Once we climb aboard, a woman with long, golden-brown braids who reminds me of a goddess from one of my books, is already waiting for us.
“Hi! I’m Naomi,” she says, offering me her ring-filled hand.
“I’m Reign and this is Ryder.”
She bows when he walks up. “It’s an honor.”
“The honor is all mine,” he says, reaching his hand out. “You must be a pretty impressive witch to be picked for the job.”
She blushes and I don’t blame her. “I’ve had good teachers.”
Humble and stunning? Now, I’m sure Nio has a thing for her. He’d be stupid not to.
The wind is in our favor as we sail further into the endless blue. Each hour that passes makes me realize how difficult this mission truly is. I can see now that simply coming across the island by dumb luck is a one-in-a-million chance.
The Infinite Sea is far more vast than I could’ve imagined and not knowing the exact location of the island makes this venture that much more challenging.
Hopelessness begins to grow in my chest as the sun passes through the sky. Nio told us a little while ago that this is the furthest he’s ever ventured out. Even when sailing to the other territories, they keep to a route that allows them to get to land within three hours. I suppose that makes a lot of sense. I certainly wouldn’t want to be stranded in the middle of the sea.
I’m just about to ask Ryder if we should head back and begin again with more ships when Naomi yells to us from her position on the upper deck.
“There!” She’s pointing to the east but all I see is water.
Nio turns the ship in the direction and Naomi comes bounding down the steps to the main deck.
“You can see it?” Ryder asks, walking to meet her.
“Yes,” she says breathlessly. “It’s extraordinary! I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“What do you see?”
“Mm, it’s kind of hard to explain. Sort of like an iridescent string outlining a dome around the island. I can’t make out the island, just the edge of the veil. It would be hard for any space witch to notice if they weren’t looking for it.”
As we approach, Naomi directs Nio where to go. She announces to all of us that we’re about to pass through the veil and in a matter of seconds, the four of us gasp at the white sand beach and lush green forest before us.
“You were right!” Nio shouts as if he didn’t fully believe us until this very moment.
While Nio and Naomi anchor the ship, Ryder and I begin searching the island. It helps that this time we’re starting at the edge of the island working our way in. We both spread out but remain in sight of one another.
Ryder’s shadows stretch out around him, clearing the dense bushes. Occasionally, he flies high enough to scan the area for good measure. It’s too much of a risk for me to transform in the thick of the forest without setting it ablaze, so I stick to my view from below, making sure to take my time so that I don’t miss anything.
I’m not sure how deep into it we are when I trip on a root and go face-planting into the ground. I’d melt into it from embarrassment, but luckily Ryder is too busy doing one of the scanning sweeps to notice. Once I collect myself and brush the evidence of my clumsiness off of me, I notice a dark openingleading underground. I carefully take a few steps back to get a wider view of the area and realize that what I tripped on wasn’t a root after all. I kneel down and use my power to burn off the vines covering the stone marker. The symbol engraved on top of it is the same as one of the ones I saw carved into a column in the ruins.
Ryder must’ve noticed I found something because he appears at my side just as I’m turning to call him over.
“This has to be it,” I say, looking up at him.
“Let’s just hope my father hasn’t already been here.”
He reaches for my hand and takes the lead down the narrow stairs that are now slightly illuminated by the fire in my palm. Though the steps are steep, there aren’t many of them. Before we know it, we’re at the bottom, standing in front of a black, stone coffin.
With almost no effort, Ryder slides the stone top far enough for us to see inside. I’m not sure what I had expected to see. Maybe a pile of bones or ash. Certainly not a breathtaking woman with profound cheekbones and jet-black hair that somehow looks darker than Ryders.
“She doesn’t look a day over 35, let alone a corpse.”
“Her body must’ve been preserved by magic,” Ryder suggests as he begins running his hands down the inside of the coffin.
Just beneath her collarbone is a large, oval ruby embedded into her chest. I recall Ryder mentioning it was this ruby that gave her the power to command the demon army of Zurads.
