My shoulders are numb. But his hand slips off a rope, unable to hold onto the slick strands. “Come back here. You can hold onto me, and I’ll hold onto the ship.”
He nods. I press us into the slippery rope, winding my hands in more until they’re well and truly caught, painfully twisted but secure.
It’s a small reprieve, but not much. My hands burn already, my body trembling with the effort of keeping us both in place.
Swallowing, I taste dust and glass and nothing but dry air. What I wouldn’t give for Sol’s glare and a full canteen. My legs tremble with the effort of holding us both in place. “I’ll be fine to continue. Just a minute.”
I’m so cold. Leo squirms around in my embrace. His small face twists in worry. “You’re all wet, Selene.”
“Sweat.” I force a smile. “It’s a little warm.”
But it’s not. It’s so very, very cold. And I can’t stop trembling.
He touches a spot on my chest. “You’re hurt!”
It’s only then that I remember the wraith, and its claws.
“Oh,” I whisper. Leo’s lip wobbles, and he bites down, as if trying to hide it. He even tries to smile.
“You’re going to be okay,” he whispers. His hand strokes through my hair again. “Callan will find us. Or Rio. Maybe we’ll get to Asteria soon, and someone will see us.”
My heart breaks. Because the ship isn’t moving.
And my head feels so very heavy.
Chapter twenty-six
Callan
My hands slide off a slick section of the netting that criss-crosses the entire lower half ofVolatusand I swear, grabbing for the one below it as my body rocks and slams against the side of the ship. Blood collects at the back of my throat.
There is nothing. No sign. Not a single glimpse of them, even as I tug on the maegis, dragging more of the threads than I should asVolatushovers, not moving.
It’s been hours.
It’s dangerous to linger this long, not when my energy drains away with every second I spend out here. I’ll need to give everything to get us moving again. But I refuse to entertain the thought of moving on.
I will not leave them behind in this endless pit of darkness.
I press my forehead into the back of my hand, my breath gasping.
I thought I had lost her once before. Would have thought it impossible that she had survived. Gods, itshouldhave beenimpossible. Selene fell back into those churning waves, and the Asterian sea swallowed her up before it flipped and we lost every single person who remained on it.
I didn’t even know hername.
But she came back to— she cameback.And that has to mean something. The gods-damned hole that’s been ripped open in my chest has to mean something.
I refuse to stop looking, not until the maegis forces me to move on or lose them all. If she is here, somehow holding on, then I will find her. And I pray that she has somehow found Leo, even as my throat threatens to close at the impossibility.
I glance down at the open, endless night sky below my feet. Searching for any hint of hair crafted by moonlight; of a small head filled with tight, dark curls.
At first, I convince myself that it’s my imagination. Wishful thinking, and nothing more. Because Merrick was right. It would be impossible—
A thin, choked cry sounds.
My body locks into stillness. “Leo!”
My hands almost slip from the netting, slick with salt and sweat as I climb sideways as fast I can toward the bow ofVolatus, shouting his name and listening. My heartbeat is an echo in my ears, drowning everything out but the sound of him calling.
