Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
The better to drag us through the cold, dark sea.
I slip my hand into the loop and grip the lead. There’s no more time for questions or arguing or trying to find another way. I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure Maeve makes it out alive. I’ll break my promise to her in a heartbeat if it means she’s alive to yell at me about it.
Siobhan can go down with the ship for all I care.
Maeve slides into the water in a movement that’s almost liquid. After a beat, we follow her. I’m not particularly sensitive to cold, but the suit removes what little discomfort I may have experienced. I’ve never engaged in water sports before, and as Maeve drags us along the surface of the bay, I vow that I never will. This is awful.
Maybe it’s the jerking motions of her dips and dives, constantly pulling us under and then back to the surface. Maybe it’s being nothing more than a buoy dragged along, completely helpless. Or maybe it’s the creeping fear that we’re acting the part of particularly juicy bait on a moving hook.
For future attempts to sneak aboard a ship and murder everyone, I’m going to insist on a boat.
The Crimson Hag crouches nearly in the center of the bay. With each glimpse I get of it as we approach, I begin to understand why Alix insisted on not fighting them. The Serpent’s Cry felt large enough when we were on board, but compared with the Crimson Hag, it’s the size of a child’s toy. The Crimson Hag dwarfs even the Audacity. This thing is a fucking warship.
How the hell is Maeve going to sink it?
Even without the sheer size of it, surely there are magical defenses below the surface. This ship battles sea monsters on a regular basis. If a monster could simply drive up from below and shatter the ship into a thousand pieces, it would be a very short hunt. But if there are magical barriers, surely Siobhan would have said something. She might be desperate to reclaim Bastian, but she doesn’t have a death wish. At least I don’t think she does.
Maeve pulls us even with the ship, slowing down enough that we’re basically treading water. Siobhan looks at me. “It’s time. Hold your breath.” She reaches out and pats Maeve. “Let’s go.”
As Maeve dives deep down below the hull, it strikes me that I should have asked more questions. I just hope we live long enough to regret it.
chapter 33
Maeve
I’m as at home below the surface as I am on land, but it feels different tonight. Aside from rowing out to take control of the Serpent’s Cry, I hardly have a history of sneaking out to attack ships. The Crimson Hag being a Cŵn Annwn ship is almost enough to undermine my bravado. This is what the Cŵn Annwn do—fight and attack and kill. I’ve only ever killed for food . . . technically. Maybe the deaths Lizzie has committed while on this journey with me are as much my fault as hers. Maybe . . .
At this point I’ve been surviving off pure momentum, and it’ll have to get me through to the end. That and the knowledge that if I falter, Lizzie will be focused on me instead of on what she needs to be focused on—getting her heirlooms back.
That, more than anything, gives me the strength to muscle down my fear and keep going.
I slow my pace roughly ten feet below the surface just at the curve of the hull. Siobhan pushes off me and latches herself onto the ship. It’s dark enough that I can’t see much, but I can hear perfectly as she rips her claws into the wood.
Even though I refused to show doubt to Lizzie, I definitely wondered how this plan would work. By all rights, it should take hours for a person to use their claws—or their bulk, in my case—to break through the hull of a ship.
But Siobhan’s claws punch through the wood as if it’s paper. Within seconds, she has a section weakened and a hole started. Later, I’ll wonder how she could possibly manage that. Right now, I have a job to do.
I brush against Lizzie, trying to reassure her, before I dive deeper as Siobhan and Lizzie swim to the surface to catch their breath. Even now, even with the danger barreling down upon us and worry about Lizzie’s fear and stubbornness, I have a moment of pure appreciation for the fact that I’m able to do this. Swim and fight and be whole. Then I spin around and charge back toward the ship.
Closer and closer and closer. At the last second, I twist to hit the hole with my shoulder instead of my head. It hurts. It hurts so incredibly bad. But the wood cracks further and breaks away. Another hit, maybe two, and the hole will be big enough for Siobhan and Lizzie to slip through.