Ninnette rarely had dreams. When she'd had them, she could barely remember them. And, most certainly, she'd never been conscious of any of them. Not until now.

It started in the dark. Cold chains wrapped around her ankles, keeping her afloat in an abyss. The vastness consumed everything. Like the depths of the ocean, it was inescapable.

Ninnette. The darkness called to her, but there was no voice. There were no words. Only the sound of angry waves crashing carried her name and a message she couldn't comprehend. The rumbling resonated with something important--urgent.

"I don't understand," Ninnette called into the darkness.

The cold shackles on her ankles released her, and the only sensation came from her wrist. She glanced at the bangle wrapped around her arm. Despite the lack of light, the brass glowed like treasure. The now familiar clicking of its gears came. Even in her dream, it haunted her.

Ninnette, the darkness called again. When she looked up, a dot of light blinked in the distance.

"What are you?" she asked, realizing the darkness she spoke to was an entity.

Another rumble came, powerful like a storm surge at sea.

"I still don't understand," she said, reaching out as if she could touch the light.

But then the glow disappeared, and all she saw was the abyss again.

"Ninnette!" Kazi's voice came.

Cold and wet wrapped around her. Droplets splattered on her face. She didn't know when she crossed the barrier between dreaming and waking, within the twilight of consciousness, but she was now aware that her eyes were heavily closed.

"Ninnette!" Kazi called again. His voice was grave and desperate.

Forcing herself to fully awake, her eyes fluttered open, catching the drops of rain that fell on her face. She gasped like she was drowning as she looked up at the angry gray clouds above. A streak of thunder crossed the expanse, and its crashing boom shook the vessel that carried her.

She pushed herself up to sit. Kazi was at the helm, trying to steer clear of an oncoming wave about to crush the tiny skiff they were in.

"What the sea devil is going on?" She jumped to her feet, taking the helm with Kazi.

Grunting, they both turned the wheel in time to avoid the tide. Its ripples pushed their boat like an out-of-control leaf in the wind.

"I'm so glad you're awake. Now you can get us out of this storm," Kazi said, holding on for his life.

Ninnette pushed him aside, taking the helm on her own to steady the skiff. "Why are we in the middle of a storm?"

The last thing she remembered was being inside an underground chapel, a woman wearing a red cape hitting her head, and Kazi using his concretostrinjerie to collapse the ceiling.

Wondering what had happened after, she wanted to touch the back of her head to feel blood despite her hair being already wet from the rain, but she kept her hands on the helm.

"I stole a boat to get away from the Order," Kazi answered, gripping the railings.

"And decided to sail into a storm?" She turned the wheel again, navigating against the furious currents.

"Spare me your ridicule, and just get us out of here," he demanded.

"It's not that simple. We won't be able to get out of this. Not on this thing!" she shouted through crashing thunder. "We're more likely to get hit by lightning than to get out."

"So that's it? You'll just give up?" Kazi asked as they both eyed another tide coming their way. "This is how my last curse breaker died, you know."

The way he'd said it sounded almost comical. The irony was cruel. She was trying to survive--to live beyond the last three days of her life--only to die in a hurricane before the deadline.

But she gritted her teeth, still determined to prevail. "I'm not going to die here!" she screamed, raising her hand and calling to her hydrostrinjerie.

The magic exploded from her chest, flooding her body and connecting to the sea. She felt the overwhelming power of the ocean as if it didn't want to answer. But she willed it, putting all her strength into a swipe of her hand.

From top to bottom, she drew an arc, slicing the oncoming wave. It split in two, and their small boat passed between the halves.

"Sweet Sea Mother!" Kazi exclaimed--impressed. "You're one powerful hydrosi."

"Not yet time to celebrate!" She scowled. "Here comes another one. Take the helm!" She released the wheel, and Kazi caught it.

Using both of her hands, she swiped against the wind, directing her hydrostrinjerie to another wave. Like the last one, it cleaved to answer her command.

The ocean roared with anger, sending more wrathful walls of water. But each current that dared to threaten them received a surge of her power. Wave after wave, she struck them, making the sea heel like she was its master.

As they survived each onslaught, pride curved her lips. Kazi cheered her on. She didn't know why, but she liked that he was awed by her power. It gave her motivation to perform.

But the drive eventually died, and soon she started to feel her oncoming tiredness.

"Ninnette," Kazi called.

When she turned to him, his gaze filled with concern.

"Don't stop. Not yet." He shook his head.

"Don't worry, demon. I won't let you die." She continued to control the sea, forcing what was left of her power out, and the waters obeyed her every bidding.

When she thought she'd drained her hydrostrinjerie, Kazi would encourage her to survive. His voice was a brace behind her, keeping her steady on the tossing skiff.

And after what felt like an eternity-long battle against the waves, they finally reached the edge of the storm. The wind weakened, and the rain lightened.

Kazi gave a hysterical laugh from the helm. "I can't believe you just did that."

"Did what? Almost died with a demon behind me?" she kidded, but even she was in disbelief.

He smirked. "You fought a hurricane. You have no idea how powerful you are, do you?"

Ninnette. Before she could answer, she heard her name in her head. She blinked at Kazi, thinking he had said it. But he hadn't. It wasn't his voice. It wasn't a voice.

The abyss echoed from her dream. She looked out at the steadying ocean. Droplets continued to fall, but the horizon no longer rumbled, and the sky no longer roared. Still, there came a call only she perceived.

"I don't understand," she said.

"I meant what you did. You--" Kazi stopped mid-sentence, realizing she wasn't talking to him. "Maybe you should sit," he suggested, but his voice became distant like his words no longer mattered.

Nothing else was significant but the thing that called to her.

"What do you want?" she asked.

The light from her dream flashed in her thoughts. A tiny glow against a vast void, like a heartbeat in the middle of nothingness. If she had the chance to stare at it longer, she thought it would have grown, as if it was the starting point of something, as if it was a... Beginning.

Then the thought receded. The calling disappeared, chased away by what came next.

The bangle resonated like blades on her wrist.

Another hour was up.

The merciless punishment tore through her as if she were being flayed.

Her knees smacked the floor with a cracking sound as she closed her eyes to allow her weakness to claim her--to save her from the relentless death that was slowly killing her.

She was falling. She felt her weight come down. But she didn't anticipate hitting the deck. Somehow, she expected Kazi to be there--her dependence on him had grown.

And he hadn't disappointed her. When the pain withdrew, she felt his arms cradling her. He pressed her to him, her shoulder to his chest.

She tried to open her eyes despite the raindrops ruthlessly tapping her lids.

Kazi looked down at her. His eyes were dark with questions. A strong wind ruffled his wet hair, strikingly black against the gray sky that loomed above. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She blinked and focused beyond his face. A streak of golden sunlight cracked through the clouds. "Something is happening to me," she said.

Kazi shifted, drawing her gaze to his face. Tension coiled over his jaw. "Your bleeding stopped." He ran his fingers through her hair to check her injury. The touch was soft and gentle, making her want to close her eyes and concentrate on the sensation.

"I think it's calling to me," she said, reaching out to touch Kazi's cheek without thinking. Her thumb traced the bone below his eye.

"Two days have passed then," Kazi whispered with dread, glancing at the bangle on her wrist.

"What?" she asked.

"Most curse breakers hear the calling after the second day," he said.

Her thoughts went to the curse. In three days, you'll die. For a while, the words were kept at bay by everything that had been going on. An organization hunting them, Jeoff's death, and this growing attraction to the demon who had been with her for the worst parts of it.

She had not entertained the thought of death for the past few hours, but it had been two days, and she was no closer to breaking the curse.

What if she had died on The Deep Dredger when the Order first found them? What if she had died in The Iron Gears and Goggles when it sank in the sea? What if she had died in the chapel when its ceiling had collapsed? What if she had died on this boat in the storm? So many instances of death, yet she cheated them all.

But the threat ventured closer. One more day--twenty-four hours. She would soon meet the villain who would steal her away from the living.

But what if she died now? What if she died in the arms of the demon who had brought her the curse?

She searched his eyes for the answer, and they glimmered as if they were telling her what she needed to do.

Her exhaustion weighed on her. She was desperate for relief. And for the first time, she was considering death as an option.

"Kazi," she said his name intimately like they had known each other for years.

"I'm here, love." He spoke with the same tone, holding her closer, and leaning his cheek deeper into her palm.

She gave him a tired smile. "You'll hold me when I die, yes?"

He gritted his teeth. His shoulders shuddered. His face scrunched as if he was in agony. And despite the rain masking his tears, it could not hide the sorrow in his eyes.

Kazi was crying.

🐚

Aleja coughed out dust and grime as she crawled out of the chapel with the unconscious Honorable Priest.

"Help!" she screamed as she dragged him by his arms.

"Priestess!" She heard Matias' voice at the top of the stairs that led back up to the cabin.

Footsteps rushed down to meet them.