Rebel in the Deep

chapter 1

Nox

Some days, I have to actually do my job. Those tend to be the bad days. The ones filled with violence and blood and a sorrow so thick, the entire crew can taste it on the air.

Today is shaping up to be a bad day.

"Hold it, Bowen," I snap. "If one of those tentacles makes it through your shield, we're in trouble."

"I am holding it," the man at my side grits out. He's easily a head and shoulders taller than me and twice as large, the muscles in his arms standing out in stark relief. He appears to be holding air, but it's just a physical representation of what his magic is doing.

Mainly: protecting my damn ship.

Another tentacle arches out of the sea and slaps down on the invisible barrier of Bowen's shield. Even with his deep well of power, he can't keep this up forever. Not when our primary shield already failed, which isn't something that's happened in the weeks since Evelyn has been aboard.

The woman herself crouches behind us, frantically trying to remake the circle that will re-create the shield. When I dare a glance at her, she's looking shaky and paler than normal, her skin waxen. She meets my gaze, green eyes wide. "Is it the kraken?"

"No. Krakens can be reasoned with. Everyone!" I lift my voice, injecting a boom that will make my crew snap to action. "Attack the tentacles. Bowen, drop the shield when I go over."

"Are you out of your fucking mind, Nox?"

It's not the first time I've been asked this. It won't be the last. I shrug out of my coat and drop it onto the deck next to me. If I've learned one thing, it's that when in doubt, it's best to brazen your way through. I don't have the same scale of power that Bowen does, but I have enough. "I would prefer a peaceful resolution, but this beastie isn't cooperating. I'll get it to the surface. You rip it to shreds."

His dark brows draw together. "How are you-"

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to, darling." I yank off my boots-even with magic, they're a pain to get salt water out of-and step onto the railing. "If I die tragically, remember me fondly."

"Nox, damn you!"

I dive over the edge before he can finish berating me. Bowen's got a paladin's sense of honor-which means he's a stick-in-the-mud-and he's always been reluctant to admit that sometimes it takes breaking the rules to come out on top. Since coming out on top of this current conflict means my crew lives and my ship stays intact, there's no room for negotiation.

The water welcomes me like an old friend, my magic rising beneath my skin in response to my intent. It's difficult to see with the beastie churning through the depths, bubbles and tentacles everywhere. That's fine. I've worked in worse conditions.

I pull a small funnel of air down to meet me and enclose my head, allowing me to breathe, and then cut down through the depths, propelled along by my water magic through the small hole Bowen opened in his shield for me. Most people have access to only one element, but I've never been like most people. I can wield all four.

The thing has twice as many tentacles as a kraken and is half as smart. Maybe not even that much. It completely ignores me weaving around its body in favor of trying to eat my ship.

Not today, darling.

I dip between two massive tentacles and stop short at the sight of its massive mouth. A mouth, not a beak, as if I needed further confirmation. Krakens can be reasoned with. If they grow to ship-killer size, they're old enough to know when faced with a fight they can't win. They prefer easier prey than humans anyway. There is plenty to hunt in the cold, dark depths that won't rip you to shreds.

I'm still a sap, though; instead of immediately attacking, I project my voice through the water toward it. "Stop attacking my ship!"

I already know it won't work, but it gets the beastie's attention on me. It opens its mouth wide, exposing row after row of razor-sharp teeth nearly as tall as I am.

Okay, then.

I shove my hands forward, propelling air from the funnel and into its mouth. More and more and more, the force of it preventing the beastie from shutting me out. "Too late, darling." My body shakes from the energy drain, but we're not done yet.

The air fills it like a balloon, sending it toward the surface even as it keeps trying to eat me. It can't seem to figure out why the distance between us is increasing, which further proves that it's pure animal-if one of a truly monstrous size. It doesn't mean it deserves to die simply for existing, but it's eaten four trade ships in the last four weeks and shows no sign of slowing down.

It swipes a tentacle at me, and I have to take the hit because all my magic is devoted into propelling it upward and keeping enough air around my mouth and nose so I don't drown.

It's like someone dropping a ship on me. The tip of the tentacle is thicker around than I am. It slaps me hard enough that I see stars. I lose my grip on the magic bringing air to me-but not the air to the beastie.

The Cŵn Annwn are the biggest monsters in Threshold, the realm that connects all realms in existence, but occasionally one of the beasties wreaking havoc does need to be put down. It's always tragic, but again, that's my ship and my crew and my world. I'm not going to let a beastie keep eating people.

One final desperate burst of power overloads its natural weight and creates enough buoyancy to send its form surging to the surface. My body shakes as I keep it going up and up and up. I can tell the moment Bowen's power takes hold. The weight against my magic disappears.

I exhale slowly and start swimming. I'm far enough from the surface that I have to be intentional about my ascent. Deep pressure does a world of damage to the human body if not managed correctly.

By the time I shoot from the surface and use the water to propel me back on board, it's raining blood.

"Bowen!" Evelyn crouches on the deck with her hands over her head. "Did you have to literally rip it apart?"

Bowen looks a little woozy, which is worrisome in a man that large. "Sit down before you fall down." I nudge him with my fingertips, and he stumbles a few steps to sink to his knees next to Evelyn.

The rest of the crew is looking just as dazed. We've fought mermaids and other ships and all sorts of creatures we can't talk down, but I've never seen the Audacity covered in this much blood. It matches our crimson sails. In fact, I'm the only one who isn't red and covered in gore.

Well, I'm captain for a reason. It falls on me to snap everyone back to reality. I spread my arms and slowly circle. "Well done, chaps. Callen. Gable." I snap my fingers at the two, who straighten to attention when I name them. "Get the deck cleaned up as much as you're able. The rest of you, see what we can harvest of the beast. Evelyn will get shower schedules set up."

We might have the magic of indoor plumbing in the pocket dimension inside the ship, but the resources aren't infinite. We'll have to make port soon so I can refill our freshwater stores.

I turn to find my quartermaster, Poet, holding my coat. It wasn't spared from the carnage, now several shades darker than its usual crimson and dripping the same gore covering everyone else. I sigh. "Well, it was about time for a new coat anyway."

Poet shakes her head, her long dark hair flinging blood. She's a tall woman with light brown skin and a thick body that means she can carry three barrels to every one of mine. "You don't need an excuse to add to your wardrobe."

She's not wrong. I grin. "It's true, but this excuse is better than most."

"I suppose it is." She neatly sidesteps a surge of water Gable guides across the deck, concentration on zir face. Callen is next, slightly overlapping with zir path.

I glance over to where Evelyn is tugging Bowen to his feet. It looks absurd for the big man to be leaning on his short, curvy woman, but she's stronger than she appears. She keeps them both on their feet. "Before I get the shower situation figured out, I need to help Bowen," Evelyn says.

"I'm fine," he murmurs. Except his dark eyes aren't quite focusing.

"You're really not," she says tartly. She doesn't look much steadier on her feet, but Evelyn would have to be dead to not run her mouth. It's what I like about her. She frowns at me. "You look terrible, too."

I'm not about to admit that I'm fighting to avoid weaving on my feet. I can channel more magic than most elemental users, but even I have limits. All of us reached them today.

But I'm the captain, and the captain can't show weakness.

I dredge up a roguish grin. "Keep talking sweet to me, and I'm going to have to challenge Bowen for your heart."

She rolls her eyes and Bowen mutters under his breath as she turns them toward the hatch leading belowdecks. Poet snorts. "You done playing hero? You need to be looked over."

"I'm fine." It's more or less the truth. My ribs ache, but my breathing is uninterrupted so nothing's horrifically broken. "Save Orchid's tender ministrations for those who actually need it." Our healer is a miracle worker, and he believes in the cause. We might all be serving the same purpose-to undermine the Cŵn Annwn and help the people and creatures who end up in Threshold by accidentally wandering through the wrong portal.

Poet sighs. "You'd tell me if you weren't."

"Of course I would," I lie. I want nothing more than to peel out of my wet shirt, but I suspect if I do so, Poet will come down with the vapors. There's sure to be a rainbow of bruises across my body. It's fine. I heal faster than most people.

The sea around the Audacity is red and chunky. Bowen might have been a captain at one point, but he's extremely good at following orders. Good enough that there's only carnage left of the beastie. I fight down a shudder.

This is Threshold and I sail under the banner of the Cŵn Annwn, for all that I find their policies loathsome. Each of their captains is a bigger monster than the next. It means I'm a monster-and Bowen, too. It's natural to wonder which of us would walk away if it came to a fight.

His telekinetic power is fearsome, but he's still human. He needs to breathe. The question is whether I could suffocate him before he tore me to pieces . . .

Cheery thoughts.

I motion to Poet. "Let's wrap this up. I hate the smell of gore."

A few months back, half the crew was killed in a hostile takeover-mine, notably-and we still haven't filled out our numbers. Even so, it only takes an hour before we're moving, cutting away from the frothing waters. The blood has summoned other predators, but they aren't our business.

I make the rounds, talking to my people, checking in, until I circle back to where Eyal stands at the helm. He's a tall, lean man with cool dark brown skin and blue locs-or he is normally; currently, he's the same shade as our sails.

Which means it'll be a bit longer before I can change out of these clothes. "You're going to undo all of Gable and Callen's hard work by dripping all over the newly clean deck. Go shower."

"Won't be time for that."

I narrow my eyes. "What are you on about?"

"We have company." He points, and I follow the motion to the horizon. I don't see anything, but that doesn't mean much. Eyal's got better eyes than most.

This day just got exponentially longer. "Trouble?"

"Hard to say." He squints. "Smaller vessel. White sails."

White sails don't mean much-the only ships that fly crimson sails are Cŵn Annwn warships. We're on the trading route between Drash and Three Sisters, so it might be a trader. Or smugglers. Neither fall within our purview.

Still, there's no reason to be foolish. I raise my voice. "Everyone, on alert. It's time to meet some new friends."

chapter 2

Nox

A thread of unease goes through me as we get close enough to pick out the details of the ship. It's easy enough because they're heading directly for the Audacity. They aren't attempting to pretend to do anything else.

"Orders?" Poet murmurs. She stands at my right shoulder.

I'm tired and itchy from the salt water drying on my skin, and I want nothing more than to get this over with, but that's just my impulsiveness talking. I know better than to listen to that voice. "Let's give them a nice warm welcome . . . at least until we know what they want."

Almost as soon as the words leave my lips, Gable yells from the bow. "It's Lizzie!"

"Lizzie?" I can't stop my shock. I thought for certain we'd seen the last of that murderous vampire. She ran off with Maeve ages ago. I fully expected her to find Maeve's stolen skin, retrieve her stolen family heirlooms, and then take a portal back to her world, never to return. She shouldn't be here.

Except she is. She stands at the bow of the small ship, her long dark hair trailing behind her in the wind of their passing. She's just as beautiful as the last time I saw her, but there's something looser in her body language. Interesting.

A second person joins her, and I stop thinking about the vampire altogether. Because I know this person, this woman. I know that tall frame and those broad shoulders, that tanned skin and handsome face.

Siobhan.

"Fuck," I breathe.

I haven't seen Siobhan in years. There was a time when she sailed more freely about, using her charm and smarts to convince more people to join the rebellion. But as our numbers increased, it became necessary to remove herself a bit, to protect herself. So she essentially went into hiding.

She should still be in hiding.

The fact that she's not is more than a little worrisome. I glance at Eyal. "Bring us close."