Page 26 of By the Flames of Her Fury

“Come look at this.”

She shifted papers off her lap and scooted toward me. Taking the old papyrus, a crease appeared at her brow. “Where did you find this?”

I shrugged. “It was inside the file you gave me from two centuries ago.”

“This is far older than two centuries.”

“Yeah, I kind of guessed that. How old do you think it is?”

“It’s difficult to tell. But…old.” She carefully laid it flat on the ground. “Perhaps seven, eight hundred years. It’s extraordinary.”

“What about the language?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t recognize it. But while you were examining that, I rifled through other springtime reports. You won’t believe what I found.”

I somehow knew what she was going to say before she even said it. Anticipation was already bubbling in my veins, heightening the thrill of the chase.

“Nine more shipwrecks,” she said. “All in the third month, right around the spring equinox, and most of them ending up at Shipwreck Cove. A couple were marooned at Twin Tides instead, since it’s so close. I bet that’s what happened to the skeleton crew you found.” She shook her head. “Vera, these are so terrible. So much death. Some of the bodies were so mangled from the whirlpool and wrecks, they weren’t identifiable.”

Thirteen recorded incidents at the same time of year, in the same exact area. Thirteen unexplainable events.

I stood and gathered all the reports. “I need to talk to Starke.”

“Now? It’s past midnight.”

“I want to know exactly what caused that shipwreck we found. If we figure out what it is, maybe we can retrace their steps. See where they came from.” I wanted to know more about that crew and the torn map of a continent we couldn’t place, not to mention the phoenix token. I didn’t believe in coincidences. There was a reason for all of this, just like there was a reason Mortep was in that cave.

“What are you going to do, Vera?” Odessa called after me as I strode out of the archives room.

“Sail to Shipwreck Cove.” That was where most of these crews had landed. Maybe my answers would be there. It was the one place Starke refused to take me so far.

Odessa sighed. “You’ve seen the reports. The water is dangerous. What makes you think you won’t end up like one of those crews?”

“Because I’ve lived through it once.” I made my way back to my desk to grab my things. “We were in that whirlpool, Odessa. The one all these sailors mentioned. And I saw something. There’s more to this story than a bunch of old records and maps can tell us.”

“Do you think that’s all I’ve dedicated my life to?” she snapped back. “A bunch of old records and maps? We have them for a reason. History is here for a reason, so that we don’t get arrogant enough to think we can defy what’s written and repeat it all over again.”

She closed her eyes, and her features slowly softened. “I don’t understand why you’re always trying to get yourself killed. You have people here who care about you, Vera. I care about you.”

My heart clenched, reminding me what it felt like to have someone care. To be more than a tool, a weapon, an experiment. To be valued as a person.

But above that, I felt the phoenix token burning a hole in my pocket, reminding me of where I’d come from. Reminding me of all the other people who once cared about me and how they had been punished because of me. Reminding me of who had hurt them.

“I know you do,” I said quietly, shrugging on my jacket and untucking my hair from the collar. “I care about you, too. And I know it doesn’t make any sense right now,” I added, meeting her stare. “But that’s why I have to go.”

11

Vera

SEVEN YEARS AGO

The scream had nowhere to go except these walls, ricocheting off every inch of stone. It didn’t even sound human. It was harsh and piercing, reverberating through my head as a shadow appeared outside the bars. Long, thin, and upturned, with scalloped edges that looked like⁠—

Wings.

I froze. My mother’s beautiful, shining black raven’s wings soared through the air. Her sharp beak aimed toward my cell, and she came barreling through the small bars faster than I could think.

“Mama!” I cried as recognition hit me, hope swooping in with it. She had come, she was really here, and she and Nox were going to take me back.