The man I'd rescued stepped to the console and regarded the buttons and switches for a moment before pointing to a button that plainly said "Anchor" on it. "This is it."

  "Pardon my manners," I said. "I'm Justin, and this is Elyssa."

  "Alon," he replied. He touched his dislocated shoulder and winced. "The wave hit my boat last night." Tears gathered in his eyes. "My wife was lost. Somehow, I survived."

  "I'm so sorry, Alon." Elyssa placed an arm on his good shoulder. "We're trying to get back to the mainland, but we have a group of people to rescue from the island first. We have a doctor who can probably reset that arm for you."

  Tears rolled down his cheeks. He nodded. "I am grateful."

  I noticed a small refrigerator tucked into the back corner of the cabin and opened it to find bottled water and soft drinks. "Maybe you should have some water." I handed one to him, and then gulped one down myself.

  He sat cross-legged on the floor and forlornly drank his water. "Why did this have to happen here?"

  "If you're talking about the meteors, they hit all over the world." I didn't want to dampen his mood further, but I had the feeling he was blaming bad luck or god for killing his wife.

  The news obviously surprised him, because his head rocked back as if I'd struck it. "All over the world?"

  Elyssa slowed the ship and released the anchor. "Hope it holds."

  "What's the best way to get everyone onboard?" I asked.

  "There should be inflatable dinghies," Alon said quietly. "Look for the pods on the sides of the yacht."

  "You seem pretty experienced." Elyssa knelt next to him. "Can you pilot this boat?"

  He nodded slowly. "If I must, though I have never piloted such a large craft."

  "That makes you a gazillion times more qualified than us." I rolled my head to ease some of the muscle spasms gripping my neck. "I'll go look for the dinghies."

  "I'm coming with you." Elyssa regarded Alon, sympathy softening her eyes. "Will you be okay alone?"

  He nodded and leaned against bottom of the console. "I will rest."

  We found several rafts and paddles located in compartments all along the length of the ship. We inflated one and put the others inside it. Elyssa grabbed a paddle and pushed us toward shore. Harley stood atop a giant mound of debris and waved when we he spotted us. He carefully made his way down and met us.

  "I thought you were dead for sure." He whistled and showed me a video of the yacht on his phone. "This is definitely something you can tell your kids about."

  Elyssa grinned. "They'll have no shortage of stories to keep them entertained."

  I noticed a crowd of people streaming down the street from the direction of the hotel with the big man in the lead.

  Harley whooped and waved at them. "Looks like Reese took care of business."

  "Is Reese the big man?" I asked.

  He nodded. "Yep. Former special forces, if I had to guess. I see a lot of those types in these parts. I think they figure Thailand is a good place to lose themselves and forget the past."

  Elyssa gave me a knowing look. I knew she didn't mean anything by it, but guilt used my guts as a hammock. I'd left behind plenty of loose ends when I ran away from responsibility after the war. If one of Daelissa's former minions caused all this, then I was partly to blame for leaving them free.

  Harley seemed to sense my unease and chuckled. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with running away." He flashed his teeth. "While you were gone, I did some research on the internet."

  "At least that's still working," I mumbled.

  "There were over a hundred reported impacts yesterday." He pulled up a map with red marks. "Some of the impacts were negligible. The meteors fizzled or shattered before reaching the ground." He scrolled along the map. "As you can see, they hit all over the place. I don't think they missed a single country." He switched to pictures from all over the world. All the meteors more or less resembled what we'd seen on the first newscast. "Here's the weird part."

  "I think you need to reevaluate how you use that word from now on," I said.

  He chuckled. "I see your point. But the oddity here is none of these meteors show burn marks from atmospheric entry."

  I hadn't really thought about it, but he was right. "In other words, they were launched inside the atmosphere."

  "I suppose." He seemed to have as hard a time wrapping his brain around it as I did. "I just don't see how anyone would be capable of launching so many of these things worldwide, especially in such a short time frame." He looked up. "It would take hundreds of stealth bombers all over the world."

  Elyssa showed us her phone. "Look at this video."

  A girl taking a selfie video of herself in a small airplane shrieked and flipped the phone around as something the size of a basketball streaked past the nose of the plane.

  "What the hell is that?" a male voice asked. "Hang on, I'm gonna follow it." The view through the windshield shifted sharply down.

  "Dwayne, what are you doing?" the girl cried.

  "I want to see where it lands. Keep videoing, babe. This is our chance to become internet famous!"

  Sunlight sparkled off the crystalline object. As it fell, it gathered speed and swelled in size. Before long, it was big as a bus and trailing sparks. The aircraft shook violently.

  "N-n-no!" the girl shouted, her words stuttering from the turbulence. "G-g-get us out of here!"

  Dwayne cursed and turned the plane from the meteor's trail. The view evened out for a moment and then shook violently as the sound of impact rumbled in the distance. "Holy sh—"

  Elyssa stopped the video. "Did you see how small the crystal was at first?"

  I blew out a breath. "This must be the work of Serena. Who else could make crystal meteors that grow to the size of an elephant and then suck all the magic from the world?"

  "I'll let you two figure that one out." Harley shook his head. "This stuff is crazy."

  Reese and the crowd of refugees reached us a moment later.

  I shook his hand. "Good work. Did you find many supplies?"

  "Yep, but I gotta warn you—I saw Jay and a group of his loonies looting a gun store." His upper lip curled. "Judging from the size of the crates they were pulling out of there, they can't be up to anything good."

  My chest tightened. The last thing I needed was Jay trying to kill me. "We've got plenty of inflatable rafts. Let's get everyone loaded onto the yacht."

  Reese looked out at the craft and whistled. "She's a beaut."

  "Yeah it's okay, I guess." I would have settled for a speedboat, but at least this way we could take a boatload of people with us.

  I found Elizabeth and took her aside. "I'd like you to go on the first raft. The ship pilot needs some attention, and there's a French guy named Alon there who needs his arm put back into the socket."

  She raised an eyebrow. "You're like a magnet for serious injuries."

  "If only you knew." I motioned her toward the shore. "You'll find the rafts up there."

  It took an hour to get the first rafts of people onboard the yacht and paddle the inflated rafts back to shore. All the remaining refugees boarded the rafts and piled the supplies inside. We'd just pushed off from shore when I heard an outboard motor revving nearby. Mounds of floating debris blocked my view, so I couldn't tell where it was coming from. We finally reached relatively open water and were about halfway to the boat when the rumbling motor grew louder behind us.

  "Oh, crap," Elyssa eloquently stated.

  I looked back and saw Jay and his merry band of demon haters riding in a flat-bottomed steel boat and coming straight for us. Every one of them held a rifle of some sort. Elyssa had told me to take it easy, but the sight of those gun-wielding maniacs lit a fire under my ass. I grabbed a paddle and worked it like mad despite the agony in my muscles.

  Elyssa growled. "Why can't people like him just go away?"

  It was slow going, but thankfully, a lot of unpleasant people weighed down Jay's boat. We reached the yacht just as the other craft caught up to us.

  A shot rang out. People cried out and ducked. I turned and glared. Jay grinned smugly and fired another shot into the air.

  "Give us the demon," he shouted. "We'll throw him into the fiery inferno in the ocean and rid the world of his evil."

  I pumped my fist at him. "You're a grade-A certified lunatic, jackass!"

  Another man held up a handful of grenades. "We're going to blow him all to hell."

  Bullets spattered the water all around the small boat. Jay and crew nearly crapped their britches.

  "I've got a better idea," Reese said, the butt of a sleek black automatic rifle pressed against his shoulder. "Why don't you go away and stay away?"

  One of Jay's men whipped a pistol out of a holster. Before he could aim it, a bullet pinged off the handle and sent the gun flying into the water. The man shouted and nursed his hand.

  "I'm a pretty good shot," Reese said. "I could probably ace every one of you from a hundred yards with this rifle." He smiled. "On the other hand, you could just do what I asked and go away."

  "If you want to damn yourselves to hell, then I won't try to save you." Jay stood and glared at Reese. "But you won't stop our holy mission." He jabbed a finger toward the glowing whirlpool of doom. "We will destroy the root of his power."

  Reese snorted. "With grenades and guns?" He shrugged. "Be my guest. Now get out of here, and don't think I won't be watching you."

  "Onward to God's glory!" Jay raised a fist in the air. The man driving the boat gunned it and Jay tumbled backwards with a yelp as his holy chariot bounced away toward the whirlpool.

  Cheers went up from our group.

  I gave Reese a thumb's up. "Nice going, man."

  "My pleasure." He turned away and stopped. "By the way, I stowed the bodies I found onboard in a compartment near the engine room." A sigh. "At least they can get a decent funeral." Reese pressed his lips together, turned, and ascended to the upper deck, presumably to keep an eye on Jay and company.

  We quickly helped everyone board the ship and loaded the supplies. The doctor had found a med kit and managed to awaken the pilot. Though the man was still mostly out of it, he instructed Alon how to operate the yacht and the advanced sonar.

  I walked to the bow with Elyssa and looked to the east where Jay's motorboat was closing on the maelstrom, probably quarter of a mile away by now. "I wonder if they can even scratch the thing with grenades."

  "That's if they don't get sucked into the whirlpool first," Elyssa said.

  I magnified my vision and watched as Jay and the others tied several gray bricks on a small inflatable raft, and I realized they must have gotten their hands on something more powerful than grenades. They were also a bit craftier than I'd given them credit for being.

  If they did destroy the meteor, I wondered what would happen to all the aether. Had the meteor sucked in all the aether, or was it doing something else to it? I really didn't know. Then again, I didn't want to be anywhere near that thing if it blew up.

  Outboard motor fighting the violent eddies, they released the raft. It swirled away toward the gaping maw and was quickly consumed. At first I thought Captain Jackass Jay and his boatload of flunkies might not escape the swirling current around the vortex, but the small boat fought free.

  "Those idiots are gonna get themselves killed," Reese said. He pulled a pair of binoculars from his eyes and shook his head. "Maybe they'd be doing the world a favor."

  "Who knows?" I said. "There might be somebody in this world who'd miss them."

  Reese chuckled. "Yeah, their psychiatrists." He lifted his head in an upward nod. "What's your story, man? I've been saving Q&A time for later, but I gotta admit, I'm curious about that transformation you pulled on the roof yesterday."

  "Uhm…" I wasn't sure if I wanted to launch into the story I'd given Harley, or make up something on the spot. "It's complicated, and probably best kept secret unless you want people in black knocking on your door someday." I didn't really know if the Custodians made house calls on people they suspected had knowledge of the Overworld, or simply let them be until they started making waves.

  "Ah." He nodded again. "Some kind of government thing."

  I didn't challenge his supposition. "More or less. Let's just say that the fewer people who know, the better."

  "I gotcha." Reese shrugged and put the binoculars to his eyes. "I've had to keep my share of secrets."

  "Special forces?" Elyssa asked.

  He nodded without lowering the binoculars. "That obvious, huh?"

  "Let's just say you know how to handle a gun." She shuddered. To her and most Templars, guns were grody nom weapons.

  "I can tell by the way you handled yourself on the roof, you might know a thing or two." He glanced away from the lens and winked.

  By now, Jay and pals were a couple hundred yards from the whirpool. Someone was fiddling with the engine on the boat, and I wondered if they'd run out of gas. I hadn't thought to check the fuel situation on this rig and hoped we had enough.

  A distant rumble told me the explosives must have gone off. A brilliant burst of light from the maelstrom confirmed the theory. A shockwave rippled through the ocean and blasted me in the face with mist. Then the real explosion happened. A massive sphere of crackling ultraviolet and white energy bubbled up from the depths of the ocean and spread at a terrifying rate.

  Jay and the others with him threw up their arms. I could almost hear their screams over the deafening roar as what could only be malaether—corrupted, poisonous aether—burned them to ash.

  "Holy mother!" Reese looked at the other spectators on the deck. "Get inside now! Go! Go! Go!" The look of panic in his eyes was enough to send everyone scuttling to shelter.

  The giant wave preceding the malaether blast was enough to turn my insides to water.

  If the tidal wave didn't kill us, the malaether blast would probably burn us all to ash.

  Chapter 6

  Elyssa and I raced to the control room where Alon, his arm in a makeshift sling, guided the boat.

  "Are we at full speed?" I asked.

  He shook his head. "I thought we should conserve fuel. What was that—"

  I ran forward and jammed the throttle all the way to max. The ship lurched. "We've got to get out of here!"

  During the war, both sides had used small malaether crucibles like mini-nukes. Those detonations had been relatively small. If that crystal meteor had been soaking up aether all this time, it meant the explosion would be exponentially greater.

  I looked back and saw the leading wave racing toward us, the sphere of cascading death close behind. The water caught us, slammed into the stern, and the entire ship groaned as it tilted forward. Water bottles and other loose objects tumbled to the floor. Everyone grabbed onto seats or consoles to keep from crashing into the control panel or front windows.

  The ship rushed down the wave, riding it like a giant surfboard, and cries of terror rose from everyone present. I looked back—rather up—since the ship was at such a precarious tilt, and saw the deadly energy wave not more than a hundred yards behind the rising ocean.

  "C'mon, baby." I patted the console. "You survived the first tidal wave. You can make it through this one."

  "I don't think petting the ship is going to help," Elyssa shouted over the din of rushing water, groaning metal, and the thunderous roar of malaether.

  The bow shuddered as if it had hit something. I saw a cluster of small boats that must have been cast out to sea spinning before us and figured we must have hit at least one. The yacht spun sideways and gravity shifted. Alon slipped and fell hard against the wall. The ship captain, who I hadn't noticed before, was buckled into a large chair, eyes wide with terror.

  I almost wished he'd shout something crazy but encouraging, like, "Argh, mateys! This here ship has sailed the seven seas and ridden the deadly waves of hurricanes. Never has she let me down, and never will she!"

  Instead, he closed his eyes and whimpered.

  I'm totally with you, bro. Unfortunately, I wasn't buckled in, and it was all I could do to keep my grip on the slick console. The yacht pitched, and for a moment, I thought it would completely roll over. For a split second, I saw nothing but dark waves and water through the left windows. The hull slammed into more of the small boats riding the wave before us, and the entire craft shuddered.

  We crested the tidal wave and the ship wobbled to the right. I lost my grip and tumbled down the aisle, crashed through the window. My fingers barely gripped the railing in time to keep me from hurtling into the water. The ship bobbed upright and catapulted me back onto the deck just in time to see the malaether sphere rushing toward us.

  We're dead.

  I tried to stand, but my body was beyond tired and beaten. Even if I got inside, it would roast us alive.

  "I love you Elyssa!" I shouted at the top of my lungs and futilely threw up my arms.

  Death didn't come. The crackling energy faded, leaving a boiling sea behind. Dead fish floated to the surface, and the steam turned to a dense fog.

  The yacht's engines cut off and for a moment, there was nothing but profound silence. I heard movement, and Elyssa appeared by my side. She hugged me, not too hard, thankfully, and peppered my face with kisses.

  "Justin, are you—oh, never mind—I know you're hurt." Tears sparkled down her cheeks.

  "I'm going to need another vacation after this," I groaned.

  She helped me to my feet. My legs were skinned to hell, and so were my arms, for that matter. I tasted blood in my mouth and found a painful cut on my lip. Elyssa put my arm over her shoulder and helped me limp back inside the control room.

  Alon lay motionless beneath the broken window I'd fallen through. Elyssa knelt, touched his neck, and shook her head slowly. "He's dead."

  The captain sobbed uncontrollably, but seemed otherwise unharmed. Two other people had strapped themselves into chairs and appeared okay as well.

  We went inside the upper deck cabin and found two more bodies amidst stunned and frightened people. I didn't recognize the two men, but sorrow burrowed into my chest. I found Elizabeth and several other people clustered into one of the cabins.

 

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