“Deep breath, hands clasped,” he repeated.
Together, we ran through the pattern of runes, me struggling with two hands, him condescending with one.
“And again.”
We repeated the pattern once, twice, three times with no result. Not even a spark, save for the glowing runes on my skin.
“My fingers don’t work.” I sighed, my shoulders sagging. “They were shredded in the battle.”
“You may need to say the incant,” he said. “Do you know the fullCarmen Lumiere?”
“I read it once,” I said, omittingin my mother’s rune sheets when I was five.
“Say it while you run the pattern. Concentrate.”
So I did. Didn’t even question how I remembered. Just repeated the words. Again and again and again. There was no light, but in truth, now the scars were dancing like fire racing along a wick of powder. I snarled through the incantation, spat it out, my sorry fingers weaving awkward patterns in the dark, but there simply was no light.
“Told you,” he said, a smirk turning up the edges of his mouth.
“No,” I said. I could do this. “I just need to—”
“Go below and get some sleep,” he said, his brown eyes laced with pity. “Hodgetown won’t be kind to you.”
“No!”
With a roar, I clapped my hands together, and suddenly, I was nearly blown off my feet. Light exploded onto the bowsprit, and patterns beamed in all directions across the sea.
I heard the shouts of the crew as they scrambled to their posts. My heart was racing, my pulse roaring in my ears as pain radiated down my arms. Light spilled from my palms, danced like music across the waves. I forced myself to stay on my feet, but I wanted to crawl back to the fife rail and the peacoat and the shadows.
Aro’el, whispered a voice in my head.
“Forge be damned,” said Fahr. “Your arms.”
The same patterns that had danced across the waters danced toward my elbows. Different runes than before, though.Carmen Lumiere.Fingers and palms the brightest, but now up my wrists, pulsing and fading with chimeric runes.
Then, just as suddenly, the patterns sputtered out. The sea was dark once again.
I took several deep breaths, fighting to stay on my feet as the pain ebbed and numbness silenced my hands.
“Well,” said Fahr. “My bets weren’t on that. Fold your hands, and I’ll square you one last rum.”
I was too overwhelmed to speak. My fingers shook as I slid the gloves back over those incomprehensible hands.
As we headed toward the hatch to the lower decks, I tried to ignore the stares of the rest of the Dog Watch. I caught whispers of “runechaser,” but I couldn’t even muster the fury. Echo and Smoke appeared from below, likely drawn by the strange burst of light, and I wondered who had been winning. Certainly not me. Never me. Even on a ship comprised of rebels and misfits, I didn’t belong.
Behind me, a bell rang and everyone froze.
It rang again, a tooth-cracking alarm that echoed over the waters and set pulses to race. We were a nation at war. We all knew what it meant.
“Hands,” cried Fahr. “All hands to the post!”
Above us, the foremast thundered as the sails unfurled, and I turned, narrowing my eyes to scry the waters.
In the distance, the skies were burning.
4. Thrum, Call, and Torrent
The bell sounded again.
