“All hands on deck!” Captain Jerome shouted so loud the entire crew could hear him. Twenty-odd men appeared seemingly out of the mist, some rubbing sleep out of their eyes.

  On the horizon, the sun was threatening to break. Green and yellow clouds lit the sky like water painted brush strokes. The bright, starry sky disappeared behind dark shades of morning blue. But even the sky above was hidden behind dense mist.

  Captain Jerome marched along the deck like an admiral at war.

  “I have information that an unwanted company may be inbound. Some of you are untested in battle. That’s alright. With luck, this mist will hide us and we’ll pass by unseen. But if they see us, everyone needs to understand: they cannot be reasoned with. They’ll want our ship’s battery crystal. They won’t damage the ship, but they will kill everyone, unless we kill them first. It’s them or us. This is not the time for moral second-guessing. Grab a weapon. Aim to kill.

  “In the meantime, feel free to hope and pray they don’t see us. Ready yourselves and return to your stations.”

  Most of the crew wandered off in varying states of bewilderment. A few hung back. One skinny man with patchy facial hair and a yellow cap asked, “This information, it comes from the stowaways?”

  Captain Jerome frowned. “Let’s get something clear: those folks are our guests, and they paid handsomely for their fare. Half the foodstuffs below were traded using their commission. You like the honey and the hibiscus tea, don’t you? Where do you think that shit came from? So let’s not be inhospitable.”

  Frustrated, the skinny man asked, “So no one’s gonna state the obvious? There’s something weird about those three. It’s plain as day. I don’t trust them.”

  “Well, Kevan, who you trust is your prerogative; the way I trust you to follow orders and grab a weapon. If their information is incorrect, then nothing happens, and you’ll be free to gloat. Is that all?”

  Kevan scoffed, deflated. He crossed his arms and glared at the three travellers, politely minding their own business on the other side of the ship.

  -8-

  It was almost daybreak, so Lyn reluctantly retreated below deck.

  Plenty was still softly singing the mist to rise from the ocean’s surface, shrouding the Floating Library, and surely saving everyone’s life in the process.

  Hinata watched him with admiration and pride.

  Damn, he was handsome. His dark braids had been artfully woven up into a tidy knot. Veins on his forehead swelled as he focused his voice and magic. His brown cheeks flushed red as his song crescendoed. He was muscular and round. What a man.

  Protecting everyone, he was taking a terrible risk. Standing next to him, Hinata felt inspired and restless, fidgeting with the chains on her back. She had replaced the fishhooks with combat weights, heavy enough to cave in a man’s skull. Anyone trying to hurt Plenty would have to get through Hinata first.

  She felt anxiety and rage consume her thoughts, so she took a deep breath and focused on her sensory surroundings, concentrating on the polished wooden grain of the rail beneath her fingers, the sounds of the ocean waves, and the feel of the cool breeze on her skin. She smelled ocean salt in the air.

  There was nothing to do but wait.

  All day, Danielle drove blindly through dense mist.

  Plenty sang nonstop. The sun rose to dominate the sky, but as it slowly descended, Plenty’s voice grew hoarse. The mist, which had filled the air like a thick cloud, became thin, and off in the distance, a pirate vessel changed direction.

  From the birdnest, a crewmate shouted to everyone below, “Pirates behind us!”

  The mist had worked, at least in part. The Floating Library had snuck passed them undetected, but now the pirate ship was moving at top speed to catch up.

  Damn it!

  “You need to go below,” Hinata told Plenty.

  He looked exhausted and offended. “I’m not hiding below while you fight for all our lives!” His voice was hoarse.

  Hinata put on her best ‘Morgan’ impersonation: acting regal and commanding, “You’ve risked your life already. Besides, we’ll need your magic to heal the wounded. Don’t argue, just go below. If you can rest, do it now.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Plenty stormed off, refusing to admit she was right.

  That’s okay. He could be stubborn, but he wasn’t obstinate.

  Besides, there was nothing more he could have done. Danielle had driven The Floating Library at full speed and showed no sign of slowing down, but the pirate vessel was faster. It was gaining ground on them, bringing certain doom with it. But they were each racing the clock. For there was a variable of which neither the pirates nor the crew were aware: Lyn could kill each and every single one of them, and there was little anyone could do to stop her. Morgan was the only person Hinata had ever seen with enough power to restrain Lyn. Only Morgan and the sun. Lyn burned hideously in the sunlight, so she was stuck below, no doubt pacing like a caged and feral tiger.

  If The Floating Library could outrun the pirates until nightfall, Lyn would neutralize the threat and finish with a full belly. The little vampire had been intermittently fasting and taking relatively small sips of Hinata, so she was no doubt out of her mind with bloodthirst.

  Hinata knew these things because they’d been sisters for decades. Hinata feared and resented Lyn, it was true, but that didn’t diminish her affection or familiarity. Hinata knew there was no stopping Lyn once the sun set. In part, knowing was a relief; she wasn’t all that scared of the pirates. What scared her was the idea of Danielle, Jerome, and the rest of the crew seeing Lyn soaked in blood. They’d all been tolerantly hospitable thus far, but would they keep their secrets upon this revelation? Maybe, but Hinata would rather face the pirates than find out.

  The sun was low in the sky when the pirate ship moved alongside The Floating Library.

  Good, she thought. Let’s get this started. She pulled slack on a chain and spun it. Bring it on, you shit-eating bastards.

  She saw them, laughing maniacally, waving sabers, machetes, and firing aether rifles wildly. There was no doubt; these men were crazed, and they meant to kill everyone on board. A vanguard of pirates swung from ropes to land on The Floating Library’s deck. One man threw an ax and then appeared in the air holding it. He was beefy with braids in his beard and madness in his grin. His bare feet slammed onto the deck, and the fight was on.

  But as the vanguard moved to initiate, something insane happened. Giant tentacles rose from the deep to envelop the pirate vessel. Everyone stopped, even the vanguard, to watch in shock and horror, as the ship was pulled under the waves, and the men aboard it screamed in unhinged panic.

  No one moved, fully stunned by how big those tentacles were. The ship was gone in three screaming seconds. What? How?

  Then everybody remembered they were in the middle of something. The four vanguard members evidently decided their best bet was to try and take the entire ship themselves. They each stood at each other’s back and then charged.

  One pirate brandishing a sword ran in Hinata’s direction. She spun and released the chain, aiming for his center. He tried to dodge, but Hinata flicked her wrist and the combat weight connected with the man’s side. Loud cracks announced several broken ribs, and he fell to his knees, clutching his chest and heaving.

  Hinata flipped a switch on her harness, retracting the loose chain. Then she released the other chain and spun sideways, finishing the man in the head.

  Then Hinata charged to face the other pirates. An aether beam shot through her chest. She stumbled. The wound was partly cauterized but still, blood gushed out in bursts. The pirate aimed for Hinata’s head to finish her when Danielle fired her hand cannon, blasting his brains across the deck.

  Using a sword, Jerome killed the third pirate, but the ax thrower was wily. Danielle dodged his throw, but then he appeared behind her holding the ax. Before she could turn to shoot him, the mad pirate brought the ax down. Danielle’s arm broke against the ax’s handle, but it redirected the axhead to her shoulder instead of her head or neck. She grunted on impact. Before he could pull back to hit her again, she shot him dead.

  Jerome ran to catch her as she stumbled.

  Meanwhile, Lyn had screamed and come running. The sun was setting and she screamed in agony as her skin peeled. Plenty ran as fast as he could behind her, trying to use his body to shield Lyn from direct sunlight.

  “Do something!” Lyn screamed at him. Her hands were bloody trying to stem the flow of Hinata’s wound.

  Plenty pressed clean towels onto the bloody openings. The beam had missed her heart, but she was coughing up a lot of blood.

  He lifted her head. She was writhing in pain beyond description.

  “I need moonlight to infuse healing water,” he said desperately. The moon wouldn’t be out for another hour at least. He held Hinata’s hand and her cheek and pleaded, “Just hold on a little while. Everything is gonna be okay, just stay with me.”

  But Hinata could already feel herself grow cold.

  -8-

  She won’t make it to moonrise. You can save her, Raf said.

  [What? No, I can’t. How?]

  Feed her your blood.

  Lyn’s head shook with confusion. [That’s insane. What makes you think that would work?]

  You carry Cain’s Curse. You contracted it, so stands to reason you can share it with others. Cain was cursed and banished before Adam and Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit. You seem strangely free of Original Sin. I wonder if a body can carry only one curse at a time.

  Lyn was dumbstruck by all this information.

  Drink the pirate’s blood! That one with the head wound, his heart is still beating. Fill yourself before you feed Hinata.

  [This is insane. The crew would see. What makes you think this will work?]

  She will die if you do nothing!

  Lyn ran to the dying pirate and stabbed his throat. The dim sunlight seared her skin but she ignored the pain. She put her mouth to the pirate’s wound and drained him like she’d never fed before. It was exhilarating. When his heart stopped, Lyn ran back to Hinata, cut her own wrist, and let the blood fall over Hinata’s lips.

  “What are you doing?” Plenty demanded and Raf interpreted, but Lyn ignored him. He didn’t interfere, but he watched in disgust and horror, as Hinata latched onto Lyn’s wrist like a newborn babe.