Chapter 43
Henri and Logan practically bowled Nia over with hugs as soon as she stepped foot on the Kraken.
Henri dropping a kiss on the top of Nia’s head and Logan smooching her cheek.
She’d probably have to tell Logan it was over between them, now that she and Zanta were together.
But that was a conversation for another time.
The giddiness of her feelings being returned was enough to carry her through anything.
Her sorrow over never being able to truly return home, guilt over the deaths of Zanta’s crew and the wreck of the Monsoon.
A slight regret that she’d likely never have the chance to get double-teamed by Logan and John again. None of it could touch this euphoria.
Until the Demon’s shadow darkened her path.
“We have much to discuss.” His manner was inscrutable, deep voice echoing in her brain so much it ached behind her eyes.
She’d wondered about him in the days she’d spent swimming home in her Selkie form.
The idea of him creeping through the watery shadows like a ghost haunted her.
So ominous that a few times she’d become convinced he’d transformed into whatever true form lurked beneath that flawless skin, and was coming to devour her whole or drag her into the depths.
Nia took an involuntary step back, bumping into Henri’s chest. She opened her mouth but couldn’t speak, as if he’d stolen her voice and all her sense.
Zanta’s hand found hers. “She’s tired. I’ll take her to rest.” She made to tug Nia away.
“We should really talk strategy,” Captain Rowan cut in, placating.
Truth winking in his eye socket, somehow soothing Nia’s nerves.
Nia’s mother had always been vague about how the stone worked.
After Nia’s father left, the Selkies had stripped her mother of her role as a seer’s apprentice.
But the old seer had died before a new one could be found and trained.
Gwenyth had been allowed to stay on Seer’s Isle only because no other place wanted her, but she was banned from ever using Truth for herself, or imparting any wisdom she had learned as an apprentice.
Did the eye show the viewer the truths of the world? Or make it so they could never lie?
“I promise we’ll make it short. But I’m sure all of us would rather get out of here before the Selkies or Shaw find us, and like it or not, Nia is part of that conversation.”
Zanta shot Nia a sympathetic look. “Fine, let’s talk.”
They met in the Demon’s private chambers. Unease threaded through Nia’s nerves, but she had Zanta at her side, and Henri and Logan too. They would protect her from whatever the Demon was.
“We should anchor here for the night,” Captain Rowan began, plopping into the seat at the head of the table, and waving the Demon to the right-hand seat when he glowered at him.
The rest of them settled in around the table.
“We want to get out of here as soon as possible. The Marigold is clearly lost with all hands, but the Lonesome and Shaw could still be out there. In the morning we should leave and find the Siren again, before Shaw manages to find us.”
“What about the Selkies?” Henri piped up. “We can’t leave Shaw here to do whatever he wants to them.”
“That’s true. We came all this way to warn Zanta, but now more lives are at stake,” Logan agreed. Nia graced them both with a grateful smile.
“The Selkies are more than capable of—” Captain Rowan’s hand on the Demon’s arm silenced him.
“In that case, our two options are to warn the Selkies, which will be met with hostility. Or take the fight to Shaw, wherever he may be.” Captain Rowan turned to skewer Zanta and Nia with his piercing blue and green gaze. “What do you think?”
Zanta seemed to be waiting for Nia to say something. When she didn’t, Zanta said, “We have that woman from the Marigold in the brig. We need to question her before we do anything else.”
Captain Rowan glanced at the Demon, and received a slight nod. “Agreed, then. We’ll find out what Baird knows and go from there.”
“There is still the small matter of the Storm Ring,” the Demon cut in.
His black eyes found the bundle of pelt in Nia’s arms, and she shivered.
“If what the journal says is true, we need a Selkie pelt, freely given, to cross back through.” He leaned toward her over the table.
“The Selkie is returning with us, I assume?”
“Lay off the intimidation,” Zanta hissed, at the same time Henri said, “Don’t speak to her like that.” A silence settled over the table. The Demon sat back in his chair.
“My apologies. The question still stands. Are you returning with us, dear Selkie? Will you lend us your power, and save us all from our inevitable watery graves?”
Nia still couldn’t speak. She felt like she’d swallowed lungfuls of seawater. A Selkie pelt could protect them in the storm? Was that why her father had taken her mother’s pelt, and later, her?
Zanta placed a reassuring hand between her shoulder blades, and Nia managed to squeak out a, “Yes, I’m coming back with you.”
Captain Rowan graced her with an encouraging smile.
“Only one problem remains. If we’re able to get the Siren unstuck, we’ll have two ships, and only one Selkie to stave off the storms.” He cocked his head at her.
“Does the freely given pelt calm the storms, or only extend protection over the vessel that carries it?”
They were all looking at her now. Expecting answers she didn’t know. Zanta’s hand rubbed circles on her back, and Logan gave her a nod.
“I-I don’t know.”
“It’s no matter.” The Demon took up Captain Rowan’s hand, and placed a gallant kiss on his fingers.
“The Siren shall carry our Selkie savior. Me and mine shall weather the storms on our own. In the meantime, it’s obvious that Shaw will want the pelt if he finds us, or vice versa.
We should secure it somewhere for safekeeping. ”
Nia sprang to her feet, ready to flee. She wouldn’t give up her pelt again. Not to anyone. Least of all to this…this evil creature.
“Absolutely not,” Zanta growled.
“If Shaw finds us, he will know instantly Nia is a Selkie if she has it on her. And he will use the pelt to control her,” the Demon said. “It would be better in a safe hiding place.”
“We’re leaving.” Zanta grabbed Nia by the arm and led her out into the hall, and Captain Rowan hurried after them.
“Zanta.” She whirled on him, dragging Nia with her, and the captain held up his hands placatingly. “I’m not here to argue his case. I came to talk to you about what we should do with the Monsoon.”
Zanta nodded wearily, then planted a kiss on Nia’s cheek.
“Let Henri or Logan take you to find some food, hm?” Nia nodded, and Zanta disappeared with the other captain, leaving Nia unsure of what to do.
She was exhausted, having swum for days to reach Seer’s Isle, only to find nothing and no one there.
She didn’t know what she’d expected, to be honest. But the Seer’s Isle being abandoned was just another in a long line of worries vying for her attention.
She leaned against the wall of the corridor and closed her eyes, breathing slowly and deliberately, trying to get her emotions under control.
A few breaths later, she choked on a sinister feeling.
The Demon caught her by the arm as she turned to flee, grip so tight she thought her bones might crumble to dust. She froze immediately, as his evil aura enveloped her.
So oppressive she felt like she’d swum too deep.
He dragged her into the nearest room, and clamped his other hand over her mouth as she heard Henri and Logan pass by outside.
“We must hide your pelt,” he growled in the language of the Selkies, removing his silencing hand.
It took Nia an agonizing moment to parse through what he had said.
She’d almost forgotten the language of her people after so long away with no other Selkie to speak to.
How did this awful creature know it? It sounded foul from his mouth when the last voice that had spoken it to her was her mother’s.
“Like Rowan said, we don’t know if the mercenaries survived the storms. We can’t let them have it. ”
She remained frozen, expecting him to take her pelt from her, but he didn’t, the stipulation of freely given hanging over their heads.
“It will be safe with me,” Nia managed to say, the language of her childhood feeling foreign on her unpracticed tongue. Was that a flicker of movement in the shadows behind him? Or were her eyes playing tricks?
“It won’t; you know it won’t. Don’t you want to protect your people?”
Her heart hammered. “What do you know about my people?” she hissed.
He didn’t answer. Instead he said, “You know what I am.”
“I don’t,” she protested. He was the kind of monster inked on maps to warn people to stay away.
The kind of monster Selkie mothers warned their children about before their first ventures out to sea.
No, she didn’t know exactly what he was, but she knew he was something dark and unknowable in human form.
The Demon smirked. “You know enough to know I’m the most dangerous person on this ship—”
“All the more reason not to let you have it!” Nia snapped.
“All the more reason to let me protect you.” The Demon shook her, her back thumping against the wall.
She clutched her pelt tighter, unable to keep from cowering.
He sighed and released her, but didn’t move away.
“You don’t trust me, nor should you, but you trust Logan and your brother and Splinter Zanta, do you not?
” She nodded warily. “They all trust Captain Rowan. He is a good man. I am not doing any of this out of the goodness of my heart, but because he desires it. I will defend you and your pelt because he wishes me to. And he would never breach his friends’ trust, nor take away your freedom. ”
“I…” Nia clutched her pelt tighter. It was a pretty speech for a monster. But even if this man had just been a man, he was still the most brutal pirate out there. He couldn’t be trusted.
The Demon leaned into her line of sight, and Nia would’ve called his expression earnest if she believed him capable of such an emotion.
“You don’t want to be controlled again,” he said in a low voice.
“You don’t want to lose yourself again. I can understand that.
I’ve lost myself more times than I can count.
You look at us, and see the same type of people as your father.
But we’ve come all this way, fought and braved the storms to warn your beloved captain.
We won’t turn our backs now that the danger is near. ”
She finally met his eyes, searching for something human in them, something she could trust. And found only darkness.
When she said nothing, he took half a step back. “I give you my word I will return it to you before we reach the Storm Ring.”
And somehow, she believed him.