The storm caught up to them before anyone had expected it to. The sky grew dark as the charcoal-colored clouds gathered overhead. Mason held tight to the rigging high in the air and stared out at the ocean in shock. A wall of rain moved across the water toward the ship until it was thrown over them like a blanket.
Fat drops of driving rain hammered down on them, stinging their bare skin with the impact and making every surface slick with water. Lightning flashed through the sky with deafening cracks, and thunder boomed, shaking them to their bones.
The waves grew higher, becoming walls of water that slammed into the ship with all their might. The ocean water washed over the rails and swept across the deck, taking anything that wasn't tied down with it over the other side.
"We should go down!" Jamie yelled to Mason over the storm, "It isn't safe up here!"
