Page 96 of Damned and Broken Gods
“You might have to do it now.”
She exhaled and nodded. “Take the wheel. I’ll speak to Vick.”
Navigation had been Vick’s job the last time he’d done a sea test, a job that he felt he’d failed at. This was his second chance, and now we were about to take it away from him.
My heart sank as Priti crossed the deck and climbed up onto the bow to chat with him. A breeze picked up their words and carried them away from me. Priti smiled, softening whatever she was saying, tucking errant tendrils of hair behind her ear.
Vick’s smile turned into a frown.
He handed her something. It caught the light. The compass. Priti took it, tapped it, then held it out to him and pointed at the map.
He shook his head, his shoulders slumping, then handed the map to Priti and walked away to stand portside, his head in his hands.
Priti studied the map for several beats before coming back to the wheel to join me.
“We are seriously off course,” she said, smoothing the map out across the wheel in front of me. “This is where we are meantto be.” She pointed to a spot on the map where several islands clustered together. “But here is where we are.” East of those islands, far east in an area that was colored red.
“Um…why is that a red zone?”
She shrugged. “No idea.”
Red meant danger. Goosebumps pricked at my skin. “Okay, so we turn around.”
Priti nodded, solemn. “Yeah. I’ll get to work on the sails.”
“No, I need you to navigate. Vick! Sails!”
He straightened quickly, blinking rapidly and wiping at his eyes. I wanted to hug him and tell him it was okay, but that would have to wait till we got out of?—
The ship rocked suddenly, knocking me out of my thoughts. Up ahead, the waters began to churn.
“What the fuck?”
“Leela, turn the ship around. Now!” Araz yelled.
My gut twinged as I twisted the wheel, but it wouldn’t budge. “Araz, it’s stuck!”
Araz took the wheel, and I stepped aside as he strained to turn it, biceps bulging with the effort, but it refused to move.
On the deck, Keyton yanked at the ropes to get the sail to shift. The material snapped and billowed, fighting the sudden rise in wind that refused to release them.
“Something’s coming!” Vick shouted, pointing out to sea.
I followed his gaze to where the water bubbled as if something epic was attempting to rise from beneath. The sky darkened, clouds rushing forward to cover us, and the sky roared.
Araz wrapped his arm around my shoulder, drawing me against him as the ship rocked. Sea spray hit us in the face as Rajnanga raised his head. Alert. Awake. Dripping with sea foam.
“What’s happening?” Priti yelled.
Araz and I fell back as Rajnanga shot forward, a sonic scream emanating from his mouth.
The water ahead erupted, and a serpent emerged—milky white eyes and finlike spines trailing down its head and back. My stomach tightened, and my breath snagged in my throat.
Its head had to be five feet wide.
Rajnanga attacked, snapping and screaming.
The serpent dodged.
