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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

ZéLIE

I T’S HARD TO SPEAK when the other maji set sail . Tzain, Amari, and I stand at the shores. All at once, everything is too quiet. The only sounds among the three of us are the lapping tides.

We watch as the ships disappear over the horizon. When they leave our sight for good, a lump rises in my throat. The only thing that kept me fighting on that ship was the thought of home.

Without the others, I feel so alone.

“Find her.…”

I exhale, wrapping my resolve around the command. With the Skulls closing in, there’s no time to waste.

I have to stick to the plan.

“Let’s move,” I say. I’m the first to break away. Tzain follows my lead, axe strapped to his back. Amari trails after him.

With no Winders or Tiders at our disposal, we have to work the boat ourselves.

Amari opens up the sails as Tzain pushes us through the cresting waves.

I take position behind the steering lever and open the bronze compass in my hands.

I run my finger over the glass face, staring at the triple arrowhead painted in blood.

“Are you ready?” Amari asks, and I nod. The medallion warms in my chest as I reach for the girl, pulling on whatever thread we share. When I close my eyes, different images start to swirl through the blackness of my mind.…

Rich green trees. Ripe papayas. Banana leaves.

Thick vines crawling over emerald stone.

Ceramic bowls of black beans and warm rice.

Fried plantain baking under the hot sun.

I breathe in as I sink into the girl’s world, and I smell thick plumes of volcanic ash. I hear the chant of women’s voices joined in song. The jingle of bangles against brown skin. The trickle of turquoise waters.

The compass starts to hum, and I open my eyes. The red dial spins away from my chest. Its needle points to the south, directly opposite from where the other maji set sail.

“I think this is the way.” I grab hold of the steering lever. Tzain and Amari don’t question the path I take. The sun arcs in the sky as we sail away from the island chains.

Time passes, and I hang my fingers over the side of the boat, allowing them to drift through the ocean waves. I relish the chill against my skin, but in the peace of sailing the open waters, the horrors of the Skulls’ ship return.

Though sea-salt air hits my face, I choke on the putrid stench of death. I feel the weight of the shackles they closed around my neck. The face of the young girl in the Silver Skull’s quarters returns to me. I wonder where her body lies.

Please stay with her. I lift up the silent prayer to Oya, though the skies are clear. Be with her spirit. Save every maji who fell.

By the time night comes, the three of us prepare for a long rest. Tzain’s snores mix with Nailah’s. Swatches of stars sparkle above our heads. In their twinkle, I see the faces of those I’ve lost.

Mama’s smile returns to me first. Baba’s warm hug follows next. Mama Agba’s entire form seems to dazzle, just like the cosmos she was able to draw between her palms. Their faces blur together around me as I drift off.…

Pale hands come at me from all directions. They drag me into their caves. I can’t fight as they throw me against a stone slab. Corded ropes tie me into place.

Baldyr appears before me, his golden skull glimmering in the torchlight.

His galdrasmiear gather in a circle around us, each magicworker hidden by the heavy furs and the horned animal skulls they wear.

Bloodmetal covers their frail bodies like garments, stretching from the collars on their necks to the round medallions hanging from their leather belts.

The galdrasmiear move as one, closing in with a menacing step.

“For the Father of the Storms—” the galdrasmiear chant.

Rocks fall away as the ground opens up. The sacred well of their bloodmetal burns beneath me, fiery lines traveling through the molten ore. Its heat sears my skin. The well echoes with the screeches of the dead. The ropes pull tight as I struggle to break free.

Then their torture begins.

“Drain her.” Baldyr gives the order. The galdrasmiear raise their bloodstained hands. I cry out as cuts rip through my skin. An angry gash spreads across my chest. Another splits down my abdomen. The galdrasmiear attack me from within. Their cuts cover my face, my arms, my legs.

The runes of their people spread across the cave walls as my blood leaks into the well. The molten ore lifts into the air. There’s nothing I can do as it covers my body like a cast.

It tears through my flesh, burning straight through my bones. Baldyr smiles as the molten ore reaches past my throat, covering the top of my skull—

“Zélie!”

I wake with a sharp flinch. A thick coat of sweat drenches my wrap. Amari sits before me, hands pressed to my chest.

I breathe deep as I look up at the open skies. It takes me a moment to gather myself. I reach up to my neck and my head, feeling the undamaged flesh.

“Are you alright?” Amari asks.

I nod, fighting the part of me that wants to cry. The animal-horned skulls of King Baldyr’s galdrasmiear haunt my eyes. I run my hands over my body, feeling every place they cut up from inside.

“Did I wake you?” I ask.

Amari shakes her head. She looks out over the black waters and hugs her knees to her chest. I can’t imagine how she must feel away from her brother, out here with just me and Tzain. I glance at his sleeping frame—we share less than ten meters of space, yet he hasn’t looked her way.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks.

I don’t answer. I wouldn’t know how to talk about it if I tried. The dream felt real.

Too real to just be in my head.

I have to stop him.

I pick up the compass, once again focusing on the metal in my chest. This time the tangle of vines spreads through my mind. The thick vegetation curls to life over stretches of black rock.

“When you close your eyes, what do you see?” Amari asks.

“It’s different every time,” I explain. “Small flashes of her people, the foods they eat, the things she must see.”

Amari nods at my words, but from the way she stares at the compass, I can tell they’re not what she truly wants to hear. I offer to hand her the compass, but she shakes her head.

“Does seeing make it any easier?” she asks. “Handling the fear?”

“Do I look like I’m handling anything?” I raise my sweat-soaked wrap. “We’re sailing into a new world. I’m terrified of what’s next.”

Our fingers lace together once more. Instead of Nailah, I rest my head against Amari’s shoulder. I miss the days when we were able to sit like this. The days before magic flared between us.

“You should’ve seen him,” I speak quietly. “You should’ve smelled the mead on his breath.”

The golden skull of my nightmares glimmers behind my eyes, and the medallion starts to pulse. Amari tenses as the winds increase. I reach for the steering lever to keep us on course.

Once again, the sound of falling rain bleeds into my ears. The skies start to crackle above. I think back to the wooden carving on the Silver Skull’s wall—the man built from storm clouds. What will I become if I can’t stop Baldyr in time?

If he finds me again, what will he do with my heart?

“I won’t let him get you.” Something shifts in Amari’s tone. She steadies her shoulders, removing her fear to take on my own.

“You can be so sure?”

“We’ve taken down kings before.” Amari smiles, and I see the girl in the marketplace. The princess who was brave enough to steal the ancient scroll. Her words make me think of all we’ve faced together. Every enemy who’s fallen at our hands.

“We follow this compass.” She looks back down at the red dial. “We’ll sail it to the ends of the earth if that’s what it takes. We can do this, Zélie. We’ll find a way to keep you safe.”

I wrap her words around me like a blanket, allowing it to grant me ease.

The waning moon smiles down on us as we fall asleep under the open stars.