There was no time to consider options. I willed Fuego into my grasp and launched the spear into the water. It hit the chains down below, and they broke open with a burst of light. The devourer remained motionless for a moment, and just when I thought she might scuttle farther into the dark depths, she rose to meet me and Brooks.
We tried to lift her out of the tank and onto the platform, but she was too heavy.
Use the ocean exit, the creatur
e said telepathically, gripping my arm with her claw. At the bottom of the tank.
“How far down is it?” I asked.
A few hundred feet. But I am weak. She grimaced. I need help.
Releasing the devourer, I repeated her words for Brooks, then said, “That’s too deep for me to dive.”
“Someone has to make sure she gets to Jazz’s boat,” Brooks insisted.
The devourer sank beneath the water. Her skin glowed a sickly yellowish green.
Brooks tucked her hair behind her ears and took a deep breath, leaning closer to the water.
“Brooks, what are you doing?!”
Not taking her eyes off the murky depths, she said, “I’ll get her there. I can do this.”
“No way!” I argued. “It’s too dangerous.”
She took my hand, looking me in the eyes. “I’m a water nawal, Zane. Remember? We’re not going to blow this whole mission because of some dumb ocean.”
“That dumb ocean could kill you!”
A loud bang drew my attention away from Brooks. I heard Rosie bark.
Just then, Brooks grabbed the collar of my T-shirt. She spun me to face her. I wobbled, nearly falling into the water. She jerked me close.
And then she kissed me.
That’s right.
She. Kissed. Me.
As if it were easy and natural, as if she wasn’t about to take a death dive. She pulled back and stared at me. For a minute, we were frozen, unable to break eye contact. I stopped breathing. Her cheeks flushed. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She took another deep breath.
“See you at the boat.” Brooks slipped into the water, diving into the dark so fast I lost sight of her within three seconds.
“Brooks!”
I spun in time to see the gallery’s starboard door bust open. Jordan (Skywalker) and Bird (Solo) burst through. Aside from their dumb costumes, they looked just as they had the first time I met them: arrogant and cruel.
I leaped off the platform onto the deck, using Fuego to break my landing. I drop-rolled as the twins came at me. Electrical sparks shot out of their hands. I threw up a wall of smoke as Rosie shot streams of fire from behind them. “Rosie, no!” I shouted. As much as I wanted to make these guys pay, killing them in 1987 would ruin the future.
The twins spun around to find themselves facing a shadow grizzly bear. Ren and Adrik emerged from the gallery door and snuck past it, running toward the stern. Rosie galloped after them.
To get the twins off their tails, I cut through a passage to the port side and went the wrong direction, toward the concert. “Hey, fellas!” I taunted. “You’re missing the best song!”
A group of Stormtroopers turned their attention from the music. “Stop!” they shouted.
Jordan and Bird burst out of a door behind me. I was trapped.
Suddenly, the deck behind the twins exploded in flames. Rosie had doubled back and was trying to barbecue them. As much as I wanted to get away from Jordan and Bird, I for sure didn’t want Prince and all the innocent people on board to get hurt.