It still felt bright, but the air was cooler than before. Wynona opened her eyes one at a time, her nose scrunched in anticipation.
“Oh,” she breathed. The boat was bathed in sunlight. Somehow, with the help of the Gauntlet, it had blasted an opening right through the center of the collapsed volcano. She stared up at it, squinting at the light, and relief washed over her. Here was new air. An opening. Even if she could not leave this way, the sight of the sky had flooded her with hope.
A thought struck Wynona, and she cracked a smile. “Now what? You fly us out of here?”
As if in answer, the boat began to rock.
Wynona stared. “Huh?” She rushed forward, leaning forward over the bow. “Oh, my god.”
The boat was leaving shore—all on its own. It pitched away from the rocks until it was fully on the water, and then it turned, the bow pointing proudly away from the shore. From the panel came a soft hum, a glow. The light around it seemed to bend as if forced through a prism.
Suddenly the panel was gone. In its place stood a traditional six-handled steering wheel.
Wynona’s eyes had never been so wide in her life. “Are you serious?”
She reached for the helm and then paused. Just to be sure, she double-checked the sides of the boat—no wings, no propeller, nothing. “So you can’t fly,” she said, letting out an over dramatic sigh. “I’m less impressed. But you’re saying there’s another way out of here?”
The wheel hummed again. It wasn’t a sound so much as a vibration—something Wynona could feel in her feet, her limbs, like when her magic was working at its best.
Wynona grinned and grabbed onto the helm. She felt a rush of delight, a sense of perfect certainty. “Well. I think we’re going to be good friends, ol’ Boaty, you and I.”
“Damn it, you dumb boat!”
Wynona hung limply onto the wheel as she coughed a lungful of seawater onto the deck. “Tell me the next time you’re going to take control! You nearly drowned us!”
Compared to the belly of the volcano, Tephra’s mild coast was freezing. Between the sudden change in temperature and the way the underwater geyser had splashed Boaty upwards of a mile into the air, Wynona felt faint.
She gagged again, but nothing more came up. “Ugh…” Slowly, Wynona stood up straight. As the sea came into view, she grimaced.
Gwen’s and Loch’s mechs crowded her at either side. She couldn’t see their faces, but just by the stance of their mechs she could feel their judgment radiating toward her viciously. Oh, well. At least they were alive.
“Wynona!”
There were support mechs in the water, too, and their occupants were a little happier to see her. “Is that really you? You’re alive?” shouted one—their voice was tinny through the support mech’s small speakers, but she could tell from its tone and the bandana wrapped around the arm that it was Trent.
Wynona shook water out of her ear, doing her best not to jostle her bad shoulder. “Just barely…” She turned around, wanting to see what had become of the volcano, if they’d done any damage to Gelata without her—then she stopped in her tracks with a choked sound.
The island was smoking. Tephra had fallen in on itself—was still falling—buildings had collapsed; docks had been charred; electrical outposts were crackling with sparks and droning intermittently.
Everything closest to the bay had been completely ravaged. Everything farther out—well, there was no farther out. Much like Claybay, Tephra wasn’t large to begin with. A disaster that hurt any part of the island would hurt all of it.
Wynona’s heart felt too big for her body, as if it were swollen and still swelling, as if it could break through her ribs at any second.“Was all this—” She could hardly get the words out. “Because of me?”
There was a loud clanking sound from behind her. She turned back around. The mechs were engaged in battle with Gelata again—and, she realized, there was a third full mech besides Gwen and Loch. Lieutenant Burk had joined the fight. Wynona’s arrival had distracted all of them; they must have briefly let Burk fight the monster alone, but of course he couldn’t keep that up for long. Not only had Gelata been completely unharmed by Wynona’s antics, it now seemed to be stronger than ever. Had it been quite so big while they were in the volcano? Had it looked so solid?
Wynona’s heart seemed to swell again, in the worst way—and then it sank, deeper and deeper, settling at the bottom of her stomach like an anchor.
She felt rooted to the spot, terrified, ashamed. Now she understood. This wasn’t a mistake she could brush off or bluff away. It was irrevocable. She had ruined people’s lives, or maybe—something even worse.
Wynona fought back tears. Why couldn’t she have just listened to everyone and done her damn job? Why did she have to be special, or important? The Slayers were right not to have given her more responsibility. All she ever did was screw things up.
She should have stayed stuck in that cave. At least then nobody would have to see her face and be reminded of all the trouble she’d caused.
Suddenly, Boaty began to let out a harsh clicking sound. Something shifted underfoot. With a quake and a clatter, its wooden boards seemed to fold in on themselves, and within seconds Wynona found herself standing in a much smaller boat.
Wynona was momentarily distracted from her own tears. “Huh? Why—?”
She wasn’t the only one who’d seen it happen, either. Gwen’s mech had stopped moving and seemed to be staring right at her. A bright red tendril wrapped around its leg.
One of the support mechs called out—they still had their speaker on; Wynona heard them faintly. Rayani.“Boss, you OK?!”
Gwen’s mech raised its arms slightly and looked down. Without missing a beat, it ripped the tendril off its leg and smashed it to pieces.
“Girl.” Wynona’s heart jumped; briefly, she was distracted from her own despair. Gwen was on board? When? How? Who was in the mech?
But no—the helm had reformed again, this time into a control panel similar to the one in her support mech. A voice was rising clearly from the new speakers. Wynona approached it and saw that Boaty had also provided a screen, not that that was necessarily a good thing. Gwen looked as intimidating as ever.
“Gwen—” Wynona coughed violently. “Sorry, I mean, commander!”
“That boat,” Gwen said stonily. “Where’d you get it?”
“I—I found it in…” said Wynona, trailing off. She was going to sound ridiculous. Then she sighed. Obviously, given the destruction she’d caused, sounding ridiculous was the least of her worries. “I found it inside the volcano.”
“…” Gwen didn’t react, didn’t even look at her. Was she really not going to question that? “Find its weapons and come join the fight.”
Weapons? Boaty didn’t have weapons. Not that Wynona knew of, anyway. But if it could change size and controls at a moment’s notice…
Wynona looked out at the bay. Even if Boaty could join this fight, why should Wynona? It didn’t seem like it needed her. She could leave her Gauntlet on the panel, let it sort itself out. And the Slayers definitely didn’t need her. All she had done so far was undo everyone’s hard work. The smoke rising from the island wasn’t dissipating. If anything, it was getting thicker, billowing over the city in dark, terrible clouds.
The control panel lit up with a small ding. Wynona curled her hand away from the screen and gave a small, mirthless laugh.
“Really?” Onscreen, Boaty had provided her a picture of a cannon, glowing brightly as if begging her to press it. She shook her head. “No,” she murmured, “No. This time you’re wrong.”
She pressed the mic button with one shaky, Gauntleted hand. “Everyone, I’m sorry. This whole thing is my fault.”
There. Now at least they all knew she understood what she’d done. She swallowed thickly. She was crying again, as if she had any right to cry when so many Tephrans had just lost their homes and livelihood. Sure, she’d been upset with them before. She’d also wanted to keep them safe. Now, she’d fulfilled all their prophecies and done the exact opposite. “I’m not going to join the fight. All I’ll do is cause more problems.”
“Wynona.” That was Loch, at last. Out of everyone, she knew he was the most disappointed in her, but he said her name gently, firmly—like he understood, like he had already forgiven her. For some reason, that hurt worse. Wynona didn’t want his pity. She wanted him to validate her anger, all the shame that ate away at her chest. “Look around. Now is not the time to second guess yourself.”
“Loch, I can’t—”
Gelata lashed out with a roar, sending a ripple of giant waves out toward Boaty and the mechs. The creature really had grown so much since Wynona last saw it—it was nearly equal in size to the volcano, which flared intermittently with fire, steam, and enormous hunks of heavy rock.
“Damn it,” said Gwen, her low voice the most expressive Wynona had ever heard it. “Everybody listen up.”
Her mech fended off a darting attack from Gelata’s sharp beak. Even as emotions rocked her, Wynona couldn’t help but be impressed at the way Gwen moved, the easy grace and brutal force with which she fought the monster. Truly, if Gwen couldn’t defeat Gelata on her own, what hope did Wynona have? Why had she been so sure she knew better than everyone else?
Gwen continued. “This beast is the same as any other sea monster,” she said. “Its existence influences the nature around it. But with Gelata…” She took a deep breath. “If we don’t end this soon, it will grow until Tephra’s balance is broken. The island will explode.”
“What?” Rayani had clicked into the comms, her face popping up next to Gwen’s. “The whole thing?”
Gwen rubbed the bridge of her nose. “That thing… that you all have been calling Magmathalos…”
“You mean the giant volcano?”
“It is not giant. It is not even big.” Gwen’s voice became somehow even lower. “That boulder is insignificant compared to what lies beneath the surface.”
She went on, “Magmathalos is the super volcano that lies dormant beneath Tephra. The island is the disaster waiting to happen. We narrowly escaped destruction with the previous eruption, but if we allow Gelata to grow any further…” She paused, somber. Wynona could guess where she was going. “The entire island will be wiped off the map.”
Everyone went silent. Between them, Gelata raged, lashing back and forth as if trying to decide who to attack first.
“That boat’s weapons are our only chance,” Gwen finished quietly.
Wynona looked up at the monster—then at Gwen and Loch’s towering forms, her friends’ battered support mechs. The air was clear and quiet. If you ignored the angry ghost and the smell of smoke, it was a beautiful day for sailing.
Loch was right. Abandoning the fight now would just be another selfish move. If there was even the slimmest chance that she could help, she had to take it.
Wynona lay her hand against the control panel. It seemed to sing at her. I know what you want.
And what she wanted glowed in the center of the screen, coaxing her gently toward it. Wynona closed her eyes and slammed her hand against the button.
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