Tugging off the Ring, she slapped it in his hand.
It began to glow and heat in his palm. Excitement soaring through him, he slipped it on his finger and held up his hand. “I command a large funnel to appear in the sea near theSummonsand draw the ship down to the depths!”
b
With the immediate danger abated, Emeline pushed from the quarterdeck and moved to the starboard railing. Indeed, Della Morte’s ship, with a considerable list to larboard, appeared to be drifting helplessly under the tattered ribbons of the mainmast. Smoke still spewed from her stern.
On the foredeck, Charlie and her gun crew cleaned and prepared the guns for more shots if needed. Topmen remained above, adjusting sail per Layton’s and Finn’s orders, while Blake strode across the ship, inspecting damage and giving further commands for sails to be raised and a course set for theGuerrieri Della Croce.
So, hedidintend to board her. Foolish man.
As if Bandit sensed the end of danger, the monkey emerged from an open hatch and scrambled to perch in the ratlines beside Emeline. She found herself wishing she could understand his excited jabbering, but he merely frowned at her and climbed higher. It seemed he knew something important she didn’t. Or perhaps shedidknow. She definitely sensed something, an evil that permeated the air around her, the sea beneath her, and sent a shiver prickling down her spine.
A black circle appeared on the water nigh twenty yards from theSummons. At first, she thought ’twas merely a shadow from a cloud, but no large clouds passed overhead. She would have paid it no mind, except it grew larger and larger, expanding over the sea like a fountain of oil bubbling up from the deep.
Bandit screeched from the tops.
The circle began to spin, slowly at first, but increasing in both speed and size, until a hole appeared in the center. A funnel! Blood raced from her heart. She gripped her throat, unable to breathe, unable to think. ’Twas just like her dream, the one in which Blake had been sucked down into a hole in the bay.
“Blake!” she shouted just as a pirate from above yelled, “Avast, over the starboard side!”
Blake, along with Finn and Layton, appeared by her side in seconds.
Finn scratched beneath his bandana. “Son o’ a seadog, what be that?”
“It be the devil’s work.” Layton’s voice edged in terror as he backed away from the railing.
“Cap’n!” Charlie pointed to the growing funnel. “We’ll be drawn to the depths.”
Pedro gaped at the sight, wide-eyed, as did most of the crew.
Pushing from the railing, Blake issued order after order to hoist all sails and make a hard turn to larboard.
But the edges of the funnel had already reached theSummons, yanking it into the current. Still Blake continued his commands, and his men soon had all canvas set to the wind, ready for a turn that would propel them out of the funnel’s force.
“Hard alee!” he shouted to Rummy, and the one-armed helmsman threw his body into it and cranked the wheel as hard and fast as he could.
The pull of the funnel was too strong. Like the mighty arm of a giant, it wrenched the brig off its course. Against all power of wind, wave, and rudder, theSummonsbegan circling the dark hole, wide at first, then growing closer and closer with each revolution.
Numb with fear, Emeline could hardly gather a thought.Why are you allowing this, Lord?’Twas just like her dream. Yet in that dream, she had awoken before she’d saved Blake. Had that been an omen of this disaster to come? Or of her failure to save those she loved?
Blake appeared beside her and clutched the railing as the brig spun to larboard. “Is this from the Ring?” His tone was spiked with defeat.
“Aye. It must be.”
“Then we are doomed. There is no power greater than the Ring.”
No power greater? TheSummonstook another turn around the funnel, tilting the deck more violently this time. Emeline gripped the railing, feeling the sea spray on her fingers. Of course there was a power greater than the Ring! A power greater than everything. But who was she to wield such power? Naught but a timid girl ruled by her selfish dreams and emotions.
You are My little warrior.
She shook off the ludicrous thought. Charlie appeared on her left and cast her a look of fear? Nay. A look of resignation, emptiness, loss. Yet, if Emeline had even half of the woman’s courage and confidence…
Pedro squeezed between them and gripped Emeline’s hand, his bottom lip quivering. “Are we to die, Miss?”
The poor lad. Like Emeline, he compared himself with others and always found himself lacking. Hadn’t she told him more than once that God didn’t make refuse? That everyone had God-given talents and purpose?
’Twas time she believed that about herself. Hadn’t God granted her the gift of knowledge? Hadn’t God, through her faith, delivered Blake from whatever evil spell Jo had cast upon him? But this? She stared out over the swirling sea, moving faster now, spinning theSummonsas if it were but a toy, round and round into a dark hole that grew deeper by the minute. If only her father were here, her mother and siblings! They would know what to do, how to defeat this evil.
