“Love is a nice concept, but ultimately life is about the survival of the fittest, and who’s strong enough to come out on top.”
“You never should’ve been a parent. Thank God I had Dad.”
“How do you think your father will feel when he finds out you were a means to an end?”
“He already knows.” I lifted my chin. “And his love is more than enough to make up for what a piss-poor mother you’ve been.”
She smirked. “What about Dune? Because I’ve seen the way you two look at each other, and that’s not love.”
“Yes, it is.” She couldn’t shake my faith in him, in us. He’d said it and he’d showed me. He came to New Orleans and stayed. Stuck by me when the crazy started. Called in his friends to serve as backup. Offered me a piggyback ride, because he didn’t want my toes to get cold. “He gave up his life to help me.”
“The Infinityglass is an obsession for him. He came for
“It seems like you’re trying to convince me that you’re a more appealing option than he is. You created me in a lab, not out of love. You want me to murder for you. You’ve got the Infinityglass gene. Why can’t you do it yourself?”
“I don’t want to be a tool.”
“So you built one. The Infinityglass is vulnerable because you believe the true power lies with the person who controls it.” The truth got uglier. “I am your daughter. Do you have any concept of what family is supposed to mean?”
She ignored the question. “Get in the cabin.”
“Are you going to make me forget about my life here? Daddy? Dune? How long would it take you to turn me into Cat? Because that’s what you’ll end up with if you expect me to go with you without a fight.”
“What I expect is for you to get in the cabin. I still have the gun. My next shot might involve an artery. I don’t know how quickly your cells can regenerate, but I imagine the healing process would be painful, especially if you had to do it repeatedly.”
There had to be another option. I wouldn’t kill for her again. I scanned the shore. Too far to jump, and too many bodies in the way.
“Don’t even think about it. You can’t get past the crew unless you can fly, and they won’t hesitate to fish you out of the water.”
“Whatever did you do to make an entire ship of sailors so loyal to you?” I smiled sweetly as the implication landed exactly where I’d aimed.
She didn’t get a chance to answer.
“Hey, boss!” One of the men waved and held up a satellite phone. “Port authority question before we shove off.”
She turned her back on me and signaled to one of the deckhands. He crossed over to Cat, picked up her body, and tossed her into the water.
I watched the proud line of my mother’s posture as she walked away, and thought that I’d rather give myself over to the rips than let her control me for the rest of my life. It was an option. One to consider, eventually. I wasn’t ready to give my life up yet.
Movement by the cabin caught my eye, and my heart became a rapid bass line thumping in my chest. Rips, as if they’d read my mind. How would I fight them on my own?
I turned around.
Not rips.
Dune.
If I made one misstep, I could unleash the power of the Mississippi and kill us all.
Water. Nothing but molecules—hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The compound that made up more than half of every human on the planet, including me. Liquid matter that could bend to my will. My will.
I focused on exactly where the veil hung in the atmosphere.
“Dune. Dune!”
Hallie.
I held a finger up to my lips. Teague was too far away to hear Hallie’s whispers, but I didn’t want to take any chances.
“You’re on a boat,” she whispered. “In the river. And you’re fine. How?”
“Because
Her eyes softened, and in that moment, I wanted to touch her more than I wanted to breathe.
“Hal, I have an idea, but we don’t have a lot of time, so you have to trust me.”
“Tell me what to do.”
“Don’t look at me, for starters.”
She focused on the dock as I briefly explained the plan. “I’m going to try to guide Teague into a veil using the river.”
Hallie’s eyes went wide. “You’re going to use your ability.”
“I don’t see any other options, and I’m going to need your help. Teague has Cat’s exotic matter. I need you to try to get the necklace off. It’s the missing ingredient to get her into the veil.”
“I’ll try.” She straightened, and I flattened myself out against the side of the cabin seconds before Teague said her name.
“Hallie. Why aren’t you in the cabin?”
“I want to say a melancholy good-bye to my childhood home. Not that you understand why, because that would require emotion.”
Hallie stepped away from the railing. That was my cue.
I breathed in and out and called the current. It complied with a slight shift toward the opposite bank.
Adjusting things too fast could cause an accident. As it stood, it was only a matter of time before one of the deckhands noticed me.
I tried not to think about the day, all those years ago, when I had asked the ocean for help and it gave me the wrong answer. Hallie stood on the boat deck, five feet away from her mother.
I couldn’t mess this up.
I tried again, shifting the flow a little more this time. Not enough. The crewmen had already begun to loosen the moorings. Stern, midship, and bowline.
Teague wasn’t in position, and Hallie was still trying to take off the pendant.
I closed my eyes to concentrate and gave the current one more nudge.
“Stop! No!”
Hallie, in trouble. My eyes flew open, expecting an out-of-control rip. Instead, I saw Teague staring at me. Fury flashed across her face, quickly replaced by cunning. She grabbed Hallie’s arm.
“Stay away from him.” Hallie dug her heels into the deck. “Stop. I won’t let you do this! I won’t do this.”
Teague became only more determined, yanking her daughter behind her.
Her intent was written all over her face. She was going to kill me, and she was going to use Hallie to do it.
My mother lunged for Dune with determination and a grip that would leave bruises on my arm. I went limp to slow her down.
That’s when a rip of a woman in a cancan costume stepped directly into our path. Mom lurched to the side to avoid it, and I broke free of her grasp and ran for Dune.
I exhaled the second he wrapped me in his arms. The relief and comfort that flooded through me felt like more than love. It felt like family.
“I can’t get the pendant off. There must be a trick to the chain clasp.”
