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Tahlyah’s jaw stiffened. “We need to find Mother.”
“She said to stay here.”
Her sister grasped her shoulders. “That was the ship, Mia. It’s breaking. We need to find Mother and the captain. They’ll keep us safe.”
Terror closed off her throat, so she jerked out a nod.
They didn’t bother finding their shoes or cloaks. The ship rocked beneath them and they stumbled, but made it to the door. Tahlyah glanced back at Meerah and took her hand. “Don’t let go.”
“I won’t,” she promised, even though her chest burned with fear.
Tahlyah led the way into the narrow corridor of the ship. With every lurching step they bumped into the walls, but they kept going. Water pooled at their feet, and Mia’s stomach churned.
On the deck, chaos reigned. One of the towering masts had snapped and fallen across the deck. Sails flapped madly, ropes were flying, and men ran in the storm. Other men had been crushed by the felled mast. Some were crying out—alive, but pinned.
Fates, those screams . . . She’d never heard anything so horrible.
Across the deck, their mother stood clutching a taut rope that helped keep her upright as she stood beside the captain. As if she sensed them, she looked over her shoulder. Meerah had never seen such raw fear on her mother’s face. Notever.
Thunder ripped the night, and lightning fractured the sky. A wave slammed into the ship, rolling it. Meerah thought she heard her mother scream.
The planks of wood beneath their feet buckled. Tahlyah’s hand was torn from hers, and Meerah was falling, falling . . .
Plunged into the sea, everything was dark. Wet. Cold.
Tahlyah was gone. So was the obsidian ring she’d been clutching; the necklace must have fallen off.
Meerah clawed at the water, the salt of it burning her eyes.Desfan had told her if she learned to swim, she wouldn’t be afraid of the water anymore.
That was a lie. She’d learned to swim on her own on Dorma, but she was terrified now.
Swimming in a roiling sea was no more than useless thrashing. She was swallowed by the water, dragged under the waves and pulled into the dark. Bodies knocked into her. She didn’t think they were alive, because they weren’t fighting the water like she was. When lightning stabbed through the darkness it illuminated the people around her, and all she saw were blank faces and empty eyes.
Inside, she was screaming.
The next boom of thunder was muted underwater. The screams of dying men and the horrendous snapping of the ship breaking were also distant. The deeper she fell, the calmer the water became—and that seemed wrong. Her hair floated around her, loose strands escaping from the braid her mother had gently weaved earlier that night.
Something bumped her.
Lightning streaked somewhere above, and wide eyes appeared in front of her face. She nearly swiped her arm at the floating body before her, but her mind caught up with her fear and labeled the person—Tally. Her sister was stretching out her hand.
Wanting to sob in relief, Meerah grabbed for her sister. With joined hands, the two of them kicked. Meerah didn’t know which way to swim, so she let Tahlyah guide her.
Suddenly, something snagged her waist. She twitched around, her movement slowed because of the water.
A sailor had grabbed her. She didn’t recognize him, but he must be one of the crew. He propelled her up through the water, much faster than she and Tahlyah had been swimming. Soon, she was above her sister, and as she looked down at Tahlyah, she could see the fear in her eyes.
Meerah tried to hold on, but Tahlyah’s fingers slipped away.
No!
Her sister sank, falling into the darkness as Mia was propelled upward.
The sailor broke the surface, and Mia gasped for air, her small lungs burning. The violence of the storm surrounded them, and rain slashed down painfully.
“Tally!” Meerah cried as she coughed and spluttered. “She’s still down there!”
The sailor shoved Meerah onto a piece of driftwood and pressed her fingers almost painfully around the rough edge. “Hold on to this,” he ordered.
