Chapter 20
“I’ll say it again,” Edmund said, sounding annoyed. “I really think we need to go check out the house in those blueprints. It’s our only actual lead.”
“No,” Will repeated for the millionth time. “It’s too close to Sorrento. We need to figure out how to use the Skystone.”
He lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling and fiddling with Sixth Sense, while Edmund pored over his new maps on the desk. Sebastian lounged in a nearby armchair, his head periodically dropping as he tried to stay awake.
Will wanted to sleep, too, but he hadn’t actually decided where they were going next.
They were all frustrated with today’s results.
Discovering Amaya’s unique connection to Aether was fascinating—groundbreaking, according to Edmund, and worth studying more closely—but it didn’t guide their next steps the way they’d all hoped.
They were no closer to finding the Skyvault, and wouldn’t be until they could use the stone to navigate.
“Professor James said we’re missing a piece,” Edmund said. “It’s probably another relic—a partner, like a Class Two would have. It might be in that house, and we won’t be able to use the Skystone until we find it.”
“We have no reason to believe it’s in the house,” Will said.
“We have no reason to believe it’s not. The coordinates are on the locket, remember?”
“If something else was hidden there, Graven would have already found it.”
“Not necessarily. He may not have known there was anything else to find. Everyone knows about the Skystone—no one knows about the conductor.”
Will pressed his lips together. Was it possible Graven had missed something?
He was smart, but he was human, just like the rest of them.
And Edmund was right—Graven hadn’t personally examined the Skystone.
He didn’t know how to use it. If he did, Corsair and Ridge wouldn’t have grilled Amaya so hard.
“Pearce gave the Skystone to this Lucretia Albright lady,” Edmund pressed. “Why would he do that, if not to hide it somewhere no one would ever look? Why would he not do the same with his mystery conductor?”
“Lucretia Albright? Who’s that?” Sebastian asked, knitting his brow.
“Amaya’s great-grandmother, Lucy—that’s her full name. I did some research.”
Will spun Sixth Sense in his fingers, letting it expand out into a set of astronomical rings before folding back in on itself. Sorrento was the last place in the world he wanted to go. If anyone recognized them as pirates, they could be killed on sight.
Besides that, every fleetman in the city would be on alert for Amaya Sinclair.
“Here’s what I don’t get,” Sebastian said through a yawn. “How is James so sure we’re missing a piece? What if the Skystone only works in the Aether Storm?”
“You’d better not be suggesting we fly into it without knowing how the stone works,” Will said, casting a sideways glance at his friend.
“No, I’m in favor of not dying. But what if we just got near it? It can’t guide us through the storm from hundreds of miles away.”
Edmund frowned at the idea. “I think we should trust the professor’s assessment. She knows more about relics than any of us, and she said the locket’s design isn’t conducive for navigation. The form a relic takes matters. Pearce would have known how to choose a good conduit.”
“The Skystone isn’t a relic. Not really,” Sebastian argued. “You said it’s crystallized Aether.”
“It’s relic-adjacent,” Edmund countered. “Close enough for basic principles to reasonably transfer.”
Will slid Sixth Sense back on his right ring finger and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. This had to be one of the stupidest dilemmas he’d ever encountered. Almost certain death versus almost certain death.
A soft knock sounded at the door. Will made eye contact with Edmund, nodding for him to open it. He expected to see Mouse, or Serena, or Quintus come to ask for a heading, but it was Amaya’s slender figure standing in the doorframe.
Will sat up, perhaps a bit too quickly.
“Amaya. Is something wrong?”
She shook her head, tossing her dark curls about her shoulders. Will felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to sink his hands into those curls, wrap them around his fingers.
Focus.
She extended her hands, and only then did Will notice she was carrying the gray coat he’d given her earlier, neatly folded.
Who folded a coat?
“I just wanted to return this,” she said.
Will inwardly deflated, realizing he’d been hoping she’d come for another purpose—like talking. Just talking. That was innocent enough, right?
Nevermind there was nothing innocent about that damn corset, or the way the shadows cast by the low lamplight darkened in the valleys of her curves.
He’d talk to her all night if she wanted. About anything. With or without words.
“Right,” Will said after far too long a pause. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood, moving across the room to take the coat from her. “Thanks.”
“Sure.”
“Miss Sinclair, your timing is actually impeccable,” Edmund said. “We were just discussing the potential location of the conductor Professor James mentioned. Perhaps you have some additional insight?”
“Oh.” Amaya’s eyes sparkled with interest. “Maybe. Where do you think it is?”
“Edmund thinks it’s at Starcrest Peak,” Will muttered, tossing the coat on his bed. He motioned for Amaya to step inside, which she did, and closed the door. “Sebastian thinks it’s all bullshit and we should fly into the storm without it.”
“That’s not what I said. I just suggested that maybe the stone only works in the Aether Storm.”
“Going to the storm would be a waste of time,” Edmund argued. “If there’s something else we need, we should pursue that first. Especially if Graven doesn’t know about it yet.”
“I don’t understand why you think he doesn’t.”
“Have you not been listening? If he did, he wouldn’t have let Corsair leave Sorrento without tearing that lake house apart. Obviously.”
“Any thoughts?” Will asked, watching Amaya.
She folded her arms and chewed on her lower lip.
“I don’t really want to go to Sorrento. We talked about this.”
Will nodded. “I don’t want to go either, but we don’t have another lead.”
“Didn’t Pearce have a house in Aerion? What about that?”
“It’s been torn apart by treasure hunters a hundred times over. If there was anything there, someone would have found it by now,” Edmund said.
“Maybe they did. Maybe there’s nothing left for us to find.” Amaya’s voice slid higher, an undercurrent of fear running through it.
“Or,” Edmund said, “maybe we give Pearce some credit as the most brilliant innovator in history and assume he didn’t hide his conductor in the most obvious place imaginable.”
Amaya bristled. “Hiding in plain sight is a legitimate strategy.”
“Only for those lacking in—”
“Is there a point to this?” Will asked, raising his voice above Amaya and Edmund’s bickering. “The house, or the storm. Those are our options.”
“And they’re both shit,” Sebastian said.
Will nodded his agreement and sank back down onto his bed.
“Can I see those?” Amaya pointed at the Starcrest Peak blueprints Edmund held.
He handed them over, and she knelt on the floor to spread them out.
She stayed quiet for several minutes, combing through each page. Will watched her expression for any signs of something unusual, hyperfocused on each tilt of her head and turn of her lips.
Finally, she turned a page and her brows scrunched together.
“This is a library.”
Amaya held up the blueprint. It detailed plans for a library built inside a cliff—a slightly unusual location, perhaps, but it was consistent with Amaya’s description of the place and Pearce’s distinctive work.
“What about it?” Edmund asked.
“Starcrest Peak doesn’t have a library.”
“What?” Edmund shot forward and seized the blueprint from Amaya, scanning it once. Twice. “You’re sure?”
“It’s my family’s house. Of course I’m sure.” Amaya snatched the print back.
“Could it be a hidden room?” Will asked.
“It looks like it’s built off the master bedroom,” Amaya said, lining up the various sheets and running her finger along the line representing a shared wall. “There’s no door here.”
“Not one you’ve seen,” Edmund said. “That’s got to be it. Either the conductor’s in there, or that’s our next clue. Can you imagine what Pearce would have put in a secret library?”
A million possibilities raced through Will’s mind—relics, tomes, research . . . and the conductor.
It was a good hiding place. Their missing piece might actually be there.
“How long would it take us to reach Sorrento, Edmund?” Will asked.
“Oh . . .” Edmund bit the inside of his cheek and consulted his maps. “A week, or close to it.”
“That’s enough time to make a plan,” Will said, half to himself. “And get a decent start on training.”
“Hang on,” Amaya said, standing and pinning him with her azure stare. “We can’t go to Sorrento. I don’t want to lead Graven there, remember?”
Will spread out his arms. “You have a better plan, Sinclair?”
“Why can’t we deal with Graven first? Maybe we could lure him into a trap somewhere. He frequents Aereasead, right? If we do that, we’ll have all the time in the world to solve this.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. But it wasn’t a good one, either.
Seeking out Graven in his favored sky city was almost certainly a suicide mission, even with Will knowing his headquarters inside and out.
Graven’s fleet was too great, and his spy network was so extensive that Will doubted they could successfully pull off a surprise attack.
But there was something else, too. Graven was always one step ahead.
“Will, you’ve got that look,” Sebastian said.
Will turned to his first mate. “What look?”
“You’re worried about something.”
“We’ve been here two days. Tomorrow will be three,” Will said. “That’s more than enough time for one of Graven’s spies to get eyes on us. After the Stormrunner, it’d be just like him to let us do the dirty work and then swoop in.”
He met Amaya’s eyes, then Edmund’s, then Sebastian’s.
“You think he’s already following us,” Amaya gathered. “Letting us figure it out first.”
Will nodded grimly, a plan swirling in his mind.
“Going to Sorrento is dangerous for three reasons. One, it’s the most hostile city in the world to pirates. Two, I’d wager there’s not a person in the city who doesn’t know Amaya’s missing. And three, I think he’ll follow us there. But . . . we might be able to use that.”
“What are you getting at?” Sebastian asked. The shine in Bas’s eyes told Will he already knew.
“It’s the most dangerous place for us to go. But it’s also the most dangerous place for Graven. If we go and he follows, which I believe he will, we could pit him and the Royal Fleet against each other. Distract them while we get in and out with what we need.”
“How would we do that?” Amaya asked.
“Lockwood has some contacts from his Royal Intelligence days we may be able to leverage.”
“While we find the library?” Edmund asked.
“Provided Miss Sinclair is willing to cooperate.”
Everyone turned to Amaya. The battle inside her mind made itself known on her face, her jaw tight and eyes dark. Will knew this was the last thing she wanted to do, and he hated asking it of her.
But then he imagined what Graven would do with Pearce. With Genesis. With Amaya, if he got his hands on her. Will’s resolve hardened.
Amaya seemed to see it, because she finally nodded.
“I’ll do it.”