Page 351 of The Spider Queen

Chapter 34

Jax flew me to the beach. He fluttered to the ground, and despite his stone form, he was quite graceful and light on his feet.

“I don’t see a ship.” He looked around, frowning.

“The mist. It rolls in and rolls out. The ship is still there.” I gestured vaguely, knowing I’d find the ship eventually. Aloysius wouldn’t have left. He was a man of his word. He had honor.

Suddenly, I felt so incredibly weary, and it was finally my turn to collapse under the weight of all the burdens I carried.

“Stella?”

“Yeah?” I injected a note of false cheer into my voice and forced a smile.

Jax frowned. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “There’s just a lot going on… Anyway, thank you, Jax. For everything. I mean it.”

He rested his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.

“Will you all be safe if you go back to Hell?” I asked him.

“I think so, yes.”

I nodded thoughtfully.

“If you need anything, just send a carrier pigeon,” he said.

“A carrier pigeon. Really?”

“How else do you expect to get ahold of me? It’s not like I carry a cellphone around. And even if I did, it wouldn’t work in Hell. Or you know, you could send me a message through our bond.”

I shook my head and felt a smile pull across my lips. Abruptly, he tugged me into an awkward, loose hug. “See ya around, kid.”

He released me and then jumped into the air to fly away. I watched him careen over the jungle canopy, and then he was out of sight.

I turned back to the sea. The mist was thick and looked like it wasn’t going to dissipate any time soon. The bangle at my wrist tightened against my skin. When I looked down, it was gleaming. I hadn’t been able to remove the bracelet since it slid over onto my wrist, but for some reason, I knew it would come off now.

I tugged it over my hand and let it rest in my palm for a moment before hurling it into the gentle waves. The ghost ship appeared through the curtain of mist. I dropped to my knees, relief curling through me. Pressing my hands to my eyes, I finally let out all the emotion warring inside of me.

I didn’t know how long I sat weeping on the sand.

“Stella?” I looked up into the tender gaze of Aloysius. “You look different,” he said in way of greeting.

I hastily brushed the tears from my cheeks and then took his hand to rise. “I’m the same.”

He cocked his head to the side to study me. “No. I don’t think you are.”

“How are you on the beach? Poseidon said humans couldn’t—”

“I offered the sea my blood in exchange for safe passage.” He held up his palm, wrapped in a bloody bandage. “He let me come to you.”

If I asked him to press me to his chest so I could cry out my sorrow and grief, I knew he’d let me. At a great cost to himself, he’d let me.

But I wasn’t into torture, and so I took a step away from him toward the waiting boat that would take us back to the ship.

“It’s done then? You’re free?”

I nodded.