Lightning

Torrents ripped open his shirt. Jack's eyes widened. On the pirate's chest, on scarred, blood-red tissue, was the feathered serpent-- the same mark as on the scabbard of the Sword of Cortes.

"This mark angered the heathen gods, for they hate Cortes, and anything to do with him," Torrents continued, closing his shirt again. "They cursed me. Rain and storm wherever I go--worse when I've grown angry. And, my dear boy, right now, I'm very very angry."

There was a blast of thunder. The trees nearest Torrents were ripped out of the ground like weeds by the wind. Hail and rain hit like sharp glass. A static charge, like a blanket of lightning, covered the pirate's body. Sam's hat flew from Jack's head, and it was moments before he was able to sweep it up and put it back on.

Torrents strode toward the crew, glowing with lightning. The six shipmates backed down the beach, unable to look away. There was no way they could get into the Barnacle, if it had even survived the storm-churned surf. Behind them, the waves were the color of mud, crashing like a barrage of cannonballs upon the shore. Wind whipped a stinging, salty spray onto the crew, burning badly scraped and bruised skin. Jack had to keep blinking to be able to see at all.

Torrents continued to move forward, and the crew kept retreating. The pirate was going to force them into the stormy ocean-- he was going to drown them!

Jean set one foot backward--and yelped when it landed in the surf. A heavy wave struck the crew members' backs. Lightning crackled around Torrents's head.

Arabella screamed and grabbed Fitzwilliam's arm. Tumen clutched Jean and Constance. Fitzwilliam drew his sword and made sure the others were behind him, but he didn't stop backing away.

Only Jack stood his ground defiantly.

Dry as firewood in the eye of the storm, Torrents reached for his sword. The air around him still snapped and popped with an electric charge.

Jack reached for his hat, which was now sopping wet, the brim filled with rain.

Jack took it off and calmly tossed the rainwater at Torrents.

There was a crackle and sputtering and hissing and finally a tremendous explosion.

Jack was thrown backward. Water and lightning were not a good mix--something most people wouldn't understand for quite some time. But Jack, of course, wasn't most people.

Torrents screamed in agony. Then he fell to the ground, unconscious, his body smoking.

"What has happened to him? How could mere water have such an effect on the devil himself?" Fitzwilliam demanded.

Jean and Tumen looked at each other in wonder.

Jack just smiled knowingly and mumbled quietly, "I told little Benny that trick I showed him with the kite and the key would someday prove useful. Just hope the lad remembers it as he gets older. Might do him some good, too."

***

The Oncoming Storm, Chapter 12