Page 42 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

“Use it how?” I asked, looking at him suspiciously.

“That’s fair,” he said, seeing my expression. “’Cause yeah, you’re the best chance we got to catch him. I’ve been here for weeks and haven’t had a sniff until you turned up. And suddenly, he’s popping out of the woodwork—”

“You want to repeat tonight and use me as bait, only with our plan instead of his.”

“What?” That was Pritkin again, coming back in with a terrible expression.

Alphonse and I both sighed that time.

“They’re coming after her anyways,” Alphonse pointed out. “But that’s good, ‘cause we can use it to—”

That was the last coherent thing he said for a while since talking through a broken jaw is hard, even for vampires.

The two men tumbled into the hall, and I tried some seaweed candy. And made a face because it was terrible, or maybe that was the stench. Pinkie had come over to drag a slimy, odorous appendage up and down my arm in what I guessed was supposed to be a comforting caress, only it had the opposite effect.

And, suddenly, I couldn’t take it anymore.

Not the smell, not the view of Pinkie’s dinner swirling around and around that transparent flesh, not Pritkin’s attitude—none of it! Not this room, which I knew would ensure zero sleep. I needed rest to be any good tomorrow, and this wouldn’t cut it.

I got up, wiped my arm on the bedspread, and paused, noticing a plain black cloak that somebody had left behind because it blended in too well with the fur. I grabbed it, flung it around me, and went out to find Alphonse and Pritkin. Who were halfway down the hall and still going at it.

“I’m staying with Alphonse,” I said. “Come on.”

“What?” Pritkin looked up with a bruised jaw that didn’t appear broken, but not for lack of trying on someone’s part.

“You heard me. I can’t breathe in there—”

“Someone tried to kill you three times tonight!”

“—and I need to breathe to sleep. So—”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Alphonse said from under Pritkin’s arm.

“You stay out of this!” Pritkin snarled.

“Just hear me out. Three times so far.”

He was abruptly released. “And what does that mean?”

Alphonse took his time standing up and shaking out the latest wrinkles in his once-nice tuxedo. “It means they know where she’s staying. She might be better off with me. Least until you get this place warded halfway to hell.”

“I have wards. And if I’m here, she’s safe. I don’t have to worry!”

Alphonse didn’t say anything, but his look was eloquent.

“What?” Pritkin demanded.

“Nothing. I know better than to get between a man and his woman,” he said diplomatically. And then he did it anyway. “But if I was gonna comment—”

Pritkin said something rude.

“—I’d point out that she throws down pretty good. She ended that fight tonight—”

“By flooding the damned room!”

“Well, that ended it. That thing was lookin’ for a way out, and she gave it one. You know there are other ways to win a fight than violence, right?”

Pritkin and I both stared at him.

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