LITMIR.BIZ

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Skebble’s hammer in his hand. He smiled at Candy. But his moment of triumph was short. In the next instant Kud rose up roaring from his slimy bed of fish and pulled the legs out from under Malingo, who fell down on his back.

      “Ah-ha!” Kud yelled, laying eyes on the hammer that slipped out of Malingo’s hand when he fell. Kud snatched it up and got to his feet. The brightness in his bones had become a furious blaze in the last few minutes. In the sockets of his skull, two dots of scarlet rage flickered as he turned his stare toward Candy. He looked like something from a ghost-train ride. Wielding the hammer, he raced at Candy.

      “Run!” Malingo yelled.

      But she had nowhere to run to. There was a zethek to the left of her and one to the right, and behind her a solid wall. A skeletal smile spread over Kud’s face.

      “Any last words?” he said as he lifted the hammer above his head.

      “Come on,” he growled. “You must have something in your head.”

      Curiously, she did have something in her head: a word she could not even remember hearing until this moment—

      Kud seemed to see the confusion in her eyes.

      “Speak!” he said, striking the wall to the left of her head with the hammer. The reverberations echoed all around the hold. The dead smatterlings convulsed, as though they’d been given a spasm of life. “Talk to me!” Kud said, striking the wall to the right of Candy’s head. Showers of sparks erupted from the spot, and the fish jumped a second time.

      Candy put her hand up to her throat. There was a word there. She could feel it, like something she’d eaten but not quite swallowed. It wanted to be spoken. That she was certain about. It wanted to be spoken.

      And who was she to deny it its ambitions? She let the syllables rise up, unbidden. And spoke them.

       “Jassassakya-thüm!”

      she said.

      From the corner of her eye she saw Malingo sit bolt upright on the bed of fish.

      “Oh Lordy Lou…” he said, his voice hushed with awe. “How do you know that word?”

      “I don’t,” Candy said.

      But the air knew it. The walls knew it. No sooner were the syllables out of her lips than everything began to vibrate in response to the sound of whatever Candy had said. And with each vibration the air and the walls repeated the syllables in their own strange fashion.

       Jassassakya-thüm!

       Jassassakya-thüm!

       Jassassakya-thüm!

      “What…have…you…done…girl?” Kud said.

      Candy didn’t know. Malingo, on the other hand, did.

      “She’s uttered a Word of Power,” he said.

      “I have?” Candy replied. “I mean, I have. That’s what I’ve done.”

      “Magic?” Kud said. He began to retreat from her now, the hammer sliding out of his fingers. “I knew there was something about you from the beginning. You’re a witch-girl! That’s what you are! A witchgirl!”

      As the zethek’s panic grew, so did the reverberations. With each repetition they gathered strength.

       Jassassakya-thüm!

       Jassassakya-thüm!

       Jassassakya-thüm!

      “I think you should get out of here now,” Malingo yelled to Candy as the din climbed.

      “What?”

      “I said: Get out! Out!”

      As he spoke he stumbled toward her through the fish, which were also vibrating in rhythm with the words. The zetheks paid no attention to him, nor to Candy. They were suffering from the effects of the word. They had their hands clamped over their ears, as though they were afraid it was deafening them, which perhaps it was.

      “This is not a safe place to be,” Malingo said when he got to Candy’s side.

      She nodded. She was beginning to feel the distressing influence of the vibrations herself. Galatea was there to lift her up onto the deck. Then both girls turned to help Malingo, reaching down to catch hold of his long arms. Candy counted:

      “One, two, three—”

      And they hauled together, lifting him up with surprising ease.

      The scene in the hold had become surreal. The Word was making the catch vibrate so violently that at first glance the fish seemed to be alive again. As for the zethek, they were like three flies caught in a jar, propelled back and forth across the hold, slamming against the sides. They seemed to have forgotten all about the possibility of escape. The word had made them crazy, or stupid, or both.

      Skebble was standing on the opposite side of the hold. He pointed to Candy and yelled at her: “Make it stop! Or you’re going to shake my boat apart!”

      He was right about the boat. The vibrations in the hold had spread throughout the vessel. The boards were shaking so violently nails were being spat into the air, the already cracked wheelhouse was rocking to and fro, the rigging was vibrating like the strings of a huge guitar; even the mast was swaying.

      Candy looked over at Malingo.

      “See?” she said. “If you’d taught me some magic I’d know how to turn this off.”

      “Well, wait,” Malingo said. “Where did you learn that word?”

      “I didn’t learn it.”

      “You must have heard it somewhere.”

      “No. I swear. It just appeared in my throat. I don’t know where it came from.”

      “If you two have quite finished chatting?” Skebble hollered over the din. “My boat—”

      “Yes!” Candy shouted back. “I know, I know!”

      “Inhale it!” Malingo said.

      “What?”

      “The Word! Inhale the Word!”

      “Inhale it?”

      “Do as he says!” Galatea yelled. “Before the boat sinks!”

      Everything was now shaking to the rhythm of the Word. There wasn’t a board or a rope or a hook from bow to stern that wasn’t in motion. In the hold the three zetheks were still being pitched around, sobbing for mercy.

      Candy closed her eyes. Strangely enough, she could see the word that she’d uttered in her mind’s eye. There it was, clear as crystal.

       Jass…assa…kya…thüm…

      She emptied her lungs through her nostrils. Then, still keeping her eyes tightly shut, she drew a deep breath.

      The word in her mind’s eye shook. Then it cracked, and it seemed to fly apart. Was it just her imagination, or could she feel it coming back into her throat? She swallowed hard, and the word was gone.

      The reaction was instantaneous. The vibrations died away. The boards dropped back into place, peppered by nails. The mast stopped lurching to and fro. The fish stopped their grotesque cavorting.

      The zetheks quickly realized that the attack had ceased. They unstopped their ears and shook their heads, as though to put their thoughts back in order.

      “Go, brothers!” Nattum said. “Before the witch-girl tries some new trick!”

      He didn’t wait to see that his siblings were doing as he suggested. He started to beat his wings furiously and climbed into the air, weaving

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