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Louder.
Xue turned the dial all the way up.
Seichan cringed, trying to duck from the sound, but it was everywhere. In her bones, in her blood. Nausea grew. Her skin prickled with heat. Her heart pounded, fueled by an indescribable panic. The roaring filled the air, making it hard to breathe.
She knew it was her imagination, but it felt that way.
Gray leaned toward Xue and pointed out the forward windows.
Seichan pushed out of her seat. At first, she failed to see what had excited him—then she noted the change in Mount Tambora. The fountains of fire had collapsed into the caldera. The lower flanks of the mountain had grown darker, no longer fed by fresh flows of molten rock.
She searched the other windows. The fiery horizons had also dimmed to a dull glow. Gray caught her eye, his expression easy to read.
It’s working.
But he didn’t just mean with the volcanos.
He waved around the ship. She lowered her gaze to the surrounding waters. They were still dark, but lights now swam through the ash, appearing and disappearing.
The Rainbow Serpents...
Gray turned to Xue and made a slicing motion across his throat.
Xue dialed down the volume. In the absence of that roar, the world fell deathly quiet, as if holding its breath.
Gray stared out at the stirring lights in the water. “We’ve clearly succeeded in summoning them.”
Xue’s expression remained guarded. “But is it enough?”
11:40A.M.
Gray stood at the boat’s rail and studied Mount Tambora. It continued to remain quiet. During the past ten minutes, the peak had steadily darkened, fading into the ashy gloom. He searched the rest of the horizons. As those distant fires flickered out, the world closed around him. Still, a few spots continued to burn, marking the farthest volcanos.
Xue stood next to him, evaluating the same.
Booms reached the boat, no longer as loud as cannon fire, more like thunder over the horizon. Still, it was an indication that the tectonic instability persisted.
Gray pronounced his judgment. “We managed to quiet this immediate region, but not all of it.”
“Not by far,” Xue concurred. “We’ve stuck our finger in the dike, but that’s all. If the volcanic activity across the greater region continues to escalate, these seas may start up again.”
“Still, what we’ve done proves there is efficacy to this method.”
Gray turned to the waters around the patrol boat. Swarms of bioluminescent creatures swam through the ash, luminous in the darkness. They flickered and blinked with hues of every color. It was no wonder the Aboriginal people had called themrainbows.
The creatures were plainly busy out there. Smooth tentacles rose and swept the sea. They grabbed coral balls, combed up broken pieces and branches, and pulled everything away. They were meticulously clearing the waters of the fiery threat.
Gray again wondered if those spiky mines were a biological defense. Were they utilizing their young, aggressive forms to protect their domain?
But that aspect of their biology was not important at the moment.
By the stern, Yeung and Heng had discovered a lever that could extend a dive platform over the water—a feature that Gray wished he had known about earlier when he had rescued Guan-yin and Zhuang.
Yeung called over to him, announcing all was ready.
Gray nodded and crossed to the steel bench that had sheltered them during the firefight. It now held Guan-yin’s slack body. The womanhad slipped fully unconscious, only stirring to moan and thrash. Her skin was pallid and patched with black stings.
Gray met Seichan. Together, they lifted her mother. Guan-yin felt weightless, as if impending death had hollowed her out.
