Free Blood Memory: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5) by Perrin Briar Page B

snowplough.
    Just ahead was the door to the next level. Jordan weaved through the final few vehicles. Water sprayed the back of his neck, sending goose bumps racing up and down his body. Joel threw the door open. Jordan barrelled past. Joel slammed the door closed the instant the water descended on them. Huge fists of water banged against the door, water spilled in through the doorframe.

22.
    Jordan and Joel tore up the stairs . The door bulged inward, and then flew open, the doorknob cracking the wall. The roar of the waves was deafening in the enclosed space. The water passed through the grating with ease, bubbling up like lava from a volcano, licking their boots.
    Their heavy boots clanged in deep rhythmic echoes as they ascended each flight of stairs. The howl of the raging swell quietened, but Joel and Jordan weren’t aware of it as they pumped their legs as hard as they would go. They were ascending the final flight of stairs when Light gave another ear-bursting cry, and the boat turned again.
    They slammed into the wall, the wind driven from their lungs. Joel and Jordan stretched and grabbed hold of the doorframe as Light twisted. Jordan’s feet left the ground and floated toward the wall opposite. He felt like a worm on a hook. His stomach trailed behind him. Light groaned to a halt, settling down once more. Jordan climbed through the doorway, and then helped Joel up.
    “ I feel like I’m in a washing machine,” Jordan said.
    But Joel didn ’t hear him. He was looking at something inside the lounge. “Now that’s not something you see every day.”
    T wo dozen benches ran in two equal-sized rows from floor to ceiling. Jordan raised a hand against the blinding sunlight that beat down from the window that was now in the roof, muting the pastel colours of the lounge’s interior. The light fixtures ran the length of the left hand wall like a railroad track leading nowhere.
    “ Light has turned completely on her side!” Joel said. “Ain’t that something?”
    As Joel walked into the room t here was a sound like sand crunching under his feet.
    “ Joel!” Jordan said. “Freeze!”
    Joel turned. “ What? Why?”
    Joel looked down to find he was standing on a glass window that covered the entire floor. On the other side of the glass the deep turquoise of the ocean filtered into the deep darkness of beyond. Bubbles floated up from Light’s most recent roll, a million pricks of light that rose up in wobbly lines to the surface. The window was laden with the detritus of everyday ferry usage: empty crisp packets, used tissues, and magazines lay like discarded sprinkles. But that wasn’t what so grabbed their attention.
    L ong translucent fingers spanned the surface like a roadmap, all lines leading to Joel’s feet. The glass was thick, but at some point it must have taken a severe knock.
    Joel ’s face bleached white with the knowledge that should he fall through, there would be no finding his way back. Beads of perspiration poked up through his skin.
    “ What shall I do, Jordan?” Joel said, hardly daring to move his lips.
    Jordan spoke whisper-thin. “Very slowly, get down on your knees.”
    Joel did. The glass groaned, creaking like it were ice. Water seeped through the cracks over his fingers.
    “ There’s water coming through here, Jordan.”
    “ Good. You can wash your hands while you’re there.”
    Joel smiled, more of a grimace.
    “ Very slowly, lay down.”
    “ What for?”
    “ To evenly distribute your weight.”
    “ Why?”
    “ Is this really the time for a science lesson?”
    Joel got down on his front.
    “Now crawl to me.”
    Joel placed a hand and the window gave beneath it. He lifted his hand and placed it in another location, this one more forgiving. He inched his way across the glass, which splintered and cracked and popped, but never fractured into a hole large enough to swallow him. Once he got to the doorframe, he stood up. His body felt weak and fatigued. He breathed a sigh of