AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The ship curves over the ocean, circling back around toward me. On the bow, straddling the mermaid’s shoulders, is Zephyr with a long, coiled rope. I watch the air shimmer like a cloud of magic surrounds it...The ship is flying?
Zephyr holds his hand over his eyes, squinting to block out the hell flame. He spots me and points, yelling to the crew, “There he is! Full steam ahead!”
The roar of the crew is audible from the ground and people rush toward the rail or climb on things to get a better look at me. Sails billow, curving full of air, and Zephyr drops the rope as they swing past me. I latch on to it, swinging in the open air.
Hand over hand, I climb, determined to reach the top. I have to know... but I can’t tell what’s real and what’s not anymore.
My uncle has always been manipulative, but as far as I knew, he never possessed this sort of magic. His coven of blood witches has grown immensely stronger, especially if they were able to make it look like a ship was burning for this long.
The rope swings as the Jolly Roger flies, soaring above the island, but I finally make it to the top and my men hoist me over the railing.
Zephyr is the first one to greet me, yanking me into his arms. I barely get to look at him before he’s coiled around me in an unforgiving embrace.I thought he was gone...His horns press against my jaw as he sobs, each heave of his chest causes the rough texture to scrap against my skin.
“I thought you were dead,” he says, shoving me away. I nearly topple over the railing, but he catches me by my shirt. My eyes round as I take him in. His face is healed like the bruising never happened. However, a gnarled line of stitches cuts through his right eyebrow. That wasn’t there in the woods.
“Where’s Scarlet?” My heart skips, beating wildly as I look through the men on the deck, but there’s not a single head of white hair present. “Where’s Scarlet?” I say it louder.
“She... She jumped after you. She sank, Captain.” As soon as the words leave his lips, my blood runs cold.I was so wrong... so behind.
It wasn’t Zephyr in the woods. It was the fucking Crocodile, and I handed the love of my life right to him. He played me, and that’s why he knew exactly what I was planning to do. I told him everything. Reaching in my pocket, I discover that the leaves are gone. He must’ve taken them at some point, maybe while I beat him on the beach. Closing my eyes, I grit my teeth and drag in a heavy breath. He even stole my backup plan.
“Please tell me I’m wrong, that it was you in the woods?” I step forward, the plea audible in my voice. Zephyr stares at me and the blank expression says more than words. “Fuck!” I spin and slam my hands down on the railing.
“How are you alive?” Zephyr’s hand touches my shoulder gently and it takes everything I have to force the steady breaths in and out of my lungs.
“Scarlet’s a mermaid,” I say, and his jaw drops open. “Well, sort of. Half mermaid? Something like that.” They don’t need to know about the rest. “I underestimated him, Zeph... It’s bad.” I slide down the railing until my butt connects with the deck. The crew stares at me with emotion-filled eyes, but it’s all I can do to zone out on my feet.
“How bad?” Zephyr asks, moving to sit beside me.
“He pretended to be you in the woods, so I’d give him Scarlet. He possessed and glamoured witches and made me think I saw the Jolly Roger burn to the ground with the people I love on it. If I don’t get to Pan’s vault by the time the moons block out the hell flame, he’s going to kill them.” I catch sight of Lorian coming up the companionway. “Where’s Nelvin?”
Zephyr’s face falls and the crew who have gathered around us falls deathly silent.So that part was true...
“Your uncle attacked him and ripped his soul from his body. He put it in thisthingand told Smee the only way she’d ever see him again was to convince you to open the vault. He’s trying to convince her to be a sacrifice and I think it’s worked.” Zephyr wraps his arm around mine, resting his head on my shoulder.
Lorian smiles weakly at us, coming to stand by the railing. “I’m glad you’re alive, Hook. We thought for sure you were gone when you went over the rail. I didn’t believe it when the Crocodile said otherwise. It wasn’t until he took Smee and left us that I could bring myself to do the locator spell.”
“Do you know how my uncle was able to project those images in my head? He made it feel so real...” I squeeze Lorian’s hand the moment he rests it on my shoulder.
Lorian moves away from me, coming around it to stand in front of us, arms crossed. “I wish I knew how to answer that, but it’s hard to know what he used without being there.”
I turn to Zephyr, and he lifts off my arm to meet my gaze. “Is the compass here or with Smee?” Terror gnaws at my insides. Without that compass, we can’t find the vault. Zephyr reaches into his pocket and pulls out the compass, handing it to me without a word. I breathe a sigh of relief, turning the cool metal over in my palm. “We’ve got to get to the vault.”
Lorian helps me up from the ground as he nods. “In that case, we’ll catch up after. Let’s fly.”
I nod, watching the compass’s arrow spin. “How is the ship flying, anyway?” I ask.
Zephyr’s expression lights up as he climbs to his feet. “Pixie dust. After you went overboard, I dug into your father’s journals, hoping it would prove or disprove the Crocodile’s story. Turns out, your mother saved the pixie queen during her time on the island. We stopped there first, asking for a favor.”
“Of course my mother did,” I say, a hint of a smile touching my life as I look at the island. I never thought I’d see the day that ships could fly...
Holding up the compass, the needle spins and Zephyr glances over my shoulder. Once it stops, Lorian barks orders, and the ship curbs to follow the compass needle. This is our one shot. We either find them, or we don’t.
The Jolly Roger soars over the dense canopy of the island, her sails catching the sun’s last light. It isn’t long before the compass starts to twitch frantically.We’re getting close.
“Take us down, Zephyr. We’ll have to walk from here,” I call over my shoulder. He carries out the orders, delegating to the elementals, and slowly, the ship descends. The tree limbs snap and crack as we drip, but the haul makes it all the way to the ground, held upright by the pixie dust. My men jump, sliding down ropes and using the vines from the trees to get their feet on the moss-covered forest floor, swords in hand.
We follow the compass on foot, weaving through the forest until we come face to face with a cave. A large archway rounds the entrance, carved with symbols and runes I don’t recognize. The air seems to crackle, and witches pour out of the cave as if they were waiting for me.
