Alina shivered underneath her blue longcoat. It had been made of a lighter textile for the New World, not for the cold of the Old World's high seas.
Genya smiled sympathetically. "My kind isn't used to this cold either. Or this part of the world. I can feel my power slipping away, becoming fainter. My magic is not for the Old World."
David took her hand into his and lifted the purple coat he was practically drowning in with his skinny frame. Genya hesitated a moment before stepping in and drawing the coat more tightly around the two of them.
Zoya straightened her coat, otherwise unbothered by the cold.
"We should be coming up on the Ice Palace at any moment. That's when we will make our move."
Alina glanced down at her father's notebook, flipping through the pages and pages of scrawled notes.
On one of them was a sketch of the ice palace, likely recreated from all of the paintings and sculptures in the Old World.
Ravka had all sorts of stories about the Ice Palace, inhabited by the very Rusalye Luda now claimed was her companion.
Alina glanced at where the witch stood, with her wide blue eyes, hand hovering over the side of the boat. She wondered if the Ravkan stories about Rusalye were true, if he really was a prince once, cursed for some sin or another.
Then again, it was hard to work up the courage to ask a goddess about such things. Even though Alina didn't really understand any of it.
Old World and New World magic and gods, with different stories and different powers. They were all supposed to be a part of the same map, the same globe. But meeting Genya and Luda were evidence that there was some sort of split in the world, separated by the high seas.
Nikolai swaggered down to the bow.
"Look alive, everybody, we've got a visual."
Alina looked away from Luda to see the palace of ice, floating right before them.
"David, you're up."
David reluctantly reclaimed his purple coat and stepped up to the bow, where Alexei and Ruby were waiting to help.
The three of them loaded up a second anchor into a device that resembled a ballista. The three of them adjusted it to David's specifications before taking aim.
The anchor landed, embedding itself in the ice with a horrible cracking sound that rumbled like the end of the world.
Nikolai looked to Luda. "Sorry about that—hope you don't mind."
"More ice can be made, the cracks can be filled in." Luda smiled. "What is more important is what is inside of that palace. I'll do my best to help you—but Alina will be able to use the magic to open the place, her blessing is more powerful than my own magic in this form."
Alina reached out for the goddess's hand, giving her a sympathetic smile.
"We'll help you get it all back."
"Thank you." Luda gently pried Alina's fingers free. "We'd better get moving. My power is not strong here, but the magic of the palace is stronger."
They boarded quickly, using the planks in a party of Genya, Alina, Nikolai, Luda, and Zoya. David was to remain behind with Tolya, Tamar, Alexei, and Ruby to set up the trap they would use to get Rusalye.
Alina shuddered the thought—she knew he wasn't too far, since this was supposed to be his original home in the Ravkan stories.
They approached the large doors of ice palace. They were tall, and resembled Fjerdan architecture, with tall geometric shapes in the glass-like ice. In the center of the doors was a lock of ice.
Nikolai raised one of his pistols, only for Luda to place a hand over the barrel of the gun and shake her head.
"You'll need the ruby." Luda looked to Alina.
She pulled it from the cover of the book, and held it up, turning it over in her hand.
She pocketed her notebook, and then began to summon the moonlight from her hand, casting it through the ruby. It created a ray of light that hit the lock exactly.
The lock melted in the ray, disappearing entirely. Alina cut the light, and the doors swung open. It was a silent greeting, the feeling of coming home hung in the air.
"Alright, we can't just stand around, I believe we do have a trident to find!" Nikolai ushered everyone forward, into the palace of ice.
Alina could not help it marvel at the beautiful interior and the shiny trinkets that sat in piles in the corridors of the ice palace.
"Don't take anything," Luda warned. "Nothing but the trident—Rusalye is rather protective of his treasure."
"We can all keep our hands to ourselves," Zoya said, pointedly looking at Alina.
"What? I was just looking." Alina protested.
Zoya just rolled her eyes and they continued onwards.
"Do you know where the trident would be?" Nikolai asked.
"Unfortunately, no, and I doubt if Starkov would have tracked down the information, since he wasn't around for my binding." Luda's eyes flashed like a stormy sea.
"We'll find it, don't worry, my lady," Genya said. She glanced around—then stopped. "There it is!"
Sitting in the center of a shaft of light, was the trident, made of gold with jewels in the shaft, curved like coral.
"There it is." Luda hummed what sounded like a few bars of her song in Alina's dreams as she drifted toward the trident, like a rowboat in the shallows.
Her hands clasped around the staff, and the energy of the air changed, crackling like the preamble to a hurricane. Luda's eyes flashed a bright sea-blue, like Genya's when she sang her spell-songs.
She turned, and that was when Alina recalled the adage every sailor knows.
The sea is a sailor's greatest love, friend, and enemy.
And the shift between the three could be as quick as a split-second.