Page 74 of By the Flames of Her Fury

We all spilled onto the little island. Thunder rumbled overhead as we ran toward the lighthouse. Cracked stone and crumbling brown bricks scaled up the side, leading to the flame that burned in the tower at the top.

I glanced around to make sure the others were still following—there was Starke supporting the limping helmsman; Kieran close behind Odessa; a handful of crewmembers, all looking worse for wear; Tessa with her daggers at the ready. And ahead of me, almost at the lighthouse, was Vera. Her head whipped around to meet my gaze, and I let my eyes linger on hers for a second too long.

There was a resounding crack as the earth gave way beneath her. Her eyes widened, her hands grasping the air for something to catch her fall.

Then she disappeared beneath the ground.

35

Vera

Icrashed to the ground, knees buckling. A sharp pain shot up my ankle. I gasped and clutched my hand around the base of my boot. When I tried to put weight on it, I nearly collapsed again.

Shouts came from above. I looked up at the hole I’d fallen through, with grass and vines dangling from the jagged edges. Everett’s face appeared first, followed by Starke.

“Vera! Are you okay?” Everett called down.

“Just great,” I muttered under my breath. Louder, I said, “I think I sprained my ankle. I’m going to see if there’s a rope or anything to…” I trailed off as I took my first full look at the cave I’d fallen into. From the glow of their torches above me, I could make out a large, sprawling underground cavern, with dusty, unlit torches inside brackets. I limped to the nearest wall and braced myself against it as I wandered farther down the dark path.

“Where are you going?” Starke yelled from behind me. “Get back here so we can help you up.”

“Just a second,” I called back. My fingers dipped into indentations in the stone. It was too dark to see, but as I traced the curves, it felt like drawings, or maybe letters.

My foot bumped into something. I crouched and used my hands to feel my surroundings. My fingers groped a dry, dusty, circular rock jutting from the ground. When my thumbs pressed through two holes near the top, I threw it and scrambled backward.

A skull.

My adrenaline raced, making me momentarily forget the pain in my ankle. I limped back to where I’d fallen and looked up at the others. “I think you need to come down here,” I said. “And bring some torches.”

Firelight enveloped the vast cavern in an orange glow, and spiders scuttled from dark corner to dark corner. Cobwebs stuck to my hands when I shoved them out of the way. The etchings I’d felt were rows and rows of symbols carved into the stone walls. They surrounded the cave, which was wide across the middle and narrowed into a tunnel that curved deeper to the right.

I started to move toward the tunnel when a hand grabbed me. “You shouldn’t be walking, V,” Starke said, putting an arm around my waist. “We need to get you back to the surface.”

I swatted him away. “I’m fine, Starke. What are we going to do if we go back up, anyway? We’re surrounded by krakens and sirens in the middle of the ocean with no ship or way out. Not to mention, Mortep is on his way. I think we’re better off down here.”

He let out a disgruntled sigh. I ignored him and limped to Odessa, who was studying the symbols on the wall. “Do you recognize any of this?” I asked.

“They look like the images on the star chart we found,” she said. “I have no idea how to decipher them.” She ran her fingers over a spiral with a straight line through the middle, then moved farther down to another series, this one with a cracked pot turned upside down. When the torchlight landed on the symbol right beneath, my lips parted. It was a bird with a flaming tail feather and sharp wings extended to the side. Resting on its head was a fiery crown.

“It’s a phoenix,” I breathed out.

Rise.

The word startled me, thudding through me like a drum. The sound mingled with that same distant humming I’d heard on the ship.

“Vera,” Everett’s wary voice echoed from the tunnel to the right. “You should come see this.”

Rise.

My skin tingled. I staggered down the path, trying not to wince. The tunnel swung to the right and opened into a smaller cave. Everett and Tessa stood facing the back wall. Etched in the stone was an enormous phoenix. Unlit torches lined the adjacent walls, crumbling from disuse. On the floor at the feet of the phoenix were piles of bones. Snapped vertebrae, toppled skulls, and gray, splintered finger bones curved around what used to be spears. Disgust swirled inside of me at the sight, but something else—something deeper—tugged me closer.

Rise.

A shiver ran down my spine. My heart pounded faster to the rhythm of the strange humming sound. Everett said my name, but I barely heard him. I ran a finger across one of the phoenix wings, feeling my own dormant magic shudder inside me.

The drumming reached a crescendo. I sucked in a breath, and on my exhale, whispered the word carved on my tongue.

“Rise.”