His grip tightens, and I can feel every hard bit of him. The terrifying forest fades, and all I can do is wait for him to drag me to my fate. No matter what roars in the darkness, the pirate who clutches me in his arms is far more dangerous.
“Moira!” Something shoots up from the ground to my left.
The pirate turns and yanks me behind him, his grip on my wrist hard and sure.
Coy struggles out of one of the cave’s secret entrances, blood on his face as he claws his way to his feet.
“Coy!” I try to get around the pirate, but he won’t budge.
Instead, his right hand moves to his side, and he pulls his knife from its holster.
“Coy! Watch out!” I struggle against the pirate, trying to distract him, to stop him from whatever he intends to do.
“Moira, run!” Coy falls to his knees as the shadow rises behind him, the boy with the ember eyes climbing from the ground like a ghoul in a horror movie.
“Behind you!” I scream.
Coy’s gaze meets mine, and I see the fear in him. Terror lives in his eyes, in the twist of his mouth as he tries to escape the shadow at his back. It sends a crack rocketing through my heart, and the horrified scream that rips from him when the shadow grabs his ankle chills me to my marrow. Coy falls onto the roots and old leaves, but he still fights to be free of the shadow.
“Coy!” I scream his name as he kicks at the boy and dislodges its hand.
He rises again and runs toward us.
But everything is moving too fast. Including the pirate.
Before I can even make a grab at his arm, he rears back and throws his knife. It flips end over end, then makes a horrible thunk sound as it sinks into Coy’s chest.
“No!” My scream melds with the sounds of the wild beasts in the trees, the dark creatures who only understand violence and death. “Coy!”
Coy drops to his knees, his gaze still on me as confusion ripples through him. Blood seeps from the edges of his mouth as he looks down at the knife hilt. “Run.” His voice is barely a whisper.
“Coy, no!” My voice breaks on a sob, and I scream again when he falls forward, the knife jutting all the way through his back.
The shadow child disappears, hissing into smoke that blows away under the light of the full moon. I can’t breathe, can’t do anything except scream with what little air I have left.
“That’s enough, lass. It’s done.” The pirate whips me around in front of him, his expression inscrutable as he grips my chin and forces me to look at him instead of my friend who lies dead on the ground. “Now it’s time for you to honor our bargain.”
Chapter
Seventeen
Then unexplored patches arose in it and spread; black shadows moved about in them; the roar of beasts of prey was quite different now, and above all, you lost the certainty that you would win.
“Let me go!” I flail in the pirate’s hold as he carries me through the forest and away from Coy. “Let me help him!”
“He’s gone,” he says gruffly and hoists me higher, keeping me pressed to his chest as he pushes through the saplings and thickets.
The island is alive, every bit of it humming with the promise of danger and death. Roars and cries, screams and eerie calls are all around us. But I don’t care. I have to get back to Coy. He needs help.
“Please.” I push away from the pirate and try to look into his eyes. “Please!”
He puts me down and grips my shoulders hard. “He’s gone, lass. Gone. There’s nothing for it.”
Hot tears track down my cheeks as I look up into the darkness beneath the brim of his hat. “Because you killed him.”
“Aye.” He doesn’t falter.
“You piece of shit!” I slap him hard across the face, my palm left stinging from the impact.
