The door to the fireplace room opened, interrupting whatever Cromwell was going to say as Alex and Junkyard walked in, their faces hopeful and excited. “I think I figured out a way to get us back to the surface,” Alex said as she moved toward the center of the room. “With a whirlpool.”
CHAPTER 31
I did a double-take. “Um, I’m not sure a whirlpool sounds like a good way to do anything,” I said. “Unless the thing you want to do is drown.”
“No, we won’t drown. We’d be on this ship.” Alex shared a glance with Junkyard. “We’ve just gone over every inch of the Nostradamus. She’s completely seaworthy, and sturdy as hell. Built like a brick shithouse. In fact, she almost looks brand new.”
Cromwell peered at her for a second, and then smiled. “I believe this young lady is correct,” he said. “You’re a witch of some kind, aren’t you? From the Lightning Cove coven. Yes, I knew your ancestor from England. Sybil Hadley, I believe. She was a very powerful weather witch.”
Alex’s eyes bugged out. “Hadley?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” I said, mentally snapping my fingers. “She was our great-great-great grandmother or something. I met her once, kind of.” Technically I’d met her damned soul burning in the Lightning Cove lighthouse, but that story was too long to tell Alex right now. “You knew Sybil?” I said to Cromwell
“Through research, and in passing. She was a great woman.” Cromwell nodded and started struggling to his feet. “The Nostradamus is an exceptional ship. She’s also been protected from the ravages of time, since the greater part of my life force has shielded this area. She won’t break apart under stress.”
“Someone explain this to me,” Taeral said. “How, exactly, are we going to use a whirlpool to reach the surface?”
Alex cleared her throat. “I can create one,” she said. “And if I start the funnel from the bottom, I can make it so the motion of the water carries the ship up instead of down. Then, all Junkyard has to do is hold the wheel steady.”
“Right. Simple,” Junkyard said, with only a hint of uncertainty.
Cromwell frowned at the first mate. “Your name is Junkyard?”
“Er. It’s Bryce, actually,” he said with a self-effacing grin. “But that doesn’t sound much like a sailor’s name, so I go by Junkyard.”
“Well, since my name is Livingston, I completely understand,” Cromwell chuckled. “At any rate, this is a solid plan—”
“Maybe,” Alex said in a small voice. “I mean, I’ve done whirlpools before, but never one this big.”
Cromwell smiled at her. “You have nothing to fear, young lady,” he said. “All the power of your ancestors resides in you. I’m sure you’ll make Sybil proud.”
Alex paled a little, but she nodded. “I hope so.”
“So that just leaves one problem,” I said. “How do we get the ship through the barrier and into the water?”
“That one has an easy solution.” Cromwell hobbled a few steps away from the couch. “Now that you’ve arrived to claim the Scrolls, I can release the barrier and free you. And stop the damned mermaids from snacking on every sailor that passes through these waters,” he added darkly.
“Hold on.” Sadie looked at him. “Won’t you die if you let go of the barrier?”
“Of course I will. But my death is long overdue, don’t you think?” He let out a sigh and smiled fondly at Grygg. “Truthfully, I’m ready to welcome death. I have accomplished my purpose, and I’ve been reunited with an old friend in the process. It’s more than I expected.”
Grygg smiled back at him. “I’ll miss you, Master,” he said. “But rest assured, I will continue to protect Gideon and his friends while they complete the mission.”
“Thank you, Grygg. You are the true backbone of the Order.”
“You know, we could have another slight technical issue with this plan,” Junkyard said tentatively. “Like, millions of gallons of seawater crashing down on us when the barrier disappears, before we can steer into the whirlpool.”
“Grygg can help you with that,” Cromwell said. “He now knows the barrier spell, and he can create a temporary patch to hold it in place above the ship. If the barrier is lowered slowly, the ship should move directly into the whirlpool.” He paused and smiled. “But you all are likely to be soaked in the process.”
I nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
“Let’s gather on the deck. All of us,” Cromwell said. “I’d like to look at the world, or at least what’s visible of it from here, one more time before I go to the great beyond. If you’ll all head up, and perhaps Grygg will escort me? I’ll be along directly.”
The five of us left the room and climbed the stairs. I slipped an arm through the container holding the Scrolls and slung it across my back like a quiver as I went up. Just in case something happened to the ship, I wanted to keep them close by.
On the deck, I tilted my head back to look at the softly glowing barrier that separated us from crushing death, maybe ten feet above the tallest mast. A dark shape darted past as I watched, and then two more. There was a faint thump as something collided with the barrier from the other side and stayed there.
I could just make out the blank-eyed, snarling face of a mermaid pressed against the barrier, staring down at us. Waiting.
Shaking my head, I tore my gaze from the barrier and looked at the others. “You guys are still armed, right?” I said. “Because the mermaids are out there, and we’re going to have another fight on our hands once we reach the water.”
Everyone nodded, and Taeral walked toward the duffel bag he’d left at the base of the center mast. “We may as well make sure the weapons are fully loaded, and take extras,” he said. “There are plenty to spare. And you, Sadie and I are at full power as well.”
“Yeah. I just hope all that’s going to be enough,” I said. “It seems like every mermaid in the Atlantic hangs around here, just popping people-snacks off the barrier.”
The door leading below decks pushed open, and Cromwell hobbled out slowly, leaning on his cane with Grygg directly behind him for support. He tapped and dragged his way across the deck and headed for the railing that looked out over the canyon, where he stopped and grabbed the rail with one hand while the other gripped the cane. “So many of them,” he said, his voice a sandpaper rasp. “And I couldn’t do a thing. Those damned mermaids…”
“Perhaps he should’ve tried to understand the mermaids,” Taeral muttered under his breath beside me. “It is not enough that they eat people. We must know why.”
On his other side, Sadie nudged him and smothered a laugh. “Be nice.”
Eventually Cromwell turned from the rail and thumped toward the center of the deck. “All right. I believe it’s time,” he said, and looked at Alex. “You should create the whirlpool first, so it’s ready when I release the barrier.”
“Okay,” she said, faltering slightly as she peered up at the looming press of ocean above. “Uh, this would be much easier if I had a wand. Or any kind of pointy stick, really. I lost mine when the ship went down.”
I glanced around and spotted the broken oar crutch I’d dropped on the deck after we boarded the ship, lying off to the side. “How about this?” I said as I walked over and grabbed it, then brought it over to her. “Er, the black stuff on the end is mermaid blood. I don’t know if that’ll keep it from working.”
“No, it should be fine. This actually might work really well, since it’s been down here for so long. It’s probably attuned with the sea … or something.” She took the oar with a weak smile, and then let out a long breath. “Here goes nothing.”
Standing by the center mast, Alex raised the pointy stick over her head with both hands, closed her eyes, and started whispering something. A moment later, a purple-white bolt of lightning shot from the end of the oar, hit the barrier and passed through to become a murky, glowing shadow hovering in the water.
She started twirling the stick counterclockwise. A flurry of bubbles rose awa
y from the barrier, then a steady stream of them. Soon we could see the tail end of a water funnel spinning in place directly overhead.
But seconds after the funnel became visible, Alex gasped sharply and dropped her arms, slumping against the mast, and the little whirlpool fizzled out. “I can’t,” she grated. “It’s too big. Too much.” She raised her eyes to me. “My body can’t take it. If I keep up that spell, I’ll die.”
“Okay, then this isn’t happening,” I said immediately. “We’re not losing anyone else today. We’ll think of another way out.”
“But there is no other way.” She shuddered and straightened with determination in her eyes. “I have to do it. Maybe if I can get you guys out of here—”
“No. I’m not going to let you die.”
“Then perhaps you can keep her alive with this,” Taeral said, pulling a cloth-wrapped bundle from his coat as he walked toward me. The huge moonstone. “If you use the stone to continue healing her, you’ll not burn through your own spark. And you will both survive.”
“Holy shit. You know, that just might work.” I grinned, took the moonstone and unwrapped it. “What do you think, Alex?”
“I think your brother’s a genius,” she said with a relieved smile. “Let’s do it.”
I nodded. “It’ll be easier if we’re touching, and we should be holding onto something anyway. I have a feeling this is going to be a rough ride.” I looked around and noticed a line of metal protrusions that looked kind of like railroad spikes pounded into the mast, leading up to the top. They were probably for climbing up to the crow’s nest. “Like one of those,” I said, and wrapped a hand around the lowest one.
Alex folded her hand over mine. As she raised the makeshift wand with her other arm, I activated the moonstone and focused on the energy flowing into me, channeling it to her.
She closed her eyes and started the spell over, blasting a bolt through the barrier and rotating the oar shaft counterclockwise. Once again, there was a stream of bubbles that evolved into a small funnel of water.
This time the funnel stabilized and started widening, then reaching up through the ocean depths.
“I think it’s working!” Alex said with a tentative smile as she opened her eyes and glanced up, past the twirling oar. “I’ll have to keep doing this until we clear the whirlpool, though. And I’m not sure how long it’ll take for the funnel to reach the surface.”
After a few minutes, the roaring motion of the water above filled the canyon as the funnel became a vortex. Alex shuddered and looked up without pausing the rotation of her makeshift wand. “All right, I just broke through the top!” she called. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Junkyard ran up the wooden stairs to the steering platform and grabbed the wheel in both hands, looking a bit apprehensive. “Ready,” he said.
“You know what to do, Grygg?” Cromwell said.
He nodded. “I do,” he said, and raised his arms.
I couldn’t see the results of what Grygg was doing, but I felt the power radiating from him. And I started to wonder just how much function his body had lost over the years … and what he’d really gained when Cromwell fixed him, besides the ability to speak faster than frozen molasses.
“It’s ready,” Grygg said.
“Very well, then.” Cromwell nodded, released his cane and stepped back as it clattered to the deck and rolled away. “It’s been an honor to meet you all,” he said. “I believe you will complete the mission ahead of you, and rid the world of the evil we’ve brought forth in Dante. Goodbye, my young friends … and my old one.”
He lifted his shirt, revealing a strange, bloody symbol freshly carved into the center of his chest. He must’ve done that when he sent us up to the deck and hung back with Grygg. He hesitated for a second, and then smacked a palm against the symbol. There was a flash of light, and he started crumbling into dust from the feet up. Soon only his skull remained on top of a pile of ash.
Well. I definitely wasn’t expecting that.
“I’d recommend that you all find something to hold onto,” Grygg said without moving as a massive rushing sound echoed through the canyon. “This may be rough for a few minutes.”
“Oh, shit. Tethys!” I said, staring at the skull, which was bound to get washed overboard any second. “We still have to bring her Cromwell’s remains. Taeral, can you—”
He was already walking toward it with the duffel bag in one hand. He grabbed the skull, tossed it into the bag and zipped it shut. As he shouldered the duffel, both he and Sadie hustled to the railing and grabbed on.
Then the entire Atlantic Ocean gushed down from above.
CHAPTER 32
Fortunately, the entire ocean was landing around the ship, instead of directly on it. Grygg’s barrier only covered the area directly above the Nostradamus and about five feet extra in all directions, preventing us from getting crushed while sheets of water torrented down on every side.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of water splashing up and over the sides of the ship in the process, and wave after violent wave washed across the deck.
Alex’s hand tightened against mine, locking harder around the metal spike we were both holding as she kept twirling the splintered oar above her head. “I think there’s something we forgot to consider,” she shouted over the roaring waters. “The canyon is flooding. It’s going to lift us up to the barrier faster than Grygg is bringing it down.”
“Shit, you’re right. Hey, Grygg!” I called. “Did you hear that?”
He nodded as his extended arms started to tremble. “Yes. Don’t worry, it’s all under control.”
I decided I’d worry anyway.
The ship was already afloat, rocking and dipping as the water kept coming down. I pulled the glowing moonstone in front of me to keep it from getting washed away and pressed against the mast as a fresh wave surged over the deck. Then I looked up. The top of the mast was only a few feet from the barrier, and the ship was rising fast.
I held my breath until the mast went through smoothly, like a knife through butter. Maybe we’d be okay, after all.
At least I thought we would, until I remembered that us living things couldn’t pass through the barrier and would probably get smushed into paste on the deckboards while the ship kept going up.
“Uh, Grygg?” I said. “Sorry about all the questions, but how are we going to get through that? We’re alive.”
Grygg cocked his head thoughtfully. “You’ll make it.” He looked up at the barrier. Ten feet more, and it would be at head level for Taeral. “I suggest that you all hold your breath,” he added loudly.
There was a massive, collective inhale. Grygg lowered his arms, and the remaining water above us fell on the ship.
But we were only submerged for a few seconds before the Nostradamus broke through and entered the bottom of the funnel.
“Holy shit, I can’t believe that worked!” Junkyard shouted from the steering platform as the water foamed and surged off the deck. His considerable arm muscles bulged as he struggled with the wheel, and soon the movement of the ship settled into a tight, steady whirl as it rode the churning waters, slowly corkscrewing toward the surface.
Taeral and Sadie tentatively loosened their death grips on the rail, but still held on with one hand, since the ship was running at a pretty steep angle. “I’d never have believed this possible,” Taeral said.
I looked up, and my breath caught at the sight of the vast, silvery-green vortex of water rising impossibly high, framing a three-quarter moon and a sprinkle of stars against a black sky in the circular opening. Sure, this was a terrible death-defying stunt that could still end with the ship smashed to splinters and all of us torn apart by the force of the churning water, not to mention the mermaids.
But the view was incredible.
Speaking of mermaids, the bright glow of the moonstone revealed their ominous silhouettes flashing past on the other side of the swirling ocean. “Think those things will be able to get through the w
hirlpool?” I said to no one in particular.
Before anyone could offer a theory on that, a mermaid shot from the water about ten feet above the deck, diving straight for the ship. It bounced off the rail on the far side and went tumbling down the vortex to splash into the water below.
But its failure didn’t stop more of them from trying the same thing, and soon it was practically raining mermaids.
“Goddamn it! Does anyone else feel like we’re stuck in the flying fish level on Super Mario Brothers?” I shouted, ducking as a mermaid torpedoed over my head and barreled toward Grygg. He smashed it in the face with a stone fist, and it bounced off the deck and fell into the yawning water.
“I’ve no idea what a Super Mario is,” Taeral said, gesturing at an airborne mermaid. “Leíchtraana!” A bolt of electricity fried the creature mid-air, and it hit the deck writhing and rolled over the far rail.
Sadie pulled the pistol she’d taken out of the stash from her inside pocket and sighted one of them who’d managed to grab the railing, and was trying to swing its way toward her. She pulled the trigger and blew its chest apart. “I can’t risk going wolf yet,” she said. “Not until we’re clear of the whirlpool.”
“Gideon,” Alex gasped as I felt her start shivering. “I think I’m gonna pass out…”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”
I focused everything on her, concentrating on my spark to channel as much healing energy as I could. As I drew faster from the moonstone in my hand, its glow brightened until the walls of the vortex sparkled and shimmered with dazzling white light. At least the blinding force temporarily stopped the blizzard of mermaids.
“Oh, my God,” Sadie said. “Look at them.”
I almost asked her what ‘them’ she meant, but then I saw it. Ghosts. The trapped souls of the dead, hundreds of them riding the inner walls of the whirlpool and swirling toward freedom. The light of the moonstone cast them in rippling relief, darker white sketches against a stark white backdrop.
And at the surface, shimmers of electric purple fired into the sky from the edges of the opening.
The Scrolls of Gideon (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 7) Page 15