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I think everyone can breathe a bit easier just knowing it’s over.
The Crocodile is gone, so Sebastian and his crew’s job of protecting the outer realm just got a lot easier. Blood witches still exist, but they won’t be organized under his command anymore, and by default, my fathers. We just hope that means their terror and destruction will become a thing of the past.
Sebastian has his ship back, his captain’s hat, and his shadow. I no longer have to hide my mark, and even though his men don’t know about what I did to save Sebastian, they know enough. No one questions what I am since they all saw me sink, and to them, that’s the most solid form of proof I could give them.
Zephyr and Lorian are as close as ever, and just happy to have things back to normal, but they—like Sebastian—still miss Smee and Nelvin. Overall, we’ve all found a way to make peace with our new life and have found a way to remember those we’ve lost along the way.
I step outside the skull house, glancing at the garden. This is quickly becoming a ritual, and I’m not sure if I should be worried or glad Sebastian is working through this so quickly. Either way, it’s late and he’s usually back inside by now.
As I near, I spot him slouched against the fence. It wasn’t until we buried Smee that I found out his mom was buried near there, too. I guess the garden was her favorite place and he thought it’d be fitting for Smee to be laid to rest there, too. He knows their souls aren’t there. They’re all in the vault, but I think talking to them and pretending they are helps.
As I near, he turns toward me, opening an arm for me to curl against his side. Together, we stare at the graves. He replaced the cross on his mother’s that had broken with time, but instead, there are now two names carved into the wood.Wendy and James HookNext to it is one he made for Smee, except it doesn’t read Smee. It says,Sami Hook.
My brows furrow as I stare at it. “I didn’t know her name was Sami.”
“I, um... I gave it to her when she was born, but when she got older, she couldn’t pronounce it right, so Smee stuck.” Sebastian traps his lips between his teeth and I snuggle closer. “You don’t have to sit out here. It’s okay. I’m just trying to spend as much time with them as I can before we leave.”
“I know,” I say, catching sight of the captain’s hat between the base of the crosses. They’re all here... My heart breaks for him, but I can feel the peace he does settle into the bond, and deep down, I know he’s okay.
“I wanted to ask you something earlier... How would you feel about living here instead of the Luminaries?”
He cranes his neck to stare at me, his emerald eyes flicking between mine as if he’s not sure he heard me right. “You want to stay?”
“Not stay, as in, not sail with you, but maybe we could have this be home when we’re not on the ship.”
His lips tip up at the corner before morphing into a grin that flashes his dimples. “It’s grown on you, huh?”
“Yeah...” I look around at the barriers, sparking in the hell flame light. “It really has, but I also know my home is wherever you are, and this place means so much to you. It’s where you feel closest to them.”
He nods and intertwines my fingers with his. “I’d really like that.”
I stand, offering a hand to help Sebastian up. “Come on. The crew has the fire going.
He comes with me and together we join the others around the others around the campfire, drinks in hand. The flames crackle as two dozen of us lounge in the grass with whiskey-flushed faces, telling stories of those we lost.
“Did I ever tell you about how Smee lost her ear?” Sebastian says, a smile so bright on his face I can’t help but mimic it. I’m starting to understand what he meant about living—feeling—through me. With his shadow back, the loss hurts, but he’s also so alive...
“I don’t think so.” I turn on his lap as the men chuckle and laugh so loud that it’s infectious.
“Get this, Nelvin bit it off.” Zephyr nudges my arm, lifting his brow.
“Nelvin? What? Why?” I quickly glance between them, needing an answer. He loved her. Why would he do that?
“Nelvin had been caught thieving, using his whole sleight-of-hand bullshit. She wanted to go with us on the ship, but she was only sixteen, and a lady. He didn’t want to subject her to that, but she begged and begged. So, James gave her a test. He told her if she could find and bring him the thief that’d been terrorizing the Luminaires, she could join the crew.” Zephyr pauses to take a sip of his drink, but Lorian plucks it from his hand before he can bring it to his lips. Only he doesn’t notice until his hand meets his lips, and his face drops as he shoots a frown over his shoulder.
Sebastian snorts as he rests his flask against my thigh. His hand is gripped possessively around the other, and I can feel the cool metal of his rings through the material of my pants. “My sister never jumped so fast. She hunted that man down for weeks. When she finally found Nelvin, she ambushed him and hog-tied him up. He’s never let her forget it.”
“Ha! You’re forgetting the best part,” Lorian says. His eyes nearly sparkle in the firelight, the flames reflecting off their glossy surface. “She had to carry him back to the house to show James. Can you imagine little Smee, and Mr. Long Legs Nelvin slung over her shoulders as he trudged through town?”
Lorian pumps his arms, imitating how she must’ve looked. Nelvin was so tall. Even Sebastian had to look up to talk to him, but Smee was almost the same height as me. She couldn’t have been more the five-foot-four. The mental image is staggering, but a smile breaks across my face, so wide I flash my teeth.
“Nelvin’s managed to bite her ear, but she jerked and dropped him, and since the fool didn’t let go, it ripped it off. She got home and dropped him on our living room floor. He had her bandana in his mouth like a gag so he couldn’t bite her again, but she’d hung this little pouch off it. My father opened it up and it was holding her ear. She thought we could just pop that shit back on.” Sebastian sets down his flask in the grass next to us so he can wipe at his tears but is unable to stop laughing long enough to slow the flow.
“James gave him the option to join our crew and serve time for his crimes, but it took a solid year before Nelvin would be within ten feet of Smee. He only had to do three months, but he just stayed.” Zephyr chokes on a laugh. “I don’t think anyone ever told him his time was over. He probably still thought he was serving his sentence when he died.” The group chuckles until the silence clings to the air.
“I can still hear her yelling at him for caressing her numb,” someone says from the other side of the fire. I can’t see their face over the flames, but the entire group laughs again, crying and holding their stomachs.
“Caressing her numb?” I ask, turning to Sebastian. It’s impossible to keep the amusement out of my voice.
