Page 98 of Night's Reckoning
Why?He felt his lips form the words.
Her eyes were resolute. She mouthed,I’m sorry.
Johari lifted the sword case and swam away, leaving Ben in the darkness. Leaving him unable to move, drifting in a growing cloud of his own blood.
Would the sharks come?
Would the vampires?
“Ben!”
He let the tears come to his eyes, and he was grateful to feel their heat in the dark, cold water.
Tenzin.
* * *
She wokefrom her meditation with a rapid burst of three heartbeats.
She sat straight up. “Benjamin.”
She was stripped down to a pair of short leggings and a black tank top. It was too hot for anything else. She heard distant footsteps and the sound of panting.
Someone beat on her door and screamed, “Tenzin, you have to comenow!”
The Italian girl.
Benjamin.
Tenzin didn’t waste time with the door. She flew up and forced the forward-hold doors open with a punch of wind. She flew straight up and over the ship, immediately scenting his blood and flying straight for it.
No.
No. No. NO.
This. Would not. Happen.
Cheng was carrying him across the deck. “Get back! And get Tenzin right now!”
She saw it in the deck lights. The sword pierced his back, running straight through his spine to his belly. His limbs were limp and motionless, encased in the black diving suit he wore underwater. She could hear his heart beating.
Cheng laid him on his side, and crew members crowded around him. The ship’s medic was running toward them with a white bag while two humans ran, carrying a stretcher behind them.
Tenzin landed in a crouch next to Ben and snarled at the humans. “Get. Back.”
Cheng gently removed the mask. “His tank was still working. He’s still breathing. He didn’t run out of air. I smelled the blood as soon as I got in the water and swam straight for him.”
Ben was pale, but his eyes were open.
The corner of his mouth turned up. “Hey, Tiny.”
25
Ben was drifting in and out of consciousness as Cheng and Tenzin fought.
“I’m calling the helicopter.”
“They won’t be able to fix him.”
