I nodded in agreement, but my mind was blank. I imagined potion after potion in my parents’ grimoires, but nothing seemed to fit this situation. If I could concoct my own potions, I might have been able to do something. Surely I had the right ingredients for something useful, but I just did not have that talent. I was utterly useless for the moment.
Narcissa swung down between the crew and us, once more loosing a steady stream of fire. This time, the heatdiddeter the possessed. Of course. These ones had actual bodies, with nerves that could feel pain.
While the crew was distracted by the fire, I called to Narcissa, “My broom!”
“On it,” Narcissa said, darting into the cabin behind us. Thank the Gods my familiar had had the foresight to prompt me into crafting another one before this voyage.
I took a moment to reapply the slow-motion potion to Freya, as she was our biggest threat. I saw a scowl slowly creeping over her face, but I already had my broom in hand by the time it had fully formed.
I leapt on the broom, Auggie slipping on behind me. “They’re not after you,” I told Therese. “They’re after me and Auggie. It’ll probably be safer for you if you aren’t with us.”
Therese gulped, but nodded, frog eyes large and unblinking.
I caught Narcissa’s eye once more. “Keep her safe until we can reconvene.”
“Aye-aye,” my familiar agreed, loosing another barrage of flames before the crew.
I lifted into the air, Auggie wrapping his arms around my midsection.
“But where can we go?” he asked. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. Land is still days away.”
“I just need a temporary reprieve. To think a moment.” I swung the broom around the back of the ship and up into the air, getting an aerial view of the scene below.
Auggie clung harder to me and buried his face in my back.
I chuckled. “Enjoying yourself?”
“Not even a tiny bit! Have I mentioned how much I hate flying?”
“Come now. What sort of attitude is that? Life with me is exciting!”
“I would say it’s dangerous. Very, very dangerous. I’ve never been so close to death so very many times.”
I laughed as I brought us down and around theKoriko, landing on the pirate’s own ship. It creaked and groaned all around us, and I reminded myself that this was a temporary moment of solace, that Ambrosia was controlling the dead wood of this ship and could very well use it against us somehow.
But where was the necromancer? She had to be nearby. Freya said she had to be within a half kilometer of her subjects to control them when she was outside of her domain. And if I could take out the source of the pirate ghosts and Freya’s possession, I could end all of this. I only had to knock the witch out again.
I frowned and turned in a circle. There were so many holes in the skeletal ship that I could see straight through the rotting deck into the cargo holds and into the cabins that remained standing. There was nowhere aboard she could be hiding. But she couldn’t have been on theKorikothis whole time. So where … ?
My eyes sank to the ocean.
Of course. She was in the water. Very clever. She probably thought she would be safe from us there. And she could very well be right.
“Stay here,” I told Auggie.
Auggie’s eyes bulged, and he grabbed my arm. “You’re leaving me alone? Here?!”
“I’ll be back,” I told him. “Promise.” I kissed him on the cheek. “But it’s nice to know that you’ll miss me.”
“Only because I need you.” He crossed his arms. “Not like that. I mean, for survival.”
“I understand completely. You can’t live without me. I’ve heard it many times before.”
“That’s not what—”
I winked at him, then hopped on my broom. I took a circuitous tour around the ships, eyeing the water. Narcissa appeared to have things under control on theKoriko, having all but surrounded the crew with flames. That was good. One less thing to worry about.
I squinted, my eyes sharper than normal with the potion I’d taken earlier so that I could see farther into the water. And that was how I spotted the dome. It seemed to be fashioned of bone and was being ferried by a school of sharks.
