It seemed as though they fell forever, but the water rushed up at them all too fast, a thin layer of toxic vapor oozing over it.
The impact will dash us to bits, Hildra’s right.
Layanna drew them inside herself. One second she held them clutched to her proverbial bosom, the next she had drawn the three through her amoebic wall and enveloped them in an empty, air-filled organelle apparently grown just for them. Avery took a deep gulp of air, surprised to be able to breathe, and then they struck the water.
The whole world changed, and Avery saw sparks flicker in his vision. Foam exploded all around them, and bubbles roiled the water in profusion so thick and so deep he never thought they would dissipate. The impact wasn’t as jarring as it should have been, though. Layanna had softened it for them.
As Janx had said, the water was deep here, but their fall had been long, and she bounced off the ocean floor in a blast of sand and cracked stone, her body passing partly through the solid substances. If they had been shallower the impact would have been much worse, and her other-form likely wouldn’t have been able to protect them from such a blow. As it was, Avery felt a smile spread across his face as they rose back up and broke the surface.
Gazing through the drifting organelles and strange substances, he shared a look with Layanna, and she smiled back, her face radiant, and in that moment he knew he loved her. It was an odd feeling, as they’d slept together many times, but this was different. They’d slept together because they’d formed a bond, and it had expressed itself physically. But love? Avery had somehow suspected it, but until now he had never fully realized it, and the realization made him feel as if he’d been asleep for a long time but just now awoken.
Gaining energy and strength from the sea, Layanna swam with eerie grace around bulges of land until finally they saw the lights of Colu. As they climbed ashore, Layanna set down the alchemical lamps, drew in her other-self, and they all threw themselves on the ground and sucked in great, gulping breaths, sweating profusely.
“That was somethin’,” Hildra said.
“Yes,” Avery agreed. “It really was.”
“Will Davic follow us?” Janx said.
“I don’t think so,” Layanna said. “He’s stronger than I am, but I was able to shift the poison from the whips into the part of myself he was eating.” She made a rueful face. “When he ingested me, he ingested the poison, taking it out of me. But there’s no one to take it out of him. Now that I’ve bathed in the Atomic, he won’t want a fight.”
Avery felt fingers intertwine with his and looked down to see her holding his hand. He blinked at her in surprise. Had she felt it, too?
Above, the stars shimmered and twinkled against a black sky adrift with gray clouds, two of the three moons riding high, one crescent and one nearly full.
“We’d better get goin’,” Janx said. “They’ll raise the alarm soon.”
“Where are the Verignuns?” Avery asked, imaging the faces of Captain Greggory and the rest of his crew, as the four made their way toward the town. “Would Segrul have sold them into slavery?”
“Not this quick,” Janx said. “They just arrived. It’ll take a few days to spread the word of what they have, build up interest, then sell ‘em, probably in groups to keep their discipline, their teamwork. They’d be worth even more if they was navy men. Might be sold off as workers or castrated for eunuchs and sold abroad. The whalers, though, they’ll fetch a higher price. Probably be auctioned off as gladiators.” There was a touch of pride in his voice as he said this last.
“So where will Segrul be keeping them?” Avery pressed.
“On the Verignun, most like. Under lock and key.”
“Then all we need to do is reach her.”
But between here and the ship was a town full of cutthroats and murderers. They entered Colu tensely, threading their way through its narrow, twisting mazes with care. Pirates sang and caroused all around, traveling from whorehouse to tavern to gladiator pit, and Avery constantly feared the four would be seen and mobbed, but they passed unnoticed through the bedlam. At one point horns did blare from the mountaintops behind them, and Avery knew the Magon leaders had alerted the rest of the Magon nation ensconced on the island to what had happened, but the pirates, apparently not schooled in the Magons’ signals, only paid the horn calls passing attention. A few in Avery’s hearing made jokes about it. Turtles havin’ a party, one said.
The four reached the docks and passed quickly toward where Segrul’s fleet was moored. The Verignun bobbed in the swell. Layanna brought over her other-self, scaled the sides of the Verignun and disappeared over the gunwale. Almost immediately, screams rang out. The sounds chilled Avery, as did being confronted with what Layanna really was. Seeing her floating serenely in the midst of a glowing amoeba sac was one thing. Hearing the cries of her victims as, very likely, she ate them alive was another. He tried to hold onto the warmth he’d had just minutes ago and was reassured when he found it, but there was no denying that it was tempered by the screams. Muffled somehow.
“They deserve it, Doc,” Janx said, seeing his expression. “Don’t shed a tear for the likes of Segrul’s crew. They’re a tough lot, even for pirates. I won’t tell you the things I’ve seen Segrul do. ‘course, he won’t be aboard, he’ll be whoring in town or what have you.”
Avery nodded. The truth was that he didn’t feel bad for Segrul’s crew. Perhaps he should have, but he didn’t. No, what saddened him was the truth of what Layanna was, and that it would always separate them.
“I hope Ani’s all right,” he said, his voice choked. His heart ached with the thought.
“She will be,” Hildra promised, but her voice was unusually tight. “She’s a scrapper.”
The screams stopped. The boarding ramp was thrown down and a frayed crew of sailors gestured Avery, Hildra and Janx aboard—the Verignuns. Layanna had freed them.
“Quick,” one said. “Get on while you can.”
The screams of the pirates had been brief, but they had been enough to rouse interest, and even as Avery and the others boarded, shapes from the town rushed along the decks toward them, some gripping blades, some guns.
“Cast off!” someone said; it sounded like Captain Greggory. “For the love of your mothers, cast off!”
Sailors obeyed, and the ship began to move away from the docks. It wouldn’t be fast enough, though. The pirates were almost on them. A rifle cracked. Then another. A sailor pitched backward, blood spurting.
Avery had been carrying the alchemical lamps all this time, having wrapped them in a torn-off section of his pants. He moved to the stern, delicately unwrapping one as he went. A bullet whizzed by his ear. Trying not to panic, he cocked the red-glowing globe over his shoulder—the glass burned his fingers, but he didn’t pause—and threw with all his strength.
The globe struck the docks right at the feet of the pirates, and fire erupted among them. Janx hurled the next globe, and more fires sprang out. Hollering and cursing, the pirates drew back, then fled as the alchemical flames widened, burning through ropes and boards and leaping into ships.
“Good thinking,” Janx said.
“It should keep them busy for a while, anyway,” Avery said. “Do you think it will delay Segrul coming after us?”
“It’ll give us a good head start.”
Avery heard a cry behind him. Whirling, he saw Layanna, human once more. She had brought out a small figure, gripping her by the hand.
Ani, tears coursing down her cheeks, flung herself at Avery, and Avery bent and grabbed her up.
* * *
