“You’re alive.” My voice is barely above a whisper. I reach out my right hand to cup his cheek, feeling his scruff and loving every bit of it.
“Aye.” He kisses my palm. “Anne had the better of me there for a bit. She’s a slimy one, she is. But I fought her. Eventually did her in with her own knife. After that, it was sink or swim.”
“You never sink.” I smile and try to ignore how cold I feel all over.
“I don’t. Swim like a mermaid, I do. I stayed afloat even though the waves tried to drown me again and again. But I didn’t give up. I couldn’t. Not when I knew you’d be waiting for me.”
“You didn’t want to let me down?”
“Never.” He smiles, but I can tell he’s full of tension.
“Don’t worry.” I rub my thumb along his stubble. “I’m just so happy to see you.”
“Not worried. You’ll be fine.” He turns and does his whistle again.
“Keep going. I love your stories.” I can barely push the words past my lips.
“So there I was, treading water for what felt like hours on end—and probably was—and what showed up? A narwhal!” He grins. “Stabbed me in the leg, it did.”
“Ouch.”
“Ouch indeed, lass. But, you see, I have a way with the creatures of the sea, and after some hard negotiating, she agreed to bring me back to shore as long as I swore I’d feed her fish whenever she came rolling up to the Jolly Roger.”
I can’t tell if he’s lying at this point, but I don’t care. It’s a good story, and stories are magic.
“I agreed, and she began hauling me through the heavy waves, and past the lightning, over a bed of sleeping water dragons, and to the edge of the storm. Once we got there, we were set upon by a host of eels with teeth longer than my cock.”
I want to laugh, but I don’t seem to be able to.
He clears his throat and glances over his shoulder. “Ah, so we had to fight the eels. It wasn’t a quick brawl either. Eels are clever little monsters. They’d dodge this way and that, trying to force us back into the storm where they could pick us off easier. The narwhal and I decided it was best to separate. She agreed to lead them back into the storm so I could swim for shore.”
“Nice of her,” I say. But I don’t say anything. My lips don’t cooperate.
“So there I am, kicking as hard as I can and making good time. I get about a mile before the mermaids show up, and they’re hungry.”
Mermaids are always hungry, I’ve noticed.
“They come up with their teeth trying to?—”
“Captain!” I know Starkey’s voice.
I hear something else, too. Aschicknoise. Like the sound of Nessie’s scissors cutting the thread.
“Did you hear that?”
“What?” Hook turns. “Sky, I need you. Hurry!” His voice cracks, and when he turns back to me, the worry shows through.
I want to tell him it’s okay, that I’m at peace with this. I can’t. I can’t do anything. Something warms the side of my face, and for the first time I see even more depth in his blue eyes. It’s not just one ocean, but multitudes. Deep shades of blue that wrap around each other and sparkle with a beauty I’ve never seen before.
“What is that?” Bill says.
Sky kneels beside me and yanks a bunch of stuff from his bag.
“Is that …” I heard Widow’s voice.
“It’s the sun.” Hook leans over me, his hand stroking my hair as Sky attends to my wound. “My lass brought the sun back.”
I want to tell him we did it together. I want to tell him so much. But I can’t speak. It’s hard to keep my eyes open even when the sky is shining in shades of salmon and pink as the sun rises.
