Page 2 of Rebel in the Deep

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 toliterallyrip 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 theAudacitycovered 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 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 theCwn 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 theAudacityis 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 Cwn Annwn, for all that I find their policies loathsome. Each of their captains is a bigger monster than the next. It meansI’ma 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.”

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