Jade
It’s been thirty minutes since we emerged from the waterfall. In that time, no waves have rocked the boat, and no monsters have risen to tear us apart.
There’s just gray everywhere, like we’re sailing through a void.
“We need to eat,” Kieran says from where he emerged from below deck with a satchel of supplies and a freshly cleaned blade on his hip, his eyes scanning the horizon like he expects a monster to materialize at any moment.
Callie’s laugh is brittle. “We’re sailing through monster-infested waters and the first thing you want to do is have a picnic?”
“We don’t know when we’ll have another chance.” He sets the satchel down near the forward mast. “Starving won’t help us fight what’s coming.”
He has a point. My stomach has been growling for the past hour, but acknowledging hunger feels wrong when I should be focused on survival. When Sam is dead because of me. When Elizabeth is dead because of me. When Oliver is—
I stop and force myself to move to the others, settling onto the deck near the mast. Logan appears at my side a moment later, close enough that our shoulders brush. The contact sends warmth spreading through my chest, and I lean into it without thinking.
“You okay?” he murmurs.
“Define okay.” I grab a piece of dried meat from the sack and tear off a bite. It tastes like nothing, although that’s better than the gamey funk they give first-years. “Because if okay means ‘not currently being eaten by a sea monster,’ then sure. I’m fantastic.”
Amusement flickers in his eyes, and he picks up a piece of dried meat as well, chewing thoughtfully.
Evie’s across from us, her amber eyes distant in a way that makes my chest ache. One of her research books that’s never going to help her find Oliver is balanced on her knee, its pages bristling with torn paper markers.
“Circe’s island should be in this region.” She doesn’t look up as she speaks, her finger tracing a line across the yellowed page. “She’s been the official protector of Blaze Academy for centuries. If anyone knows where Oliver ended up, or how to escape the Lost Islands, it’s her.”
Oliver isn’t going to be there. Oliver’s dead. I watched him die. I helped burn his body.
I shove another piece of meat into my mouth so I don’t have to respond.
“Circe’s the original witch,” Evie continues. “She’s been around for millennia. She has connections to forces most witches can only dream about.”
Logan shifts beside me, his thigh pressing against mine, solid and grounding.
Callie examines her fingernails with exaggerated disinterest from where she’s sitting near the railing. “Sorceresses aren’t exactly known for their hospitality,” she points out.
“She protects witches.” Evie’s jaw tightens. “Everything I’ve read says she takes in those who wash up on her shores.”
“Everything you’ve read also said these waters are full of monsters.” Callie gestures at the surrounding sea. “I don’t see any monsters.”
“Yet.” Kieran’s hand rests on his blade. “You don’t see any monsters yet.”
“Comforting.” I swallow my mouthful of tasteless meat. It scrapes my raw throat on the way down, and my stomach clenches around it like it’s not sure whether to keep it or reject it. “Really love the energy we’re bringing to this mission.”
Logan’s hand finds my knee and squeezes once, brief and reassuring, and I lean slightly closer to him. My magic hums at the proximity, electricity prickling beneath my skin like it’s reaching for him through the fabric of my clothes.
We’re going to be okay. We have to be okay.
But as I think it, my mind drifts to T. If Circe’s as old and powerful as the texts claim, maybe she knows about storm goddesses who masquerade as pilots and turn college students into lightning rods.
The boat rocks gently on water that doesn’t move.
Then Callie’s head snaps up.
“Do you hear that?”
I frown. “Hear what?”
But then, I do. A melody’s drifting across the water, threading through the gray air like it’s alive. It wraps around my chest and pulls, and the ache that’s been living there since we left the academy suddenly has a direction.
You’re lost.
The voice is inside my skull, curling through my thoughts.
You’re so lost, little storm. But I can show you the way.
It’s T’s voice, the one that’s been absent since she dropped me into this world and left me to figure it out alone.
Don’t you want to know what you are?
Yes. Gods, yes.
Then come to me. I’ll tell you everything.
My feet are moving before I realize it, carrying me to the railing. The wood’s slick under my boots, the ocean stretches wide and gray, and the answers are right there, just past the surface, just a few more steps away.
“Jade.” Logan’s fingers dig into my skin, but he sounds muffled and far away, like I’m hearing him through glass. “Stop.”
He doesn’t understand,” T continues. None of them do. But I understand you. I’ve always understood you.
I try to shake off his iron-clad grip. Because T’s right.
Logan doesn’t know what it’s like to have power you never asked for after never knowing about the supernatural world until a few weeks ago.
He doesn’t understand how it feels to be a bomb that might explode at any moment, or to wonder every day if you’re a weapon or a mistake.
Then there’s another voice, cutting through T’s promises.
Jade, it’s okay. I forgive you.
“Sam.” His name tears out of me, my chest cracking open. “I tried to save you. I swear, I tried. So many times.”
I know. Just come to me. We can talk about it.
Tears are streaming down my face. When did I start crying?
Then Elizabeth’s rises above the others, softer and sweeter, and my whole body goes cold.
You didn’t mean to hurt me. Your power was out of your control. It wasn’t your fault.
“No. It was my fault.” I’m sobbing now, ugly and uncontrollable.
I forgive you. Come to me and I’ll say it to your face.
I need to go. I need to hear them forgive me. I need to talk to them and know that wherever they are, they don’t blame me for what happened to them.
Jade.
A third voice.
I’m alive.
Everything inside me goes still.
The Crown’s magic healed me and brought me somewhere safe. I’ve been waiting here, hoping someone would come. Bring the boat to shore. Pick me up. Take me home.
“Oliver?” His name rips out of me.
Evie crashes through my thoughts. “You hear him too? You hear Oliver?”
“Yes.” The word comes out choked and desperate. “He’s alive. He’s actually alive.”
“I knew it.” She grabs my hands, her fingers trembling, and her eyes light up in a way they haven’t been since before the Halloween Ball. “He’s waiting for us. We have to go to him.”
I squeeze her hands back, the tightness in my chest loosening for the first time in weeks.
“We need to go left.” I look to the direction they’re coming from, to where a dark shape is rising from the gray. It’s a cliff, maybe, or land. “Callie, can you steer us there?”
“Already on it.” She’s at the wheel, smiling so big that her face lights up despite the heavy clouds overhead. “He’s so close. The real him. He’s been there, waiting for me, for four years.”
Kieran’s helping adjust the sails, moving with single-minded purpose, every motion steady and precise.
He’s not calling out a name the way the rest of us are, but his eyes are locked on the cliffs with a desperate hunger that looks wrong on a man who’s spent years carving every soft thing out of himself.
Logan’s standing in the center of the deck, his body rigid, his eyes darting between the four of us.
“Stop,” he calls out, sharp and commanding. “Whatever you’re hearing isn’t real.”
Don’t listen to him, Oliver pleads. He’s jealous of me. He wants to keep you from me. Don’t you see that? He doesn’t want to rescue me because he doesn’t want me near you.
“Oliver’s out there.” I pull away from Evie and move to the railing, pointing to the dark shape on the horizon. “We’re going to get him.”
“You’re not hearing Oliver.” Logan grabs my arm, yanking me to him so hard I nearly fall over. “You’re hearing sirens. They’re trying to kill you. Whatever they’re saying is a lie.”
I try to shake him off, but his grip is iron.
“You’re wrong.” I try again to free myself, failing miserably. “Oliver’s alive. The Crown’s magic healed him. He’s been here this whole time, waiting for us.”
“The Crown’s magic didn’t heal anyone.” Logan’s eyes are hard, his grip so tight and strong it feels like he might break my wrist. “You have to fight this.”
I glare at him. Because I don’t want to fight it. I want T to give me answers. I want to hear Sam forgive me. I want Elizabeth to tell me it wasn’t my fault. I want Oliver to be alive so I can stop carrying the weight of his death every single day.
So, I try to squirm out of Logan’s grip again, but I might as well be trying to pull my arm out of concrete for all the good it’s doing me.
“Let me go!” I claw at his forearm with my free hand. “We have to get them!”
“Kieran!” Logan calls out. “Drop the sail.”
Kieran doesn’t respond. He’s still adjusting the rigging, his movements mechanical, his eyes fixed on the horizon.
Evie’s joined Callie at the helm, and they’re working together to steer us to the cliffs.
I continue trying to thrash my way out of Logan’s grip, magic crackling at my fingertips. The air around us charges, the smell of ozone sharp, and electricity arcs from my hands, striking the mast. The sail catches fire for a split second before the wind snuffs it out.
Logan holds me tighter, and I can’t break free, no matter how hard I struggle.
He’s trying to stop you. He’s always trying to control you.
The voices are speaking together now, weaving into a single melody so beautiful it makes my eyes burn. It’s a song I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear, and it knows every hollow, lonely place inside me that aches to be filled.
I drive my elbow back into Logan’s ribs, but it’s like hitting steel.
“Let me go!” I throw my head back, trying to connect with his face, but he shifts at the last second and my skull hits nothing but air. “You can’t keep me from them. Oliver’s right there. We can save him. Sam and Elizabeth, too.”
“They’re gone,” Logan murmurs in my ear. He has both arms around me now, holding me from behind, his head resting on the crook of my shoulder. “Those things are trying to kill you. But I won’t let them. I’ll never let them have you.”
The sky above us darkens, clouds rolling in, the first rumble of thunder shaking the boat.
“You killed him.” Electricity buzzes over my skin, and I’m not sure if I’m talking to Logan or Oliver anymore. “You killed him, and you made me help you cover it up.”
Logan goes rigid against me. “Don’t—”
“What else have you made me do?” The storm’s building now, wind whipping my hair around my face, rain falling in sharp, stinging drops. “How many times did you rewind time until you got the reaction you wanted?”
Yes. Ask him. Tempest again. Make him tell you the truth.
“The Drowned Tower. The Fury Loop. The passages.” Each one hits harder than the last. “Every time we were together, you were…” I can’t finish the sentence, can’t put words to the feeling clawing up my skin.
Logan’s arms loosen just enough for me to twist around and face him.
His face crumples in devastation.
Good.
“How many versions of me did you practice on?” I shove at his chest, but he’s like a brick wall, not stumbling back in the slightest. The wind picks up, howling around us, and a wave crashes over the side of the boat.
“How many times did you reset until I kissed you back the right way? Until I touched you where you wanted? Until I said what you wanted to hear?”
“It wasn’t like that.” His eyes drop to the deck, and that tells me more than any confession could. “I was keeping you safe.”
“You killed Miles,” I whisper. “You rewound time over and over trying to stop him, and you couldn’t, so you killed him.”
Lightning cracks across the sky, so close I can feel the heat of it. The boat lurches, and Kieran stumbles at the rigging, Callie losing her grip on the wheel.
“Everything between us is real.” Logan reaches for me, and I try to slap his hand away, but he gets a stronghold on my wrist again, putting me back into the same place where we started. “Everything I do is to protect you and keep you alive.”
“How would I even know?” Rain’s streaming down my face, mixing with tears I didn’t realize I was crying.
“You could have done it a hundred times, and I’d never remember.
That’s the whole point, isn’t it? You get to try again and again, and I have to live with whatever version of me you decide to keep. ”
The hurt on his face is almost enough to make me stop.
But Oliver’s waiting. Sam and Elizabeth, too. Tempest is promising answers.
I lunge for the railing, but Logan’s arms wrap around me from behind again, pinning my arms to my sides. Electricity crackles along my skin, but no matter how much I pour into him, he doesn’t let go. His whole body just shudders, a low, guttural sound escaping him as he holds me in place.
Behind me, there’s a grunt of pain as Kieran falls from the rigging.
“I’m not letting you die,” Logan says, fierce and desperate. “Hate me if you want. Blame me for everything. But I’m not letting you throw yourself into the sea for a ghost.”
I can barely hear him anymore, because the cliffs are close enough that I can see rocks jutting up from the water and figures standing on the ledge.
Oliver’s right there, his carefree grin splitting his face. It’s the same way he looked at me when he first saw me in my Persephone costume on the night of the ball.
Sam’s beside him with a book in hand, bouncing on his heels the way he always does when he’s excited.
Elizabeth’s standing a little apart from them, wearing the same oversized sweater from the cave. The fabric is free of bloodstains, as if the hellhound attack didn’t happen at all.
Then there’s T, waving at me like she always did when she saw me and my family on the jetway, excited to take us on our next adventure.
“They’re all there.” The words tumble out of me, and I’m not fighting Logan anymore. I’m just begging him to understand. “Oliver, Sam, Elizabeth, and T. They’re right there, and we need to go to them.”
“That’s not them.” Logan tightens his hold around me so much I can barely breathe.
But he’s wrong. Oliver’s waving, Sam’s laughing, Elizabeth’s beckoning me forward, and T’s smiling like she’s ready for our next grand adventure.
Just a little closer. Just a few more feet—
Before I can finish the thought, fire erupts around us, orange lined with black, encasing the ship inside a giant dome and cutting off the voices.