Page 27 of Stars Above the Never Sea (The Last Faeyte #1)

Chapter twenty

Callan

M y footsteps are light as I jump up the last few stairs to the main deck, despite the lingering ache at the back of my skull.

The blazing afternoon heat has softened with the hours that passed as I worked on Selene’s wings, the endless, bright blue of the noon sky deepened to shades of molten gold and crimson as the horizon slowly swallows the sun on the port side of Volatus .

Directly ahead of us, the Never wait, the split in the sky tearing across the setting sun like a jagged cut. Waiting. Only darkness is visible on the other side.

Beneath my feet, the ship is still. The copper took far longer than I thought and sweat drips down my back as I keep the threads of my maegis working, holding the Volatus back and steady until we’re ready to cross.

Sol is waiting for me. His mouth is twisted down, the scowl that never leaves him when we’re on the ship on full display. “You’re a fucking fool, Callan. What in Ellas were you thinking, wasting your maegis like that?”

“It’s done.” When I shift past him, he grabs for my arm. My hackles rise. “Careful, Solomon.”

Sol picks up on the faint tremor below our feet immediately. Releasing his grip, he raises his hands in an unspoken apology. “I am worried about you. What’s going on inside your head? You don’t take risks like this, Cal. The power you just spent—”

“Was worth it.” I cut him off, my tone not inviting a discussion. “It was worth it, Sol. I’m no weaker because of what just happened.”

The opposite, although I don’t voice it. A little of the weight I’ve borne for ten long years has lifted. Just a little, but enough that I can breathe.

She’s going to fly .

I have nothing to offer her, other than the maegis. Apologies mean nothing. I cannot take back any of it.

But I could give her this small thing, and there is not a single regret in my heart for the burst of stars I just saw in Selene’s eyes.

For the smile she gave me. Small, and genuine, and worth the scent of blood in my nose, the metal that lingers at the back of my throat in silent warning. Clapping Sol on the shoulder, I roll my own back, stretching out the aching muscles. “I’ll be ready shortly.”

He loosens a frustrated breath. “You’re distracted by her. Admit that, at least. You’ve never lied to me before.”

My eyebrows raise. “And yet you’re the one that will not stop talking about her.”

“Because she is dangerous ,” he hisses. “Things will change when we get back, Cal. You have no idea what she can do. What revenge she might call down on our heads.”

At his side, his fists clench. “I cannot lose anyone else, Callan. Matthias—I cannot lose him.”

Pausing, I study him. The Never is a bleak backdrop behind Sol as if it might swallow him entirely. My words are softer. “You’re not going to lose him.”

“Every moment that we spend lingering here is a moment he’s left there alone,” he says tightly. “What if he’s been called up while we’re gone?”

My brows dip low. “You know that won’t happen. Petyr agreed.”

“Petyr changes his mind with every damned turn of the clock,” Sol snaps.

He runs his hands over his head. His expression is lost. “And the closer we get, the more scared I am that we will pull up at that dock and he won’t be there, Callan.

I shouldn’t have left him. We haven’t even done the camp drop yet. ”

The heaviness falls over me again. “You know how it works. One of us stays. Only one. And he volunteered for this run, Sol. Matthias knows we’re coming back for him.”

He snorts out a bitter, unamused laugh. “Petyr knows what he’s doing, I’ll give him that.”

I don’t disagree. “But Petyr also knows that these trips will end if he touches any of you. I…”

I trail off. “I’m sorry. I’m trying, Sol.”

And it is never enough . His face changes, falling.

My jaw is tight as I look over his shoulder to the darkness waiting for us. “I need to get ready.”

“Wait—”

His hold is lighter on my arm this time. He sighs. “Gods. I’m sorry. You do more than enough, Cal. I’m just worried. About all of it. About you too, you eejit.”

It’s easier to push those thoughts away, to box them up, to offer him a lazy grin instead of the worries that hover on my lips.

My eyes raise to his forehead. “I’m not sure Matthias will even recognize you, you know.

Not with all those lines you’re getting.

You’re looking a little more like Merrick every day.

Perhaps it’s time for a change in routine. ”

He reaches for his head, changing the motion halfway through to shove at my shoulder. His snort this time holds genuine amusement. “Ass. Go and kill yourself with too much maegis then, if you insist. We’ll stitch you up afterward.”

Grinning, I turn. “Matthias will be waiting for us, you know. If only so Petyr can make sure I’m not actually dead.”

“That’s not even funny.” He follows as I cross the deck, past the common area and Merrick’s hearth to climb the stairs to where the rudder sits, the spokes polished and oiled to a gleam.

Tapping it with my fingers, I stare out across the ship, to the darkness that looms over us.

“About time I did some work, I suppose.”

I glance to where Sol’s leaning against the mizzenmast. He harrumphs. “How’s your nose?”

Bleeding. He watches closely as I tug the cloth free and wipe it away, his own wry smile vanishing. “Callan. This isn’t safe.”

“I’ll get us home.” My hands flex on the wood. “Have a little faith.”

“Try to still be alive at the end of it.” His response is terse. “Or we may as well go straight over the edge now. It would be cleaner.”

“Anyone would think you only cared for my maegis,” I mutter, focusing on the horizon.

In the corner of my eye, the door to the sleeping quarters swings open, and my attention splits, narrowing to focus on hair of moonlight.

Selene turns to Esme as she gestures, pale hands reaching up to tuck the tight bun into place with a leather chord.

Volatus rocks beneath us, and I swear, pulling it back.

The silence from Sol speaks for itself. Gritting my teeth, I yank my attention away. “Not a single word.”

Footsteps sound, pounding into the steps before Rio strides into view. His eyes land on me, and he opens his mouth.

“Say nothing,” I snarl. “Unless it’s about something other than our guest.”

His mouth snaps shut as Esme and Selene follow him up the stairs. Beneath my hands, the oiled wood groans and creaks. I let my eyes run over her, assessing, this time. “You should be resting.”

Selene shakes her head. Behind her, dark wings gleam in the fading light of the sun, casting a shadow across the deck. “They’re a little sore, but nothing I can’t manage.”

But she smiles at me again. The same tiny smile she gifted me before she looks away, and my heart turns over, thumping unsteadily.

“Selene is fine,” Esme murmurs. “Merrick and Leo are coming. He was tying down some loose sacks in the hold.”

Nodding, I ease back on my feet. “Riordan?”

He clears his throat. “Aside from the two grain sacks Merrick found, everything else is locked down as tight as we can get it.”

Not that it matters. Nothing we do will matter if Volatus does not hold. But it eases something in my chest regardless. “You need to get below deck. All of you.”

Esme sounds bored. “Because every time you ask, we always hide away and let you crack on with it. Please. You should know better by now.”

Rio leans back against the railings, crossing his arms. “Besides, this is the most exciting part of the whole journey. Why else do I come?”

“For the drink,” Sol mutters under his breath.

Rio looks wounded. He presses a hand to his chest. “Not just the drink, Solomon.”

Esme is staring out at the Never. “And there’s the women. Don’t forget the women.”

Sol’s head bobs in agreement. “Of course.”

Rio’s face smooths out, any amusement wiping away as Leo bounces into view.

“It’s time?” His head swings between us all, settling on me. His eyes are wide as saucers. “We’re going over?”

Rio groans. A faint green tinge tints his cheeks before he scrubs them. “For the love of Hala, don’t say it like that, Leo. Sol gets the height sickness.”

Sol dismisses Leo’s curious stare with a shake of his head. “Merrick, you should take Leo down to the cabin. Just in case.”

Leo’s face falls, and he turns to Merrick. “But I want to watch.”

Merrick’s hands land on his shoulders, squeezing in quiet reassurance. “It would make no difference, Sol. Let the lad watch.”

Leo shifts, nestling himself into Merrick’s side. Merrick holds out a familiar flask to me. “Drink it now, before we go over.”

I grimace at the sight of it. “I’d rather take my chances than drink that slop.”

But I take it anyway. Merrick has cooled it enough that I can drink it without pausing, my stomach revolting as the taste hits the back of my throat.

Leo laughs when I make a twisted face at him. “There. We’re as ready as we’re going to get, thanks to Merrick and his tea.”

But it helps. My mind clears, helped along by the bitter macra leaves. The exhaustion that seems to dog my heels at every step falls back, just a little.

Just enough.

Planting my feet steadily against the wood of the deck, I take a long, deep breath. I can feel eyes on me— eyes of starlight and darkness that belong to a woman with far too much pain inside her, and I force myself to ignore the prickle against my skin that nudges me to look back.

I need to focus.

The waves beneath us crash against the lower depths of Volatus , as if they can sense my intent and do not like it. And I close my eyes.

The threads are there. As they always are, gathering on the edges of my mind. Waiting. Thousands of threads. Only a few of them glow with the maegis , those I have been pulling since we left the Terrosan harbor shining brightly amongst the otherwise dull strands.

Once, when I was a boy and the world had not yet changed, Merrick had asked me to describe the inside of my mind to him during a lesson.

He had caught me staring at a quill, the feather hovering in mid-air as I practiced writing my name in swirling loops—so much easier than using clumsy hands that couldn’t seem to put the letters in the right order, no matter how hard I tried.

I had told him about the threads. When he pushed for more, I had described them as a thousand colored threads of yarn, each one different to my mind’s eye and yet identical, stretched out in endless lines that I could flick through to search for the right ones.

Told him how I could reach for them, touch them, coax them into life by pulling on the ends.

As if I were a spider , I had explained with growing enthusiasm, and my threads were my web.

I had told him how threads lit up when others spoke. Confessed how the threads shifted, how certain threads lit when others were lying in my presence. And I had shyly shown him how I could move smaller things around me by pulling on those threads, sure that he would grin with pride.

For I had not yet reached adulthood. Was years away from it, barely Leo’s age. But Caelum had already gifted me with maegis , and I thought that made me special.

Merrick had kneeled in front of me, his weathered face grim and uncommonly angry. He had gripped my shoulders and told me that I was not to say a single word to anyone else. Not to my mother, my father, my brother.

Tell no one, he had said firmly. Promise me, lad. Keep it hidden until you reach your majority, like everyone else. I will help you.

I blink, clearing the memory from my eyes. The endless black of the Never stretches out in front of me.

The hand on my arm is as familiar to me as my own.

Merrick squeezes lightly in silent encouragement, his murmured words almost hidden beneath the increasing rush of waves that seem to hit Volatus with more urgency, as though they sense our intent and try to prevent it.

“Steady now, Callan. We have time for you to take. Don’t rush. ”

Above our heads, the sunset is darkening further, into deep shades of pink and purple edged with gold.

Nodding, I close my eyes again. I reach for the threads I need, but the ends slither out of my reach. Shifting, refusing to obey as I grit my teeth.

You are already bleeding.

The doubt creeps in between each delicate link, gripping my mind with insidious talons that burrow deep. You will not make it. You condemn them all with your hubris.

Instead of rushing, snatching, I wait. Wait for an opening, and then I strike. The threads shift and dance and attempt to pull away, but I hold them tightly, dragging them closer.

Yield . My own whisper fills my mind. Yield.

And the doubt murmurs again, pushed back by the maegis as those threads begin to glow. There will be a cost.

There is always a cost. But I have the threads we need, and my tense muscles soften a fraction as my eyes slide open.

I look around, forcing amusement into my voice. “Perhaps I should give some sort of speech. Like last time.”

“ No .” Four voices snap back at me. Selene remains silent, observing from her spot at the bulwark beside Esme.

Merrick sighs. He pats my arm once more before moving away to give me space. “For the love of Hala, Callan. We have time, but not eternity. Get on with it.”

“Well.” Pressing my hand over my chest, I roll my eyes. “The thanks I receive.”

Sol stretches, wrapping his hands behind his neck. “I’ll kiss the ground at your feet when we land in Asteria.”

Rio snickers. “You’ll be too busy kissing Matthias. Maybe we should say goodbye now, since we won’t see you for days.”

Grinning, holding onto that lightness, I turn my attention to the crashing waves that line the sky.

Roaring, deep blue waves fill the small space between us and the edge we need to cross, foam spraying up and flicking over my exposed skin as waves smash into each other, the water churning in growing agitation.

I can see the jagged edge of the Never clearly now, Volatus close enough that the ship almost touches the dark void waiting for us. “Brace. All of you. And look out for wraiths.”