Dredging was a hazardous occupation. To Ninnette, death was never a shadow of someday but a vivid villain of today. Yet she had always found ways to cheat the swindler of life.

But when ten hours had passed, ten hours of her remaining existence had been taken, she was beginning to feel the villain had finally outwitted her.

She glanced at the dial on the bangle clamped over her wrist. Kazi had explained what the seventy-two dots were--the hours of the three-day deadline to break the curse.

The single clock hand clicked every time an hour was up, and each searing pain that came with the tick and tock had not been forgiving.

She steadied her hand on the helm of her boat as she steered through the sea, making her way to shore. Fortune was not to her advantage because she had found the cursed bangle in the deepest waters of the Oestern Ocean, and her cuddy cabin cruiser was slow to make land.

Ten hours had already passed since the damned contraption bound her to the curse and the demon.

"You should get a faster boat," Kazi teased. His dangerous smile returned. But only hours ago, his expression was so dark that it almost scared Ninnette.

Something in the way he had looked at her reminded her of a mournful lover, one who had lost his world and was helpless in tribulation.

He'd held her for every click of the hour despite her protest. She didn't want him to touch her, but she was glad he'd been there by her side to steady her when she could not rely on her legs.

Steady. It will pass. He had comforted her, reminding her that the pain would be gone in an instant, and she held onto his words.

She had looked up at his face every time and gotten used to his features as if he were familiar--a friend. His expression had relaxed in the last hours, no longer heart-rendered. But a darkness, deeper than pity, still lingered in his eyes.

Ninnette wondered if he had felt the same with all his past curse breakers. Centuries, he'd said. He had experienced so many deaths. How could one live through that?

She glanced at him, resting his back on the navigation table beside her. His arms crossed over his chest.

How could one be so idle, knowing that the next person--she--was about to die?

"I plan to get a ship and a crew," she told him. She had always dreamed of being a captain, having the fastest ship she could imagine.

That ship could be so handy now.

"A drifter with dreams," Kazi noted, observing her.

"We sea drifters are allowed to have dreams. Unlike you, landborn, we're free to do as we please." She had been free, true. But now she was a prisoner of the bangle.

"I don't disagree with that," Kazi said, tapping his chin. "Being a nobleman has its disadvantages."

"You're a nobleman?" She could have guessed it by his attire, but the only description she had of him was a demon.

"I was," he answered. "I wasn't always a demon, you know."

Ninnette turned to him, averting her eyes from the sea. "What happened?" She wasn't sure why she asked, but she felt she needed to know. And a proper conversation would be nice instead of Kazi's mockery.

A shadow fell over his face as he regarded her, likely contemplating whether he should provide an answer. "I was cursed," he said.

She clenched her jaw and turned back to the sea. Fine. If he didn't want to share his story, he could keep it to himself. She didn't want to know anyway.

But then Kazi gave a more reasonable response. "I was cursed by the woman who fell in love with me."

Surprised to learn something so intimate and heart-wrenching, she looked at him.

He was staring at the floor as if he were watching his old life. His maturity had gone then. The sag of his lips reminded Ninnette of a child in need of his mother.

Without thinking, she reached out and placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry," she said.

Kazi took a deep breath, distracted from his reverie. His shoulders rose as if his centuries of suffering had been forgotten. When he looked at her, his brows furrowed, and his lips parted in surprise like no one had been kind to him before. Gratefulness came with his gaze.

Ninnette smiled, lips tightly closed to show sympathy, to share his sorrow. She was glad she could comfort him with only two words and a touch. And she wanted to do more. A hug, perhaps, for the man cursed by his lover.

But then Kazi's widened eyes narrowed, and a devious grin formed on his face. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

Lips curling, she snatched her hand back. "You're a demon."

He chuckled. "Didn't I tell you that?"

She refocused, her eyes forward through the bridge window where the world had darkened in the late night. And as if the Sea Mother had sensed her need, small yellow lights blinked on the horizon.

"Land," she said. Finally.

Reaching down the cockpit console, she pulled a lever. The steam from the engine hissed, carrying the honking sound of her boat to warn any nearby vessels.

"Where are we?" Kazi asked, gazing out.

"Cadrid," she answered as she steered The Deep Dredger toward the port.

"Is the Floating Market still there?" he asked.

She glanced at him sideways and caught the excitement on his face. "You know the Floating Market?"

"The biggest market in the Draga Isles and the only one on stilts. How could I not know?" The excitement reached his voice. "It's also the biggest black market in the kingdom. It's where you can find all sorts of contraband."

"You've been here before?" she asked.

"I have many times. But my last curse breaker didn't bring me here," he answered.

For a while, Ninnette had forgotten the curse and her impending death. Now, she glanced at the bangle on her wrist, at the dial that was about to tick again, anticipating the pain that would take another hour of her life.

She pushed a lever forward to speed up the boat, boosting the thrust and propelling it forward. The Deep Dredger cut through the lapping waves as the urgency to make land came back to her.

Mist sparkled in the light cast from the harbor buildings--the tiny warm dots that slowly grew into the glow of the bustling port of the Floating Market.

Outside had turned chilly. Without the heat of the sun, the sea's cold gust dominated the air.

Ninnette was glad to have done away with her wet swimming garments hours ago, though her shabby sleeveless shirt did little for her shoulders. She also wore trousers now, aided by suspenders, and faded leather boots that were a tad large for her feet.

"Ah!" Kazi exclaimed with excitement. He leaned over the cockpit console like he wanted to jump out through the bridge window. "It has not changed since I was last here." He grinned like a child about to arrive at a circus. "Except for that tower there. What is that?" He pointed at an elevated construction that stood a little ways inland.

"That's a new bridge leading to the mainland of Cadrid," Ninnette answered, watching his amusement and guessing how it might feel to be stuck inside a bangle for years, only to be let out for three days to watch another curse breaker die.

She steered the boat and eased into a berth, docking at a traders' port, where most small vessels rested. Gently swaying with the tides, the watercrafts nestled side by side like an assortment of weathered iron warriors.

"Let me guess," Kazi said when Ninnette turned off the engine. "We're here to find the best blacksmith in the Floating Market to get the bangle off your wrist so you can finally get rid of me." There was sarcasm in his voice, but it was also laced with something far from a jest. Something that Ninnette could have guessed to be hopelessness, that she would never be rid of him.

"I'm friends with the best blacksmiths and engineers in town," she answered with confidence as she made her way out of the cabin and onto the deck.

He chuckled. "Well, that's convenient. You know--"

Pop. Pop. Pop. Kazi was cut off by loud sounds hitting the boat.

Ninnette turned to find what it was, but Kazi pulled her to the floor.

"Get down!" he shouted.

"What's going on?" she asked, now frantic as she realized the sounds were gunshots.

"Someone's shooting at us!" He kneeled beside her as they hid behind the guardrail of the boat.

"Why!" She shouted back at him, covering her head with her arms as if she could shield herself from the bullets.

Kazi hissed and dared to look over the railing. "The Order," he said, ducking back down.

Bullets continued to fly, hitting the iron hull of The Deep Dredger.

"You know them?" Ninnette asked as she took a glance at the attackers before crouching back down. She glimpsed several men, holding rifles, on the quay in red waistcoats.

"Sort of." Kazi shrugged like the situation was a casual thing. "I've known the Order of the Chain for centuries."

"So, they're after you?" She'd never been shot at before, and she never thought her life could be threatened by death more than once on the same day.

"Not exactly." He glanced at the bangle on her arm.

"They're after this?" She raised the jewelry to him. "Sea Mother and sea devils!" She cursed.

Another bullet shot through the air, flying toward the cabin and hitting the bridge window, cracking the glass.

"My ship!" Ninnette shouted, willing the gunfire to stop harming her beloved boat, but the sharp explosions persisted around them.

A pop erupted at the rear end of the boat. Steam hissed from the still-hot engine.

Ninnette scowled. If she didn't do anything, they were going to destroy The Deep Dredger.

She shot up on her feet, running to the gangway. "Start the boat!" she said to Kazi.

"What are you doing?" He reached for her, but she shook him off.

She saw the men on the dock, guns in hand, heading toward The Deep Dredger.

Reaching for her hydrostrinjerie, the power surged from her chest like a beat, passing through her arms. And like a fishing line, she threw the magic into the sea. When she reeled it back, she was connected to the water.

Hands flinging toward the attackers, the ocean answered with a wave that washed out two of the men from the boardwalk. But more were coming.

"She's a hydrosi!" she heard someone shout. "She has the bangle. Take her down!"

Ninnette scanned the quay and saw a woman in a red robe instructing the rest, who continued to shoot at the boat.

Ninnette hissed, arms raised to aim a wave at the woman, but her hydrostrinjerie didn't answer. Her power receded.

The bangle tightened on her wrist. Pain shot through her whole body, and she screamed, dropping to her knees.

"Ninnette!" She heard Kazi call to her.

She saw a man running to the gangway, a pistol in his hand pointed at her.

"Ninnette!" Kazi shouted again.

She couldn't move from where she knelt.

Something creaked beneath her. The boat swayed as if a tide had hit the bottom of The Deep Dredger. The deck shivered like the boat was coming to life.

The man on the dock fired the pistol. A bullet streaked from the barrel.

The iron plate of the floor surged up in front of her, blocking the bullet, rivets coming undone. The bullet hit the metal with an ear-splitting sharp clang.

Ninnette breathed in relief. For a moment, she thought her life was ending in an instant.

When she turned to Kazi, he was kneeling, both of his hands planted on the floor.

Right then, she knew what he was.

Concresi.

He had commanded the deck to protect her from the bullet. His dark eyes fixed on her as if he were making sure she was unharmed.

A deep brown tint started to spread from under his palms, crawling over the floor toward her.

Something creaked again. Ninnette turned back to the iron plate that shot up to save her life. A small tan circle, the same deep brown tint from Kazi's hand, appeared and gradually grew. Rust.

"We have to get off the boat." Kazi had come to her side, pulling her up by the elbow.

Her gaze focused on the expanding rust, flourishing like a blooming flower until it consumed the whole plate. And the tarnish did not stop there. It crawled beyond the floor, reaching the railings and the walls of the cabin.

"What's happening?" she asked, transfixed on the corrosion.

"We have to go now!" Kazi dragged her to her feet, hauling them both over the boat's guardrail and into the ocean.

They hit the cold water and went under. The sound of gunfire became muffled.

Ninnette spun in the dark sea. She searched for the way up, kicking and swimming until she found air, her head bursting through the surface.

Gunshots continued to ring, but The Deep Dredger's creaking and cracking came louder.

Right before her eyes, rust consumed the boat--her home--like fire. The steam engine exploded. And soon, its weight fell on itself.

The Deep Dredger sank into the sea.

Though the pain from the bangle had already subsided, Ninnette felt like she had just died.

🐚

Aleja wanted to scream. The bangle--the map--was right there. She recognized it from images drawn in books she had studied to become a priestess of the Order of the Chain.

But it got away. And worse, it was on the arm of a hydrosi.