Suddenly, they were surfing, faster than they had ever gone before. Frozen letters went skidding across the deck.
As the cliffs collapsed into each other, the Kraken shot through the narrow gap, her railings scraping against the ice walls. She burst out the other side, the momentum of the wave practically throwing them across the Stream like a rock skipped along a lake.
But Marrill didn’t have time to feel relief. Because ahead of them, the storm they’d evaded earlier, maybe the same storm they’d been dodging since she arrived on the Stream, loomed. And no matter how deadly that storm might be, this time there was no missing it.
Dark clouds licked at the sky. Lightning forked in jagged streaks toward the Stream’s surface. And just at the edge, heading straight into the heart of the tempest, rode the Black Dragon.
They were close enough that Marrill could see figures moving on deck. Serth was easy to spot at the bow, his black robes swirling around him. The Naysayer wasn’t much harder to see; he was the big blue lump in a cargo net being hoisted into the air.
But it took her a moment to find the smallest figure, the one just in front of Serth, flanked by a crowd of armed pirates.
Fin!
Marrill’s stomach squeezed tight. “He’s still alive—we have to save him!” she shouted.
Ardent squinted across the Stream. “They seem to have strung him up in some sort of netting.”
“Not the Naysayer,” she said. “Though we can save him, too. Coll, can you catch them?” she asked, her skin beginning to tingle.
The storm’s winds whipped furiously around them as Coll eyeballed the distance between the ships. “It’ll be close—”
He was cut short when a bolt of lightning struck the mast, igniting the sky in a brilliant shower of multicolored sparks. Marrill jumped, her heart skipping, then thundering against her ribs. Above, the black clouds spread out like the jaws of an enormous beast, opening up to swallow them whole.
“That lightning struck red,” Coll warned. Marrill didn’t miss the look he shot Ardent, nor the frown that creased the wizard’s forehead.
“The Iron Ship,” Marrill breathed. She remembered the way the captain had trembled the last time they passed so close to the storm. If Coll was afraid of the Iron Ship, that meant she should be terrified. “Well, at least Serth is scared of it,” she offered.
Coll’s answer came short and brusque. “That’s because he’s smart.”
Marrill swallowed. A tight coil of worry knotted in her stomach. She’d seen Coll face tempest, storm wind, and now a tidal wave and never once show much concern. But now his lips were pressed tight, the muscles along his jaw clenching.
With one hand, he pointed. “She comes,” was all he said.
Marrill followed his finger. Another ship lay off the port side, one like no ship Marrill had ever before seen. She was fast and low against the water, and heading straight toward them. Her sails were gray, chain mail near invisible against the storm. Her hull was deep and black, with a streak of ruddy crimson just above the waterline, as if it were blood from the wound she slashed through the water.
From this distance, the men along her rails were nothing but dark smudges against a monolith of metal. They swarmed over the ship, an army of shadows. All except one man, lone at her bow. Her Master.
The Master of the Iron Ship. He stood with his feet spread to brace against the waves. Iron armor cloaked him from head to foot, dull black with gleaming edges. Just the sight of him made Marrill quake with fear.
Another streak of scarlet ripped through the sky, so close she could almost taste it, metallic like after biting your cheek. It melted into dread, running down her throat.
“Looks like they’re trying to cut us off,” she warned.
“Or ram us.” Coll lifted a shoulder. “Ardent,” he called, “a little help here?”
The wizard moved forward and swept his hand toward the Iron Ship. “Let’s see how she does without sails.” As he said the words, the sails on the other ship burst into a flurry of confetti. She immediately floundered.
He turned to face them. “That worked well, now didn’t it?”
With his back turned, he didn’t see the confetti whirl up as if in a tornado. In the blink of an eye, the sails had reknit themselves into tight chain mail. The Iron Ship jumped to life, gaining speed faster than before.
At her bow, a haze of red began to glow between the Master’s outstretched hands. The storm swirled around him, dark clouds growling and churning. A smell filled the air like the moment a match is struck, but before the flame appears. Marrill could feel the crackle of energy from here. “Um, Ardent?” She pointed.
Ardent’s smile died on his lips.
With a booming clap, the Master concentrated the light into a solid ball and thrust it heavenward. Red lightning arced overhead, igniting the storm clouds. Flames danced across the sky, raining embers instead of raindrops.
The glowing sparks swirled in the wind, setting fire to the Kraken’s topsail. Marrill gasped, her heart leaping into her throat. Ardent surged forward, spreading his arms wide. His beard whipped in the gale while the hem of his robe rippled like liquid. He let loose a wave of energy that blanketed them all, transforming each ember into a puff of steam.
As Marrill drew a relieved breath, twin streams of frozen white light burst from Ardent’s fingertips. A wide gash split the water as the blaze scorched through the storm toward the Iron Ship. It looked powerful enough to incinerate anything in its path. But when it struck the Master, it merely burst into a shower of sparks.
“Bear away before the wind!” Coll shouted, a thread of urgency underlying the command. The Ropebone Man tugged on the rigging, shifting the sails. The ship veered right, cutting through the thickening swells. They were giving up on following the Dragon.
“What’s going on?” Marrill shouted over the deafening sound of thunder and energy.
Coll gripped the wheel, arms straining to maintain course. The Kraken shuddered each time Ardent deflected a blow from the Master, her deck bucking and tilting. Marrill grasped the railing to keep from falling.
“She’s coming too fast!” Coll had to shout to be heard. “We have to keep distance… and hope Ardent wins.”
“But Fin,” Marrill whispered, watching the Dragon pull away from them. Over her masts a black smudge whirled, almost invisible against the dark of the storm. Rose. She caught a downdraft, tucking her scribbled wings against her body as she skimmed bare inches above the Stream waters toward the Kraken. When she neared, she soared up, across the deck and through the rigging, banking so tightly that she clipped the sleeve of Fin’s thief’s coat where it hung on the mizzenmast. It fell in a heap on the deck.
Furious, Marrill pulled one of the acorns she’d picked up from the Gibbering Grove from her pocket and hurled it at the bird as she winged past. “Traitor!” she cried. Hot tears burned her eyes as she snatched up Fin’s coat and hugged it against her chest.
But her choked sob turned quickly to laughter as her fingers brushed across a string that dangled from one of its sleeves. Of course!
Afraid she’d second-guess her decision if she allowed herself to think about it, she shrugged out of her heavier jacket and slipped on Fin’s coat. “I’m going after Fin!” she called, leaping onto the forecastle and sprinting to the bow.
When she hit the railing, she vaulted over it, legs pumping as she gained momentum and sprung onto the thin beam of the bowsprit. In seconds, she’d reached the tip. She pulled the strings to free the coat’s wings and threw herself into the air with all her might.
Below, the hungry waves of the Pirate Stream reached for her, churning and slapping against each other. Rain plastered her hair against her cheeks, and the storm roared in her ears. For a moment, she felt too heavy, too ungainly. She couldn’t stay up! Images of all the things they’d thrown into the Stream raced through her head in a slide show, every one of them transforming or disintegrating or bursting into flame.
The
n a gust of wind pushed off the water, carrying her upward. She let out a whoop of terrified excitement. She was flying! Truly flying this time, not like being caught on the wind at the Khaznot Quay. She had wings! It felt amazing.
Of course, she quickly realized, that didn’t mean she knew how to steer. A slash of rain sideswiped her, sending her spinning and dropping. She straightened out, then banked sharply toward the Dragon, against the wind the way she remembered Fin doing before. Serth’s ship loomed, but Marrill was losing altitude fast. At this rate, she would crash straight into the side of it!
At the last minute, she twisted and barely cleared the railing. She tumbled to the deck, flopping across it in a series of ungainly somersaults.
When she came to a stop, she found herself on her hands and knees, facing a black robe patterned like the starry sky. A yawning, painful sorrow hit deep in her chest, sucking the air from her lungs, making her arms and legs grow weak.
Slowly, struggling against the grief, she lifted her head. The man standing over her was crying, black tears carving furrows down his cheeks.
“Hello, Marrill,” the dark wizard, Serth, said. “You can’t imagine how long I’ve been waiting for you.”
CHAPTER 37
The Map to Show the Way
Fin jumped for Marrill. The pirates jumped faster. Rough hands pulled him away, and cold steel touched his back. Struggling only made it worse. The pirates weren’t murderers, he knew. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t use those daggers if he forced them.
A few feet away, Marrill cowered in Serth’s shadow. Tears welled in her eyes, threatening to spill over. She winced as a streak of red lightning split the sky. The storm had closed in hard around them. Fin scoured the water, searching for traces of the Kraken. But everywhere he looked, the Stream was empty.
There was no sign of Ardent. They were on their own.
For a moment, the wall of hope he held up against Serth’s crushing sorrow cracked. Despair leached through him. He clenched his teeth, struggling against it.
“Girl with wings,” Serth said, cocking his head as he looked down at Marrill. She tried to crawl away from him, but one of the pirates hauled her up and pressed his dagger against her throat.
“Leave her alone!” Fin shouted.
“My Key,” Serth replied, holding out a hand. Marrill squirmed in the pirate’s arms, the dagger pressing tighter against her skin. Fin’s mind raced as he clutched his thief’s bag to his chest.
“Okay!” he said at last. “Okay, just let her go!”
With a sigh, he tossed the bag to Serth, who caught it in one hand. The pirate dropped his dagger, pushing Marrill over to Fin. Her shoulder bumped against his, and he felt something strange tugging at his hand. It took him a moment to realize that Marrill had laced her fingers through his. She was holding his hand! No one had ever done that before.
“Thanks,” she said. A warm tide of comfort and reassurance flowed through him, fighting back the sorrow.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “He still needs the Legend before he can use the Map.”
“ ‘Key’ is another word for the legend of a map, genius,” said the Naysayer from his net overhead. “Strong work, though.”
Fin’s jaw dropped. He looked at Marrill. Her face wore the same shocked expression he knew was on his own. If the Key and the Legend were one and the same, Serth had everything he needed to end the world!
The dark wizard towered in front of them, his lips quivering into a smile. “Now all the pieces are in place at last,” he breathed. From his black robes he pulled forth a roll of parchment.
Fin sucked in a breath, recognizing it.
“The Face,” Marrill whispered.
Fin struggled against the pirates holding him, causing them to press their daggers firmer against his back. He could only watch in horror as Serth held the Face out and let it fall open.
“The Map to show the way!” he cried. “The Key to open the Gate! The Lost Sun of Dzannin will rise once more!”
Continents and islands bubbled to life along the surface of the Face, a well of ink spilling forth into the world. “Bring right form!” Serth cried before any could drip from the page. He slipped what looked like a rubber band from his wrist, hooking it around each of the Face’s four corners.
The page blazed white. When the light faded, the Face, carefully bordered with the thick black Neatline, hung suspended in the air. From somewhere overhead, Rose cawed, shrill and loud, as she spun through the black storm clouds.
It sounded almost like she was screaming.
“We have to stop him,” Fin urged. “He has all the pieces—he’s going to put the Map together and figure out where the Gate is!”
Marrill’s expression echoed the panic he felt. “I know! But what can we do?”
Fin chewed at his lip, stomach churning.
Serth either didn’t hear them or didn’t care. He pulled the elaborate pair of calipers from his robe, holding them high. “Bring right shape!” he shouted. He touched the tips of them to the corners of the Face, and it blazed in light once more.
The Map twisted and morphed, rotating and growing until it was twice as wide as Serth’s spread arms and three times as tall. More and more worlds bloomed across it, rising to the surface and then falling away like bubbles boiling in a pot of water.
Marrill clutched at Fin’s arm. “That must have been the Scale. All that’s left is Rose and the Key!”
Fin’s mind raced through their options. “Okay, things look bad. But he still has to get to it, right? Maybe if we figure out where it is, we can beat him there!”
Serth raised his arms to the sky. Red lightning broke through the dark clouds. “Bring orientation!” he commanded. Overhead, Rose let out a piercing cry. Her scribbled wings beat against the gale of the storm. She circled above the Dragon twice, then dove straight toward the Map, showing no signs of slowing.
“Rose, no!” Marrill gasped.
Even after her betrayal, Fin felt a pang of fear, hoping against hope that whatever happened, Rose would be okay.
She struck the Map in a blast of blinding light. It hit them like a concussion, causing the pirates to stagger back. When the white spots cleared from Fin’s eyes, Rose was gone.
Struggling to bite back his emotions, Fin tugged Marrill free from the stunned pirates. But there was nowhere to go. Because towering in front of them where the Map once was, a pair of massive doors now stood. They pulsed and glowed, almost humming with power. Fin stumbled, Marrill’s hand falling from his grasp.
“It is done!” Serth shrieked, black tears flooding his eyes. “It is time!” Lightning crashed across the bow. Rain broke from the clouds, coursing down on them in frigid gusts.
“Oh no!” Marrill yelled over the storm. Even through the rain, her eyes held a sheen of despair. “The Map isn’t showing Serth how to find the Gate.…” Her voice broke.
Fin’s shoulders sagged. Suddenly, he understood what he was looking at. “The Map is the Gate,” he finished for her.
It felt like the entire world had fallen out from underneath him. Serth had found the Gate. Things were way worse than Fin had realized.
“You kids take your time,” the Naysayer called from above them. “Me an’ the oncoming apocalypse will just hang out and get to know each other while we wait.”
Fin shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “We’ll get you down soon!” he called back to the Naysayer.
Because this wasn’t over. After all, a good thief always had a backup plan.
“You be sure to let me know whenabouts,” the creature grumped. “I’ve got an incredibly busy day of dangling here waiting to die already scheduled.”
Marrill looked at Fin with questioning eyes. “Trust me,” he told her. Then, without waiting for her to respond, he stepped forward.
“Hey, Serth!” he shouted. A smile broke across his face as he reached into his pocket and drew out the ruby Key. It glowed in the flashing light, sucking in the red of the lightn
ing. “Looking for this?”
The thieves stepped back, murmuring in awe. Marrill gasped. Fin winked at her. “Thing about a thief’s bag,” he told her, “is you can get stuff out of them really quickly.”
Serth turned his head slowly, awkwardly toward them. His eyes locked on the ruby key. Fin couldn’t name the emotion that crossed Serth’s features, but one thing was clear: It wasn’t happiness.
The dark wizard stalked across the deck, headed straight for them. A pang of heartache ripped through Fin, but he kept his calm. Next to him, Marrill let out a whimper. Fin gripped the Key tighter and stepped over to the railing of the ship.
Serth stopped. His fingers fluttered, and his lips moved without noise, talking to no one. “Yes,” he said at last. “You’re right, of course. Look at me, skipping ahead. We’re not quite there, are we? Not quite. Can’t skip, can’t skip.”
“He’s seriously crazy,” Marrill breathed.
Fin nodded. He couldn’t agree more. He held his arm out toward the Stream.
Serth let out a high-pitched cry. “Is this your last stand?” he barked. “Is this the bold move that will end it? No, no, I don’t think so, Fin. I don’t think so.”
Fin took a deep breath. To keep Serth from opening the Gate, he had to destroy the Key. But now he knew the Key was the Legend—it was part of the Map. And if he destroyed it, he would never be able use the Map. Never be able to find his mother. His hand shook as he wrestled with the decision.
And Marrill, he realized, would be giving up much, much more. He looked over at her. “Marrill,” he said, “this is your choice, at least as much as it is mine. I can’t make it alone.”
CHAPTER 38
The Key to Open the Gate
Marrill stared at the ruby Key; it seemed to hum with strange energy. If Fin let go, it would fall overboard, into the Pirate Stream. It would be destroyed forever. Taking along with it her only way home.