Chapter 287
The warship cuts through the deep like a blade, our stolen freedom humming under my palms where they rest on the console. I’m still weak, my skin clammy, my bones aching in ways I didn’t know they could, but I’m awake. I’m here. And for once, we’re alive and Shoal isn’t.
Or so I think.
Wake stands at my side, steady as the northern star. Cora’s up near the secondary navigation controls, her sharp gaze flicking between readouts. Delphi and Peter work the back systems, Miore and Arista man the weapons. Silo lurks near the boarding ramp, muscles tight, hammer still gripped like he’s waiting for another fight.
“Anything on our tail?” I ask, voice raw.
“Nothing yet,” Cora says, tapping on a cracked screen. “I think we lost Stan’s crew in the thermal rift. They’re not built for what we just pulled.”
Good. Let them sink.
A few more tense minutes slip by, filled only with the steady hum of the ship and my own racing pulse. Then—
“There!” Malu’s voice crackles through the comm system. “Nereid! Starboard side! Visual confirmation!”
I twist toward the viewport just as a familiar, battered outline breaks through the gloom.
The Flounder.
It looks rougher than the last time I saw her—scrapes and dents across the hull, a few scorch marks here and there—but she’s flying. She’s here. And my heart nearly stumbles in my chest at the sight.
“Thank goodness,” I breathe.
Wake squeezes my shoulder. “They know what they’re doing.”
Tai and Andreas have somehow managed to keep her afloat through all of this. Probably stubbornness alone.
We line up for a connection, maneuvering the warship to match the Flounder’s speed and trajectory. Cora and Peter work the magnetic clamps. For a second—just a second—it feels like we’re finally safe.
Then the sensors start screaming.
Malu curses under his breath. “Incoming. Big.”
“How big?” Wake demands.
Malu’s hands fly over the console. His face drains of color. “Big enough to ruin our whole damn day.”
Before he even finishes the sentence, I feel it.
The water shifts. A low vibration rattles the bones of the warship, a deep bass note that has nothing to do with machines and everything to do with something alive. Ancient. Wrong.
The darkness around us moves.
Two shapes emerge from the murk. No—loom. They’re massive, each the size of a city block, gliding with deceptive grace through the water. At first glance they look like whales—sort of. If whales had too many fins, too many eyes, too many mouths.
Mutated Elder Kin.
The last, spiteful parting gift from Shoal and Lily.
“They set them loose to catch us,” I mutter, furious.
“Or to make sure no one else finds us,” Cora says grimly.
The closest one opens its maw—an endless cavern studded with spiraling teeth—and emits a low, vibrating call that sets every hair on my body standing straight up.
“They’re faster than they should be,” Peter notes coldly. “More aggressive.”
“Wonderful,” Silo grunts, hefting his hammer like it’ll do anything against something that could swallow the Flounder whole.
“Weapons online,” Arista says tightly.
“Fire at will,” Wake commands.
The warship shudders as we unleash everything we’ve got—Ether-charged cannons, magnetic railguns, compressed water torpedoes. The blasts rip into the first creature’s side, sending blooms of greenish ichor spiraling into the water.
It doesn’t even slow down.
The thing shrieks—a sound that makes my vision shake—and barrels toward us, its jagged fins slicing the water like blades.
“Evasive!” Wake barks, yanking the manual override.
The ship dips hard to port. Tai and Andreas, trailing behind, struggle to match the movement. Over the comm, I hear Andreas swearing creatively in at least three languages.
The second Elder Kin veers toward the Flounder.
“No,” I gasp. “No, no—”
“Tyler, get us linked to their comms,” Wake shouts. “Tell them to brace themselves!”
Tyler begins to shout into the radio receiver, not bothering to waste time pausing for an answer. Fortunately, it pays off. The Flounder’s shields spike just in time to deflect a swipe from the creature’s tail.
But the hit still sends the Flounder spinning.
“The Flounder’s taking damage,” Tyler calls out. “Minor for now, but the radio’s open.”
“We can hear you,” Tai's gravely voice echoes through the shared comms system. On the deck of the warship, the Nereid team cheers.
“Don’t let your guard down!” I shout.
The first Elder Kin lashes out with a tendril of flesh and bone, trying to snag us. Tyler jerks the controls, and I throw the orb into the ship’s main system, pushing every last drop of focus into it.
The warship responds—rolling, diving, twisting.
“This is going to be close,” Cora mutters.
We loop around the nearest thermal vent. The mutated whale is right behind us, its endless maw yawning wide enough to swallow the entire aft of the ship.
“Phoebe!” Wake shouts.
“I know!” I slam my hand against the command node, syncing deeper with the orb. The warship surges forward, dragging a trail of kinetic energy in our wake.
“Ty!” Wake barks into his own comm. “New plan. When I say now, boost your forward thrusters. Get clear!”
“Copy!” Tai yells back through the radio.
The mutated Elder Kin close in again, faster this time, cutting off angles, boxing us in.
Wake meets my eyes. “Ready?”
I nod, barely able to hold myself upright but fueled by sheer willpower.
“Now!” Wake roars at Tai and I.
The Flounder’s engines flare bright white, and it rockets up and out of the trap.
I yank the warship down, straight toward the seafloor.
For a horrifying second, it feels like we’re going to crash.
Then I shove the orb’s power into the forward drives, pulling up at the last second. We skim the trench’s edge, the hull vibrating from the force, and the two Elder Kin overshoot—momentarily tangled in their own pursuit path.
Tai and Malu don’t waste the opportunity.
They fire everything we’ve got.
The barrage slams into the first creature’s exposed underbelly. It spasms, screaming a sound that makes blood drip from my nose, but it’s enough—it flails away into the deep, wounded and confused.
The second charges in blind rage.
It’s bigger, faster, angrier.
But now we know its game.
The warship dives under the beast’s belly. Wake pulls a glowing lever and lets loose a magnetic implosion bomb. It clings to the creature’s flesh—and detonates.
A blast wave punches through the water.
The creature jerks violently, its body folding inward on itself like a collapsing star before it vanishes into the abyss below.
Silence crashes over us, deafening.
Everyone’s breathing hard, but alive.
The Flounder pulls alongside us again, stabilizing.
Peter slumps into his chair. “Some parting gift.”
“Yeah,” I rasp. My hands are shaking uncontrollably now.
Cora rushes over, steadying me.
Wake turns away from the console, strides across the deck, and lifts me into his arms without a word. His hold is fierce and grounding. I bury my face against his shoulder, feeling his heart hammer just as hard as mine.
“We’re clear,” Malu says, leaning heavily against the weapons console.
“For now,” Wake mutters.
I shudder in his arms, the last reserves of my energy draining away.
“Get us moving,” Cora says. “Straight east.”
“Aye,” Tyler says, snapping a tired salute.
As the warship pulls away from the wreckage of Shoal’s facility, Wake leans down, brushing his lips against my forehead.
“We’re never going back to that godsforsaken island, mate,” he murmurs. “I swear that on my life.”
I nod weakly, gripping his shirt.
On that, I wholeheartedly agree.
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