Chapter 27
A CHILD OF THE SURFACE
RUNE
“Where?” I ask, as I swing my legs over and jump down to the deck. Boots thud behind me as Odi joins my side.
Elio fiddles with the white shark-tooth necklace he always wears. “Below. A little ways off. Didn’t get a good long look. Square, white stone—at least it used to be. Barnacles all over it. Crumbling before my eyes—”
“Maybe the map marks more than islands,” I mutter, before beginning to pace back and forth. I should have considered it before.
“You think it marked the Sotor?” Elio asks.
I shake my head, but Odelia is already speaking. “No one could survive that. It wouldn’t make sense.”
“No,” I agree. “The Sotor go where they please. We’d hardly have been the first to see them if they lingered in one spot for long.”
From where she sits on the railing, Odi tracks my every step. She looks tired, like she’d rather tuck herself away in the dark somewhere and shut out the world. Who knows . . . perhaps I’d join her. With the weight of death on my back, it’s hard to find the desire to keep chasing my mother’s ghost.
I flick my gaze back to Elio. “But I can go scout it. You need to rest. And there’s every chance it’s unrelated.”
He folds his arms across his chest and cocks his head to the side. “And the siren statues out the front? Same as the ones we found at the temple.”
My brow furrows as I spin to face him.
“Why the hell didn't you lead with that? How far did you go?” I ask, trying my best to not sound too desperate.
He huffs, a smile playing on his lips. “You cut me off. And I didn’t go far. Just to where I could confirm the statues.”
I offer him a nod—an apology. “. . . Fair. How far down?”
“Deep enough that only a skilled swimmer would reach it.”
This is it. The third key on the map. But I can’t help but hesitate. I can’t afford to trigger some natural disaster or awaken another slumbering sea creature that will try to tear us in two.
We barely survived the last one. The ship is a wreck, just like the crew who dwell on it. Everyone is exhausted. Morale is low. Lower than the critters who live in the shadows on the bottom of the seabed.
My bones ache from overuse. My mind aches from being in a constant state of chaos. And my heart aches for the folk I’ve lost along the way.
On top of that . . . I’d just told Odi we’re done.
I begin to pace again. Empty whiskey glass in hand.
“So are we going to take a look?” Elio says when I pass him for the fourth time.
I don’t answer. I don’t know how to answer him.
So he presses again. “Am I missing something here? This is the next part of the map. Why are we not rushing to assess it?”
With a sigh, I stop and stare out at sea. It’s barely visible in the dark as it gently slaps against the side of the wooden hull. Pinpricks of silver stars begin to appear above, sending a shiver down my spine. I need to make a decision.
“I’m just tired, Elio, and I’ve put everybody through so much.” My voice is heavy.
Odi still hasn’t said a word, so I twist to face her.
Her eyes find me like a compass to true north.
Her gaze holds me steady, but I can’t read it.
It’s as if she's waiting for me to make the call. Perhaps I want her to silently beg me to continue on this journey with her. Because if I don’t .
. . I drop her off at the next port we find. And she knows it.
“If this is it, what does the riddle tell us?” I ask her quietly.
She tucks a strand of her loose, dark brown waves behind an ear. “Balance the scales, feather to stone, heavier still, the guilt-sown bone.”
For a moment I'm lost in her voice, the way the sounds roll off her tongue like a poem she’s rehearsed a thousand times before.
She doesn’t stumble over the words, every syllable is accounted for.
Like she’s whispered these riddles into the dark when no one was listening.
She knows them better than anyone . . . they’re a part of her.
This is why I have to keep going. Odelia has made her motivation clear.
She’s counting on this to secure her entire future.
She hadn't pushed when I’d wavered, hadn't argued or insisted. But it’s her only goal.
If I send her off, will I keep the pieces of the key?
If I give them to her, if I give up, Odelia will find a way to keep going, with or without a crew she can trust. The thought of anyone else being with her, of her being forced to work with those that might have no qualms about letting her drown or worse, sits heavy on my chest. And so does the thought of searching for years, only to give up the only link to my mother I’ve found.
This is the third key. We’re here now—and the riddle doesn’t sound threatening. I can go. Alone. We’ve come too far, sacrificed too much, to give up while we’re standing on the next piece.
My gaze travels between Elio and Odi before I spin towards the steps to the deck. “I’m going in.”
“I’m coming with you,” Odi says behind me.
I don’t bother to turn around, slinging my answer over my shoulder. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am,” she snaps, her steps pounding down the stairs, voice sharp enough to turn a few heads of the crew. “Because I’m not about to trust you to get the key, and keep it for yourself. We’re in this together.”
This time, I do stop, turning on my heel to look down at her.
Her words sting for a moment, falling into that soft spot that’s been growing larger and larger for her each day.
I thought we were past the suspicion. I’ve done nothing that wasn’t for her own safety.
True, I’d swiped the key from between her breasts, but that was as logical as it was pleasurable.
Brown eyes glare up at me. Stubborn as a barnacle clinging to a rock, she is. I loose my breath, realising quickly that I could argue with her until both of us were blue in the face but she’d sooner bite her own tongue off than back down.
I straighten, folding my arms across my chest. “Tell me, Odelia—how exactly do you plan on breathing down there without a sea stone?”
The tension between us is so thick I could slice it with my blade, yet Odi doesn’t seem fazed. She squares her shoulders as she tilts her face towards me. If she thinks I’m going to—
“She can borrow mine!” Soraya’s musical timbre interrupts. She limps up to Odi, leaning on a wooden crutch that Otto no doubt found for her.
“You should be resting,” I reply gruffly.
I would think after all this time as captain on this ship, my crew would actually listen to me when I order them to rest.
Soraya simply rolls her eyes at me. “I’ll rest when I’m dead. Besides, I won’t be using it any time soon.” She gestures to her bandaged leg.
A smirk appears across Odi’s lips, as one brow raises. They’ve got me cornered and they both know I have nothing to combat with. Unless . . .
I flick my gaze to Odi’s billowing trousers.
“And what of your attire? It didn’t do you any favours in the temple.
It spooked you more than once.” Even I know I’m reaching, but I press on with all the confidence I can muster.
“If we get separated, you’ll need to be able to move without convincing yourself something is sweeping past you in the dark. ”
Tavi drops down from the rigging like she’s been listening the whole time, landing light despite how tired I know she must be. She leans against the side of the ship next to Elio—who still remains shirtless. “I think I can help with that.”
“There,” Odi smirks. “Now you can’t say no.”
With four sets of eyes on me, I know I’ve lost this fight.
But for once I don’t care. Odi is the riddle keeper, and without her I’ll likely never find the key.
And truth be told, part of me wants her there.
The thought of her at my side steadies something in me.
It’s a comfort I’ve not felt in longer than I can remember—if I’ve ever felt it at all.
I run a hand through my hair and release a soft sigh. “Fine, but change quickly. Once that sun is fully set it’s going to make it even harder for you to see underwater.”
Odi doesn’t give me the opportunity to change my mind. She dashes off after Tavi while I’m left standing on the deck wondering if what I’m doing is utter lunacy.
“Will you be alright to play captain while I’m gone?” I ask Elio.
He nods once. “I’ll be fine. I doubt the crew will do anything more than rest tonight.”
“Keep an eye on Bear, too.”
Elio nods again. “I always do.”
Tavi returns alone, shoulders tense.
“Everything go okay?”
She nods. “She’s changing. But I think she caught a few whispering as we passed. It’s been going on all day. I was going to bring it up sooner but it didn’t seem like the time.”
“Whispering?” I ask. “About the Sotor? The keys?” The crew’s morale is at an all time low. I’d be surprised if most of them didn’t have something to say about how the last few days have gone.
But Tavi shakes her head. “It’s Reid.”
“Reid?” I ask slowly, waiting for her to explain how the man was causing me more grief from beyond the grave. I took no pleasure in his death, but he was one of the last I’d expect the crew to grieve heavily for.
She steps closer to me, lowering her voice further. “There were no roc marks on his body. His only wound looked like he was stabbed . . . By a blade,” she clarifies when I don’t say anything. “It went through his ribs so clean I would have missed it if I hadn’t seen the blood on his shirt.”
“You think he was murdered in the middle of the storm?”
“If he wasn’t, it was one hell of an unlucky accident.” Tavi’s expression is even, hiding her thoughts, but I already know where this is going.