“I thought the wind was strong, and blowing due east!” he said, when he was within hailing distance.
The captain threw him an impatient look, his mind clearly on more important things. “Wind isn’t the only factor in sailing, My Lord,” he snapped. “The current is powerful here. I’ve never felt anything like it. We’ve ventured too far east!”
“No, we’re almost there!” Heath protested, but the captain had turned away, barking orders to his crew.
Heath ran back to his cousins, barely keeping his footing. The crew ignored him as they raced across the deck. Several were climbing the riggings, letting down the sails on one side and tying them up on the other. Heath saw that the helmsman had two others helping him to turn the wheel to its furthest extent.
None of it was helping much. Mere minutes ago, they had been sailing smoothly east, unaware of the maelstrom’s proximity, and now the edge of it was barely a stone’s throw away.
He reached Brody and Bianca, both of whom looked white with fear. “Blow us the other way!” he shouted, and Bianca shook her head.
“I’m trying!” Her whole body was indeed straining with effort. “It’s not enough! I can almost feel the current—it’s like the underwater version of what I’m doing in the air. It’s too strong, and it’s dragging us in!”
Heath could sense it, too, and it didn’t feel entirely natural. Perhaps he had been wrong to assume that the barrier itself was the only thing that made this water impassable. He just hoped no one on this ship would pay for his mistake with their lives.
He cast his eyes frantically toward the maelstrom. He could see inside it, now, and it wasn’t smooth water as he’d pictured. He could see rocks protruding from its sides, disappearing into depths not visible from his angle. If they got sucked in there, the ship would be smashed to pieces. He stared into the foam. Was that steam he could see rising? Or just spray?
A high-pitched whistling sound suddenly cut through the water’s roar. Then, with an explosive blast, a spout of water shot up into the air, out of the side of the maelstrom. A second and then a third followed soon after. The upward spray ceased abruptly, and swirling, foamy water rushed in to fill the temporary gap.
Heath could feel an incredible amount of power coming out from Bianca now, and the wind blowing out from the maelstrom, attempting to push them back to safety, was ferocious. Still the current fought against it.
“What can we use?” he muttered to himself. “I need to see.” He looked away from the maelstrom, searching for something, anything that would help them. He stared at the ocean, and suddenly found that he was no longer seeing its choppy surface. He was seeing murky depths, rocky shelves and clumps of seaweed appearing through the gloom like a view out a filthy window.
“Seaweed!” he shouted aloud. He seized his cousin’s arm. “There’s seaweed down there, Brody! Can you use it?”
Brody grasped his meaning instantly. He screwed his eyes tightly shut, and reached out his hand as though lowering it into the water far below them. He turned it palm upward, fingers curled, then suddenly clenched his fist as if grasping something. He gave a violent tug upward, and long, slimy lengths of seaweed shot out of the water, reaching toward the ship. They wrapped around its edges, joined quickly by more, and still more.
Heath ignored the terrified cries of the sailors, watching eagerly as the seaweed locked itself all around the ship, slowing its sideways momentum. Strands of seaweed kept snapping under the pressure, but they were quickly replaced with more, and the ship slowly pulled to a stop, creaking under the strain.
To his credit, the captain wasted no time in terror over the impossible phenomenon. He barked out more orders, and the crew hastened to obey, sending the ship skimming forward, alongside the maelstrom rather than directly away from it. Heath felt Bianca modify her wind, molding it to the captain’s direction.
Things began to calm down as they put a bit of distance between them and the maelstrom. Brody let the seaweed fall gradually as the waters calmed, and the thunder of the whirlpool faded away. Another high-pitched whistle sounded behind them, followed by a blast of steamy water, but it was quieter now.
Heath looked ahead, tension starting to drain from his shoulders, when he suddenly became aware of a massive, jagged tower of rock, pointing straight upward not far ahead, fully below the surface.
“Port!” he screamed, running at the captain once again. “Turn to port!”
The captain shook his head. “We’ll fare better moving out of the current by degrees, My Lord, not trying to fight directly against it.”
“Not the current!” Heath cried. “Submerged rocks!”
The captain stared at him, confusion etched on his brow.
“Port!” Heath shouted again, and something in his voice must have convinced the captain of the situation’s urgency.
With a shouted order, the captain sent the ship lurching violently to the left, and Heath threw himself back toward the railing. The ship fell heavily into the trough of a wave, and Heath caught a glimpse of a lethal point of rock, emerging briefly from the water just to their right, before it was swallowed up again by the surging water.
“How did you know?”
The captain’s voice close at his elbow made Heath turn quickly. He hadn’t realized the man had followed him, but the captain had obviously seen the rock tower as well.
“I…” Heath trailed off, completely at a loss for what to say. How could he explain that he’d seen the rocks, just not with his physical eyes?
The captain’s gaze passed from Heath’s face to something over his shoulder, and Heath realized that Brody and Bianca had clustered behind him.
“You’re power-wielders,” the captain said abruptly. “All three of you.” His eyes returned to Heath’s face, and his expression was inscrutable. “I don’t know whether to thank you for your part in saving the ship, or blame you for sending us into danger under false pretenses.”
“I had no idea we’d fall afoul of the maelstrom,” Heath said earnestly. “I didn’t think we’d be anywhere near it.”