He takes the reins from me, carefully. His tail—strong and sure—wraps around my midsection, securing me without a word.
I take a deep breath, steadying myself against the wind, and slowly, I raise my arms. My fingers stretch wide, reaching for the sky itself. The wind rushes around me, the sun now beside me, instead of above. The world spins in a blur of clouds and light.
For a moment, I feel weightless, as though I am part of the sky. The wind sings in my ears.
Vann shouts something in enduar, but his grip does not loosen. Not once.
When I let out a bird-like call to the sky, he laughs. The sound of it is full, unrestrained. It carries the joy of the moment.
I can do anything.
I know without any shadow of a doubt, we’ve done the rightthing. We’ve done something challenging. Something impossible. And, for a few moments, the sky belongs to me. To us.
A deep rumble vibrates through Seraph’s massive body, her wings tilting as she rides an air current.
My arms come back down and grip the reins with him.
Vann’s voice is close, low against my ear.“Hold on.”
I barely have time to react before the sky darkens, the clouds thickening into a dark gray. The wind changes, too.
Seraph lets out a low, warning growl, her golden wings flapping uneasily.
And then, in the distance, through the gloom—I see them.
The islands.
“Vann! Look!” I call back, pointing.
Below, a great crescent-shaped mass of land sits in the dark waters, its curved form like a moon resting upon the ocean’s surface. Smaller islands are clustered nearby, scattered like broken pieces of a long-destroyed celestial body.
But beyond them, on the horizon, a storm brews. Fast. The sky churns with clouds so dark they swallow the dawn’s glow. Flashes of lightning slither through the abyss, illuminating the massive, spiraling heart of the storm.
Fuck. I’d been so delighted, careless, up to now. But fear stabs into my heart. I lean forward, tightening my grip.
A deep, rolling thunder shakes the air, reverberating through my ribs. Vann leans forward, his grip firm.
“We don’t have much time!”
The wind howls. Beneath us, the water rolls and pitches. I spot something dark bobbing atop a blue-gray wave.
My first glimpse of the boat is almost too strange to process.
At first, I think it’s debris—driftwood. But then I see the movement. The frantic scrambling.
People.
We drop closer, and the ocean rises to meet us. I make out a man.
No tail.
No ears.
Short hair.
Not just any people, but,humans.
I suck in a sharp breath, my mind struggling to catch up with what my eyes are telling me.“¡Mierda!”I exclaim. “That’s a human vessel.”