Page 38 of Pirate Witch

My crew complies, taking their seats on the stone floor, which thankfully seems to have been washed clear of the vomit from earlier. All of us watch as Elsie does the same, kneeling opposite Reva with the bowl between them.

“Look away,” Klaus whispers. “You don’t want to see this.”

I shake my head, even though I know he can’t see it.

I’m a Shadow. We don’t hide our faces from death. This might hurt me to watch, but my men are doing this for me. I won’t dishonour that by turning away from what could be their final moments.

My eyes burn as Elsie and Reva join their hands, close their eyes, and start to chant. The room fills with that strange mix of dry heat and cool ice, which accompanies the use of Solar and Lunar magic. For the longest moment, nothing happens, and I stand, crushing Klaus’s hand in mine, without daring to breathe. Memorising their faces. Tracing the way their eyes look with the spark of life still lighting them up from within.

This might be the last time I get to see them alive.

Nos’s white eyes travel across the room, not seeing anything, yet still somehow finding mine. The second they droop closed, I shatter. The tears I’ve been holding back start falling, and they just don’t stop as, one by one, my men’s eyes fall shut and their bodies slump to the ground.

I jump onto the spirit plane without waiting for the signal. It’s instinctive. A need to go to the land on the border of death and save them before they can leave.

I can see the pearly spheres of their souls drifting away from their bodies. The white tethering threads between their souls and their bodies wither, glowing silver as they become slimmer and slimmer.

Soon they’re barely visible.

I reach for them in alarm, letting out a voiceless cry.

Elsie and Reva have gone too far. They’re going to kill them.

But unlike the other times when I’ve watched someone die from the spirit realm, those fragile bonds don’t snap.

They fray, then wind tight, over and over again. Warm golden magic repairs them just in time for the silver to start breaking them down all over again.

Elsie and Reva.

How long can they keep this up?For all their power, they’re both so young.

The Stars above—always visible in the spirit plane—linger ominously. Waiting to claim my men and add them to their ranks.

Goddess, please don’t let them die.

I pray without expecting an answer.

So when the grey, dark, shadowy veil is eclipsed with silver, white, and gold light, I fall back on my ass. I scuttle back toward my men, throwing my hands up to shield my face as the light glows brighter still.

It takes me a second of furious blinking to realise that the light isn’t touching me. It touches every other nook and cranny of the spirit plane, but my arms are shielded by an inky black so deep I can’t make out my skin.

My hands too. My legs.

The athame at my waist is the only exception. The blade flickers with cold white fire, like it did on the night I brought down the Claw.

It’s like I’ve become a true shadow. I claw at my skin, trying to see if I’m still real.

I can still feel myself. Still touch the metal of my weapons.

“Look at me.”

There’s no way to resist the order, and I glance up, only to be struck dumb.

ChapterThirteen

NILSA

In front of me, a blindfolded woman stares down at me with such laser-like focus that I feel like an ant beneath her shoe. The cloth tied across her eyes is the only thing she’s wearing, and the fabric is thick. Too thick to see through. So why does it feel like she can see me just fine?