“More pressing for the moment is this plane. You tell me Chernabog is now on board the ship. You must find him.”
“It’s why they’re on the ship, isn’t it?” Finn asked. “Something to do with Chernabog. The journal. Tia Dalma being a witch doctor.”
“I warned you before that the mission may involve resurrecting the beast. You have to understand, Finn. How do I put this? His powers, should they ever return, should they ever be at the level Walt originally imagined… You see? Fantasia was as close as Walt ever got to showing us just how bad…to what degree this character is possessed by evil. You cross the Minotaur with a Central American bat god, and you get not only the most hideous, powerful physical features of both, but the power of two cultures as well. The Greeks. The Mayans. One had active imaginations, the other horrific practices and backward beliefs. Should the intention be to return this beast to its full abilities? Well, God help us all.”
“So, we find him…and then what?”
“So confident.”
“I’m trying. All I’m saying is we’ll try.”
“And I thank you for that. Okay. First? Let’s say you find him prior to whatever they have planned for him. To the awakening—if I’m right about that. In that case, Bob may have a hold that can contain him.”
“This ship is made of steel,” Finn reminded Wayne. “Of course it can contain him.”
“I see. You’re suddenly the expert?”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Finn, you lost the DHI data. And now you’re not listening. If Chernabog regains his full cognitive and physical abilities, nothing you have—nothing anyone on that ship has—will stop him.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“You will recall your encounter at Expedition Everest, please. Even at twenty-five or fifty percent of his potential, he’s still many times the strength and evil of anything you and your friends have encountered.”
Only Amanda had managed to save Finn from Chernabog. “But…”
“Any…thing, any…one you have battled. Maleficent is a mere pawn in comparison.”
Finn felt a chill.
“Chernabog is the embodiment of evil and lethal force. We haven’t seen the half of him.”
“So…?”
“They may have cut off their noses to spite their faces,” Wayne said. “They’ve brought him on board in order to transport him somewhere the cruise is going. I doubt seriously the awakening, if that’s what’s at play, is to take place on the ship itself. They could have awakened him on Castaway. But they’ve chosen to take him out to sea. If you can find him, if Bob can contain him—perhaps drug him—before he’s fully conscious, it’s at least possible that he might be drowned. Bats do not swim. If you can drown him… The ship may be our one chance. But once on land…”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Good. Then I’m accomplishing something.”
“And Base?”
“We may need the five of you on a moment’s notice. It depends what develops. Check your phones. Check back here with me as often as possible. It’s fluid, Finn.”
The connection ended.
Storey was rocking out, virtually unaware of Finn. He pulled off his headphones, his vision blurring. He’d wanted to ask her about 2.0, about Wayne’s apparent favoritism of Philby, about the rumor that the present Keepers would be retired in favor of “new models” once 2.0 was fine-tuned.
He wanted to ask a lot of things.
But not now. At the moment, he couldn’t get a word out.
IN THE WEE HOURS of the morning, Luowski climbed a steel ladder inside the ship’s forward funnel. Pausing once to look down, he decided never to do that again. It was a thirty-foot drop to a metal deck.
He probably should have considered an invitation to meet with Maleficent some kind of honor. But since it was delivered as an order, he felt uneasy about the whole thing.
The interior of the stack, including the ladder he climbed, trembled from the vibrations of the ship’s motor. The claustrophobic space was overly warm, noisy, and dark. The higher he climbed, the more it felt as if there might not be a way back down again.
Reaching a ladder, Luowski pulled himself up through the hole and stepped out onto a catwalk’s metal grate. He gripped the handrail, mopping sweat off his face. A pale guy dressed like a pirate blocked his way—a henchman for the Overtakers. The man was most likely a crew member in costume, but Luowski wasn’t about to insult him.
“And who might you be, lad?” the pirate said in a deep-throated rasp.