Chapter Fifteen
We all jolt hard, my knuckles locking around the edge of the boat. If my stomach was turning before, now it feels alive—twisting, writhing as if the slug is inside, trying to crawl out of me.
“Why have we stopped?” I shout to the ferryman, but only the wailing wind answers.
“H-he’s gone,” River pants, breath coming in sharp bursts as he scans every shadowed corner of the boat for the Deceiver.
“What do you mean he’s gone… where could he go?” Nala’s voice quivers as her brows pinch tight. She clutches the chair beside her, as if she could fuse herself to the wood and keep from shaking apart.
Another thud.
This one nearly knocks my feet out from under me.
“He said our fate was up to us…” Ryder mutters, jaw tight. “Fucking Deceivers.” A muscle jumps in his cheek—anger or fear, I can’t tell.
The wood beneath us groans, long and low, like something enormous brushing up against the hull. Then another violent jolt.
“What’s happening?” My voice cracks as it escapes me. Ryder pushes to his feet, the boat rocking slightly under his weight.
“Those pretty little eels you were admiring earlier,” he says, retrieving his sword.
His voice dips into something darker as he raises the blade, the weapon humming with power, daring anything foolish enough to come close.
The moonlight catches the metal, turning it into a warning flare. “They have very protective parents.”
The boat slams again, this time sending icy water splashing over the edge. Droplets hit my legs, and the shock tears through me instantly; my muscles seize, spasming with a violent electric sting.
Nala gasps as a droplet hits her arm; River clenches his jaw against the zap racing up his wrist.
The water isn’t just cold.
It bites.
It hungers.
“Ah. You weren’t kidding about the water.” River draws back slightly as another drop of water latches onto his arm, his eyes clench shut as it spasms.
“I never kid.” Ryder tuts, his words drowned out by a deafening shriek that rips through the air; it is so loud it feels like my head just split into two, and I struggle to keep my eyes open in the ordeal.
Suddenly, the water erupts; a monstrous eel, taller than the trees in the distance, launches into the air with another crackling screech that pierces my skull for the second time.
Sparks fly as its quartz-scaled body twists like a serpent, towering above us, jaws yawning wide, uncovering three rows of sharp, pyramid-like teeth, aiming to swallow us whole.
I can feel its potential as its head snakes closer to us, a static radiating off of it commanding all our hairs to stand on end.
They rise with it, each strand defying gravity and standing upright.
Nala’s black hair betrays her and worships the night as she draws her bow, aiming at the creature with unwavering focus.
Whether it’s her Influence or simply her uncanny aim, each arrow strikes true, embedding itself in the eel-like form until her quiver is empty.
Three arrows remain lodged in the creature, one in the fleshy gap between its eyes, the others in its neck and the rest lost to the sea, and still the creature does not falter.
She tries to Influence the arrows back, willing them to return, but it’s no use—the electric holds them fast.
“Don’t let it bite you; their venom is immune to the Gifts.” The words leave Ryder’s mouth like a warning, and the sheer size of its mighty teeth makes me shudder.
“What?!” Nala replies in shock. “What do you mean immune?” The wind stifles her voice.
“Guys, the boat is tipping,” I interrupt, my eyes still dumbfounded by the size of the creature rising from the sea. My neck crooks with its length, until I can no longer see Mourn Peak’s tip in the distance.
The creature continues to grow; visible branches of electricity cling to it like spiderwebs. It screeches again like metal scraping on metal, a sound that makes my whole body shudder.
Its head darts towards Ryder and me with open jaws, saliva dripping off each tooth, and I hold my breath as its tail collides with the boat again.
The ship shudders and knocks me down, along with some barrels that crash onto the floor and spill out random objects that have accumulated over the years.
I manage to throw an orb of light in its direction, and it travels through the air but fizzes out when it collides with the creature’s slick skin.
“Fuck.” I breathe. Of course, fire doesn’t burn through water.
The creature’s high-pitched keening drops into a guttural growl that vibrates through the deck. It was angry before—now it’s locked on, eyes blazing, pupils narrowed to predatory slits.
And they’re fixed on me.
Ryder reacts first. Shadows gather in his hands, condensing into a sphere so dark it swallows even the night around us.
He hurls it with a force I’ve never seen him use, his powers clearly magnified by the sword.
The orb slams into the creature’s head, sizzling on impact.
It shrieks, body snapping backwards a metre or two, but it shakes it off like an annoyed beast swatting a fly.
Ryder throws another. This time, the thing doesn’t even flinch.
He conjures a swarm of shadow hawks, sending them at the eel to distract it. Its jaws snap hungrily, trying to swallow them, but more hawks keep appearing, relentless and unyielding.
River thrusts his palm forward, wrenching random objects into motion, an old chalice here, a rusted ship’s wheel there, flinging them at the creature. They bounce off it uselessly, failing to do anything but piss it off more.
A shattered flagpole catches my eye. My fingertips tingle as I pull on my Influence, gripping the wood from across the deck.
I torque it upward, then fire it forward like a torpedo.
It whistles through the air and spears straight through the creature’s cheek, punching out the other side of its gaping jaws.
It howls an ear-splitting, wounded screech that rattles my bones, but still it surges forward, more enraged than deterred.
Shit!
The slits in its eyes lock onto mine.
A sickness creeps up on me again, and saliva pools in my mouth. With a speed my mind can barely calibrate, the creature pounces with a vengeance meant for me, but Nala jumps in front of me, armed with only the teeth of a broken broom.
“Nala no!” I scream, but before it can make contact with her, Ryder leaps and slices his blade through the creature’s neck just before its teeth can latch onto her.
Its eyes widen as its head argues with its neck and finally decides to let go, dropping onto the boat whilst its body sinks into the sea below.
Thick blue blood seeps from its beheaded neck and seeps back into the water through the holes in the floor, lifeless, sending a final surge of sparks through the waves.
Scarlett embers brandish the sword as Ryder grips the hilt.
Its power becomes evident as a red energy consumes the length of the blade and a crimson effervescence coats it like armour.
The sword gleams bright like it’s showing its appreciation for the blood it has spilt, a shrine to Salem, and Ryder’s eyes share the same admiration as he toys with the blade in his hand.
One last screech rips through the sea, the water stills and Nala and River catch their breath.
My lungs also fight for air as my heart beats in relief; it thumps so hard, I fear it may abandon ship.
I launch at Nala, holding her so tight, my arms ache.
“That was so stupid!” I breathe into her jacket, her body relaxing into mine. She peels away, her eyes catching mine.
“It’s okay, I’m fine!” She says, her hands cupping my cheeks.
“You sure!” I ask, and she nods her head as I unhand her.
“She’s right, Nala, don’t do anything like that again? Not unless you have a proper weapon.” Ryder says sternly, gesturing to the broom splayed out on the floor.
“Go easy on her; she was just trying to help,” River says, smoothing out his dishevelled hair.
“And I’m just trying to protect you all. She does that again, and she’s dead; there’s no way she survives twice, not on this mission.” Ryder furrows his brows and walks to the hull, glancing overboard. The Nightboat returns to its motion, gliding closer to our destination.
“It’s fine, River, he’s right.” Nala mutters whilst claiming her arrows from the eel’s head with a look of disgust on her face, “I was just trying to repay the favour.” The corners of her mouth turn up briefly as she shrugs her shoulders, and memories of my sacrifice for her in front of Craize resurface.
“Well, consider the favour paid, no more stupid acts of bravery please,” I say, holding my hand out.
“Deal.” She shakes it with a smile, and then her focus turns to Ryder.
“What did you mean immune to the Gifts?” Nala finally asks again, turning her nose up at the blood dripping down her shirt.
“An organism lives in its venom; it feeds on healing energy and grows stronger when magic is used.” The blade still gleams in his palm. “The only cure is an antidote to kill the organism.”
“What happens once you’re infected?” I ask, wading over the blue liquid and shaking it off my shoes.
“Uh, the venom affects the brain first, they say you’ll become delirious, start seeing shit that isn’t there, and in a week it will reach your heart and well…” Ryder finishes his sentence here, not seeing the need to elaborate. We all know what he means. Death.
“And the antidote?” I hide the bile creeping up my throat, the baby eels taunting me through the cracks in the boat’s surface. They definitely do not have the same appeal to me as they did moments ago.
“Let’s just say I’m glad nobody got hurt.” His eyebrows furrow as the boat steadies onto the shore.
“I’m still confused where the ferryman went,” River states, scratching his head.
“It’s possible that his soul is tied to this vessel. I’ve heard about it before, but it can only be done by someone who possesses true power—”
“Like a God?” I ask, my mind slowly connecting the dots.
“Exactly, it was said that the Nightboat was conjured by a Moon God, what if that God was Lunaris?” He replies, taking a seat next to me.
“Then this is part of it… the Nightboat is the start of the journey to the gem.”
The boat docks in a smooth motion, barely shaking us.
The night has drawn in so heavily now that the drawbridge cannot be seen without my orb to light the way.
We shuffle down steadily, cautiously stepping, one foot in front of the other, until finally meeting the sand below.
It’s compact and slightly damp, so it crunches underneath our boots.
The orb, though not as bright as it normally is, drowns out the darkness surrounding us, so a few steps ahead are visible, but then it’s just endless inky black.
If the sun still hung in the sky, I wonder if we would see other footsteps etched into the sand, forgotten people that had made this journey before us, and if they ever made it back.
My eyes glare down at my boot print. This may be the last dent I make in the world, soon to be washed away by live waters.
The darkness is unsettling; it’s the kind of dark that you expect something to be hiding in—
Waiting.
It creeps up my spine and causes my head to swivel constantly, stifling my breath and clawing at my nervous system. Though the night may be the trap the Hollow set for us, I can’t imagine us all walking so blindly ahead if we could see the jaws we were heading into.
We were the mice, soon to be in the Hollows vice.