Page 39 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

“But here’s where it gets hinky,” Alphonse went on. “Tony might have been a fake out, and the poison could have been meant for any or all of us. But that damned octopus—”

“Kraken,” Pritkin said, drinking more blue liquid that tasted like mint and hit like a dozen semi-trucks. He belted it back like a man intending to get drunk, which had me worried.

And then what he’d said registered. “Is that what we fought?”

Pritkin looked at me. “What the hell did you think it was?”

“I . . . didn’t really have time to think all that much.”

“Obviously.”

I frowned at him and took the bottle away.

“—showed up at the perfect time to kill her!” Alphonse continued, pointing at me with the seaweed-covered stick. “The poisoned plate was also put in front of her—”

“Alphonse,” I said because I didn’t want to go through all that again, not with Pritkin already so touchy.

“—and the illusion could only have been aimed at two people, one of which—”

“Alphonse!”

“—was her. And then, when the Ice Prince didn’t manage to gut her, they loosed the big boy. Who immediately went after her and nobody else. I don’t think you were the target. I think she was and still is.”

“I know,” Pritkin said, his jaw tight. “But what the hell am I supposed to do about it? She’s Pythia. I can’t throw her over my shoulder and carry her out!”

His look said that we wouldn’t be here now if he could.

“Carry her out?” Alphonse looked confused.

“And neither can you! If they’re targeting her—”

“Well, of course, they’re targeting her! That’s why we didn’t come to your aid sooner; we had a fight with a bunch of would-be assassins. Or she had a fight. I mostly treaded water and swore—”

“You didn’t tell me that,” Pritkin said, looking at me accusingly.

“Didn’t I?”

“—and this court used to be run by an iron-fisted demigoddess,” Alphonse continued. “They’re not happy to see another one show up. But that’s not the point. The point is that the attack was planned and we know by who—”

“We know no such thing!” Pritkin snapped, his mood darkening by the minute. “I can name a hundred other suspects, and that’s just off the top of my head! And half of them have mental abilities that might have allowed them to control that thing. Tony doesn’t!”

“And I thought he was an illusion,” I added.

“Something he could have arranged as easily as anybody else,” Alphonse said. “He’s been here a while; he’s got friends. Not to mention the ones on the other side in this war. The fact that what you saw was probably fake don’t mean he wasn’t behind it—”

“You’re obsessed with him,” Pritkin accused. “Or else you’re trying to trick us—”

“Careful,” Alphonse growled.

“—into helping you take your revenge. I don’t care if you want to target this vampire, but leave us out of it! We have enough—”

“Don’t underestimate the fat man,” Alphonse snapped. “And I may be obsessed, but it don’t mean I’m wrong. Look, he had to know she was coming—”

“How? I didn’t know—”

“Then you’re not as smart as everybody says.” He looked back and forth between the two of us. “You know, you guys may think you’re subtle, but I got news: you ain’t subtle.”

“Meaning?”

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