My stomach turned to ice and dropped to my feet. I didn’t ask how he knew. If it really was the Council, I would’ve been more surprised if Jackie hadn’t been able to identify them.

“Why would they follow us across the ocean?” I asked. “They must know our ultimate destination. Taviano would’ve told them. Why not wait to intercept us when we arrive in Braddock?”

Jackie’s jaw clenched. “I think it’s safe to assume they’ve sent forces there as well—one by sea and one by land, forming the pincers of a claw to pin us in their grasp.”

“Then it’s a good thing we aren’t sailing to Braddock,” Clarice said.

I blinked at her. “Not sailing to Braddock? But you said—”

“I said what you needed to know at the time. But delivering two wanted fugitives to the biggest port city on Inselgrau would have been a bad idea, even before we knew the Council was on our tail.”

“So where are we going?”

Jackie answered. “Somewhere a little closer to home.”

“Whose home?”

He ignored my question, letting me make my own assumptions. My conclusion was that he and Clarice had likely arranged to sail us to Fallstaff’s front door—or as close as we could get, considering Fallstaff was at least an hour’s ride from the nearest beach.

Jackie leaned close. “Can’t you do anything to stop them?”

“I was just wondering the same thing about you.” I gathered energy from the atmosphere, wrapped my intentions around it like a slingshot, and hurled lightning at the Council’s ship.

The bolt disbursed harmlessly over the surface of a Magical barricade surrounding the ship—the same kind of barricade Taviano had used to protect himself against me in the basilica. I could, perhaps, pour enough energy into an assault that would eventually defeat that barrier, but it would leave me bankrupt and vulnerable, and those were the last things I needed to be.

“Nothing changes.” Jackie raised his chin and peered across the sea. “We still run for Inselgrau. It’s our best bet for evading capture.”

Because I could think of no reason to disagree, I stirred the air currents, reaching not for thunder and lightning but for cool moist air. I tugged the closest stratus clouds, lowering them to the water’s surface, and once the colder moisture from the north blew in and touched the ocean’s warm waters, a thick fog rose between our pursuers and us.

Jackie stood silently beside me, observing the process. He nodded as the fog thickened into a white, impenetrable wall. “Clever girl. You’ve come a long way since we first met.”

I shrugged off his approval. “Desperation makes a compelling teacher.”

He pulled me aside where no one could overhear us. “The fog won’t keep them away for long, though.”

“What about your Magic? Haven’t you got anything up your sleeve that could help?”

He ground his teeth. “My time in prison and Taviano’s attack affected me more than I’d like to admit. I’d prefer saving my energy for when things become truly desperate.”

“I’m not looking forward to learning your definition of ‘truly desperate.’”

Clarice narrowed her eyes, giving us a suspicious look, obviously perturbed that Jackie and I were plotting without her. “Did you not tell the captain about me? You didn’t tell her who I am?”

“I told her my companion was a curious individual, a young woman of uncanny talents.”

“But does she believe in me?”

His lips twisted into a crooked frown. “What do you mean?”

I raised my voice, assuring Clarice could hear me. “Captain, you’re an Insligrish native, correct?”

She bobbed her chin in affirmation.

“So you’ve heard of the Stormbournes?”

“I left Inselgrau as a child and haven’t been back except for the occasional and very brief port call in Braddock, but I haven’t been away so long as to have forgotten the ruling family’s name.”

“The Stormbournes no longer rule Inselgrau.”

Her lips twitched. “I’d heard rumors to that effect.”

“And some say they’re gone for good. The days of the old gods are over.”

“Some say that, yes, but I’ve travelled too far and seen too many things to believe anything in this world is ever truly gone. They fade, they change or become lost, but rarely do such forces ever truly go extinct.”

I cocked my head to the side. “So you might call yourself a believer?”

The smile she’d been avoiding broke free. “I’m not particularly religious, but I believe there are greater forces in the world.”

I flicked a finger, and lightning flashed, cleaving the clouds. “What if I told you... I am one of those greater forces. I could use a little faith right now, Clarice.”

“I’m not the praying type, my lady.”

“You don’t have to pray. You simply have to believe.” Jackie quirked an eyebrow at me, and I left his side, striding toward the bow. “And if you could convince your crew to join you, there’s a chance we’ll get your ship to Inselgrau unscathed.”

She glanced at the sky.

I called another lightning bolt and let it dance across the clouds.

She dropped her gaze to my face. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Standing at the bow, I spread my feet, lowering my center of gravity. Jackie joined me, and his white-gold hair fluttered in the stiffening breeze. His boots were unlaced, his linen pants wrinkled, and he hadn’t bothered to finish buttoning his shirt—it gaped open at the neck, revealing a glimpse of bandages and smooth pale skin. He looked less like the icy-cold Magician I loathed and more like a young man—a fallible one with cracks and flaws. An earnest emotion burned in his eyes. I would have called it admiration if I believed him capable of such a sentiment.

Closing my eyes, I sank inside myself, focusing on strengthening my connection to the storms. Are you up for this, Grandfather?

In reply, he cackled with delight.

Under normal circumstances, I could command the storms with absolute authority but for only a limited time. The power within me, and my body’s ability to channel it, was finite. Limited. But the faith of my believers replenished my wellspring and kept me from running dry. The more believers, the better.

Clarice, Jackie, Ambrose, Leo, and Mariana were few, but added to the others who believed in me—Gideon, Malita, Niffin, the Fantazikes, my friends in the mechanical circus—their faith might provide enough fuel to keep me charged until we reached Inselgrau. I wasn’t waging war but was merely adding a strong wind to our sails. With concentration, I could perhaps take the wind away from the Council’s ship, as well, slowing their progress considerably. It was an effort of precision, but after all my training and progress, I believed myself capable.

The seas swelled, and the winds howled, but the Velox’s sails held. Clarice’s ship flew. Jackie remained at my side despite the driving wind and heaving waves that dashed against the bow and drenched us in cold spray. He formed a perpetual fireball that hovered close, providing heat to ward off the numbing chill.

If we were running from any regular pirate, even a clever one like Zhou Min, our efforts might’ve been enough to leave our pursuers quite literally in our wake. But the ship trailing us was being propelled by a cadre of fierce Magicians. Perhaps the fiercest in the world. Possibly even fiercer than—

I coughed as an idea hit me hard enough to knock me breathless.

The Council of Magic is fiercer than Le Poing Fermé, Grandfather said. Was that what you were thinking?