Page 49 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

Oliver nodded. Striding to the wheel, he took a deep breath and put both hands on the spokes, closing his eyes momentarily. Phoebe gave a confused frown.

“Oliver, what are you—”

“Shh.” Oliver didn’t open his eyes. “I’m establishing a connection with the ship,” he murmured. “All ships have different personalities, quirks, dislikes, and little foibles. The more you understand them, the easier it is to navigate. This one”—he tilted his head to the side—“is a little bit finicky about storms.”

Phoebe still looked confused, but Lucy was nodding, as if that all made sense. Then a flash of lightning turned everything outside white, making Roux flinch. “Well, can you maybe convince the boat to get us out of here alive?” he asked Oliver.

The ex-pirate opened his eyes and grinned. “I’ll do my best.”

The ship surged forward, cutting through the waves. Rain beat against the windows, and thunder rumbled overhead. Between the rain, the wind, and the flashes of lightning, it was difficult to see anything. Shinji didn’t even know if they were going in the right direction.

“Come on, girl,” Oliver muttered, his face intense as he turned the wheel. “You can do it.”

A wave rose up, crashing against the side of the ship.

It rocked violently, causing everyone to lose their balance. Shinji braced himself against the wall as the ship bobbed dangerously from side to side. Lucy cried out, and Oliver clutched the wheel tightly, trying to keep the vessel upright.

The boar doesn’t want us to leave,Shinji realized.It’s trying to sink the ship.

He rushed out onto the deck. Wind and rain tore at his hair, shrieking in his ears. Another wave crashed against the hull, splashing over the deck and drenching him completely. The boat lurched to the side, and Shinji grabbed the railing to keep his balance.

He could feel the magic in the storm around him, in the waves and driving rain, even in the lightning that flashed through the sky. It felt…angry. But he could also feel the power in the wind swirling past him, and that felt more familiar. The rain and lightning belonged solely to the Storm Boar, but the wind…that was the realm of the Coatl.Hismagic.

“Shinji!”

Lucy appeared beside him, shielding her face from the rain and wind as she joined him on the deck. Roux was right behind her, grimacing as the rain beat down on them all. “What are you doing?” she cried, her voice nearly lost in a growl of thunder overhead. Another wave crashed into the ship, soaking them with cold seawater.

“I think the Storm Boar is trying to push us into the rocks,” Shinji said. “It’s trying to smash the ship on the reef.”

Lucy paled. “Can we do anything?”

Shinji turned back, facing the storm. “Maybe I can.”

Gripping the railing for balance, he closed his eyes as he’d seen Oliver do, and reached out for the magic.

This time, it was harder. Much harder.

Shinji could feel the anger in the storm whipping around them. He tried calming his mind, using his own magic to push back against the howling wind and slashing rain. But the Storm Boar was too powerful, his fury too great; Shinji tried pushing against the storm, only to have it tear his own wind magic to pieces.

“What are you kids doing?” cried someone behind them. Phoebe’s voice. She held her bright red umbrella in both hands, braced against the wind as she stepped close. “Shinji, it’s not safe out here. If you get washed overboard by the storm, Oliver would never forgive himself. What are you doing?”

“He’s trying to use magic to get us through the storm,” Lucy replied.

A wave slammed into the ship, and it bucked, nearly tearing Shinji’s hands from the rails. Phoebe struggled to hold on to the umbrella as it was nearly torn from her grip. “I can’t do it,” Shinji gritted out. “The Storm Boar is too strong. I can’t hold it back.”

“Oh,” Phoebe said, finally getting control of her flapping umbrella. “Well, you can’t hold back the storm, Shinji—that’s a given. Your magic is the power of wind. When the wind

encounters something immovable, it doesn’t go through; it moves around it. Don’t try to fight the storm; go around it.

That…somehow made a lot of sense.

Shinji opened his eyes. The wind blew in his face, stinging his cheeks and forehead with rain. The fury of the Storm Boar raged around him, but he ignored it and looked inside himself instead. Taking a deep breath, Shinji raised a hand.

Don’t go through. Go around.

The rain stinging his face suddenly stopped as Shinji changed the wind’s direction, swerving around the gusts instead of pushing back. As the wind swirled, he felt the ship lurch forward, no longer fighting the storm. Rain poured and lightning continued to flash, but theSeas the Daymoved steadily forward, aided by the wind instead of being hampered by it.

“Yes,” Phoebe cheered quietly beside him. “See, Shinji? You’re doing it.”

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