The Devil's in the Wind

Chapter Twenty

              The wind was strong. Natalia felt it ripple through her hair.

   As soon as they were on deck, Matthias had turned to Kuwei. 'How long does she have?'

   Kuwei had some Kerch, but Nina had to translate in places. She did it distractedly, her glittering eyes roving over everyone and everything.

   'The high will last one hour, maybe two. It depends how long it takes her body to process a dose of that size.'

   'Why can't you just purge it from your body like the bullets?' Matthias asked Nina desperately.

   'It doesn't work,' said Kuwei. 'Even if she could overcome the craving for long enough to start purging it from her body, she'll lose the ability to pull the parem from her system before it's all gone. You'd need another Corporalnik using parem to accomplish it.'

   'What will it do to her?' asked Wylan.

   'You've seen for yourself,' Matthias replied bitterly. 'We know what's going to happen.'

   Kaz crossed his arms, 'How will it start?'

   'Body aches, chills, no worse than a mild illness,' Kuwei explained. 'Then a kind of hypersensitivity, followed by tremors, and the craving.'

   'Do you have more of the parem?' Matthias asked.

   'Yes.'

   'Enough to get her back to Ketterdam?'

   'I won't take more,' Nina protested.

   'I have enough to keep you comfortable,' Kuwei said. 'But if you take a second dose, there is no hope at all.' He looked at Matthias. 'This is her one chance. It's possible her body will purge enough of it naturally that addiction won't set in.'

   'And if it does?'

   Kuwei held out his hands, part shrug, part apology. 'Without a ready supply of the drug, she'll go mad. With it, her body will simply wear itself out. Do you know the word parem? It's the name my father gave to the drug. It means "without pity".'

   When Nina finished translating, there was a long pause.

   'I don't want to hear any more,' she said. 'None of it will change what's coming.'

   She drifted away towards the prow. Matthias watched her go.

   'The water hears and understands,' he murmured beneath his breath.

   Inej took Natalia's hand and together they sought out Rotty. They got him to dig up the wool coats the three girls had left behind in favor of their cold weather gear when they'd landed on the northern shore. The two found Nina near the prow, gazing out at the sea.

   'One hour, maybe two,' Nina said without turning.

   Both Nat and Inej halted in shock. 'You heard us approach?' Inej asked.

   'Don't worry. It wasn't either of those silent feet that gave you away. I can hear both of your pulses. You're breathing.'

   'And you knew it was us?'

   'Every heart sound different. I never realized that before.'

   Natalia and Inej joined Nina at the rail and Inej handed over Nina's coat. The Grisha put it on, though the cold didn't seem to be bothering her. Above them, the stars shone bright between silver-seeded drifts of cloud. Natalia still didn't know what was waiting for her back in Ketterdam. Where she would end up. She was just excited for this little heist to be over.