Acting on pure adrenaline, I manifested a perfect replica of Moran’s big-ass sword and hacked through the tentacle.
Blood spattered on me as a black eye appeared under the surface.
The kraken whacked the boat with its massive head.
Lurching sideways, I ran back to Arkady, but he was gone. I pressed my hand to my heart. Oh, my friend. I’d avenge your death.
“Jacques!” I spun around to order him to go faster, but there’d been a shift change.
A hooded and robed figure in billowing red robes now captained the boat. “You must pay the ferryman,” the figure boomed.
I ran at the figure and nailed him with a roundhouse kick. “Paid.”
The ferryman stumbled to one knee.
I grabbed his head and smashed it into the railing. “And a tip.”
His went crossed-eyed, his pupils glassy, but he recovered enough to grab me and wrestle me to the ground. In the blink of an eye, the rope slithered off the bench and lashed my limbs to the steering wheel column.
The fibers chafed my skin, binding me tight. I called forth a red blood dagger and cut myself free.
The ferryman rose up to a terrifying height. “You’re Mundane.”
“I’ve been Mundane in my past.” I flipped the blade to my dominant right hand. “But this is a beautiful new world.”
“Even if you’re Nefesh,” he boomed, “you can’t have two kinds of magic.”
My spiky blood armor snapped into place. “I’m a well of surprises. You can find out how deep and dark I run, or you can return me to safety.”
The air crackled with tension, the boat bobbing like mad in the waves that churned angrily. I stood there, feet planted, jaw firm, not giving an inch.
For one blinding moment, the sun blazed blood red above the horizon.
Then all was normal: a cloudless sky, a kraken-less sea, blood-free clothing.
Arkady sat in the same spot, midway through some story about another sailing trip.
I held up my hand to interrupt him. “Did nothing out of the ordinary just happen?” I squinted against the sunlight, mourning the loss of my sunglasses.
“Other than I deigned to dazzle you with a fascinating tale that you apparently failed to listen to? Nada.”
Jacques, you fucking Houdini. “Take us in to shore and no tricks,” I said to him.
He leveled a steady gaze at me, taking my measure, then he nodded reluctantly.
Once he’d complied, I sat down beside Arkady. Failing to find an elastic in my pockets, I twisted my hair up and shoved the blood dagger through it to hold it in place.
“Well, that’s a look,” Arkady said.
“It’s all the rage in Paris.”
The craft slowed to a stop, bobbing gently about fifteen feet from shore. Jacques cut the engine, watching me warily.
“Are we supposed—?” I yelled, my ears still ringing from the roar of the motor. “To jump?” I finished at a normal volume.
“Yes.” Jacques engaged the anchor.
“From where? Show me.”
Jacques walked to the back of the boat. “Here.”
“Fine.” I held out a hand to Arkady. “My love? Some help?”
Arkady pulled me up and escorted me to where Jacques stood. In a beautiful move that didn’t telegraph a thing, he twisted and swung his fist, knocking Jacques’ lights out.
The captain swayed and crashed to the deck.
“Why the code word?” Arkady said. We’d arranged that if either of us called the other “my love,” to assume we were under attack.
“There was a whole thing with a kraken and a ferryman. Very Greek myth.”
Arkady shook his head. “Illusionists.”
“Right? Remember that where your hero is concerned.”
“Nah, Levi’s different.”
“Whatever, fanboy. Stay here and keep an eye on Jacques.”
“No way. I’d be skinned alive if I let you go onto Inferno by yourself.”
“Tough. I’m pulling rank. You have to keep him unconscious because we can’t have a Houdini running loose and messing with us.”
Arkady conceded the wisdom of keeping Jacques out of an already volatile situation, but it was the best of all the suck-ass scenarios, since we had no way of gauging how long my reunion would take and the illusionist could not be allowed to wake up.
“Keep yourself safe.” Arkady sat down on the top step of the metal ladder leading into the sea, his jeans rolled up, and his feet dangling.
Flip flops in hand, I jumped into the warm water, which was only thigh-high, and waded to shore. This was much more pleasant than the glacial lake that Camp Ruach had been situated on. I stepped onto the white sand beach.
My hair had tumbled down onto my shoulders. I looked around for the dagger but it had vanished and I couldn’t call up another one.
My magic was gone.
I waded back out into the water.
“What’s wrong?” Arkady leaned out of the back of the boat, his hands cupped around his mouth.
I made it knee-deep before another dagger appeared in my palm. “Inferno is a magic-free zone.”
Chapter 16
“Get on the boat, Ash.”
“But we’ve come all this way for our blessing.” I couldn’t turn around now. Chariot could not be allowed to get their hands on another piece of the scroll, and I couldn’t walk away from the best lead on finding my dad that I’d ever had. I threw him a thumbs-up. “Back soon, babycakes.”
The dagger disappeared again as soon as I hit the beach. I was magicless, but I wasn’t weaponless. I had my brain. Jezebels were chosen because we were the best Seekers. Magic and strength were handy tools in our toolbox, but deprived of that, it came down to our wits.
I could do this.
Behind the beach, about fifty feet from shore, was a dense press of palm trees jutting out crookedly from the ground and blocking any view of the rest of the island.
Shading my eyes with one hand, I scanned the island for any tell-tale elevation where a house might be located. There was a rise off to my right.
I headed into the jungle. The thick canopy
