“Speaking in the ancient tongue of Atalantaya,” he said, “I told Kapetria to alphabetize the language according to English transliteration and litter the internet, if she had to, with websites or postings as to how we might find her. I told her to offer email addresses for us in the ancient tongue. And in the ancient tongue, I told her of our true destination. I told her the name of the land and the city. Oh, if only I’d used my time at the computer better. If only I’d thought of all this sooner. I could have given her the very name of a hotel. No matter. They’ll never crack the ancient language, the blood drinkers, no matter how supernaturally clever they are. It is too foreign and they have no key.”

Derek was astonished. “I would never have thought to do all this.”

“Well, I didn’t think fast enough to plan it out well myself,” said Dertu.

“And what if Benji Mahmoud kills the broadcast, deletes the message, prevents it from being archived?”

“Father, the message must stay up only long enough for Kapetria and Garekyn to hear it, don’t you see? And when we reach land, I’ll search for Kapetria’s messages. I have phones already with which to do that immediately.”

“They want to kill us, the vampires,” said Derek.

“Somewhere in the world Kapetria is listening to that message in the ancient tongue,” said Dertu. “She will come to Derry to find us, if she possibly can. I remember her as vividly as you ever do, Father. Kapetria is wise. It was Kapetria who conceived of the new purpose. She will come. And the blood drinkers can’t gather their resources fast enough to prevent it, because they don’t have the information I gave Kapetria in the ancient tongue.”

Derek was speechless. He stood there holding on to the empty orange juice bottle and then he licked the neck of it with his tongue. A wunderkind, this boy, he thought. No one could ever have kept him for ten years in a Budapest basement.

“Go on down,” said Dertu. “Light the fire. Eat and sleep.”

“And if you give one of your arms for an offspring, Dertu,” Derek asked, “will that offspring be more clever than you are, as you are so much more clever than me?”

“I don’t know, Father. But I bet we will soon be able to find out. In the meantime, please stop being afraid. Please trust in me.”

Derek went down into the salon. He was stunned. He stood stranded for a long moment, and then remembered what he meant to do. The sea had quieted somewhat, and the boat was obviously traveling very fast.