Leashing the Tempest Read Free Page B

human,” Jupe said, as if it were soap opera–worthy.
    â€œCrime against God, an Earthbound dating a dirty human,” I said dryly.
    Jupe made a dismissive cluck sound with his tongue. “You’re more on our side than theirs. Did you guys just feel that? It’s starting to rain. That Captain Christie is a liar with that cloudbusting garbage. He said only sunny skies.”
    A gust of wind blew strands of dark hair into my face. “Was he lying?” I asked Lon.
    He shook his head. “He was confident about his ability.”
    â€œI’m sure it’s fine,” Kar Yee said, looking up at the sky. “See, you can tell where the sky changes.”
    She was right. It almost looked like we were sailing beneath an invisible barrier that kept the clouds at bay. Kind of cool. I’d heard of people with this ability, but I’d never seen it in action.
    â€œClear skies or not, it’s windy and cold out here,” I said, squeezing Lon’s knee. “Come on. Let’s move inside the salon. Jupe, you can test out your knack on Kar Yee, if she’s still willing.”
    Jupe waggled his brows at her. “What do you say, Kar Yee? Are you?”
    â€œIf you promise to play nice,” she answered, leveling him with a semi-threatening look.
    â€œI promise.”
    â€œI’ll hold you to that.”
    â€œYou can. My dad says real men don’t make promises they can’t keep.”
    â€œOh, really? Thank God that doesn’t apply to real women.”
    While she herded him toward the cabin, I lagged behind to have one last look at the ward on the swim platform.
    â€œWhat is it?” Lon asked.
    â€œYou aren’t at all interested in why he has this?”
    â€œHe was a little nervous when you brought it up, but mostly embarrassed. Maybe the boat got robbed while he was sleeping on board. Captain’s pride, or something.”
    â€œMaybe.” And perhaps I was being overcurious about something that wasn’t a big deal, but upon closer inspection, I noticed the ward didn’t just circle the hull of the boat. It ran up the ladder to our level.
    I pointed this out to Lon, and we traced its path to where we stood. “It’s hidden on the underside of the railing.
    He bent low and tilted his head to inspect. “Clever.”
    From the railing, it ran across the deck through a line of recessed lights in the flooring. “Hard to see in the sunlight, and the lights probably disguise it at night.” My gaze followed the line of Heka up the outer wall of the cabin. It was brighter in one spot. I moved a blue-and-white-striped life preserver ring to reveal a series of arcane symbols painted on the wall there.
    â€œReinforcement?” Lon asked.
    â€œLike a cornerstone,” I agreed. “Don’t recognize all these symbols, though.”
    Lon and I held each other’s gaze for a moment; he didn’t recognize them, either. “Interesting.”
    More like suspicious. Maybe the good captain would be willing to tell me the name of the magician who had erected his ward once we got to the reef. It could be nothing. Could be artistic flourishes that didn’t add anything to actual ward; my bar had a bit of this in the binding symbols painted on the floor, helping them to better blend with the Tiki-themed decor.
    But as I took one last look at the unfamiliar symbols under the life preserver, I felt an uneasiness tighten my chest. And I wondered if I maybe should be less interested in who set the ward and more concerned about what exactly it was protecting us from.

“ Sixty-five degrees,” Jupe read from a GPS screen on a wall inside the salon. “Winds gusting at sixteen knots. What does that mean?”
    Lon leaned down to peer out the windows circling the cabin. “It means I’m not going to get any decent photos until we get farther down the coast away from that storm.”
    â€œThis blows. I