Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Resting is impossible, despite Weston insisting I get some. Excitement and anticipation of finally getting off this ship courses through my body the entire afternoon, and it is all I can think about. I hope the energy is enough to get me through the night, through whatever constitutes a shift.
Just before we finish dinner, Sig tells me to check the room for a new set of clothes. Sure enough, in the armoire I find a lighter version of the clothes I have on, as if the island is prepping me to be back in the heat and away from the cool breeze off the water.
The sky is a light purple and the suns are almost set as I step out onto the main deck to find Sig, Stassia, and Auralie waiting for me.
Each of them is strapped down with their own choice of weapons, just as the Voyagers always are, but none of them look as eager or tense as I feel.
To them, this is just another shift, but to me, this is the start of my return home, as well as a pause in my captivity.
A wave of vulnerability washes over me as I take in everything they’ve chosen to arm themselves with, and remember that I have nothing.
I never left camp without at least having my dagger, and I promised Brynne I would always be armed.
I start to speak, to beg Sig for at least something small, but I haven’t gotten a word out before she’s looking past me, shaking her head aggressively.
“No. Absolutely not,” she says firmly, and I glance over my shoulder to see what she is talking about.
Weston steps out onto the deck, his vest tied tightly over his dark shirt, a variety of blades tucked into the front. A hilt sits at the top of the normally empty scabbard, and it sways as he saunters over to us, his expression completely neutral.
Sig brushes past me and meets him halfway, her arm extended as she points toward the entrance below deck.
“You better turn back around. You’re not tagging along on my shift,” Sig says, pinning him with her glare.
“You can’t tell me what to do, Sig,” he says as he comes to a stop in front of her.
“Oh yes, I can Cap. You aren’t coming.”
He shoots her a look, but she doesn’t back down, only widens her stance and slams her fists into her hips.
“I have this,” she motions with her hand to the three of us standing behind her, “completely under control.”
“I’m coming, Sig. Don’t make me give you an order.”
“Don’t throw orders around at me, Cap. We both know this is my shift. It’s my call. You aren’t on tonight, so you aren’t coming.”
I’ve never seen anyone on the crew talk back to Weston like this, especially Sig. She usually has no problem following his orders, so what changed now? Whatever it is, I’m silently applauding her.
“Some space will be good for you,” she continues after he doesn’t respond. “Maybe she’ll actually start to like us without you around.”
Stassia giggles and I look down at my feet, trying to hide a smile.
“Sig,” Weston growls in warning.
“Cap,” Sig snaps back.
They stand in silence, staring each other down, having a silent conversation that I can’t decipher, until Weston huffs and breaks away from her.
Wow, he really gave in. What power does Sig hold over him?
There’s no time for me to wonder before I realize he broke away, only to head straight toward me.
The girls shuffle a few steps away as he stops directly in front of me, his brows drawn in and his jaw tight. He reaches to his side and pulls something from his belt.
“Can I trust you to carry this?” His voice is a quiet rumble, as if he doesn’t want them to hear. He extends my sheathed dagger toward me, and I reach out and take it, my chest swelling with happiness once it’s back in my hands.
“Yes,” I breathe, and slide it in the back of my waistband, right where it belongs.
Neither of us moves. The weight of his stare is heavy, and I’m glued to this spot, waiting for whatever he’s planning to say next.
It feels like at any moment he’s going to tell Sig he changed his mind and come with us, even if it causes a fight.
His throat bobs and his jaw clenches. “Stay alert, princess.”
He steps away quickly, snapping the tension between us. His sudden lack of proximity is jarring, but I feel like I can breathe again the closer he gets to the stairs.
“Go keep Jorn and Eirlik company,” Sig yells. “Oh, and Fin is ready for bed. He’s asking for the next part of his story.”
I glance at Sig, then back at Weston in shock.
Has Weston been putting Fin to bed every night?
My heart swells at the thought, but I quickly push it away. I want Fin to have every kindness in the world, especially if he is going to be a child forever in this one, but how is it coming from him?
She walks toward the opening for the gangway before calling back over her shoulder, “And get some sleep!”
Weston rolls his eyes before turning his back on us and crossing the deck.
I expect him to disappear below, but just before he does, he spins again, and crosses his arms, waiting.
I can see the tension in his shoulders and arms from here.
It’s obvious he is not happy about staying on the ship while we leave.
His eyes flicker to mine for a moment, and I turn away to join Sig and the girls.
I don’t know what he is so worried about.
I’ve been on Dawnlin for months, searching for the healing waters alone every day.
I know the island; I know the dangers, and I’m not alone.
Just because they took me captive doesn’t mean I lost all of my experience and need to be coddled on this shift.
Besides, the weapon is more for my comfort. The Voyagers would never hurt me.
“Let’s go, ladies,” Sig says and steps up to the edge.
The boards under our feet rumble and I watch as a gangway appears out of nowhere, extending out from the side of the ship directly to the slip of rock that juts out creating the cove. It stops extending with a thud, and everyone bounds down it toward the rocky land on the other side.
The back of my neck tingles, and I know Weston is watching me as I follow behind the group, down off the ship for the first time.
It takes a lot more effort than I want to admit to stop myself from glancing back, but I don’t.
My boots pound on the gangway as I jog to catch up with them, muddling my way along the jagged rock toward the beach.
Moonlight brightens the clear sky, lighting the way along the rocks. The glowing waves roll through the cove, and the memory of the last time I stood on these rocks pops into my mind.
Life has changed so much. Then, I felt carefree and happy, excited for the possibility of a future, and now? Now I’m trying to survive, battling with a horrible man daily, all so I can make it back to the person who brought me here.
Once we are on the beach, Sig falls into step beside me, letting Stassia and Auralie lead the way. Stassia walks up to the cliff face, on the opposite side of the beach from the steps Dane and I took to get down here, and steps right through the rock.
Auralie follows right behind, and Sig gestures me forward. “After you,” she murmurs.
If I didn’t already know that portals existed on the island, watching them disappear into the stone would be shocking. Using a portal is the same way we got into camp, but the shocking part is that there is an entire system of tunnels under the island that none of us have ever found.
But now I know the entrance, or at least one of them.
The portal magic surrounds me as I step through it into a dim tunnel carved into the earth.
Auralie and Stassia wait patiently, and I glance back to watch as Sig steps through, the space around her transparent as if there is a hole that leads out to the beach.
The only other place I’ve seen a portal look like that, transparent on one side and completely hidden on the other, is at the exit of the mountain.
I look around, trying to pick up on any details, but the carved land is plain.
There’s enough space to walk side by side, maybe even with three or four people, and torches that line the walls throw off light.
I peer past Stassia, trying to see anything farther down, but all I can see is a split, and then darkness.
“Phew! Now we can talk. I’m so glad you’re with us tonight Lennox! It’s about time you got off that ship,” Stassia rambles.
Auralie leads us down the tunnel and we turn off to the right.
Just like in the mountain, the torches light as we move through the carved space, but everything looks exactly the same.
There’s no way I could do this on my own.
My sense of direction is completely gone down here, despite knowing the island extremely well.
“How do you have any clue where you’re going without getting lost?” I glance back to where the tunnels branched, the light already extinguished.
“Years of practice.” Auralie smiles over her shoulder.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Far side of the island,” Sig says. “We don’t have a ton of ground to cover today, so it’ll be a good first time.”
“So, is this just the same as looking for the healing waters? We just…search?” I ask.
If Dawnlin was a person, I would have a few choice words to say about the amount of time we have spent searching for things that should be obvious on the island.
Why are things so damn difficult? The purpose of getting to the island is to get the healing waters, and the purpose of the dust is to come and go.
So why do we have to spend years looking for both?
If we’re supposed to have hope to get here, why is it ripped away from us the second our foot touches the ground?
“For the most part, yes, it’s the same,” Sig says. “The big difference is we didn’t come here for dust. We knew we were searching for the healing waters, but we didn’t know we’d be trying to find a way to leave. We don’t know if Dawnlin even has it concealed like the waters, but we have to try.”