The Disaster and the Wanderlust dropped anchor two days later. The two ships pulled up to a coral reef teaming with glistening fish and lowered their row boats to cross the shallower waters as Gaku directed them to a series of small, white beach islands.

Fruiting trees waved their leaves gently in the wind, bounties ripe and bursting, ready for harvest. In the shallows small, silver fish darted to and fro in small shoals around their hulls, suspiciously eyeing the new wooden creatures in their territory. The island ahead looked like a tiny paradise, untouched by human hands.

Rubi sat in the sand under a tree with Indra, eating a spiky fruit that had put up a decent fight until she had sliced it, sketching individual specimens in her logbook and watching the children play in the shallows. Sama was running around like she should be, splashing and throwing herself around in the water with the others her age.

While Kai was further inland, stretching his legs and gathering supplies with the others, she suspected the demon was somewhere in the waves keeping guard.

She had become consumed in her thoughts last night. She was thinking about the prison break, namely those few souls who fell to the ground below when the rope was cut. The two, or more, the guards had intercepted too. Her mind whirred with faces, features swapping in and out, trying to recall their likenesses. It was almost impossible to assume they had survived. She felt torn between hoping they had survived the fall or died on impact.

Mimi had been resting in the side room no more than ten paces away, but as she lay in bed she felt she could not bring herself to wake her.

Rubi mulled over it for hours, a very real red stain sinking into her clean record. What they had done was dangerous. The reality that someone could die had not seemed real in the moment, and now it just made her feel sick to her stomach.

Surely fighting back against the system to free them was better than letting them become a dusty skeleton like that man on the upper floor?

Once the escape was on, there was no doubt they could have been killed by those guards. One went for Mimi, a small and unarmed woman.

You can't always save everyone, she thought. I did my best.

She breathed deeply, trying to appreciate the smell of greenery and flowers. Her sketch was coming along nicely. She liked to draw the intact fruit, a cross section, and the leaves and flowers on the tree which it had come from. While she was not the best artist, still-life was within her skill range. At home, she had always loved the works artists would paint on ceramics for the royal palace. Bright, beautiful fruit and vegetable motifs in powdered quartz and glass paints decorated goblets, vases, crockery, and tiles. Their farming prowess was well known across the world, a huge staple of trade, and they celebrated it openly.

Indra was scrunching his toes in the sand near to her, smiling in the sun and listening to the nature around him. He was enjoying having his feet back on dry land. The sunshine and the air felt warmer without the spray of the sea on your skin.

"When will we head off again?" he asked her.

"Probably tonight." Rubi said. "Setting up camp would be a lot of work and we have the ships ready to go."

"It's been a nice break." he replied. "How did Gaku know where to find this place?"

"He's travelled far more extensively than I have. He seems to know all the best hidden treasures wherever we go. I'll be adding it to my map for sure."

"He's a good guy, Gaku."

"Yeah, he is." Rubi agreed. She closed the log book and put it back in her drawstring bag. "Do you want to go to the water? We can find some shells or something."

"Yes, please, I'd like that."

Rubi took his hand and guided him back down the beach, taking him to the shallows. They paddled for a while in the warm surf, Rubi finding shells and giving them to her friend to feel.

"What are the shells for?" he asked.

Rubi realised he had probably never been to the seaside before he was captured and sold.

"Creatures like snails that live in the water use them as houses." she explained. "They come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes two half shells are stuck together at the bottom so they can open and close, like a clam."

"That's pretty awesome."

"Put the open end of this one to your ear." she said, handing him a spiral shaped, cream and bronze striped one. "You can hear the sea inside it."

Indra did and he laughed with joy.

"That's amazing!" he said. "I can hear the waves!"

Together they began to collect the shells and stones he enjoyed the feel of most, taking in the story of each with his fingertips. The children soon caught on and began fishing through the waves to find more for his collection.

Rubi saw Sama dive under a wave and felt an instinctual pang of panic when she did not surface after a few moments. Redundant, she realised, when thinking about a child with literal immortality. After a minute or two, she surfaced, hauling a shell out of the water encrusted in barnacles and housing a vibrant orange crab the size of her head.

"Sama, I think that one's still alive." Rubi pointed out.

"I know!" Sama replied, appreciating her writhing catch. "Can I keep it?"

"I don't think so. Why not give it a name and put it back so it can live in the wild?"

Sama sighed.

"Alright." she surrendered. "I will call it Peach Pinch."

She disappeared under the waves again for a few minutes and returned with another slightly smaller shell, this one without an unwilling occupant. Rubi saw the red eyes of the demon flickered under the water for a split second. She stared back at it, hoping it knew that Sama was safe with her. The demon had silently disappeared into the blue but she still felt its heavy gaze upon her.

"Indra, I found this for you." Sama said, handing him the shell. It was dappled with dusty pink and orange, pale spires growing from it like stalagmites, the inside beautifully smooth and warm white like marble.

"Thank you, Sama." he replied graciously, running his hands over the surfaces. "This is an amazing find! Possibly my favourite."

Sama smiled, very pleased with herself.

"I think I'm going to go for a walk." Rubi said, looking down the coastline. "I want to practice my magic somewhere with some empty space."

"Of course." Indra replied. "We'll be fine here."

"Sama," Rubi called, waving her over. "I need you and the other kids to stay close to Indra. He can't see you, but he can hear you very well. Don't give him any trouble, alright?"

"Yes, Rubi." she said.

"If anything happens-"

"I'll call for Kai." she said immediately. "He always comes when I call him."

Rubi nodded.

"That's right. If you have to run, I need you to take Indra's hand and lead him to safety in the trees where the others are."

"I will."

"Good girl. I'll see you in a bit."

Rubi set off down the beach, enjoying the sand crunching beneath her feet. The trees at her side blew fragrances into the air and dangled their unusual fruits tantalisingly. She stopped a few times to smell the flowers but was cautious not to eat any fruit she did not recognise.

The sun had passed its peak and the shadows were growing longer. She looked for an area free of debris and driftwood, preferably flat. After walking for a while, she looked back to make sure that the children and Indra were still in sight. They were little colourful dashes on the white sand.

Soon she came across a rock pool that was mostly dry, the stones smooth and level from the thrashing of the waves over the years. She stretched her muscles, breathing the sea air deeply, trying to settle her mind. Exhaling steadily, she held her hands in front of her.

Relax. Control it.

She focused her energy on summoning a sphere in her right hand. A familiar tingling resounded in her body like a hum, then ran down through her arm and into her hand, sprouting a swirling pinkish orb in her palm. She concentrated on it, breathing steadily, urging it to grow. It began to expand, more and more until it could no longer be contained in her hand. It flickered like fire and lightning unwillingly confined to a ball. In some ways the orb looked like a new rose with hundreds of interlocking petals.

Curiously, she brought her other hand up to it, gently brushing against it. There was some warmth but no discomfort as she made contact. Her touch left plum coloured impressions streaked across the rotating orb. Her fingertips tingled. The flickering surface began to smooth as if she were molding it like a ball of clay on a pottery wheel.

She watched in awe as the orb became glossy and glass-like, no longer so unstable and volatile. She could barely tell it was still moving, cutting through the air much more easily as it spun. She directed more energy into it, steadying it further, watching it with wonder as it expanded to the size of a water barrel. Rubi's heart hammered in her ears, a triumphant grin spreading across her face.

Time to shrink it back down. She slowly tried to close her hand, feeling the magic in her grasp resist her touch. There was something vaguely rubbery about the feeling, like there was a little give but not much. She persevered, reducing it steadily despite feeling her muscles struggle. Soon, it was the size of a grapefruit and her hand felt near cramping.

The urge to pass it from one hand to another came and without much thought she tipped her hand over into the other. It rolled lazily to the other palm. She tossed it a few inches into the air and caught it. It hummed reassuringly.

Feeling confident, Rubi formed another sphere, then another, and was soon juggling all three with a broad grin on her face. It was thrilling. She could feel the energy she had made like it was an extension of her body, only so much more powerful than her arms could ever be. The pink orbs gleamed, glittering with red and purple clouds in their cores.

The orbs gradually started to shrink as she manipulated them. They seemed to be slowly dissolving into the air the longer they existed. Deciding to reabsorb them back into her body, Rubi put all three orbs together in her cupped hands. The three sides met, sparking off one another in hot white bolts.

Before she could process what the white lights could mean, the orbs created a blinding flash. A straight, pale violet beam rocketed from her hands with a clap like thunder and out into the ocean, careening into the sea rocks jutting from the surf. The force threw her backwards, sending her tumbling into the sand.

"Gods!" she sputtered, scrambling to her feet. The rocks she had struck were steaming or smoking, crumbling into the waters. Adrenaline coursed through her, making her tremble uncontrollably with emotion. "Holy gods, what in the world..."

She looked back to Indra and the children, wondering if it had been loud enough to reach them. Obviously it had been just as deafening as she had thought. They had stopped playing and were staring at her.

"I'm alright!" she shouted to them, waving. Really, she felt more than alright. She was awash with endorphins, buzzing with energy. She was amazed with herself and eager to try more.

Over the afternoon, Rubi experimented and played with her gift. Her hands ached as she wrestled with the unknowable power of the orbs. She coaxed them larger and denser, their colour deepening from pink to red to intense purple. The purple took the most effort to conjure and those orbs felt the heaviest. The explosion that came from throwing a purple orb into the water was multitudes greater than a pink one. She felt so powerful. She could barely wait to tell the others what she had learned.

Sama ran to meet her as she walked back across the sands to Indra.

"Rubi," she said gleefully. "Your power is awesome!"

"Thanks," Rubi replied. "I don't practice as often as I should. It feels great."

"One day, you can teach me." Sama said, taking her hand and leading her to a spot littered with holes and sandcastles decorated with seaweed and stones.

Maybe, Rubi thought. Maybe just watching her do what she had today was enough to teach the little girl enough to replicate her power. Kai had specifically said that she was too young to be practicing any more than theory.

Sama needed to understand the significance of the power she held in order to use it appropriately. A child who could carelessly shoot energy from her hands would only cause trouble.

Even at the age of almost twenty two, this extreme power seemed to infantilize her with its potential. That wall at the prison had been utterly destroyed with one hand in a moment of panic. She needed to learn to control it, if only to prevent anyone being hurt.

Sitting on the sand again to rest, she thought about the conversation Kai and her crew had about Sama's situation. About 'The Man with a Hole in his Head'. Even the name made her uneasy. A man with an actual hole in his head; brains exposed, skull shattered?

Gaku's scar from hairline to lip had earned him his nickname of Split Face, his face was not actually split in two, so perhaps this was the same. Was it a figurative hole in his head? Was he insane? One would have to be crazy to hold someone hostage like that. Sama's mother. Who would be so cruel?

She thought about all the horror stories she had been told as a child about the evils of magic. This man could very well be the source of many of those tales. A power-crazed Perfect Immortal who had once been an extraordinary, but innocent, child just like Sama.

The daylight started to die off over the horizon and Rubi helped load their baskets of harvest into the row boats. She guided Indra into the boat and helped him find a seat when he suddenly stared off, unseeing, into the distance.

"Indra? Something wrong?"

"Did you hear that?" he asked, looking concerned.

"I didn't hear anything." Rubi said, looking around.

Kai and Sama were still standing on the beach, some of the last to board. Sama was wide eyed and rigid, pulling against Kai and looking in the same direction as Indra.

"What's wrong?" Kai asked.

"A sound." she said. "A strange sound. Like a horn."

"Is that what you heard?" Rubi asked Indra. "A horn?"

"Something similar." he replied. "An instrument of some kind, maybe a pipe. Are we alone out here?"

"I think so..." Rubi said, squinting across the ocean. "Oh no."

There in the deep blue she saw the flickers of lamplight in the shadowy shape of what might be another ship. She turned to the ships, pointed and yelled.

"Gaku! Gaku, look!"

Gaku looked over his rowboat, chest deep in the water as he pushed it into the surf, and his face dropped.

"Everybody in the lifeboats!" he shouted, hauling his body into the boat. "Zodwa, Udi, get ready to pull anchor!"

Kai placed Sama into their rowboat, taking one oar and leaving Rubi the other.

"What do you see?" Zodwa yelled back, several boat lengths away.

"I hope I'm wrong," Gaku replied. "But if it's him, we're in real danger. We'll all be recaptured and sold to the highest bidder, or worse."

"Gaku, who is it?" Rubi asked, matching Kai's oar rapid strokes to catch up to Gaku's lifeboat.

"Ex-military." he said to her, squinting into the horizon. "Someone I know personally."

Kai's brows raised.

"A Navy vessel?" he asked.

"I see three rows of lights." Gaku explained. "I think it's a Navy clipper."

"Is that bad?" Rubi asked.

"Very. It's one of the fastest armed vessels we've ever had in my country."

"What can I do?" Kai demanded.

"I need you to help get us all into deep water." Gaku ordered. "You guys can submerge and we'll get away in another direction. We will meet at the port, as we planned, alright?"

"Alright." Rubi agreed. "I trust you."

"See you soon." he promised, hooking ropes to the sides of the rowboat and winching his passengers up out of the water on a pulley.

Rubi and Kai paddled furiously to the Disaster, Mimi and Kagemaru waiting to help them aboard. A quick headcount confirmed everyone was aboard.

Kai sent Sama with the passengers and she did not argue, taking Take'Ichi's hand and heading downstairs.

Mimi bolted to the engine room, the mechanisms roaring to life. Kagemaru and Rubi prepared the sails and masts for the dome to seal over them safely. Her shaking hands fumbled with the ropes and she tried to concentrate.

A pair of pale green hands came over hers and Rubi saw Take'Ichi finish untying the knot, his top lip quivering and tears streaming down his face.

"Thanks, bud," she said.

"Let- let me help!" he stuttered. "You're m- my family too!"

Bless this little sprite, she thought.

The engine bellowed loudly, at its max, launching them against the tide into open water. Rubi watched the ocean grow gradually deeper and dark over the side. Kai stood at the bow, his hands ahead of him, breaking the waves down the center to cut the resistance against the hull.

The ship approaching them drew closer, becoming clearer. It was a long, lean ship with three huge, gleaming white sails on proportionately giant masts, three rows of portholes lined with light and medium weight guns. A fluttering black flag with some kind of brown animal on it.

Rubi dared not stare too long, rushing to the rudder to direct them off to the side slightly and prevent them from meeting head on.

The Wanderlust was buzzing with activity, also taking their sails down and starting to fix together something to their rigging. The fabric was draped across their deck and hanging over the edges slightly, though Rubi could not see exactly what it was.

"We're still not far enough out!" Kagemaru shouted over the engine.

"Kai, push the ship!" Rubi yelled. "I need you to help us!"

The clipper was drawing closer. What Sama and Indra had described, the horn or pipes, was clear now and growing louder. This approaching ship was insanely fast. Their engine could not run forever and with speeds like this the clipper could probably catch them even before that.

The Disaster was a moderately sized cargo ship, a totally different design. This foreboding vessel was free of the excess weight and breadth they had, 'clipping' over the waves where they had to cut through by brute force.

Kai surged the waters beneath them, summoning a wave large enough to throw the ship forwards as far as he could. He was panting, gritting his teeth and grunting with exertion. The demon scaled the hull, bounding towards Kai like an animal. Rubi's eyes widened as the demon stepped into Kai's body, creating a shimmering blue aura around him, its four arms outstretched to mimic his movements.

The wave grew exponentially, the Disaster soaring through the ocean. Rubi held on for dear life, hoping that soon they could descend into the depths and to safety.

She glared across the water, trying to identify the captain of the enemy ship.

There was a sallow skinned man with dark, frizzy hair on the deck, playing an instrument with a mad look on his face. He was dressed in a green blazer with decorated shoulder pads and white shirt, dark coloured spectacles covering a good half of his face. His expression, from what she could tell, was one of sickening glee.

The instrument was a woodwind of some kind, with a long neck containing a reed to blow down, a large air bag, and several more pipes extending from it. It sounded like nothing she had ever heard before, like each of the pipes were screaming.

Rubi covered her ears but could not tear her eyes from his manic face. His fingers expertly travelled up and down the neck, changing the notes in something that vaguely resembled music.

Then Rubi saw the fuzzy black, brown, and grey shapes swarming from the sides of the ship and plunging into the ocean.

The small figures were rats. Thousands and thousands of rabid-looking, red eyed rats erupting from every porthole and over the sides, launching themselves from the deck into the waves. They swam at alarming speed, hellbent on reaching their destination. It struck her at once what the symbol on the flag was. It was an image of a rat. This man, no doubt a Collector, was controlling all of these rats with his pipes.

"Mimi! Mimi!" Rubi screamed. "We have to go down now!"

The alarm sounded. The sides of the ship started to hum, but with it came the scratching of the invading rats. Their tiny claws dug into the wood of the hull, hauling their shrieking, hissing bodies up sides. An enemy cannon fired.

BOOM

Rubi threw herself to the floor and squeezed her eyes shut, no idea if it would hit or where. She heard the explosion, but then the crash of water.

A test shot.

Their enemy had underestimated their distance. She opened her eyes. Take'Ichi was flat on the floor, white with shock but alive. He was so afraid he had completely frozen, not even able to revert to his cane of bamboo for safety.

This made Rubi see red. She bolted to her feet. The sides of the dome were only peeking up a few feet, nowhere near close enough to sealing, but giving the monstrous rats an ever increasing distance to cover. Perhaps the engine was using a majority of the energy and the dome could not rise any faster.

She ran to the quarterdeck at the back of the ship, the highest point of the Disaster, her hands burning so hot with energy she was beginning to feel them burn.

She looked for the man with the pipes, ready to throw the king of all orbs right at this invader's face. She clenched her fists as they locked eyes across the water and, the next thing she knew, a pain like no other shot through her head behind her eyes.

That was when she saw red, actual red. A beam of glowing reddish-purple burst from her eyes like a torrent of lava from a volcano. It threw her backwards, sending her tumbling down the steps. This single blast arched with her fall, tearing through two of their enemy's mighty sails.

Rubi grasped her head in agony, but as quickly as it had come it was gone. She blinked, dazed, trying to grasp what had happened. She saw the ruined sails across the water, and she saw the Wanderlust in the distance.

Next, she saw Take'Ichi, still wide eyed and pale on the floor. She forced herself to her feet, grabbing the Sprite and pulling him close to her to protect him in any way she could.

The dome was almost closed. She had to get to the control room to steer as soon as they were submerged. Through the glass, she saw a massive white shape rise from the deck of the Wanderlust, billowing above it like a cloud roped to their masts.

The material laid across the deck was an enormous balloon. Machines attached to the mast pumped air into the bag and before her eyes, the entire ship lifted out of the water and began to ascend into the sky. The Wanderlust was an airship.

Amazing. Another of Gaku's wonderful and baffling creations.

Rubi was pulled back to reality as the rats crawled noisily over the dome, their thousands of tiny paws scratching against the glass and metal like nails on a chalkboard. The slippery, water splattered surface proved too great and after several gut-wrenching moments, the dome finally sealed above them all.

"DIVE, DIVE, DIVE!" Rubi screamed loud enough for the entire ship to hear her.

Their bodies crumpled as the Disaster sank violently and Rubi hit the deck hard, cradling Take'Ichi against her body. If only she could have seen their pursuer's face as one ship sank into the depths and the other took off like a hot air balloon into the sky.

Mimi must have directed the engine to drive them forwards as Rubi made her way downstairs, half carrying the little sprite and handing him to Mimi for care.

"Good work," Rubi said thankfully. "I need you to make sure 'Ichi is alright and check on everyone. Check for any damage."

"Of course." Mimi replied, picking up Take'Ichi bridal style and carrying him out of the engine room like he was no more than a bag of flour.

Rubi flipped the levers, full speed ahead, and returned to the deck to the wheel. She steered them around some sand banks, watching the underside of the enemy ship disappear into the distance. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had never encountered such a swift vessel. The rate it reached them was amazing and terrifying all at once.

Who was that captain, she thought, and why was Gaku so quick to recognise him but still not tell her who he was? He had better tell her when they hit port.

There was no way to see Gaku's ship from beneath the water, but he would have to make a water landing before they came into view of civilisation.

Kai and his demon were still at the bow. They separated, Kai returning to his normal self without an eerie glow around him. Rubi would have to address the demon's place on board now.

"Kai," she called across the deck. "Can you come here?"

He walked the length of the ship, the demon hovering behind him like a shadow.

"Thank you for your help." she said gratefully. "It was pretty close back there. When you and your demon joined, that was amazing. Is that what it's for? To amplify your power?"

"That's one of the perks." he replied. "The magic in Collectors and Tsuki is kind of similar in the sense that it utilises our hands. He has four hands, and together we have six. It's a huge improvement."

He cleared his throat.

"So, uh," he began. "When did you get magic eye beams?"

Rubi suddenly remembered how she had destroyed the sails.

"It's never happened before." she said honestly. "I was so angry, I wanted to throw an orb but I got this pain behind my eyes. It knocked me over when it happened."

"Your power must be growing." Kai concluded, looking to his demon as if listening. "He thinks your gift is really impressive."

"Thanks." she said uncertainly, fixated on the fact that the demon had no obvious mouth. "Has he ever seen something like that before?"

"Yeah," Kai relayed. "Using magic without your hands is a skill some people never learn. It's pretty unusual."

"I must be special." Rubi said with a little laugh.

"Yeah, obviously." Kai replied. "I've never seen anyone like you before."

Rubi felt the blood rush into her cheeks and she hoped she was not blushing.

"Thanks again, uh... Why don't you go check on Sama?"

"Good idea." he smiled, taking his leave.

Rubi exhaled hard, then noticed the demon was still standing on the deck, looking at her with its searing red eyes.

"Hello?" she said uneasily.

The demon continued to stare. The stripes on its body rippled and pulsed in the silence.

"Thank you for helping Kai." she added.

The demon nodded, its posture relaxing a little.

"So... I think we might need to let the passengers know that you're onboard and that you're safe to be around."

The demon nodded slowly in agreement.

"Don't want anyone to get a scare, huh?"

Nod, nod.

"Thanks for understanding."

Nod.

"Great. Good chat."