Page 43 of Inked in Emeralds (Inkbound #3)

D read washed over me and I reached toward Hook, fingers brushing against his arm as the ground trembled beneath our feet.

“No, wait! I need a second to?—”

Billy and Duncan went up in curls of smoke, their startled faces disappearing as the mausoleum itself warped and stretched. The stone walls faded, and the darkness gave way to a riot of color, swirling around Hook and me.

My stomach lurched as the colors went solid, and I stumbled forward, struggling to find footing as swampy earth squelched beneath my boots. The chilly night air had gone humid and wet, and the world had gone deathly quiet.

I was alone.

My chest tightened as I caught sight of the glinting saber in my right hand. Where my other hand should've been, there was only an iron hook.

I swallowed hard as I looked down at my clothes, mud stained and dark. Gone were my sweater and gray britches, replaced by a pirate’s coat that hung loose on my small frame. I was still me, but somehow, I was also Hook.

I looked up to take stock of my surroundings. Massive cypress trees loomed overhead, their branches tangled with ropes of moss. It was a place I knew all too well;

The Weeping Fen. Noru’s lair.

And, as I looked forward, the rest of the scene flooded into view. The massive crocodile was there, jaws open as if lunging at me, but frozen in time. Until he wasn’t.

He lurched forward, those crimson eyes shining in the dark cavern. My pulse hammered, but I reacted instantaneously, leaping out of the way faster than I’d ever moved. Those jaws snapped shut on nothing but air, and I shot forward, swinging my saber with skills that I knew weren’t entirely my own.

Tendrils of magic arced up my back, wind swirling around the blade as I sliced into the beast. Noru roared as blood spurted from the wound, and I danced effortlessly around his next attack, scoring another slice on my way out.

A whip snaked out from the side, smashing into the beast’s skull before it could recover, and I turned to see Xander yanking it back, leaping out of range as the monster lashed at him with its tail.

Another whip flashed into view a moment later, and Hook let out a feral roar as he pulled it back, readying himself for another attack.

I was Hook. Hook was me. Somehow, the sphinx had sent us back to the moment we’d tracked down and killed Noru, only we’d swapped places. But why?

I looked past Hook, my blood freezing as I caught sight of the person behind him.

“Take that, you ugly bastard!” Moll loosed a bolt from her crossbow, her hand already whipping down to grab another as it slammed into the croc.

Why is Moll holding a crossbow?

And why was she dressed in a full-on pirate uniform? It was only when she lowered her bow that I caught sight of a patch over one eye. It wasn’t only Hook and I who’d been swapped. Molly had taken on the guise of Trick-Eyed Tom, the crew’s Mend…

Horror rocked me to my soul, and I let out a feral scream as Noru whirled, surging right past me to launch itself at Hook.

I sprinted after him, closing the distance in a heartbeat.

I leapt over the beast and held out an arm, blasting as much wind and lightning as I could manage, right into the monster’s face.

A figure appeared on both sides of me, Hook on one and Xander on the other, and I realized a moment too late what was coming.

Xander hooked his whip around Noru’s eye, tearing it free with a squelch, but the beast was too fast on the follow-up, sending the first mate hurtling backward with a swipe of its massive tail.

I leapt back into the fray, wielding sword and magic in tandem.

Lightning crackled around my hook, slamming into the monster’s side, and my sword never stopped moving, even as my reserves of magic began to run low.

Noru lunged at me, snapping wildly and lashing out with tail and claw.

I avoided each attack, but I could feel myself slowing with every passing second.

Not that it would matter—I already knew what was coming next.

Not this. Anything but this.

Noru snapped sideways, charging toward Hook instead of me, and I pushed my body to the limit, trying to keep up, but he was too fast. Molly hurled herself forward, sliding under Hook’s arm as he moved to block her, and leapt right at the beast, just like Trick-Eyed Tom had done that fateful day.

“Moll, no!” my voice tore through my throat, and I forced out another bolt of lightning as Noru closed in on her.

“Come on, you overgrown lizard!” she shouted, and it took everything I had not clap my hands over my ears and snap my eyes shut for what came next.

Noru’s jaws snapped shut around her, crunching her near in half in a spray of blood. Hook let out a roar, and his magic was like a physical force on the air as he slammed into the croc a moment too late, same as I had.

Noru went still, and I caught up a heartbeat later, slashing the monster across the throat as tears poured from my eyes.

Blood soaked my shoes, but it hardly even registered.

The croc’s jaws swung open, and my vision started to darken, a loud ringing drowning out everything around me as Moll’s mangled body tumbled out.

I dropped to my knees beside her as she let out a ragged breath.

“Moll, please,” I choked, voice shaking as I looked down at her. “No, no no.”

She threw her hand to the side, the last of her—Tom’s—healing magic rushing toward Xander’s fallen form. “End it, Harm,” she gasped.

“I can’t,” I whispered, choking on grief. “Please, Moll. I?—”

“You have to,” she rasped. “Let me…go on my terms.”

I held back a sob, my hand trembling as I lifted my saber. Footsteps splashed through the swamp behind me as Hook approached, his face a mask of sorrow and understanding.

“Let me do it for you,” he begged, voice hoarse as he held out a hand for the sword that rightfully belonged to him.

For a weak moment, I considered it. But it had to be me, in the same way it had to be him the first time.

Hook stopped short, and I kept my eyes pinned on Moll as I brought my sword to her neck. “I love you, Moll. Always.”

“Love you too, Harm.” She managed a weak smile, her cheeks so pale, she looked like a doll. “Me and you are like bangers and mash. I’ll be with you forever, no matter what.”

The swamp faded, mist curling around me until Molly’s face was all I could see. With a final, wrenching sob, I pulled back and drove the blade straight into her heart. She gasped once and then stilled.

I collapsed against her, the weight of what I’d had to do crushing me.

I barely heard the sphinx’s voice when it echoed through the space.

“I’m sorry for your pain, but you did well, young Harmony…”

I was still sobbing when Hook wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his body as if he could shield me from my own pain.

“Are you guys okay?”

Billy.

I pulled my face from Hook’s shirt and realized that we’d been transported back to the mausoleum. The golden orb darted around us impatiently, and James lashed out at it with his hook, barely missing, his voice low and dangerous.

“That's it. She's done. We're done.”

The sphinx’s voice echoed all around us, calm but firm. “You give up, then?”

“No!” Billy snapped, her voice edged with desperation. “Harm, I know it’s hard, but you’ve got to get up. If we stop now, Almira wins.”

Duncan knelt beside me, laying a hand on my shoulder. “Whatever happened in there, it’s not real, Harm. Remember that. None of it was real.”

But damn if it didn’t seem like it was. I could still feel Molly’s weight in my arms, still see the pain in her eyes as I ended her suffering.

Real or not, I would never forget how it felt to watch the life drain from her eyes.

Before I could fall even deeper into darkness, a stinging slap pulled me back. My cheek burned, and I jerked upright, staring in shock at Billy’s stern face, which was hovering inches from mine.

“Sorry, but you’ll thank me later. Now get your shit together, woman.”

Her tone, and that no-nonsense glare…

Moll would’ve done the exact same thing. And she could again, if I could pass this last test and get us out of here. Because the real Molly was out there and alive. I just needed to find my way back to her.

“She’s right. We must keep going.”

Hook drew back, studying my face. I saw the resistance there and could almost feel how badly he wanted to shield me from this. But, after a long moment, he nodded, helping me to my feet.

Billy slipped her arm through mine, flashing a tight smile.

“Guess it’s you and me, toots.”

Whatever the sphinx would throw at us, we would face it together.

But as the orb darted toward us and the room began to shift, I couldn’t shake one, terrifying thought…

Had she saved the worst for last?