Chapter 16

It was wonderful day out on the water. The fall had been good to them so far this year, holding off on the rains. Although John appreciated working out in the sun, it did mean the harvests were down. The rain brought in the fish. They had a fairly good haul to start off the day, John was satisfied with today's work already from just looking at the numbers of fish that flooded the deck as he and his crew pulled in the nets.

A swell rose up, rocking the boat to the side and all the flopping, slippery fish slid with the movement of the water. John looked over his shoulder to study the water, head held high with brows drawn together, eyes squinting out the sun. He hummed as he scanned the surface of the ocean, it had been the first swell they had all day. Another swell surged up and this time he stumbled to keep his balance, doing his best to avoid the fish under his feet.

"Hansen, how we doing over there?" he said as he looked over to one of the crew members on his boat, young and fit, muscles glistening under a slick of sweat.

"Good Captain, let's bring this in as fast as we can," he said, hand over handing the net in a steady pace, "I don't like how the ocean is shiftin' right now."

"No, neither do I," he said as he continued to match the young man's pace. John continued to watch the water as he worked. There was just something off; he had spent more time on a boat than off, he knew the ocean and how she moved. Another swell swarmed up from the depths of the blue, rising a good ten feet into the air. The boat rocked and lurched as the moving water passed under them, almost instantly after another came, even higher.

John watched the water come towards them, bracing himself for the movement to wave through his boat. There was a flash of shimmering blue just under the surface. He narrowed his eyes as the figure zoomed through the water. There was a flick of something white, like bone, and a splash was flicked into his face just as the swell passed under them. He looked over to Hansen, but the boy was focusing on the net he was hauling in.

Sucking at his teeth John raised his head to continue watching the water. The swells were coming at regular swirling intervals. Every now and again he would catch the shimmer of blue, but could only make out silhouettes. Water was flowing over the deck, making footing more slippery than it already was. They almost had the net all the way in. A horrid snap reverberated through the hull of the ship, making it shudder with a chorus of protesting creaks. All of John's crew froze at the sensation, looking to the ocean for an answer. Splintering force tore up through the center of the boat, boards snapping like twigs. Everyone was tossed to their knees. A shimmer of blue snapped up into the sky like lightning, leaving a wound in the ship like a bullet in flesh, inky blue seeped up like blood.

"The row boat," John screamed and dropped the net. It unraveled back into the ocean, ropes ripping off the deck. The skies turned from clear blue to gray black in an instant. Dark clouds billowing into formation, churning and twisting as they loosed a wave of torrential rain. Clothing was drenched through in seconds, a continuous river pushed hair into eyes as it coursed down skin.

The rain came down in a wall, John could hardly see the next wave coming. His team rowed, muscles screaming in exertion with each thrust. Water coursed over the boat, waves pushing and pulling it as if it were little more than a bathtub duck. The waves, they must have been thirty feet tall, treating to capsize the small vesicle with every white cap. John kept yelling orders to his crew, creating an organized rhythm of pulls and strokes. There had to be an edge of this storm to reach.

"Not now, not now, not now," Herry muttered to himself, reaching into his pocket for his PMR to cut the call off.

"Herry," Rice said from where he sat at the side of the room, cutting Opal off from the piece she was currently performing on the lyre, "Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem," he said, feeling the heat blossoming on his face.

"Important phone call?" he prompted.

"No," he shook his head, his mind screaming 'dick.' He cursed lightly when his phone started buzzing again.

"Why don't you answer that?"

Any other day he would politely refuse, but now he needed an excuse to get out of this room. He swallowed hard as his heart began to pound in his ears. What would his Granny think about what he was about to do? He pushed the image of her disapproving face away and looked to Rice as he said, "I'm sorry sir, I'm not answering my phone, because that would be rude and inconsiderate to my partner that was trying to concentrate before she was interrupted over something that really could have waited to be addressed." He shrugged with a mocking smile, raising an eyebrow in challenge. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his PMR to flick open and turn off. He held it up to show the black screen and dropped it back into his pants. There was a suck of air as every person in the room turned to look at the teacher, who was red faced and fuming.

"Opal go sit down," he told the girl and numbly she shuffled back to her seat, "And you, the office."

"Fine," Herry said simply, turning on his heel to calmly leave the room. In the hallway he flicked his phone back on and picked up a quick jog down the hall as he punched in Jay's number.

"What the hell man?" his voice came over the phone, "Why didn't you answer?"

"In the middle of a presentation Jay, thank you very much," he skid to a stop outside the office doors and sped up the conversation, "What's going on?"

"I need you down at the marina."

"Yeah, okay, I just need to take care of something first," he said and snapped his PMR shut. He took in a deep breath and pulled open one of the double doors.

"Herry?" Hera stepped out from her office when she saw him enter, "Was that intercom from Rice about you?"

"Yeah," he said with an innocent smile, shrugging as he held out his hands.

She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose as she said, "I'll talk to you about this later, but now you need to go."

"Thanks," he said and bolted for his truck.

The captain of the boat was holding out well, confirming he was fine every time Jay asked. He seemed to be much more collected then the rest of the men in his crew. They were all shivering under their blankets, teeth chattering. Theresa was talking to each one individually about their experience out on the water in the storm. Jay stood closely to listen in as he ensured no one slipped into the grip of shock.

"John," Theresa said, crouched in front of him, "Are you sure that's all you saw, just waves and storm clouds?"

He was hesitant to answer, but eventually nodded his head. Theresa gave a slight frown and reached out a hand to place on his shoulder, subtly pushing her thumb into the bare skin on his neck. She bit her lip and closed her eyes as the images of the blue, shimmering silhouettes burst into her mind. Jay pulled her away and stared into her eyes as she opened them, waiting in expectation.

"He saw, but I've made him forget," she whispered as she brushed past Jay to move to the next man, and the next. Jay stepped away when he heard the rumble of a car engine. He knew it was Herry's truck, the thing sounded like it had a baby dragon under the hood.

"Was it that storm again," he asked as he hopped out of his truck.

"Yeah, think you could go out with the rest of the guys to take a look around while Theresa and I continue to talk to the witnesses?"

"Sure, no problem," he nodded and looked for Jay's sailboat, already being prepped by the rest of their team. They walked back to the docks together. The hand that had been gripping Jay's stomach for weeks tightened as he watched Theresa question these men. He was starting to worry this would overwhelm them. They couldn't deal with Cronus and all these creatures that were drawn to this area. Time was ticking to the anniversary of this whole mess with The God of Time.

Speaking with the fishermen and sailing around the GPS located occurrence of the storm for half an hour yielded no results. Jay radioed them back when all the witnesses were taken off to their homes. Jay learned nothing he didn't already know. His foot tapped in rapid succession the entire drive back to school, he needed to come up with a foolproof plan to end all of this now and he needed to be quick about it.