Chapter 14

Emaleen didn't realize she had moved back further until she bumped against the stove and felt the heat of the fire at her side. She forced herself to breathe, though her breath was coming sporadically. She made herself stay alert, because any chance she had was dependent upon her actions in the next few minutes. Her time was short and her hope was frail, and if she let her fear run its course, she would find herself completely without them both.

"Jalson," she said, her voice choked and quiet. "Do you know who he is?"

"No," he replied coldly, shaking his head. "Nor do I have any desire to."

"Then why did you agree to help him? Why are you doing this?"

Emaleen knew she did not have the time to have a conversation with Jalson. However, she felt that she needed to at least try and make him understand the severity of her situation. If she could sway him to help her, he could be a powerful ally. If he stayed firm in his intent to deliver her to Mordech, he made a powerful enemy. She would have a greater chance of escape with Jalson working with her rather than against her.

"It's a job. I'm to give you to him, and that's the end of it. I don't need to know who you are to him, or who he is to you. It's just another delivery."

"What will you tell the crew? What will you tell Jim?" Emaleen asked desperately. If Jalson only saw his actions as carrying out business, maybe she would be able to persuade him with seeing reason. She didn't have time to try much else.

"The crew knows. Everyone but the captain. We will tell him that you simply must have gone into the storm, thinking it was safe. I worried to see you two become so close; we had to find some way to separate the two of you without rousing suspicions. None of us want to involve him; he's a good man. But we're each being offered more than we'll receive from this trip, to discreetly hand you over to him."

"Jalson, please," Emaleen cried, feeling tears of panic welling in her eyes. "He'll kill me! He's already killed—"

Jalson held up a great hand, and Emaleen flinched from it, her nerves wound so tightly, thinking that he intended to strike her. As it seemed, he was only holding his hand up to silence her.

"I don't want to hear any of it. The less I know about all of this, the better. Don't think that you can make me take pity on you and change my mind. He'll be here any minute, and you will be on deck with me."

Emaleen took a shaky step away from Jalson, which caused him to reach out for her. Knowing he would have a grip on her before she turned and ran in the other direction, Emaleen did all she could think to do to help herself. She had to view Jalson as another threat, if he was planning to hand deliver her to Mordech. Forcing her body to move, she grabbed the large pot of boiling water. She flung the contents at Jalson and dropped the pot at his feet, her hands burning where they had touched the hot metal. Jalson yelled out and fell backwards.

The pain on Emaleen's hands was momentarily debilitating, but knowing that her time was quickly fleeing, she turned and ran away from Jalson. She crossed the dining area quicker than she ever had, and all but flew up the stairs. If she had acted too slowly, she would be in the exact spot where Mordech wanted her to be. However, she held on to the hope that she remained two steps ahead, and would be lucky enough to escape a second time.

On the deck, the ship was clearly still in the cloud, but Emaleen knew now that it was harmless. The only threat was brought by the ship that silently loomed almost directly above her. Feeling her heart beat rapidly against her chest, she continued to hurdle herself across the deck, and kept her eyes focused on the floor in front of her. If she gave any attention to how close the ship actually was, she was afraid she would lose her remaining hope. If she happened to see Mordech looking down at her, she knew he would win the fight then and there.

Quickly—though she didn't feel that she could be moving quickly enough—she reached the wheel. Among her first few days on the ship, Jim had shown her how all the different controls worked to master the speed of the ship. No one had ever thought to explain to her how to actually control it, but that couldn't matter. She had moments, if not mere seconds. Gritting her teeth against the pain in her hands, Emaleen grabbed the control that she knew accelerated the speed of the ship, pulled it back, and simultaneously pulled the wheel hard to one side, directing it away from Mordech's looming ship.

The sudden acceleration and sharp turn threw Emaleen to the floor. She cried out as she fell, and for a few moments, force kept her from being able to even raise her head. When she could, she looked wildly around to find how far she was from Mordech's ship. Unable to see it, she jumped to her feet, and ran to the railing. Looking out over the back end of the ship, she could see his ship a good distance behind her. However, Emaleen could not allow herself to feel safe or complacent. He knew precisely where she was, so she had not done much more than buy herself minutes to figure out the next step in her plan. And if Jalson had told her the truth when he said the whole crew was involved, she had to figure out what to do about them, knowing they would likely understand that the ship moving as it did was not a part of the plan. She also had Jalson to consider—pouring the boiling water on him would likely not keep him down for much longer. Like a brief flash, the thought that all her actions were in vain entered her mind, but she swiftly pushed it away.

Not knowing exactly what her next move would be, Emaleen ran down the stairs from the wheel. She knew that she would not be able to accelerate the ship again soon, so standing at the wheel would be wasting time. She reached the bottom of the steps, and immediately something exploded at her side, against one of the stair's banister. Emaleen fell against the opposite banister, pulling away from the explosion. Looking up, her eyes focused on one of the crew members in the doorway of their quarters, pointing his gun at her.

Eyes wide, Emaleen screamed as someone grabbed her arm from behind. She tried to pull against the grasp as it pulled her around the banister. Another shot from the crew member exploded against the spot where Emaleen had stood before she was pulled, and she jumped back, into the person holding her. Before he could get a tighter hold on her, Emaleen frantically began to pull away again.

"Emaleen, stop," he hissed. Emaleen's heart leapt to her throat as she realized the voice belonged to Jim. This time she didn't resist as he pulled her backwards. She hadn't thought about how close she was to his cabin until he had pulled her inside and closed the door.

She had never been inside of his cabin before, but taking in its details was the last thing her mind could do. She watched him as he slid a metal door over the wooden one he had just closed.

"Jim, wait," she said frantically. "You're just trapping us in here!"

He shook his head as he locked the door into place.

"Trust me," he said. "I know what I'm doing. Tell me what's happening out there." His voice sounded calm, but his face was set and serious. He crossed over to his desk, and opened a drawer. As he took out a key and a gun, Emaleen spoke quickly.

"Someone's attacking the ship," she said. "Jalson and the crew knew; they told us that we were heading into a storm to keep us from knowing when it came. I flew the ship away as best as I could, but he's still coming."

"How did you—" Jim began to ask, but a loud noise at the door stopped him. He grabbed Emaleen's forearm and ran her to a door against the far wall of his cabin. He used the key he had pulled from the desk to unlock it, and heaved the door, which must have been heavier than it appeared, open. Morph, who had been hiding in Jim's pocket, flew into the long hallway that the door led to. Jim quickly ushered her inside.

Jim pulled the heavy door closed, and began to run down the hallway, pulling Emaleen along.

"Of course this is happening," he growled. "Of course the crew is attacking!"

Emaleen felt a jolt of guilt. She knew Jim took assigning a crew very seriously. Since it turned out that the crew of the ship he was on at 17 was a group of pirates, he was so selective, to make sure the same thing did not happen again. The crew would not be attacking if it weren't for Emaleen; they would be happily sailing now, if she had boarded any other ship.

"Jim, where are we going?" Emaleen asked, as Jim unlocked a second door. They went through and the door slammed shut as they ran again before he answered.

"When I was building the ship, I needed to be ready in case this sort of thing happened. This hall runs under the ship, and there's a small boat at the end. The doors all lock as soon as they close, and I'm the only one with the key." He paused as he unlocked a third door that they slipped through. Emaleen heard a loud boom somewhere behind them before the door shut. "None of the crew knows this is here. We're lucky the rocks hit the other side of the ship—this would have all been destroyed."

"Jim, that noise—" Emaleen started, worriedly.

"They must have gotten into the cabin," Jim said, glancing at her as they continued to run. "Don't worry, these doors are strong, and they're designed to stay locked for minutes after you open them once. We'll be off the ship before they even make it through."

A knot in Emaleen's stomach twisted painfully. Jim surely thought their attackers were nothing more sinister than a group of pirates, driven by a greed for riches and power. He didn't know that they were headed by someone worse, driven by a blood-lust. Someone who would have the power to take the solid doors from their hinges, and the motivation to catch up, no matter how fast they ran.

"Jim," Emaleen said hurriedly, seeing that they were approaching the next door. "I have no idea how to help you launch that ship—what do I do?"

"You stand back," he responded. "I designed it so I could get it down by myself. Don't worry about that."

His response was exactly what Emaleen hoped it would be. She took a deep breath to try and steady herself as Jim unlocked the door. As soon as it opened a crack, Morph flew ahead. Emaleen stood behind Jim as he pulled the door open.

"Keep running," she said quickly, straining to keep her voice from breaking. "It's me they're after."

Before Jim could even question Emaleen, she gave him a push through the door. She saw him run forward a few steps, surprised and off balance, before he turned around, shouting her name. Before he could run back, she closed the door and heard the lock click, separating the two of them.