Page 110 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

She didn’t sound angry. She didn’t sound like much of anything, her voice almost expressionless with shock. But Alphonse flushed.

“You know why! Right before I could get my hands on that bastard, there was a flash of light and . . . we were here.”

“And where is here?” Bodil demanded. She was covered in mud and dust like the rest of us but somehow made it look regal. And furious. “What happened? This isn’t the city I know!”

“It isn’t the city that any of us know,” Pritkin said, looking at me. And then came out with the question we had all been thinking. “What year is it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

He frowned. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Pythias have an innate time sense—”

“Yeah. It isn’t working.”

“And why not?” That was Bodil, sounding as impatient and imperious as if she were talking to one of the slaves. I would have given that the reply it deserved, but I was still relearning how to breathe and didn’t have the energy.

I settled for answering the question instead, as it was relevant.

“Best guess? The portal . . . is turned away. My power . . . doesn’t work unless it’s . . . pointed at Earth—”

“What?”

“—where it was tethered . . . by the gods . . . all those centuries ago. But when it cycles . . . back around . . . I should get an answer.”

Bodil just stared at me, her eyes back to black but no less hard to meet—even when looking gobsmacked for some reason. “You mean to say,” she said slowly, “that you’ve been making yourself a target—the target of the entire Challenge—and your power only occasionally works?”

“Is that true?” Alphonse demanded and then didn’t give me time to answer. “That’s why you were hiding half the time against the Kraken, isn’t it? You were waiting for your power to come back!”

“Do we . . . have to talk about this . . . now?” I asked. There seemed to be more pressing matters, like finding out if I could walk.

Which was a no, I thought, as I got dizzy halfway to my feet.

“Sit down before you fall down!” Alphonse growled, and a heavy hand descended onto my shoulder.

Which I didn’t need, as my ass had already been headed back to the floor. It hit the dirt, and the room slurred wildly around me. God, I felt rough.

I lay back against the rock fall and let the conversation wash over me for a minute. And there was a lot of it, as people were recovering from the initial shock and beginning to get scared. And pissed.

“You’re damned right we have to talk about this now!” Alphonse said. “You’re supposed to know what you’re doing—”

“She’s been handling things better than you, vampire!” Enid said, with a little of her old spirit coming back. “We won that race, in case you’ve forgotten—”

“And what did it get us?” Alphonse said, throwing out his arms.

“A chance! This may be a game to you—”

“It’s not a game.” That was low and menacing, but she didn’t seem to hear. Or care if she did.

“—but it’s deadly serious for us! Do you know what happens to the slaves if someone else wins? We can forget about any hope of freedom!”

“Freedom?” Pritkin repeated. “I thought this was about maintaining the status quo—”

“Why? Is that what Rhosier told you?”

“It’s what he believes—”

“Which is why he isn’t told everything!”

“—and a reasonable conclusion from the available evidence. In a revolt, you’d be slaughtered. You must know that—”

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