Page 27 of Hijack the Seas: Tsunami

But the illusion should cover that fact.And at least this way, I could see my own feet, which meant that maybe I could walk straight.I hoped so, although if I fell over, maybe everyone would just assume I was drunk since that seemed to be the case for most of the—

I looked up and saw everyone still staring at me.

“Alphonse doesn’t know any kind of magic, and he’s doing fine!”I said defensively.

“Alphonse is avampire,” Zara said.

“So?”

“So theyaredark magic, personified—”

“Are not!”Alphonse and I said simultaneously.

That won us a raised eyebrow and a glance to where Alphonse’s empties littered the ground around his feet.“Youeat peopleto stay alive,” Zara pointed out.“You literally absorb their life essence to sustain you.And the definition of dark magic—”

“Fine,” Alphonse said, brushing it away.“If you want to get technical about it.But what about Cassie?”

“We should have left her with the fey,” the skinny old bird I’d decided to name Gray Curls said.Her tight cap of old lady hair was currently hidden under a bald pate, pop-eyed face, and scraggly beard, but the voice was the same, and it didn’t approve.

“They can’t use black magic, either,” Butch Cut pointed out.“That’s why they had to stay behind.”

I frowned at her.She was wearing a tall, lanky number with long, dirty dreads that reminded me of one of the tube men outside of car dealerships because she kept leaning too far this way and that, as the top third of her body wasn’t real.But nobody was telling her to go back!

“The fey stayed because those damned hyenas would sniff them out in a heartbeat,” I snapped.

“And you think they won’t sniff us?”Alphonse asked as something howled in the distance.“Damn, this place is creepy,” said the vampire.

“Well, maybe if you’d stop eating people!”

“Can I point out that I had no choice, thanks to you?”

I decided to ignore that, as I didn’t have a good reply.“Bodil can’t be sure of reaching anyone else,” I said instead.

That had been my main argument earlier.The fey couldn’t do dark magic and so couldn’t use the cloaks, and we didn’t have any more anyway.And between that and them glowing like light bulbs in the dark, they’d had to be left behind.

Needless to say, they hadn’t been happy about that, especially Æsubrand, who had acted as if I was abandoning him in one of the lower pits of hell.But even he had finally agreed that having us scout ahead, find a way into HQ, clear it of hostiles, and open a path for them would improve their odds considerably.They were waiting for me to notify Bodil, who had gotten a good link with my mind from all the eavesdropping she’d been doing, and Enid, who would hopefully be able to hide them on the way to join us as soon as I gave the all-clear.

Which might be a while if we kept standing here!

“So the fey witch said,” Topknot muttered.

“How do we know Bodil wouldn’t lie for you?”Purple Hair agreed.

“She doesn’t even like me!”I pointed out testily.

“Imagine that,” somebody commented.I didn’t see who, but let’s face it, it could have been any of them.

“And Pritkin won’t listen to anyone but me,” I added, while not being sure that he would.One minute, he was lecturing me about how we needed to get away, and the next, he was running off to save Caleb.Of course, if this damned spell would stop cackling in my ear like a drunken witch, maybe I could figure it out!

I hit my ear a few times, but it didn’t help.

“What’s she doing now?”Topknot whispered.

“Like I know?”Gray Curls said.“We should send her back!”

“I’m not going back!”I snarled.“I’ll stay behind the rest of you.I’m short now, it’s dark, and everybody is drunk off their balls.It’ll be fine.”

“Famous last words,” Zara said.

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