They continued to watch the progress of the ship in companionable silence, broken only by the occasional observation of the sea life around them or one of Kai’s mischievous childhood stories. The way he told the stories, he had been quite a handful.
They laughed easily, and Hollyn couldn’t help but notice Kai’s continued touches that made her skin tingle each time his fingers brushed over her, he placed a hand at her lower back, or he grabbed her hand.
At one point, they began to laugh at a particular story in which Kai brought home a stray dog, one before Otis, and attempted to hide it from his parents for two whole days before they figured it out.
Yet, when the bulkhead door slammed open and Akamu came flying around toward them, they sobered up quickly.
Akamu shouted loudly, “We have to get off this boat! Right! Now!”
Without stopping, he dove over the side of the ship’s railing.
Hollyn leaned over the rail as Akamu resurfaced and waved them toward him. One quick glance in all directions told Hollyn everything she needed to know. There was no land. She was not getting off this ship without a viable option other than swimming in open ocean.
Kai took a quick look up at the bridge before he called down to Akamu below. “What’s the urgency?”
Akamu looked perturbed as they continued to ignore his command.
“This ship isn’t sailing to Hanupali City. It’s taking us toward the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”
Hollyn called down, “What the hell is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?”
Kai raised his hand and pointed out in front of them. “That is.”
Hollyn’s gaze lifted toward the horizon where a large round, flat island loomed in the distance.
“Looks like land.”
“It’s not. It’s a large, spinning vortex of discarded plastic and other trash floating in the Pacific. I’ve flown over it in my plane before.” Kai explained.
“Why would they take us there?”
But before Akamu could answer, Hollyn cried out as a tight hand grabbed her upper arm and spun her around. Hank wrapped his arms around her from behind and held on tightly as Matty crouched low in a fighting position when Kai turned toward the commotion. As Hollyn fought against Hank’s hold on her, Matty swung at Kai and connected with his chin, knockingKai’s face sideways before he recovered. Kai reacted quickly and stepped in with a jab that smashed into Matty’s nose. Kai followed the hit quickly with a punch to Matty’s gut.
Hollyn couldn’t seem to break free, but she stomped her heel onto Hank’s toes. His grip loosened for a moment, long enough for Hollyn to drop to the deck and roll away from the fight. She sat up and watched in horror as Hank abandoned her and went after Kai with his buddy. Now, Kai was fighting two men instead of one.
But she watched, fascinated, as Hank swung a wide punch that Kai caught in his hand. Then, he used the captured hand to hit Matty, who was moving toward him with his fist drawn back. He never got to throw his punch because as soon as Hank’s hand connected, the deckhand went down to the planks. In quick succession, Kai flipped Hank’s wrist that he still held and twisted it until the man went to his knees and cried out in pain.
Hollyn stood up, but once again, she was grabbed from behind. This time, though, she felt the cool steel of a knife’s blade against her neck and the hard body of who she thought was likely the captain behind her.
Her guess was confirmed when he said, “That’s enough. Let my man go, and I won’t hurt the woman.”
Kai froze, his eyes wide as he took in the scene of Hollyn in the captain’s grip. Then, they narrowed as anger filled his face. “If we’re scratching backs, you let her go first.”
The captain gave a low, humorless laugh. “I think we might be at an impasse. You see, I have a job to finish—one that ends with you at the bottom of that vortex. Now, my wife will kill me if I let you take her favorite nephew with you, but I’d rather face her than the leviathan living beneath all that trash.”
Hollyn wasn’t satisfied with just knowing the what he was going to do to them. She needed to know why.
“Did my father send you?” Part of her hoped her abilities kicked in and made this guy putty in her hands.
But she knew he could resist her when he responded without issue. “Your father? No. I can’t say that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him. I don’t visit the surface very often.”
Kai’s lip curled with a look of disgust as he asked, “Then, who sent you?”
“I am doing the bidding of my king. The King of Hanupali City, Makoa, your half-sister’s husband. He would love nothing more than to see you take your final breath.”
Suddenly, the boat jerked as if it had hit something solid. The captain’s face broke into a grin. “It’s too late to save yourselves now. Let’s make a trade. You can have this lovely morsel, and you toss over my nephew.”
“Don’t do it. He’ll kill us both.” Hollyn knew their only chance was to keep their leverage.
