No. It couldn’t be.
She pulled back, but Rodger held on to her.
It’s okay, he mouthed.
But how could it be okay? There were dead monsters on the docks, which meant the Sirens had somehow…
Then it hit her. Moreto hadn’t orchestrated just the attack with the submarines. In the ambush, the skinwalkers had unleashed the monsters.
The cage from the rooftop descended to the docks. To the right, a side door to the marina flung open. More Cazador soldiers poured out.
Colonel Forge was one of them, holding a cutlass covered in blood. Mac and Felipe followed him out. They all glanced up at the cage, and Magnolia spotted Michael, Victor, X, and Sergeant Wynn inside.
The elevator finally clanked to the deck, and the men joined Forge. They formed a group and started off for the docks to her left, passing the injured and those helping them.
They hurried toward a dock where Magnolia spotted an armored Cazador speedboat that she had never seen before. The hull sported a black octopus logo. It had to be Colonel Forge’s personal war boat.
Farther off, Shadow, his newly assigned warship, was also sailing, with a small fleet of boats on patrol. Most of them were coming from the direction of the Hive.
She brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun’s glare.
Smoke rose away from the Hive.
“Come on!” said a faint voice.
It took her a moment to realize that some of her hearing had returned.
The voice grew louder. “Mags, come on, we have to go,” said Rodger.
She started walking, and he helped her into the long line of injured heading inside.
Another group of people went the opposite direction on the pier, but they weren’t militia or Cazador soldiers. Hell Divers Arlo and Edgar, in their armor and armed with assault rifles, ran past her without even stopping.
Rodger pulled on her when she turned and raised a hand.
“Wait,” she slurred.
“Mags, we have to get you to the medical ward,” Rodger insisted. “Please…”
“Magnolia!” shouted a raspy male voice.
X had spotted her and Rodger. He ran over, panting, looking them both up and down.
“God damn, it’s good to see you two,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“I will be,” she said. “You?”
A diagonal gash across his chest leaked blood. He held the captain’s sword in his left hand and used his bandaged stump to wipe sweat and blood from his face.
“I’m fine and heading out to patrol,” X said. “You two get inside. It’s safe now. We’ve cleared the building of the beasts.”
Wynn stepped up beside X. “Have you seen Lieutenant Sloan yet?” he asked.
“No,” Magnolia said. “Last time I saw her was on the rooftop, at the start of the duel.”
The ringing in her ears blocked out X’s cursing. She winced.
Rodger tried to keep her walking by gently taking her arm, but again she resisted. The soldiers and Hell Divers were boarding the boats, and she wanted to go with them.
She wanted to fight. To find Moreto and get the satisfaction that had evaded her on the roof.
“Please,” Rodger said.
“Get inside,” X said. He patted her on the arm and then ran with his team to the docks. Another armored boat came out from the covered marina. She recognized that throaty rumble—the boat where el Pulpo had strapped her and Sofia next to the exhaust stacks.
“Where is Sofia?” she asked Rodger.
“I don’t know,” he said, “but we have to go. Your wounds need to be treated before you get an infection. I can’t lose you like I lost…”
The ringing came again, silencing Rodger. The right side of her head pounded. Fighting the agony, she mouthed, lost who?
Rodger wiped a tear and spoke again, but she still couldn’t hear him.
Magnolia put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him closer.
Who? she mouthed.
It was hard to make out the response of his quivering lips, but he seemed to be trying to say, My mom and my dad.
EIGHTEEN
The armored war boat bobbed in the water somewhere in the center of the Vanguard Islands. In the stern Michael threw on a chute and booster pack. They were old, pulled from storage in the armory, but it was all they had. Everything else was on Discovery, wherever that was…
They had lost contact with the airship after a rocket from the surface exploded against its hull. Details were still coming in, and Michael still wasn’t sure whether the militia had captured the skinwalker who fired the rocket.
At least a dozen vessels surrounded the war boat. Militia soldiers and Colonel Forge’s forces stood on the decks, their weapons angled at the water, searching for submarines.
The only people looking up were Hell Divers. Ted, Hector, Alberto, and Lena waited in a boat across from Michael. Arlo and Edgar were on another craft, in armor and ready for orders, despite their still healing injuries.
They weren’t the only ones hurt. Michael had a gash across his forehead and another on the back of his head. But the sting and trickle of blood was just a nuisance. All that mattered was that Layla had safely evacuated to the capitol tower, where she was now protected.
A runabout, commanded by Sergeant Wynn, chuffed closer to the war boat. A Hell Diver standing on the bow took off her helmet. It was Sofia.
“Did you find the skinwalkers who fired the missile?” X growled.
“Yes, sir, we have them in our custody,” Wynn replied. “We’re doing our best to search for any remaining hostiles with the resources we have left.”
Have left… The devastating ambush had killed far more people than he imagined. And with Discovery’s fate unknown, the future of the Vanguard Islands was never more uncertain.
“What about Discovery?” he asked.
“We still have no idea where she is,” Wynn said, “but we do know their radio was damaged in the attack. Good news is, we haven’t seen her come crashing down anywhere.”
X put his fingers in his mouth and whistled to the other vessels.
“Listen up, Hell Divers!” he shouted. “We’re sending you all up into the sky with your boosters to see if you can locate Discovery.”
Michael scanned the sky. Chances were good the ship was just above the cloud cover, and with the flares, he could get Captain Mitchells’s attention.
“Spread out and find her!” X yelled.
Motors fired, and the boats chugged away, fanning out to give Edgar, Arlo, Sofia, and several of the greenhorns the best chance of finding the airship.
Michael prepared to put on his helmet, but X stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“I told you a war was coming,” X said quietly. “This is it, and we just lost the first battle.”
“We can still win this.”
X waited a second before nodding. “I fear there are more skinwalkers lurking on the rigs, so be careful once you get in the air. If your balloon is popped, you know what to do.”
“Yes, sir.”
X looked out over the water as the other boats pulled away.
“Once you find Discovery, make sure none of the green divers give away its position. If you manage to board, have Les put down under cover of darkness, at these coordinates.”
X handed Michael a torn piece of shirt with numbers scribbled on it. They meant nothing to him at first glance, but Timothy would be able to determine the location.
Michael slipped the sliver of torn shirt into his vest pocket. Then he secured his helmet. X pulled him close, pressing his head against Michael’s visor.