Titans of Chaos

"Oho. Never mind. Just hearing any girl say 'I belong to' is inspiration enough. Open those topsidedoors, Vain One, before I leap and make a hole through them."

"Hey!" I said. "I am not done yelling at you-! Bloody git! How dare you kiss me-!"

The doors opened and rain splashed down, and the laws of nature of Earth, including such thingsas momentum, must have splashed into the room as well, because suddenly we were shaken andpressed against the mattress by some wild acceleration, as if the ship were doing an Im-melman.

I could see Colin in the splash of silvery light from the deck. The laws of momentum were notaffecting him. I suppose he could stand upright in a roller coaster doing a loop-the-loop, withoutgetting his hair mussed, if he were inspired.

I saw the flash of teeth from his devil-may-care-but-Colin-does-not grin, and heard the chuckle inhis voice: "There now, lass. Keep yourself simmering for me. I'll be back to claim my reward whenI'm done knocking heads together."

And he jumped, in one leap, fifteen feet or more in the air, straight up and out of the hold. It didnot look like a jump. It looked like a superhero taking off, or warrior angel taking wing, rushingto fight with the rebel angels.

(What am I saying? Colin Iblis mac FirBolg would be fighting alongside the fallen angels, notagainst them.)

Fight and Flight by Sea

The battle was exciting for everyone but me. It was over before I did anything; not that I mind notbeing exposed to more danger, thank you. Staring into the eyes of Echidna might not seem likemuch compared to what else the others did during those next ten minutes, but it was enough forme, that day.

Our Silvery Ship came upon (and sped past) the lifeboat containing Victor and Quentin in thewaters of Earth. They had rowed to outside the ward, and their powers had come back on.

There were black ships burning to every side of Victor. I think he was precipitating pure oxygenout of the atmosphere or up from the water, and gathering trace amounts of phosphoroustogether from the glowing lamps of the undersea torches carried by the Atlanteans to make anincendiary. There was apparently enough chlorophyll in the plankton for him to make chlorinegas, and streamers of poison were issuing from the boiling water around him, green and horrid inthe light of the burning ships. The trace chemicals in the enemy ornaments and weapons had beendisintegrated out and recombined to make toxins and acids.