Hail Mary Ship Novels & Stories

Teacher Mary stood calmly, arms crossed, assessing the chaos. The figure reached us. It was Alyssa, and she was out of breath. Teacher Mary gave her a moment to catch her breath before nodding for me to get water. I handed Alyssa my hydro flask. She drank deeply then gasped, “Cher, the captain’s cabin—it’s been opened.” We rushed to the cove. The barge was no longer afloat as I had imagined. A fourth of it had already sunk into the shallow water. It was shallow enough to keep the captain’s cabin from being submerged completely.

Mara swirled around. Between the rocks outside on the sea a larger ship appeared. Not big as a cruise ship. But big enough. A rusty cutter. Without lighting. Almost noisy. Only the rhythmic stamping of the engine came over. Noah became pale. Elias stepped backwards. And Emilia began to tremble. Mara looked at the ship. A name was painted on the side. In the weak light she could only read a word. Asteria. Then she suddenly understood something. Not slow.

So the queen before her was certainly not Wendy. Jocelyn's findings about the arranged bride switch were true. Mary didn't truly intend for anyone to die. Seeing that the queen was about to drag Rachel ashore, she finally ordered the servants to assist. Rachel shivered violently, her lips drained of color. She looked at Mary and Wilhelmina. Moments ago, they had stood by and watched her struggle. She would remember this. Aurelia was in complete panic. "Your Highness–" She had wanted to help earlier but was at a loss for what to do.

Marku uttered with his eyes wide open. She almost burst into laughter. She couldn't agree with them right now. All she was aware of, she was their Majesty's Mate but should not be presented to the pqck unless she possessed the abilities that a Majesty's mate must. “Don’t be shy, Your Majesty! Show us your power! I am ready to be blown away if that is a wind!” She faced them. She walked forward. She closed her eyes and revealed her beautiful palm. The letter M inside both in her palms was about to make fun of her.

Harp added, seeing what Old Noll's bones felt before the rest of us could squint: the smaller sloop tucked in the brig's lee, flying a crown pennant like a man wears a borrowed coat. The brig was new enough to smell like pride and debt. Her name, neat as a clerk's signature, glittered on her stern: Honoria. She ran close-hauled like she knew she looked well-washed. She turned her lady's face toward us and lifted a trumpet. "Gilded Wraith!" A perfected voice carried over water with the entitlement of paper. "Heave to for inspection. By authority of the crown and House Morcant's mercantile rights." "See?" Jas said. "Papers and morals in the same bed."

Fernández moved as quickly as he could to catch up and was so focused on the pumping of his legs that he nearly slammed into the Golem when the bigger man stopped dead in his tracks. “Holy Mary, Mother of God,” said the Golem. Fernández poked his head out from behind Charley. On the unnamed waterway of the Mississippi that ran behind the U-Store-It! complex sat a dilapidated, burnt husk of a paddle wheeler. Through the soot, they could make out one word on the side of the ship. Sultana. The Civil War ghouls boarded the vessel via a series of wooden planks, and a large man, naked from the waist up, waved a mock greeting at the ex-Rangers.

The ancient ship drifted silently toward the island. No engines. No visible crew. Only ivory sails billowing against a wind no one else could feel. Its horn echoed one final time across the hidden sea. Every person inside the Hall of Records stood frozen. Henry Carter slowly removed his glasses and wiped them with trembling hands. “I watched this ship leave Black Haven forty-eight years ago.” He looked at Eleanor. “It was never supposed to return.” Eleanor didn’t answer. She couldn’t. ⸻

Laila. As we docked at the shores of Rayuwa, my heart began to beat fast. Maryam had assured me I had nothing to worry about, and as long as we were together, no one would dare harm me even though her father had banned me from the island. Adam's mother was also with us, but she had no clue what was going on. Maryam had convinced her mother to follow, claiming it was a life and death situation, and the Sarauniya had obliged her.

The Lazarus. It swayed gently on the black waters, an eerie lull to its massive body. It was an old cargo ship, at least two stories high, but there was nothing welcoming about its form. Its once-white paint was now streaked in rust and what looked like dried blood. Symbols marked its hull in ash and red paint—some Emma recognized from old spellbooks, others made her blood run cold with instinctive fear. Chains thicker than a man’s torso moored it to the broken dock. The metal creaked with each gentle pull of the tide, a sound that echoed like a scream across the empty harbor.

Blake was not steering; the boat was automated, tracking the dinghy's heat signature. "They have us," Evelyn whispered, gripping the edge of the dinghy. The pilot pointed toward a massive, dark shape on the horizon—a looming presence in the pre-dawn gloom. "Not yet. That's the rendezvous." The rendezvous wasn't another speedboat; it was a large, nondescript cargo vessel, sitting low in the water, its identification lights deliberately dimmed. It looked like any of the thousands of freighters that crossed the Caribbean. It was the Shadow Fleet—Mia’s ultimate extraction plan, utilizing a network of maritime contacts secured by the vast resources Evelyn had provided.