit jacket, white hair pulled back. The only evidence of witchcraft was the way the air seemed to settle when she appeared.

“Sahara,” Bas said, and in that one word was welcome, approval, and a faint undercurrent of ‘you had better be well’.

“Present and seaworthy,” Sahara said. “For the moment.”

Rayna leaned closer to her camera. “All right, report. How’s your excellent ocean adventure?”

Sahara straightened automatically, the way she always did when Rayna went full commander voice. “We cleared the harbor without incident. Cargo’s secure and warded. No resonance spikes beyond what we expected. Obelisk is quiet.”

“Quiet like ‘asleep,’ or quiet like ‘staring at you without blinking’?” Joell asked.

“Quiet like sedated and strapped down with extra seatbelts,” Sahara said. “But I’m not turning my back on it.”

Ezra shifted, stepping just enough into the frame to be visible over Sahara’s shoulder. Rayna’s gaze snapped to him with laser accuracy. “And the mage? Is he behaving?”

Ezra inclined his head. “So far.”

“That’s not as reassuring as you think it is,” Rayna said.

Joell elbowed her. “Stop interrogating her support staff. They’ve been at sea for, what, eight hours? Let them acclimate.”

“We’re fine,” Sahara said. “Ship’s crew is solid. Captain’s a no-nonsense guy. Nobody’s accidentally opened the wrong container and been melted by ancient curses. Really, for us, that’s almost a relaxing day.”

Bas’s eyes softened a fraction. “You’re not minimizing, I trust?”

Sahara hesitated. Bas could do that to her: nudge one word and make it sound like a warning. “No. I’m… adjusting. We’re prepared. If it wakes up, we have layers between it and anyone who doesn’t get hazard pay for metaphysical nonsense.”

Ezra added, “We’ve set initial wards keyed to non-magical minds. The crew should be insulated from any low-level bleed.”

Joell’s eyebrows climbed. “Look at you two, all synced up and finishing each other’s containment strategies.”