I pulled out the horn and held it up, focusing on contacting Eriskel.
Without warning, I found myself in the central room inside the horn again. Eriskel was looking highly alarmed, and all of the Elementals were at their screens, watching me.
“I need help. I have no idea what to do, but we’re about to be a bunch of crispy critters here if we don’t nullify that damned energy.” Relieved to have a breather—I could think in here without wasting much time on the outside—I flopped in the chair opposite the jindasel. “What should I do?”
The Master of Winds spoke. “I can negate the lightning. But then he’ll wake and you’ll have a fight on your hands.”
I turned to the Lord of the Depths. “If we do that, can you help us?”
“I can help you by getting you out of the ship, so you aren’t trapped in there with him.”
I thought for a moment. We had to retrieve the spirit seal. We couldn’t chance it vanishing if the orb that was holding it near K’thbar vanished. “Can you make me immune to lightning and electricity, at least for a few moments?”
The Master of Winds arched his eyebrows. “You want to go inside the orb?”
“Just long enough to grab the spirit seal. Then I’m out of there and you can negate the orb.”
“If I give you both that immunity and then negate the energy, it will drain the horn and the others will not be able to help you except in the most rudimentary ways. Is this what you wish to do?”
I thought it over. If we just had him negate the orb, the chance of losing the spirit seal was very real. Right now, it was trapped inside along with the Primordial Fae. “Yes. Shimmer and Shade are in their dragon forms. They can fight K’thbar.”
“Be very sure. He is not at his full power while he’s in there. The orb is not a safe haven. There are reasons to keep others out—and reasons to keep someone in.”
A prison. K’thbar was imprisoned in the orb, then. Double crap because that meant that somebody had considered him a big-enough danger to lock away. But I couldn’t see any other way and I had to make a decision.
“Yes, I’m sure. If you could propel me near him, that would be wonderful.” I had never expected to connect the word wonderful with the thought of cozying up to one of the Primordial Fae, but here I was, doing just that. Sometimes, life didn’t work out quite like you expected it to. And that was usually okay, except this time, I wasn’t going to lay odds.
Eriskel gently rested his hand on my shoulder. “Mistress Camille. Be very careful. When you exit from the horn, put the horn safely away and close your eyes. The Master of Winds and the Lord of the Depths know what they have to do. You need say nothing but do not open your eyes until you hear me whisper. You will find yourself next to K’thbar and the seal. The sphere will then be negated, so shield your eyes again. The rest, regrettably, is up to you. I will see you after you charge the horn on the dark moon. This will drain every ounce of its power till then.”
As his voice faded, I was back in my body. I immediately crammed the horn back in its sheath and closed my eyes. A ripple ran through me—very unpleasant, almost like a series of minor shocks, and then I was moving, the currents sweeping me forward. I did my best to maneuver into a swimming position. Though I couldn’t see, I knew precisely when I passed through the orb because it felt like a feather-light dusting of ash sprang up on my exposed skin, as though the very outer epidermis had been zapped. That should give me a rosy glow, I thought.
The next moment, I came to a halt.
“Open your eyes.” The whisper was so faint I almost missed it.
I opened my eyes to find myself staring up at K’thbar. He was huge—so huge it was hard to tell where he stopped. He was far taller than the ship, which meant that the sphere existed in another realm. And he was thrashing around. Waking up, damn it. I saw the spirit seal near his hand and lunged for it. The moment my hand closed over it, he let out a roar, and I frantically tried to hold onto the seal as the world shifted.
Remembering Eriskel’s instructions, I shut my eyes as tight as I could, praying that K’thbar wouldn’t step on me. The flash came, then, and I found myself jettisoned sideways, tumbling through the water as I desperately tried to hold on to the spirit seal. The next thing I knew, I was slamming through the wall of the ship. Thank gods the force of the explosion preceded me, because it lessened the impact, even though I still felt like I had hit a brick wall at full speed. Splinters of wood exploded out every which way as I tried to slow myself down. At least I was in the water and not in midair, I thought. And the ship had been stationary, not moving. Two pluses. I was upside down in the water, feet pointed toward the surface—as far as I could tell—when a gentle arm reached out to steady me. A very big, very blue arm. I glanced up to see Shimmer, in her dragon form, holding me fast.