As Vladim moved to turn the locks, I heard Genya whisper. "You definitely owe me a kiss after all this, Don't think I won't hold you to it."
I laughed lightly. "We'll see."
"There is no seeing, you will, if I have to be the one to do it then so be...
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THE MOMENT WE ENTERED THE UNSEA, I knew something had changed. Hurriedly, Alina braced her feet against the deck and threw up her hands, casting a wide golden swath of sunlight around the Hummingbird. With the power of one amplifier, Alina had to barely think to summon up the light.
She tested its edges carefully, though she was well aware of what she could do with it. But even from my standpoint, feeling the coldness brush against my skin, the buzzing. Something was very wrong. The Fold felt different. I told myself it was just my imagination, but it seemed like the darkness had a texture. I could almost feel it moving over the skin in my coat.
Alina was wincing, tilting her head slightly, close to the wound at her shoulder and I could sense she was in pain. I'd been on the Unsea once before, and the first time I felt like a complete stranger, like a vulnerable interloper in a dangerous, unnatural world that did not want me there. When Alina was under the Darkling's control and when I was powerless to do anything to save her or help.
But now it was as if the Fold was reaching out to me, welcoming me. I knew it made no sense. The Fold was a dead and empty place, not a living thing. It knows me, I thought fearfully. Like calls to Like. Because of the Darkling, because he had fragments of my power.
"They're coming," Mal said, standing beside Alina. "Listen." Over the rush of the wind, I heard a cry echo through the Fold, and then the steady pounding of volcra wings. They'd found us quickly, drawn by the smell of human prey.
Their wings beat the air around the circle of light Alina created, pushing the darkness back at us in fluttering ripples. With crossings of the Fold at a standstill, they'd been too long without food. Appetite made them bold.
Alina spread her arms wider, letting the light bloom brighter, driving them back. "No," said Sturmhond. "Bring them closer."
"What? Why?" Alina asked. The volcra were pure predators. They weren't to be toyed with. "They hunt us," he said, raising his voice so everyone could hear him. "Maybe it's time we hunted them."
A warlike whoop went up from the crew, followed by a series of barks and howls. "Pull back the light," Sturmhond told her. "He's out of his bloody mind," I said to Alina. "Tell him he's out of his mind."
But Alina hesitated and so did Mal. "Well..." Mal started, "Well what?" I asked, incredulously. "In case you've forgotten, one of those things tried to eat you!"
He shrugged, and a grin touched his lips. "Maybe that's why I'd like to see what those guns can do." I shook my head. I didn't like this. Any of it.
