o38

Death Trap

Hei heard the panicking on the helm before she saw it, but she did see the three ships that lined the horizon, too close for comfort, that were steadily sailing towards them. It took two or three horrified seconds before it clicked that Junsu was there and that they were in the absolute worst possible position to be in, and then she was sprinting to the helm where most of them were.

Baekhyun saw her first (or perhaps he had been looking for her). He gripped both of her arms. “We need to get out of here,” he said. “Do you think you can stop time? They’re already raising the anchor. If we…” He trailed off, eyes going to the horizon, where the three ships loomed, steadily drawing closer. His voice was calm, but… Hei followed his gaze to where Junsu’s golden armor shone in the sunlight, a promise of what would happen. How they had managed it, she didn’t understand. It was too precise timing to be a coincidence, yet she couldn’t understand just how it was possible.

“Hei,” Baekhyun repeated. “Can you? If we stop time, we might be able to slip into the next sector and then lose him. Hei?”

She blinked at him. “Junsu will reach us in minutes. He’s close enough that it’ll be—”

“No,” Baekhyun snapped back. “Hei, just do it right now—”

“Look,” she cut in, pointing a finger towards the direction of the ships.

Something bright—brighter than the gleam of the sun on the water—was spreading quickly over the surface of the water. It took her a moment to realize what it was, then another before Baekhyun did, and he swore loudly. “Now,” he snarled, panic and fright in his voice, barely covered by the command, and Hei reached for her power.

A chasm of nothingness welcomed her. Hei didn’t need to try again to realize that, however it was possible given that they were so far away, Jungwoo had taken her power.

Nearer, then even nearer. Every single second brought the fleet towards them, and Baekhyun took one look at her before he seemed to realize what was wrong.

He raised a hand and swept it directly at their ship. A large wave of water followed, rising high enough that it nearly covered them from view. His power still worked, Hei realized belatedly, except hers didn’t. Whatever Jungwoo had done had only taken away her power, and perhaps he didn’t have the energy to do it to another person, or for whatever other reason Junsu had planned.

It hadn’t exactly settled before, but she watched as Baekhyun out his other hand, sending the rising wave towards the ships. It wasn’t nearly enough and they wouldn’t get anywhere without her power. Panic, this time, complete, overwhelming panic swept through her. Her power was somewhere, she reasoned, somewhere buried deep by Jungwoo’s own magic. She only needed to force past his power to reach hers, but the fear was too strong for her to focus. If it were even doable in the first place.

The wave of water did nothing but slow Junsu’s ships down slightly. They were too far away for Baekhyun to use his power on them properly—so far away that Hei didn’t understand how Jungwoo could use his power on her—but nonetheless, he summoned his power again, driving the water forward.

This time, it didn’t reach Junsu’s ships. The ice travelled over the water, frightfully quick, until there was nothing but a frozen statue in midair.

Baekhyun swore, voice cracking. “Luhan,” he called over his shoulder. “Do you have any… spells that would work, or… anything.”

Luhan stumbled forward, still apparently disoriented. “That’s Minseok’s power,” he whispered.

“I know,” Baekhyun snapped back. “He’s—if he catches up, you know what he’s going to ask for, and it’s not going to be enough and—”

The rest of his sentence was drowned by a deafening roar. The frozen wave, at least fifteen feet tall, crumbled.

It was as if some invisible force ripped it apart from the inside out. A moment before, it was standing, then large chunks of ice rained down, slamming harshly into the water, ruining what had been an undisturbed environment just minutes prior. The force sent waves rippling towards them too, the ship rising and falling unsteadily. Junsu’s fleet drew closer, then closer, until Hei could see their decks, until they were so close that she could see every person on the deck—and then they stopped.

Around her, the crew had gathered, forming a semi-circle around her and Baekhyun, every single one ready to fight. Panic threatened, that unrelenting grip still chaining her power down, but Hei forced herself to breathe. Baekhyun held her wrist, just as tight as the mental grip of Jungwoo’s power, cutlass drawn in his other hand. 

She scanned the deck. Junsu, she could see, and on another ship, Jungwoo in his usual black attire. She met his gaze, and this time, he didn’t waver.

A fluke. That was what the last time had been. He might’ve felt and looked like a boy, but he was just as relentless as Junsu was, and she should’ve realized from the time she and Baekhyun had been kidnapped.

There were a small group of people with Junsu, one standing at the railing with his hands raised, but Jungwoo’s ship, the smaller, sleeker one, seemed to have only him and a boy at the wheel. The third ship seemed to have all the archers they had seen previously, but none of them made a move.

“They don’t just want the gem,” Jongdae said.

“How the hell did they get here?” Chanyeol demanded. “We have the only map. If…”

None of them were listening. It was Yuxuan who let a small, choked noise of shock as she pointed at the man in golden armour, and Hei froze too. Ice continued to spread along the ship, most likely from the man who had been summoning at the deck (not Minseok—the only relief, though Baekhyun still looked shaken), but her vision tunneled when she saw the limp body Junsu was holding.

It was a girl. Dark hair tumbled in front of her eyes, plastered to her face. Hei couldn’t see extremely clearly from where she was, but she didn’t seem to be moving at all. He dragged her across the deck with a hand, leaving a crimson trail behind him that he barely glanced at. Hei felt sick.

“She’s an amplifier,” Luhan said sharply, almost as a warning. Before any of them could ask what he meant, Junsu raised something—a sharp, wicked blade—and slit without a second of hesitation.

Nausea churned in her gut, and Hei looked down, unable to look any longer. Behind, Jinqiong swore, the only sound in the awful silence surrounding them.

The ice that seemed to trickle towards them, spreading bit by bit over the sea, erupted. A tide of glimmering bright jewels rushed towards them.

Luhan gave a shout of alarm, but there was nothing any of them could do about it. Before Baekhyun could do so much as summon a wave or block with air, the ice snapped towards them, freezing waves in milliseconds, then the sound of a god-awful crack before everything around them was frozen. Waves that had been lapping against the hull turned solid in a matter of seconds, and all the way unto the shore—in the blink of an eye, the sea was completely unmoving.

“An amplifier,” Luhan repeated. “That’s what she was. Her power… could be used to strengthen others, except there’s a temporary surge you get when you kill them. They’re… there were two in my family.”

Hei stared out at Junsu, trying to read his movements. He hadn’t started from his spot after he had killed the girl, who was nothing more than a body on the deck, dying the wood red. Junsu stood in the middle of the blood, not caring as he watched them.

The ice had frozen them. The area around Junsu’s ship was still water, but the man with the ice magic had made sure that the area around the ship was completely frozen—they couldn’t move. There was nowhere else they could even go on the ship, unless they were to do so on foot, and Hei had a feeling they wouldn’t get very far before Junsu caught up. With her power disabled, there was nothing—absolutely no advantage they had over him. It didn’t matter anymore that it didn’t make sense how he got there—it only mattered that he was there, and they were utterly trapped.

Three hundred meters, Hei gauged, between the two ships. A field of ice lay between them, then another couple hundred meters before she estimated the sectors began. Perhaps another hundred meters to the island, all on that treacherous stretch of ice.

“Baekhyun,” she started.

His face was pale. “Your power,” he said. “Can you—at all—”

“Jungwoo’s own power was probably enhanced by the amplifier,” she replied tightly.

Junsu still made no move. His ships remained where they were, rising up and down with the water, and Baekhyun’s grip slipped from her arm to covering her hand. “Jinqiong,” he said sharply.

Hei stiffened. “No,” she said. “You’re not handing her over. Junsu won’t be satisfied with just that, and you know.”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to speak, panic evident. Everything was awfully still, so silent that Hei nearly forgot that the rest of the crew was there. For a moment, it was just her and Baekhyun, facing something impossible like they had with his father, and there was nothing they could do.

Junsu broke the silence. “Byun Baekhyun,” he called.

His voice carried over the water, slipping over the ice as if the amplifier from the girl had worked on even sound. Hei flinched at the effect. It was disconcerting.

It was Jinqiong who snarled and shoved forward. “How the hell did you get here?”

If Junsu heard her, he showed no sign of it. He didn’t acknowledge her either.

Baekhyun gave her hand one last squeeze. He brushed Jinqiong to the side (none less gently), then Hei watched as he raised his arms in a sweeping motion. A second later, he spoke up. “What do you want?”

His voice was strangely distant, like he was speaking through a tunnel. Whatever Baekhyun had done with his power, his voice carried to Junsu fine, because the man laughed. Sunlight slanted off his golden armour as he stepped forward. “I want the gem,” he replied. “And I want Song Jinqiong here. Although they come together, don’t they?”

“Don’t,” Hei warned him quietly.

Baekhyun didn’t look at her. “That’s it. You’re only asking for Jinqiong and the gem.”

“I want your spellcaster boy, too,” Junsu continued. “Just for a little while. The spell on this is complex, and I might require his magic in order to be able to use it.”

Baekhyun hadn’t batted an eyelash at Junsu’s demand for Jinqiong, but at Luhan, his hand drifted to his hip. “You don’t touch Luhan.”

“He’s not going to kill Jinqiong either,” Luhan replied quietly. “Tell Junsu there might be a way to use the gem on him without killing Jinqiong.”

“I want the gem,” Junsu cut in before Baekhyun could say it. “And I want Song Jinqiong with it. Give me your spellcaster boy to undo the curse, and I promise I won’t harm him.”

Baekhyun nearly snarled. “What good is your promise to me?”

Junsu tilted his head. Hei glanced around at the two other ships. There had to be some catch, some reason why they weren’t moving. What cards hadn’t he played? She couldn’t help but look at Jungwoo, his suffocating grip still over her power. What power did Junsu have? How had he gotten to Hell’s Gate? There had to be something, but all she could do was draw blanks.

“Three days,” Junsu finally said, a mocking tone to his voice. “You have three days, brother. By the end of the third sundown, if Song Jinqiong isn’t here with the gem, then believe me when I say that it can be much worse.”

Three days. Chanyeol murmured something about it making no sense, but in front of them, Baekhyun remained perfectly still.

“My men won’t touch you or your ship,” Junsu continued. “But the archers will shoot whoever takes one step off. You have three days to decide.”

A trap. So obviously a trap, Hei thought, except she couldn’t understand where and how, when they were already backed into a corner, right where Junsu wanted them. There was absolutely no point. If he decided to attack them then and there, it wasn’t as if they could get away with her power disabled. A little nearer, and Jungwoo would be able to stop Baekhyun, too. Three days—what was the point?

Then, she watched as Junsu turned around. All of them stared in disbelief as he waved a hand at the ice-summoner, who all but collapsed to his knees at the dismissal, before disappearing down the stairs and out of sight. None of the archers in the third ship moved, but Jungwoo raised a hand to the small crew manning the helm and they, too, dispersed.

Hei gaped. Baekhyun opened his mouth as if he wanted to yell something after Junsu, but his voice failed him.

“What are they doing?” she heard Jongdae demand. Carefully, Hei tried to reach for her power, but there was still that solid block, like Jungwoo had covered that well of power.

Three days. Her head was spinning. Just what was Junsu thinking in giving them three days? Was there really a difference between seizing the ship by force then? It couldn’t possibly because he wanted to avoid bloodshed. He had slaughtered a way to Jinqiong, and the crew didn’t stand against him and so many men, especially when he had Jungwoo under his command. Three days, now…

The area around them was still once more. Baekhyun was quiet for a little while, before he pointed at Junmyeon, Chanyeol and Jongin.

“Stay up here,” he ordered. “Watch their ships carefully if they do anything. Everyone else, go to the mess hall. We’ll decide this there. Luhan, if you can, try to set up wards around the ship. Triggers, that will go off if—when—Junsu does something wrong.”

His eyes flickered to Jinqiong, and Hei wished she could tell what he was thinking. Jinqiong met his gaze back grimly.

Baekhyun didn’t say a thing. His back was straight, eyes blazing, but when he took her hand, surprisingly gentle, his own was shaking. 

***

Jinqiong didn’t know if being in the mess hall was the best idea and she was antsy and too full of nervous energy to even try sitting still. No one objected when she leaned on the wall, pacing. Jongdae hadn’t spoken a word to her. The ship was uncharastically still, frozen in the field of ice, and the fact that there was no hint of movement made it too unnatural for her to be comfortable.

None of them spoke. For at least a minute, everyone sat in grim, heavy silence, before Baekhyun raised his head from his hands. “Jinqiong,” he said. There was no hostility in his voice, and Jinqiong thought that that made it all the worse. This felt like the exact situation Baekhyun had threatened her about—the exact situation where he was supposed to hand her over without a blink of the eye, because only then would Hei and the crew be safe. She had been expecting that. She hadn’t expected him to look so… defeated.

“Yeah,” she managed.

“What are Junsu’s weaknesses? You know him best. What does he want to get out of this?”

She glanced helplessly at Jongdae. Junsu didn’t seem to have weaknesses. She and Jongdae had barely managed to get away the past couple of times, and that was when he didn’t have as many people working under him. Now, with two ships more than them and Jungwoo, there was nowhere to hide. Her power couldn’t cover all of them, and even if it could, they wouldn’t get far without Hei.

Judging by Hei’s expression, her power still wasn’t working.

Jinqiong cleared . “He…” She fumbled for words. “Apart from his curse? I don’t know.”

Baekhyun pursed his lips. She wondered if was going to snap at her. He probably was, given that he did so many times and this was her fault, and—

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun sa