They were divided into teams by drawing lots. Predictably, no one wanted to be on Alicia's team. She ended up paired with Zane Ryder, who had also been ostracized for not joining in the initial pile-on.
"Guess we're the outcast alliance," Zane said with a charming grin. Alicia offered no reply.
The competition began. Other boats burst into activity. Jamie Burt was live-streaming his every move. Chantal was flirting outrageously with the boat's captain. Julius and Kian's team had hired a professional fishing guide and were deadly serious.
On Alicia's boat, there was only silence. Zane cast his line a few times with no luck.
Alicia didn't even pick up a rod. She sat at the edge of the boat, staring out at the vast, blue expanse of the Pacific.
The cameraman assigned to their boat sighed, already bored.
"Aren't you going to try?" Zane finally asked. "We're going to get crushed."
"The time is not right," she said, her voice placid.
An hour passed. Other teams made small catches, their whoops of excitement carrying over the water. Chantal's team landed a decent-sized grouper, and she held it up, shouting taunts in their direction.
On Jamie's livestream, the comments were merciless. "LOL she's probably too scared to touch a worm."
In the main control room, the director was about to cut their feed entirely.
And then, Alicia stood up.
She picked up a heavy-duty rod and cast the line into the water with a simple, artless flick of her wrist.
Then she closed her eyes.
Her consciousness expanded, spreading under the water like a sonar wave. She felt the currents, the temperature shifts, the faint seismic hum of the planet. She didn't command the fish-that was a crude and energy-intensive act. Instead, she searched for a nexus of probability.
She found it. A minor, deep-sea volcanic burp, which she had gently encouraged with a whisper of energy half an hour earlier, had diverted a massive school of migrating bluefin tuna. They were now heading directly for this spot.
She wasn't here to catch a fish. She was here to create a miracle.
She opened her eyes and looked at Zane. "Get the largest net on the boat ready."
He looked confused, but her tone compelled him to obey.
Suddenly, the rod in her hand bent into a violent arc, the line screaming from the reel. A force of impossible strength was on the other end.
At the same moment, the boat's fish-finder erupted in a series of frantic beeps. The screen was a solid mass of red, indicating a colossal school of fish passing directly beneath them.
The boat's captain stared at the screen, his jaw hanging open. "My God... it's a bluefin run! I haven't seen a school this size in thirty years!"
Alicia ignored the straining rod. She looked at Zane and the crew, her voice cutting through the chaos with absolute authority.
"Net down. Now."
---
