And then, as if things couldn't get any weirder, a portal rips open above my head. But this one's different from the ones I've conjured. It's like a swirling energy vortex, shimmering and pulsing with an otherworldly light. I can't see what's on the other side, but I can feel it calling me, beckoning me to step through.
The pain ratchets up, and I scream again, my body writhing on the floor. It's like my insides are being liquefied and sucked out through a straw.
"Danica, what's wrong?"Rhyland's voice echoes through our bond. His concern is palpable even through the haze of agony. I can feel him trying to soothe me to counteract the pain that's ripping me apart.
"I—I don't k-know..."I manage to push through my mind, my words barely coherent through the pain.
The vortex swirls faster, the colors blending in a dizzying kaleidoscope. The pain is so intense now that I can barely stand, but somehow, I manage to stagger to my feet, swaying like a drunk after a three-day bender.
"There's a portal… I have to go."
"No! Danica, don't. Stay where you are."Rhyland's voice is desperate, pleading, but I can barely hear him over the roaring in my ears.
I know I should listen to him, that jumping through a mysterious portal while being held captive on a pirate ship is probably the dumbest thing I could do. But the pain is too much, the pull too intense. It's like the portal is calling to me, demanding that I step through, and I'm powerless to resist.
"I'm sorry…"
And then, before I can talk myself out of it, I jump, hurling myself into the swirling vortex of light and color.
"Danica!!"Rhyland's anguished scream is the last thing I hear before the world disappears in a blinding flash of white.
Rhyland
20
Gone—just…gone.
The second I feel Dani slip away, it's like a fucking piece of me is torn out, leaving a ragged, gaping hole where my heart used to be. I can't feel her anymore, can't hear her voice in my head, or sense her presence.
I let out a roar of pure, raw rage, the sound ripping from my throat like the snarl of a wounded beast. I have no goddamn clue where she is now, no fucking idea what realm or dimension she's been dragged to. It's just like in the Whispering Woods all over again when she was yanked away from me and hauled off to Atheria.
Is that where she is now? Has she been summoned there again, pulled across the veil by some unseen force?
But then, why was she in so much pain?
"Hold fast, ye mangy dogs! Keep her steady!"
Captain Gideon's shout cuts through my thoughts, dragging me back to the harsh reality of the present. I'm standing on the deck of Sterling's ship, my hands gripping the rough, salt-stained rope that runs along the vessel's side. The sky above is a roiling mass of black clouds, shot through with blinding lightning flashes. The wind screams like a banshee, whipping the sails and driving sheets of icy rain across the deck like damn needles.
But the real danger is the waves. They tower over the ship like goddamn mountains, massive walls of dark water that smash into us with the force of a fucking avalanche. Each impact sends shudders running through the deck beneath my feet, making the timbers groan and creak like they're about to splinter apart.
I'm drenched to the bone, my clothes plastered to my skin, my hair a matted mess—soaked. The taste of salt is heavy on my tongue, mixed with the coppery sting of blood where I've bitten my lip to shreds.
All around me, the crew is scrambling to keep this floating deathtrap from capsizing, their faces tight with fear and grim determination. They cling to the rigging like rats on a sinking ship, bellowing to each other as they fight to reef the sails and batten down the hatches.
"Secure those fucking lines, ye pox-ridden whoresons!" one of the mates roars, his voice barely audible over the shrieking wind. "Heave, damn yer hides! Heave like yer balls are on fire!"
But even as they fight and strain every muscle and sinew to keep the ship on course, I can see the terror in their eyes. They know, just like I fucking do, that this ain't no regular storm. This is the handiwork of that sea bitch, a twisted force of nature that wants nothing more than to suck us down to a watery grave.
As if to hammer that point home, a massive wave crashes over the bow, sending a wall of bone-chilling water slamming into the deck. I hear shrieks, the sound of men being swept overboard and dragged into the churning depths. One poor fucker goes cartwheeling past me, his eyes bulging with horror as he claws desperately for something to grab onto. But there ain't shit to hold, nothing to save him from the gnashing jaws of the sea. He vanishes beneath the waves; his scream is cut off like someone flipped a switch.
"Damn ye, ye black-hearted bitch!" Captain Sterling roars from his place at the helm, his face a mask of fury and defiance. "Ye'll not take me ship, d'ye hear? Ye'll not have me crew!"
He wrestles with the wheel, his muscles straining as he keeps the ship pointed into the wind. But it's a losing battle, and we all know it. The Sea Witch's power is too strong, and her hold over the elements is too powerful.
Another wave slams into the ship's side like a massive, watery fist, the impact shuddering through the deck and rattling my bones. I lose my grip on the salt-crusted rope, my fingers numb and clumsy from the biting cold. My feet slip and slide on the slick, pitching deck, scrabbling for purchase as the world tilts and heaves around me.
For a heart-stopping, gut-clenching moment, I'm certain I'm about to go over. I can see it in my mind's eye, can feel the icy, black waters closing over my head as the hungry depths swallow me whole. I'll sink like a stone, dragged down into the lightless abyss to join the bloated, fish-gnawed corpses of the poor sods who the sea has already claimed.
