“I just think that we should know what we’re doing before attempting it. Is that so unreasonable?”

Aisha paused, and I even dared get my hopes up that she was considering my words.

“Well, what exactly are you proposing then?” she huffed. “I have a suspicion about what these creatures are, but I’m not aware of how to eradicate them. That’s why I said we need to experiment. You don’t have a clue about them either, and heck, even the Elder was tight-lipped.”

Here, I had to be cautious. I held my breath, bracing myself for her reaction. “I, uh… I think that we should go see a witch.”

Aisha’s nose wrinkled. “A witch? What witch?”

“I was thinking that we could return to the witch doctor’s island… Uma’s island. She has vast medical knowledge about all types of supernatural creatures because she treats them. She may not have encountered one of these creatures before, but I’m sure she would have more of an inkling than us about them and how one might be able to kill them.”

“I still think decapitation is the way to go,” Aisha said, still on edge at the mention of seeking help from a witch. It appeared that jinn and witches were reluctant about accepting help from each other. “It’s probably as simple as finding a sharper blade to cut through the bone. We don’t need a witch.”

“I think we should at least try Uma,” I said, desperate to get through to her. “We’re not even that far from the island. With your powers, it wouldn’t take us a long time to get there.”

Aisha shook her head. “That snotty witch won’t even see us unless we scout some impossible list of ingredients for her. Seeking her out is a stupid idea.”

In my desperation, I’d forgotten about Uma’s ridiculous demands. Of course, the witch would expect something in return.

“I-I still think that we should try,” I persisted. “If we bring a specimen with us, she might just see that as valuable enough an offering to grant us a visit… I mean, this is an entirely new species of creatures. I’m sure that we would be able to arouse her curiosity enough for her to agree to take a look.”

“A specimen, huh,” Aisha said, glancing down at me with a frown. Then her expression lightened, the corners of her mouth curving slightly. Somehow, Aisha’s smile was far more disturbing to me than her scowl. “Very well,” she began slowly, “if you want to gather up a specimen, I’ll take you to the witch’s island… Let’s see how much you really want this.”

I gulped, glancing over the bald, white-headed creatures.

I was hoping that the jinni would help me with this at least. But doing it all by myself had at least one advantage…

I could see that Arletta was still in transformation at the far end of the deck. My eyes shifted toward the main crowd and I scoured the faces in search of Hans’ brothers. I spotted Braithe at the forefront, the other two close behind him.

I wanted to take them all with me, but I knew that would be too suspicious.

But I was getting ahead of myself. Before thinking about saving all of them, I had to figure out how to get just one of them out of there.

“I’ll need to use the box,” I said nervously. “But how? How would I do that without being bitten?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find a way,” Aisha said nonchalantly. “You have a rare talent for figuring out how to save your own skin.”

I felt goosebumps as Aisha lowered me again to the boat, heart-stoppingly close to the Bloodless.

“Okay,” I wheezed, trying to force my panicking mind to think clearly. “I will need to search for the box, and I’ll try to lock one of them inside and then… then you’ll need to help me lift the box away. There is no way that I can do this all on my own.”

“Deal,” the jinni said. “If you manage to herd one of those things into your blasted box, I’ll help you get it off the ship.”

Julie

Mercifully, this time, Aisha lowered me onto the mast instead of the deck, directly above the trap door that led down to the ship’s lower levels. The trap door was flung wide open. I couldn’t be sure whether or not any of the monsters were down there.

The moment my feet hit the mast, the Bloodless began hurrying toward me. Again I fought my every instinct to leap back into the ocean and swim like a maniac. This time, I would need to dive right into the fray.

Tearing off a piece of sail using my claws, I wrapped it tightly around my throat to form at least somewhat of a barrier against the monsters, no matter how measly. The rest of my body would have to remain as it was—vulnerable and unprotected—because with the Bloodless encroaching, I had no time to come up with more makeshift armor.

With one giant thrust of my legs, I flung myself from one side of the ship to the other. They all hissed and spat, turning to follow. But as soon as they neared me on the other side, I pulled the same trick, moving back to the previous side. I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I was flying completely by the seat of my pants, just hoping that my antics would disorient them and place me at some kind of advantage.

But things didn’t exactly pan out that way.

The Bloodless wised up, and, rather than follow me from mast to mast, they displayed an unnerving level of intelligence and split into two groups, positioning themselves at each one. I could no longer play this game, especially as the Bloodless began swarming up both of the masts. At least in doing so they left the deck clear. I took the opportunity to leap down and sprint for the trapdoor.