Arabesque: A Wings Companion

Chapter Thirty-Two

"You ready?" Tamani asked Shawn over the radio.

"I am."

"Cast in three... two... "

Marion had given him the idea of net fishing, but Tamani had run with it on his own. The huge commercial fishing net, known as a Danish seine or "poor man's trawl," hadn't actually been cheap—especially on short notice. But it was manufactured from carbon fiber right here in San Francisco, and Tamani had Enticed the old sea dog at the warehouse to tell him everything they could possibly want to know about net.

It was wide, with weights on the bottom and buoys on the top to hold it open as it scraped the sea floor, then pulled closed like purse strings. Tamani had originally wanted a circle net, but the human fisher had made it clear that such nets were meant to catch stupid fish whose only instinct was to swim upward or outward.

Unfortunately, they were not dealing with brainless fish.

This net relied on momentum to scoop up fish and then close before they could swim against the drag and pop out the front. Shawn and Tamani had spent much of the afternoon altering it to better catch the sea fae unawares: adding weights so it would sink faster and removing half the buoys. Tamani was pretty sure the modifications were illegal; they were going to tear up a strip of ocean bottom and all the flora and fauna that went with it. Sadly, it was a price the human race was simply going to have to unknowingly pay.

Probably the sea fae would be unable to cut their way free from the carbon fiber webbing. Probably their group would be unable to resist the pull of the high-powered speedboats, too—a larger vessel would get beached long before reaching the small, shallow cove where Rowen and Lenore waited with borrowed soldiers. Probably the sea fae weren't keeping some kind of abominable ocean pet on hand.

This whole endeavor was a bit like cutting a trail through unfamiliar forest, and all Tamani could hope was that he wasn't about to stumble blindly over a cliff. They'd speed like hell for the cove as soon as the net reached the ocean floor—speed like hell, and hope.

The cable spooling out into the black water slowed suddenly.

The net had hit ground.

"Lock and go!" Tamani shouted into the radio, wedging a heavy pin into his own spool. He ran to the controls and tossed a warning to Marion before opening up the throttle, urging the boat inland. He hardly dared look over at Shawn's Bayliner as his own took up the slack and then began pulling the net. Were they moving fast enough? Had they cast wide enough?

Tamani could hear the engines on his boat groaning as they worked, but they kept the boat moving at an appreciable clip. After about a minute the drag lessened and Tamani knew the top of the net must have pulled closed, lifting the weights up from the thick silt along the ocean bottom. Their speed crept slowly higher.

Above the roar of the engines and wake, he shouted to Marion, "Are the sea fae traveling with us, or are they getting farther away?"

She smiled easily, but maintained a white-knuckled grip on the armrests of her seat as she struggled to stay upright. "Oh, you got them."

***

"I hear them," Lenore said.

When she listened for it, Rowen could also make out the faint whine of an engine, and it did seem to be getting closer. "I think you're right."

"What should I do?" Meghan asked, voice trembling as she straightened her shoulders, trying to look brave.

"Sit right behind me," Rowen said. "You'll still be in the illusion and my back can photosynthesize just as effectively as my front."