Rayna's Sacrifice (The Katori Chronicles Book 3) by A. Lombardo (intellectual books to read .TXT) 📗

During the first few hours on the open water, Kai saw nothing. Just wave after rolling blue wave. Sunshine burned his shoulders and glared across the water. White puffy clouds drifted in slow motion across the afternoon sky.

Perched on the foredeck behind the rope netting, he watched, his heart pleading to catch Lucca. But no amount of begging gave him what he looked for. They were nearly four hours behind Lucca and Basil. Yulia’s wind continued to speed them through the open water and soften the rough sea protecting Liam’s craft.

Everyone on board seemed to lean forward with anticipation. Squinting, Kai leaned forward when he noticed a glimmer of white. It was a speck of another ship racing against the waves. Kai and his group were catching up.

Pent-up anger hardened Kai’s heart. He wanted the old man to know he was coming. Focused on Lucca’s ship, he gleaned the gap. They were just out of reach.

The more Kai focused on Lucca, the angrier he became. The angrier he became, the more energy built within his core. Collecting and suppressing energy only compounded its power. Unable to hold the magic back, he pushed the pulse out with Lucca’s betrayal on his mind and one thought attached—I will save my mother.

Across the ocean, a spear of light bolted from Kai’s mind, headed straight for Lucca. Kai gleaned and he could see his magic sparkle over the water. A ray of energy collided into the mind of Lucca. Kai saw his grandfather step back and turn to face him. One thought returned—Please don’t.

A pang of sadness in his grandfather’s response struck Kai, but his words made no sense. Undeterred, Kai felt compelled to continue. As if he could propel them faster, Kai tapped the ship. New bitterness bubbled as he thought of Basil’s betrayal. If Basil had not betrayed them, Kai might have caught Lucca already and recovered his mother’s necklace. At the very least, he could have forced his would-be grandfather to take him along to rescue his mother.

Why the man had to be so stubborn, Kai did not know. Did they not want the same thing? To save his mother? Lucca’s hatred of Keegan rolled around in Kai's thoughts. What little Kai knew of his father’s deeds, he could understand the emotions, but why his grandfather’s feelings transferred to him, he did not understand.

Each passing hour they gained on Lucca’s ship. Liam was right, his boat was built for speed. Lucca’s boat was larger, but it was not nimble. As the two vessels neared, the Weathervane on Lucca’s craft switched focus and turned on them. Lucca’s boat slowed and the man waved his hands at the sky. Unsure what he was doing, Kai called back. “Lucca’s Weathervane is up to something.”

But it was too late. Kai felt static raise the hair on his arms and neck only seconds before a lightning bolt struck their sail, ripping it in half. Flames ate away the material. Yulia’s wind billowed through an open gash. Liam’s skimmer lurched to a stop, dead in the water. When the second bolt streaked across the sky, Yulia raised her hands and deflected the shot into the water.

Helpless to stop them, Kai watch as Lucca’s ship resumed speed putting renewed distance between them. Behind him, Yulia dowsed the remaining flames and Liam scurried to a storage compartment. “Help me removed the damaged sail!” he shouted, snapping Kai back to their situation.

Kai pulled the rope to release the sail. They had been so close. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Lucca and Basil slip away. While removing the old sail only took moments, stringing the new one took longer than Kai hoped. With each passing minute, his grandfather widened the gap between them.

Once they were back underway, Kai searched the open seas for their target. His grandfather’s ship was once again hardly a speck on the blue horizon, and the sun was setting fast. When he felt the boat slow, he looked to Yulia. He wanted to beg her to continue, but she had been working all day without so much as a break.

Kai climbed to the back. “Thank you, Yulia. I know it was a lot to make up for the hours Lucca and Basil had ahead of us. We will catch them tomorrow.”

“We will, I promise,” Yulia assured him. “Even Lucca’s Weathervane will need a break at some point.”

◆◆◆

Come dawn, Yulia again resumed their pursuit. The sun rose behind them, casting a yellow streak against the blue sky. Within a few hours, Kai and his group were back in the running. They could see Lucca’s boat getting closer.

In the distance ahead of his grandfather, Kai saw a massive gray and white fog hovering along the blue horizon. Ryker called Liam to the helm and Yulia increased their speed. The hulls hydroplaned over the tiny waves. The saltwater sprayed their faces. Lucca’s vessel disappeared into the mist ahead of them. Frantic they were losing them, Kai stomped wildly across the rope netting to the front crossbeam.

His white-knuckle grip folded around the beam. “Go faster, Yulia. They’re getting away.”

“Let me navigate, Kai.” Yulia continued her aggressive movements, propelling them forward. “I brought us this far, but I will not break this ship apart for your pursuit.”

Faster and faster, they raced. The white haze billowed out over the ocean waves. The mass of nothingness grew closer with every bounce of their vessel. Feeling overwhelmed by the eeriness, Kai climbed to the helm to stand near Liam.

Yulia backed off their speed as they entered the gloom. The sunlight was replaced with dark gray emptiness and the waves subsided into dark ripples. The sounds of splashing echoed around them. The faintest rays of sunlight serpentine above them outlined the towering landmasses on either side.

Kai gleaned the dark void. Trickles of light snaked through the mist, revealing their secrets. Much like the Katori coastline, rocks of all shapes and sizes jutted out of the ocean floor. Within the fog, Kai saw