“Come on, man,” I mutter to myself. “You can’t do this to me. Not now. You need to snap out of it.” I lean down to blow air into his beak, hoping it works just as well on birds as it does on people. His chest inflates, and I pull back, spitting out a mouthful of black stuff onto the floor.
Jack’s body quivers in my hand, and I almost choke on the remaining black goop coating my tongue. It’s covering my hands and I wipe and wipe at my legs, trying to get it off.
“Jack?”
Two beady eyes peer up at me before closing again.
“Oh no, you don’t, buddy.” I prod him. Can’t say I’m known for my bedside manner, but the fucker had better not conk out on me now.
His eyes open again, and he twitches his wings, sending more black sludge flying. His body then vibrates for a second before it transforms, arms and legs shooting out until I’ve got a naked Jack in my lap.
He groans, flopping back with his arm over his eyes.
A breath of sheer relief gusts out of me. “Holy shit, you scared me.”
Jack lets out another groan, rolling slightly, so he’s no longer directly in my lap but his head is resting on my thigh.
“Must have been some party,” he mutters. “I don’t remember a thing.” He rolls onto his side and then pushes himself up until he’s sitting cross-legged on the shattered floor. “Were we mud wrestling or something?”
“You were dead,” I tell him.
He closes one eye and shakes his head. “Nah, that can’t be right. My head’s pounding, but I’m pretty sure I’d know if I’d made it to the other side.”
There’s an ominous creaking from somewhere above us right as a booming echo rattles the walls.
“We should get out of here,” I murmur. “Before the whole place comes crashing down.” I struggle to my feet, every part of me complaining after being on my knees for so long.
Jack slides a little, struggling to get traction on the slippery ground as I help him to his feet. “Not mud wrestling, then.” He peers at his tar-covered palms and legs with a pained expression. “Magic wrestling, maybe?”
I take a limping step forward as another booming crash sounds from somewhere above us. “How do you mean?”
“This is magic. Seems the sorceress’s collection of it.”
I scrunch my nose up as I peer down at myself. “Do you think it’s a bad thing we’re caked in it?” It looks like I’ve taken a damn bath in the stuff.
Jack hums to himself, taking a hesitant step forward. “I’ve got a feeling it might be the only reason I'm on this side of the abyss right now.”
“You—”
“I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty good,” he continues, flexing one arm. “Unnaturally good.”
I feel like someone’s taken a rusty axe to my back and knees, so I can’t say I relate.
“Let’s keep going. We need to find the others,” Jack says. “This place is depressing, eh?”
I snort as we slowly make our way from room to room, following the sounds of Finch’s destruction. It no longer looks anything like I remember. Gone are all those pesky things like walls and ceilings, but there’s still the faint scent of misery and fear in the air.
And something else, too. Something with a salty tang and a deeper scent, from the ocean’s depths.
“Cap’s close by,” I rasp.
“What gave it away?” Jack replies, right as a thick black tentacle crashes through the ceiling just ahead of us.
More dust and rubble fill the air, and instead of retreating away from the rampaging kraken, we stagger closer.
It takes a minute for the dust to settle enough to make anything out.
But the moment the air clears, I’m zeroed in on one thing. A mass of hair attached to a strong yet soft body.
