the distance, Koy was pulling himself up into the tender boat. We swam toward it, diving under each time another wave crested and when we finally reached him, Koy had both oars in hand.
“Come on!” he shouted into the wind.
I held onto the edge and lifted myself inside, slipping on the wood and falling into the hull. West came up behind me, going for the rudder.
Beyond the shallows, the Marigold rocked on the swells, masts tipping back and forth as each wave slammed into the hull.
Koy dropped the paddles into the water and rowed, growling as he fought the current. The wind was too strong. The water too swift.
“We’re not going to make it!” I yelled, shivering. The rain was like glass, biting my skin as it blew in sideways.
West’s eyes were fixed on the ship. When he opened his mouth to answer, the boat suddenly stilled, the water calming. All around us, the gray sea was beginning to settle, but the clouds continued to roll overhead, like a plume of angry smoke. The hiss of my breath was the only sound. Until I saw it.
Down shore, the water was kicking up, an invisible gale racing toward us. It was dragging a wall of water behind it.
“Row!” West howled.
Koy turned the boat and headed for the beach, screaming as he jerked at the oars. But it was too late.
The wave raced toward us, its crest spilling down as it loomed over us. I watched, a gasp trapped in my throat, as it came crashing down.
“Fable!” West’s voice vanished as the water collapsed on top of us.
The boat disappeared and I was plummeted beneath the surface, dragged through the water like hands pulling me into the deep. I thrashed, fighting its strength, twisting and turning, looking for the surface.
A flashing glow appeared below me as the water let me go, and I launched myself toward it, kicking hard. It wasn’t until I got closer that I realized it wasn’t below me. It was above. The world was tossed and spinning beneath the water.
I broke the surface, screaming West’s name and a cry escaped my throat when I spotted the boat pushed up onto the shore ahead. Beside it, West was calling out to me. I frantically swam for the beach and when I felt the sand under my feet, I stood, trudging up out of the water. West caught me in his arms, dragging me from the surf.
“Where’s Koy?” I panted, looking up and down the beach.
“Here.” He waved a hand into the air. The rope to the tender was pulled over his shoulder as he hauled it higher up the beach.
I dropped to the sand when we reached the cover of the trees. “West,” I croaked, “the stone.”
“I’ve got it.” He had one hand clenched around the small purse tied to his dredging belt.
I let out a tight breath, looking past him to the Marigold. She was just a shadow in the mist. West stood at the water’s edge, watching helplessly as she tipped and swayed, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.
The storm had come in fast. Too fast. And the winds were stronger than we’d predicted.
Another gale swept over the island, bowing the trees until their branches touched the sand. The thunderous resonance of another wind swelled, skipping over the surface of the sea, and it slammed into the ship.
The Marigold heeled, the masts reaching out over the water on the starboard side, and then suddenly she righted, snapping back up.
West took a step into the water, his eyes widening.
“What is it?” But I realized as soon as I blinked the rain from my eyes what had happened.
The Marigold was moving. Drifting.
“The anchor line,” West said, his voice almost inaudible.
It snapped.
Another strike of lightning cracked overhead, and another, until the wind slowly calmed. The water steadied with each softening wave until they were pushing up around our feet in a final gasp.
West was already towing the tender back into the water.
I jumped in with the oars and handed them to Koy as soon as we were afloat. We glided over the shallows as the Marigold drifted farther. I could already see Willa up on the mast, a bronze scope shining in her hands.
By the time we made it past the break, she’d spotted us.
The crew was already waiting when we finally reached the ship, and I caught the lowest rung of the ladder and pulled myself up, my hands so numb that I couldn’t feel the rope