Marrill shook her head. “Horizon’s clear. Looks like smooth sailing.”
He nodded. “Good. Fig says they’ll be here, though. She’s sure of it.”
Marrill gave him a long look. Fig? Did Fin have another friend she didn’t know about? She’d felt like he’d been a little preoccupied lately. Most of the trip actually. As if half the time, he wasn’t even talking to her.
Something familiar nagged at the back of Marrill’s mind, like she already knew the answer to this problem. She just couldn’t focus on it.…
“So this is Meres,” Fin interrupted, scattering the thought away. “Not much to look at, is it?”
Ardent shot them a mischievous smile. “Not yet, perhaps. But Meres doesn’t reveal its secrets to just anyone. Observe.” He kicked aside the hem of his robe and strode toward the nearest railing, took a deep snort, and hocked a loogie straight into the Pirate Stream.
“Ew,” Marrill said. “Why did we have to observe that?”
As she said it, though, ripples spread from where his spit hit the water, and it was like a bloom of color sweeping the Stream. Everything that had been sepia before shifted, the hues growing more and more vibrant. The rocky shoals seemed to separate, clearing a path for the Kraken to sail. Beyond them, the island stretched out into an impressive coastline. The leafless trees twisted and grew, branches tangling into one another.
Marrill blinked. It was like a veil had been lifted from her eyes. What had been barren and brown before was now strikingly lush. “Whoa,” she whispered.
“It takes the waters of a wizard to unlock the waters of Meres,” Ardent said, straightening. “The others always preferred the dramatics of blood, but I was never partial to needles or knives.”
“Best loogie ever,” Fin declared.
Ardent bent down between them. “You should have seen what happened when I peed in it,” he whispered.
“Oh, gross. I heard that,” Remy moaned.
Ardent cleared his throat and swept out an arm. “Mmm-hmm, yes. What I meant to say was, welcome to Meres! The birthplace of the Pirate Stream! Now that the path is clear, take us into shore please, Madam Captain.”
“Way ahead of you, old man,” Remy murmured. Sure enough, she’d already guided the Kraken into the main channel. In moments, they were weaving their way through newly formed gaps in the great rocks, hemmed in on either side by the massive boulders.
With only the island ahead of them, Marrill realized that this would be an awfully easy place to get trapped. She looked aft, just in time to see the warships slipping out from behind the largest of the rocks.
“THE RISE!” a girl shouted from the main deck, giving voice to Marrill’s fears.
Remy stayed the course, white knuckled. “We’re in trouble, folks,” she said. “Nowhere to turn, nowhere to run. Either we head to the island and risk getting pinned, or we’re gonna have to try to reverse this thing past them.”
“Keep going,” Ardent commanded. “The Lost Sun is nearly at Meres. We must reach the Font before he does… even if we lose the Kraken in the process.”
“Lose the Kraken?” Marrill whispered. It would be like losing Coll all over again. She swallowed, trying to force the thought from her mind. If she dwelled on everything they might lose in all of this, it would paralyze her with fear.
“Quickly,” Ardent continued, “gather everything we need to make landfall. This will be a race, it seems.”
“Dream ribbon, check,” Marrill said, snatching it up from where she’d been inspecting it by her sketchpads. She shoved it into a bag she used to carry her drawing supplies. “Fin, you got the ink?”
“Check,” Fin nodded, passing her the jar. She added it to the bag.
Ardent nodded at him. “Thank you, unfamiliar young man.” The wizard patted at the sleeve of his robe. “And I have the Map and the wish orb.” He leaned closer, adding, “Wouldn’t do to leave it here for the Rise to use while we’re facing the Lost Sun. One apocalypse at a time, I say.”
He started toward the railing, but a girl stepped in his path. “This is a race you can’t win,” she warned him, grabbing his arm.
Marrill jumped back. For a moment, she thought they’d already been boarded. But Fin put his hand on her shoulder, then on the girl’s. The name Fig sounded in Marrill’s head. It sounded… familiar.
“It’s okay,” Fin said. “She’s one of the good ones. And she’s right.”
“Now see here,” Ardent blustered.
Fin pointed off the stern. “The Rise are fast behind.… They’ll catch up long before you reach the Font.”
They were all silent for a moment, distracted as they watched the Rise ships move into the channel behind them. They’d be on them in less than ten minutes. That wasn’t much of a head start.
Then Marrill realized what Fin just said. “What do you mean, ‘before you reach the Font’?”
Fin gave her an odd smile. “You go ahead with Ardent. I’ll stay here and buy you time.”
“That’s crazy,” she pointed out, crossing her arms. “They’re an unbeatable army. How in the world do you think you can stop them?”
Fin rocked back on his heels, his usual cocky grin splitting his face. “Don’t worry about me. I have a cunning plan.”
Marrill rolled her eyes. “Fin, this is serious. It’s just that… it feels weird to split up. We’ve always faced the end of the Pirate Stream together.” She took a deep breath. “And besides… this whole journey was supposed to be about helping you find your mom. I just feel… I feel like I completely lost sight of that and abandoned you. Just like in Monerva.”
The next thing she knew, Marrill found herself swept up in an enormous hug. “Marrill,” Fin said, “you’re the best friend I have in the whole Stream. You don’t have to be helping me every second for me to know that you want to.”
“Land ho!” Remy shouted. The Kraken ground to a halt, her squid-shaped anchor dropping with a loud grind of its chain.
Fin pulled back, his hands gripping Marrill’s shoulders. His expression grew serious—or as serious as it ever did. “The Rise may be an unbeatable army, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a weakness. Everyone has a weakness, and I intend to use theirs against them. Besides, they’ll never hurt me. Vell needs me.”
Marrill lunged forward and grabbed Fin in another hug. “Be careful anyway.”
Despite the looming danger, Fin smiled and waggled his eyebrows at her. “Pffft, my job is the easy one. Now you and Ardent go save the world.”
“I’m staying, too,” Remy declared. Marrill gave her a stunned look. But the older girl was dead serious. “This ship has already lost one captain,” she said. “I’m not leaving her. Besides, you’ll be with Ardent. I may be northern Arizona’s best babysitter, but I’m still no match for a wizard.” Remy nodded at her. “You’ve got this, Marrill.”
Taking a deep breath, Marrill joined Ardent at the stern. “I guess it’s just you and me again,” the wizard said. He held out a crooked elbow. “Shall we?”
Marrill looked back as Ropebone swung them across to solid ground. The shore was narrow, not much more than a strip of rugged rock edged by the maw of the dark woods. Fin waved from the bow as they headed into the forest.
Up ahead, shadows loomed; it was impossible to know what awaited them.
But whatever it was, the Enterprising Kraken had their back.
CHAPTER 23
The Rise Before the Fall
Fin held his chin high and chest out until he was sure Marrill and Ardent had disappeared into the forbidding forest. Then his head dropped, and his shoulders sagged. Overhead, a wheeling seagull gave a mocking cry, and the salt-and-seaweed air felt acrid in his lungs.
“Well,” he said, “I don’t actually have any ideas. So if anyone else has thoughts, I’m open-minded.”
Fig paced up and down the deck beside him. “There’s nothing we can do,” she muttered. “The Rise can’t be beaten. They can’t be stopped.”
“Ok
ay,” Fin said, clapping his hands together. “That’s not really helpful, so does anyone have any thoughts that aren’t of the we’re-all-going-to-die variety?”
Behind them, the warships crashed through the surf, racing between the rocks far faster than any sane captain would dare. Because sane captains feared for their lives, Fin realized. The Rise had no such fear. They would be on them in moments.
“I should have stayed in Arizona,” Remy muttered to herself. “Oh, wait, I never chose to leave Arizona.”
Fin gulped. “All right, grab whatever you’ve got on hand,” he said. “All we need to do is slow them down for a while. So we’ll fight them until they take us, then I’ll pretend to lead them to the wish orb in Ardent’s cabin.” He chuckled to himself, already thinking about Vell covered in screaming gel. “Any questions?”
The first boarding hooks whistled through the air, digging into the wood of the main deck. Fin took a deep breath, loosing his climbing daggers. Beside him, Fig continued pacing nervously. On the quarterdeck, Remy swiped the cutlass Coll kept by the ship’s wheel, holding it away from her body as though she was scared of it.
Another boarding line struck the Kraken and another. The Rise soldiers crouched at their railing, preparing to jump between ships.
“Okay,” Fin said. “This is it. Time to buckle some swash!”
The first of the Rise landed on the quarterdeck. Remy lifted her cutlass and charged, only to be tripped by a Fade who jumped out of nowhere. She careened into the side of Ardent’s cabin, where more of the Rise and Fade appeared, securing her.
Additional soldiers reached the main deck, advancing on Fin. He dodged the first, rolled around the second. A third blindsided him, grabbing for him. Fin parried the man’s hand away with his dagger and bounded off the railing, spinning as he hit the middle of the deck.
More Rise had made the ship, though, starting to fill it. They had Remy, and Fig seemed to have put up no fight at all. Even the pirats had their arms in the air, toothpick-swords dropped in surrender.
The crew of the Kraken hadn’t lasted long. It was now up to Fin to draw out the battle.
“Hello, Brother Fade,” his own voice said behind him.
Fin whirled, lashing out with his dagger instinctively, fully expecting a parry, preparing to redirect the rebound energy into a dodge. But Vell just stood there, taking the blow straight across the chest.
Cloth gave way like paper. The blade made a sweeping sound as it passed across Vell’s bare flesh. Fin gasped. He heard Remy gasp, too.
But there was no blood. Vell didn’t wince. Fin stared up at him in shock, raising his dagger again halfheartedly. His twin didn’t even blink. In one swift motion, Vell batted the dagger to one side, grabbed Fin’s wrist, and twisted it until he dropped the blade. He then brought up his elbow to smack Fin straight in the face.
Fin stumbled back, pain shooting through his head, dropping him to his knees. His Rise watched him impassively. “We don’t cut,” Vell said, cracking his knuckles. “We don’t burn. We don’t bleed. We are the Rise. Do you see now we cannot be beaten?”
Another voice broke across the ship. “Stop toying with him, Vell.” The Rise ranks separated.
The Crest herself had come to the Kraken.
She snapped her fingers, and Vell obediently stepped back, just beside her. “You know what we are here for,” she said. “The wish orb.” Her eyes flitted up and down Fin as he crouched on the deck, one hand nursing the rapidly forming bruise on his cheekbone. “And to secure you, of course. It’s a miracle you haven’t died out here without our guidance. The way you act so… rashly. Do you have any idea how painful it would be for Vell if you became a part of him again? All your fears and doubts and insecurities pouring into him, making him mortal?”
Tears welled up in Fin’s eyes. He couldn’t honestly say where they came from: the pain from Vell’s blow, or the sting of the Crest’s words. He looked at the two of them—they didn’t seem real, standing here before him. Himself and his mother, together once again… and yet, they didn’t care for him at all.
It was so difficult for him to understand. He thought of all the love and loyalty he felt for the crew of the Kraken, for his adopted family, the Parsnickles, back in the Khaznot Quay, even for the Naysayer: people who didn’t remember him, yet who he loved nonetheless. Vell was his Rise—they’d been the same person once. His mother was the same way with the Crest. That had to make them some form of kin. That had to mean something.
He didn’t fight the tears. They’ll help the con, he told himself. The battle was lost. Time for stage two of the plan.
“Fine,” he said. “You want the wish orb; you can have it. We won’t fight you anymore.”
“Fin, no!” Remy called. Her tone was so fake that it made Fin cringe. On top of it, when he looked at her, she gave him a big, dramatic wink. An actress, she was not.
He took a deep breath, hoping that Remy hadn’t blown the ruse. Slowly, he raised one shaking finger, pointing to Ardent’s cabin. “It’s in there. On the far side of the wizard’s desk. There’s a chest. The wish is inside. Just… take the whole thing, and I’ll come with you.”
The Crest didn’t seem to even register his words. Instead, she looked past him, to Fig. The Rise had pushed the Fade girl forward so that she stood just behind Fin. Her arms were crossed, one hand tucked inside her vest. Her head was bowed, and her eyes met neither the Crest’s nor Fin’s.
“Did you retrieve it?” the Crest asked.
Slowly, Fig nodded.
Fin’s heart beat faster. Confusion and fear bubbled up inside him. What was Fig doing? Did she have some other plan he hadn’t known about? Why wouldn’t she have told him?
All his questions were put to rest when Fig pulled free her hand. Clutched in it, glowing brightly with the concentrated magic of the Pirate Stream, was the wish orb.
“Oh no,” Fin groaned. He slapped a palm against his forehead. He had a faint memory of Fig grabbing Ardent’s arm, trying to stop him before he and Marrill disembarked. She must have nicked it then, and no one even noticed.
Fig was a better thief than he’d given her credit for. Not for picking the wizard’s pocket—that was easy enough. But for making him believe she cared about them.
For stealing his trust.
Fig’s hands were shaking. “I’m sorry, Fin,” she stammered. “I didn’t have a choice. Vell ordered me to, back at Margaham’s Game, he ordered me to secure the orb before the next time we met.…”
Despair and betrayal flooded Fin’s heart like a ship’s hold taking on water. “And you did it. You chose them over us. Over me.”
The Crest stepped forward. “Come now,” she said. “The Fade are not real. They have no choices. A good Fade must do as the Rise command. And now, I command you to give me the orb.”
Fig hesitated, eyes locked on the softly glowing wish in her hands. Fin could see she was struggling. He seized the moment and stepped toward her. The Rise were rows of statues, standing rigid on the decks of the Kraken. The Fade peered through them, nondescript faces filling out the ranks.
“No,” he pronounced. The sun fell hot on his cheeks. The salt air that had so recently burned acrid in his mouth now fueled a fire in his lungs. “No, you can’t have it.”
The Crest’s eyes fell on him. Fin wasn’t used to people seeing him so directly, to being scrutinized, examined. His every instinct told him to run, to hide, to slip away and be forgotten. But he couldn’t. Not now. And more than that, he didn’t want to.
His eyes locked on the Crest’s. Fin forced himself to meet the iron in her gaze with all the power of his will. And when he did, he saw a flicker of something he hadn’t expected.
Uncertainty.
Suddenly, everything he knew about the Rise, or thought he knew, came into question. He had an advantage now. And he had to press it. “You say the Rise are unbeatable,” he spat. “And yeah, maybe you can’t be cut or hurt or whatever. But the way I see it, you have been beaten. Ov
er and over again.”
“Still your tongue,” the Crest said. But she didn’t make a move.
Fin felt the edge of a smile dancing across his lips. “Fact is,” he continued, “seems like we’ve beaten you every single time you’ve shown up.”
“Yeah!” Remy shouted from the quarterdeck. “Like how Coll slipped past your little blockade on the way to see the Sheshefesh!”
“And at the game…” Fig mumbled.
Fin’s smile turned into a full-blown grin. “And when we outran your warship back at the Soporific Straits.” He crossed his arms. “Seems like the unbeatable army is pretty beatable to me.”
For the first time, a squirm seemed to pass through the statue-still ranks of the Rise. Out of the corner of his eye, Fin could even see Vell looking uncomfortable. It was true. And they all knew it.
“You don’t understand what you’re saying,” the Crest barked. “Now stop standing between me and my wish!”
She started toward him, reaching a hand to his shoulder. Fin slapped it away with a sharp rebuke. “Don’t touch me.” He felt her fingers catch against the zipper of his skysailing jacket. She drew back with a hiss that sounded almost like pain.
The Crest’s gaze dropped to her hand. There, blooming on the tip of her finger, was a bright red drop of blood.
“You’re bleeding,” Fin whispered.
She nodded slowly. Her eyes met Fin’s once more. This time, a wash of emotion filled them: fear, regret, resignation.
Across the deck of the Kraken, a murmur of disbelief passed through the ranks of the Rise and the Fade. Even Vell, who up until now seemed incapable of showing emotion, was stunned. “This can’t be,” he protested. “Rise don’t bleed. Not unless…”
Understanding hit Fin far harder than the force of Vell’s elbow had. The Rise were invulnerable because their weakness had been removed from them and turned into the Fade. And so long as their Fade still lived, they remained immortal.