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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

ZéLIE

C RASHING SURF ROLLS THROUGH MY EARS. The soft chirps of birds follows next. Sensation crawls up my skin in waves. It feels like I’ve been knocked out for days.

I blink my eyes open to blinding rays of sun. It beats down on me from above. It’s been so long since I’ve seen blue skies.

I marvel at the sight.

“Where am I?” My throat is so dry, the words practically scratch themselves free. I push myself onto my elbows. All I see before me are endless stretches of turquoise seas.

There’s no sign of the raging ocean. No remnants of the Skulls’ ship or King Baldyr’s golden mask. Waves and forested bluffs surround me. Sunlight catches the edge of the medallion in my chest.

It’s still here.…

I reach under my wrap. Touching the tarnished metal brings every memory flooding back. I see the way the ocean lit up. I feel the golden glow that surrounded my skin. I remember the bolts of lightning that charged through my being.

I move toward the tides, bending down till the waters catch my reflection. The majacite crown is still welded into my temple, but a new mane of white hair sprouts around the black metal. The thick tufts fall to the small of my back.

I touch my neck, but there are no puncture wounds. The bruises and cuts I sustained on the ship have healed. I run my hands up and down my spine, and I can’t believe it.

Even the MAGGOT King Saran had carved into my back is gone.

What is this?

I return to the lightning that struck my core. Whatever Baldyr’s done to me has transformed more than my magic. I don’t feel like the Reaper I’ve always been.

It’s like I’ve been born again.

I run my hand over the medallion again, and I see the girl from my vision. Thick curls run through the dark hair that falls down her slender back. Her eyes sparkle like diamonds, and yellow silks cover her brown skin. Emerald plants lean into her as she passes.

“ Find her. ” I hear the ancient voice. I hear the promise I made back. In that moment, I felt a bond form. It was like a contract weaving itself through my soul.

I think back to the chest Baldyr carried out of the captain’s quarters. There were two medallions left. The Silver Skull’s compass still hangs from my wool belt. I open the lid and stare at the spinning dial.

I have to find that girl. Somehow I know she’s the one King Baldyr needs next.

But how am I supposed to find her when I don’t even know where I am?

I rise to my feet, taking in the island’s shores. The cresting waves lick my knees as I search for signs of the others. Far down the coast, a body lies facedown in the sand. The tides push the half-conscious boy onto the beach, and sand dirties his white streak.

“Inan?” My heart lurches and I break into a sprint. Inan’s arms shake as he tries to rise. He chokes up seawater and algae, collapsing back into the tides.

“What’s going on?” he croaks. His skin is red with burns. I reach down to help him up, but the moment our bodies touch, the medallion warms in my chest. A blue light I haven’t seen in over a moon erupts under Inan’s skin.

Magic.

The dark blue wisps lick my hands, taking me from the coastline all the way back to my homeland. The sunlight shifts as our world transforms. Lush green valleys take shape, surrounding us on all sides.

In a rush, I’m brought back to the day I sat with Inan on the riverbank, the day I started teaching him how to control his gifts. The old memory comes alive, trapping us back in time.…

“How does it work?” I ask. “There are times when it feels like you’re reading a book inside my head.”

“More like a puzzle than a book,” Inan corrects me. “It’s not always clear, but when your thoughts and emotions are intense, I feel them, too.”

“You get that with everyone?”

He shakes his head. “Not to the same degree. Everyone else feels like being caught in the rain. You’re the whole tsunami.”

When the memory disappears, I struggle to breathe. Inan lifts his glowing palms. His brows crease as the blue light fades. He looks back up at me.

“How did you do that?”

I raise my hands as the medallion’s heat cools. I reach for my own Reaper magic, but a foreign force rises to the surface. Instead of the power of life and death, thunder rumbles through my veins.

The medallion is still transforming her blood. The growl in King Baldyr’s voice haunts me. The hard look in his stormy gaze. When her new power is ready for the harvest, I want her brought to the fortress in Iarlaith.

I don’t know how to explain to Inan what I’m just beginning to understand myself. I’m not ready for him or anyone else to see the grotesque metal in my chest. How would he even help?

Instead, I ignore Inan’s question. I hook my arms under his.

“What’re you doing?” he asks.

“Getting you out of the sun.”

I grit my teeth and pull. My head spins in the heat. Inan continues to choke as I drag his body across the white sands. Salt water spills down his bare chest.

I lay his body against a palm tree, and he leans against the ridged bark, reveling in the shade. His hands are still mangled from everything he had to do to escape. A new bruise colors the right side of his face.

“Do you see that?” Inan points to the skies. Far to the north, a chain of black smoke rises over the dense forest.

“Tzain!” I whisper to myself. A smile spreads across my lips. It has to be him and the others. They’re safe. They made it back to land.

“We can get to them.” I walk forward, calculating how long the trek will take. But as I walk, my steps falter. Something crackles beneath my skin. Baldyr’s memories swell within me, rising as the medallion burns my chest.…

A soft rain pours as Baldyr tends to his tribe’s stable of white bears. More than two dozen ryders lie in an open pen. They gather around as Baldyr fills their troughs.

Crates of freshly butchered meat fall one by one. The kill is so fresh it still oozes with blood. As the bears feast, Baldyr uses a stiff brush to tend to each ryder’s fur. He keeps his face stern in concentration, removing the dirt and debris.

No runes mark Baldyr’s skin. Though still muscular, he carries a leaner frame. A brown tunic covers his typically bare chest. He can’t be more than nineteen.

Lanterns illuminate the longhouse behind him where his fellow tribesmen gather for a measly supper. Their gentle chatter fills the night. Baldyr glances over as the wooden door opens.

His tribe leader walks into the dark.

Done already?

Baldyr watches Egil stroll through the barren fields. The fur-clad warrior stops before a round clearing to stare up at the yellow moon.

Baldyr drops his brush and walks over, joining Egil to take in the sight. Egil always carries a stern gaze, but for once his freckled face is lost in thought.

“My mother used to tell me stories.” Egil breaks the silence, a far-off look in his dark eyes. “She told me one day I would rule over the lands. That I would command the strength of over ten men.”

“I heard your mother was a witch.”

“The galdrasmiear are not witches.” The scars along Egil’s cheeks strain as his jaw pulls taut. “They are connected to the hidden forces of this land. They have the power to turn the very moon red.”

“That is but a myth,” Baldyr scoffs. “No one believes that.”

But Egil reaches into his pocket and removes the ancient medallion that now lies in my chest.

“One day, you will see.” Egil looks up at the yellow moon once more. “When I find what I need, I won’t just be king of this nation. I’ll be more than the mortal I am now. I’ll have the strength to be the god of this new world.”

“You believe you can become a god?” Baldyr’s eyes flash and he homes in on the medallion in his leader’s hand.

“I don’t just believe it.” Egil winks. “I have a plan.”

I close my eyes, and the sound of pounding rain fills my ears. The heat sticking to my back chills like ice. The gentle breeze rises to a gale-force wind. Baldyr’s calling out to me.

I feel the pull from within.

“What’s wrong?” Inan calls.

I don’t know how to explain the new power that moves through my blood.

“Another storm,” I whisper instead. “A big one.”

Like clockwork, thunderclouds gather on the far horizon. They glimmer like black pearls. Inan rises to his feet and stares at the flashing masses.

“How did you know?” he asks.

I place my hand over the medallion, praying it doesn’t glow under my wrap. The fear I haven’t allowed myself to feel crawls back in as the storm draws near. Lightning starts to crackle, and I see the blood-red moon behind my eyes. I feel it in my bones.

I’m running out of time.

“We need to get to higher ground,” Inan says. I don’t fight him as he helps me back onto my feet. I hook his injured arm over my shoulder, and we take off.

Hours pass in silence as we make our way through the bamboo trees.

The green stalks grow high above our heads, disappearing as we reach a steep incline.

The trickle of a waterfall guides us as the first rain falls.

I set Inan down by the bank and he drops to the fresh pool, inhaling the water like air.

As I join him, my muscles tense. It’s been so long since the two of us have been like this. The trickling waterfall brings me back to the dreamscape, the world Inan and I created in our minds. Suspended between our conscious and unconscious states, together we made the dreamscape come alive.

Thinking of the plane now, I see the white dress I’d always wear. I feel the delicate reeds our bodies tangled through. In the dreamscape, I let my guard down.

I fell under his spell.

“There’s a cave.” Inan points up the waterfall. “We might as well wait out the rain.”

My stomach clenches tight as we hike.

I try to erase the memories of the last time we were alone all night.