Page 39 of Witchsea

I rush down to Freckles’s room, finding her fast asleep in there too, and she doesn’t wake as I shake her shoulder. I check Clark and Mellyn, who are in the same state, and I walk past six or more of the crew on my way to the stairs, all of them sleeping. I go up the stairs, where the fog path is leading, and onto the deck, where I find Chaos passed out right by the stairs. I check his pulse before standing up and looking around. The thick fog stretches in every direction, covering even the stars and moon, making it impossible to see anything that’s not on the ship.

“Sister.” Rowe’s soft voice cuts through the silence, and I turn, finding him standing in the middle of the ship, fog moving around his feet. I take a step forward with hope in my chest, hopes of a healthy Rowe and a happy future, but Limi moves in front of me to stop me from taking another step, her icy touch snapping me back to the present reality. I blink at Rowe.

“That is not your brother,” Limi whispers into my mind, sitting at my feet. “And you shouldn’t go to it.”

“How do you know about my brother at all?” I whisper to her, and Rowe cocks his head to the side.

“I see in your mind,” she answers. We will discuss that problem later, because I do not want her in my head, and I do not like that she knows about Rowe.

I watch as Rowe—but it’s not Rowe at all—steps forward. I know it’s not him, but it hurts so much to see him, and the longing in my heart bursts open like a wound. It’s not him because he’s standing here, for one, and for two, he looks healthy. My brother has never had color in his cheeks like this thing, and he has never been able to stand for this long without his spine hurting.

Whatever this thing is imitating my brother hasn’t got it right, but he has made me more determined than ever to see my brother stand this strong, to be this strong and normal. I need the key, and I am one step closer to seeing my brother just like this. I remember what Ren said about the creature here, about how he insulted every god, and they still couldn’t kill him for it. If I can’t kill him, I can bargain. “Did you put everyone to sleep, creature?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had food as powerful as these witches.” His voice is strange, and older. I expected to hear Rowe’s voice, but instead, it’s so much worse. “Some on this ship are so powerful that I will feed for millennia and never stop.”

“Why have you chosen my brother to—” I ask, and it interrupts me.

“Because you cannot be touched, not unwillingly, and I wanted you to trust my appearance.” It morphs, changing into Ren instead. But it’s a little too tall, too pale, doesn’t quite look like Ren. Then it changes into Wyatt. Again, not quite right. “I see in your mind all these different faces, one after the other, that you care about, that you love.” And it changes again to Rowe. It’s smart enough to know who affects me the most right now.

“I was sent here to get the key.” I lift my chin. “What do you want for the key, creature?”

It raises a hand, gesturing towards a plank that leads directly off the boat, straight into the fog. “Walk it, survive, and the key will be waiting for you.”

“And none of the crew are to be harmed,” I add. “I’ll play whatever game you want, but you don’t get them in the meantime.”

“Fine.” The creature with Rowe’s face smiles widely. “We have a deal.” I walk past him with a sinking feeling in my gut, but what else am I supposed to do? There’s a frigid chill in the air when I walk past. Not cold like how Limi feels when she touches me, but different, a bone-chilling cold that feels wrong.

The plank leading off the ship is narrow, and I slip my boots off before getting onto it, knowing I’m going to need to balance, and these boots are no good for that. I think. Limi sits on the edge of the plank, cleaning her paw, and it’s the last I see of her before I carry on walking. This is for me, it seems.

I search the fog as I walk alone, hearing the soft hum of the strange music I heard when I woke up. It’s not a nice song. It reminds me of death and suffering, as though someone has made those into music in their grief.

The fog clears in front of me like someone has blown it away, revealing some kind of obstacle course leading straight up a hill. At the top of the hill is Rowe, sitting with his legs crossed, holding a key in his hand with a taunting grin, an expression that Rowe would never make, and it hurts to see it on his sweet face. Rowe is funny and gentle, not cruel and bitter like this creature.

“Get to me.” The voice echoes over and over. “Get to me and survive.”

I look at the obstacle course and make my plan. I can do this. I just need to dive over some parts that are on fire and swim through other bits. I can balance and run, and I shouldn’t have too many problems with this place. I take my cloak off, letting it flutter away in a new breeze, and roll my sleeves up. I use the hair band that’s tied on my wrist to put my hair up off my neck before I begin to walk straight up the hill and onto the grass staircase that leads up the first part of the steep hill.

After ten minutes, I finally get to a flat area, a pool of water between me and the other side, and there is no way around it. I put my foot in the water and right back out, waiting just in case there was something horrid inside. But nothing comes out. I feel the creature watching me, like it is breathing down my neck. The water is cold, chilling, but nothing happens to me as I swim straight across it. I get to the other side and pull myself out onto the bank of grass, my smile dying on my lips. I suddenly start to feel breathless, tired, like all the energy has been zapped from my body.

“What happened?” I croak, clenching in pain. I look back at the water to see it’s glowing green, and it smells awful. A smell I know from my father. It’s poison. I look up at the creature, at Rowe. “You poisoned the water!” I snarl up at him.

He laughs. “And I have the antidote and the key. You can have one, but not both.” He holds them both, one in each hand. One small potion and a glowing green key in the other. I need them both.

I bite down on my tongue as I stand up and nearly fall right back over as everything spins. I can’t give up. The poison won’t kill me right away, it must be slow acting, and I have time. I need time. It’s a struggle to climb what feels like one hundred stairs to get to the next part, which is an enormous tree with tiny little ledges that make it impossible to stand on. Everything is spinning as I pull myself up onto the first one and dig my hands into the bark. My body hurts every time I go up one by one until I’m at the top level of the tree.

When I finally manage to get off the tree, I turn around and walk to the next part, which is a small ledge leading onto three moving pieces of wood on a rope. They’re banging into each other with each sway, and I have to get across all three of them to get to him. I look down to see nothing but pure blue fire waiting underneath, and that won’t be a quick death. It will hurt. Flames are licking up high enough that they can burn me when I jump. There are two pieces of rope on either side to hold on to the planks, nothing more to catch me if I slip.

The world is spinning before my eyes. A light sweat is covering my body, and I touch my brow with my two fingers in the way my mother used to. “Be with me, Qamar,” I whisper. I look up at Rowe, pretending for a second that thing is my brother and he is cheering me on. If Rowe were here, he would tell me to leave and never come back. He wouldn’t want to see me hurt, and that’s exactly how I feel about him. But Rowe needs me—he has always needed me—and it has always been my honor to be his sister. I will save him.

I run and jump onto the first plank with everything I have, nearly slipping off the edge as I grab the rope. My heart is in my stomach as I sway on the plank. Carefully, I get up on my feet, hating how everything continues to spin right before my eyes. I cough, holding on to the side and looking at my hand covered in blood, wiping the rest from my mouth. My stomach starts hurting, cramping in pain, and I grit my teeth. No, not yet. I will not die yet.

“I’m not going to die like this! I am not ready to meet you!” I scream to the gods. I run and jump onto the next wooden plank; this one I manage easily. Far easier than I thought. Everything sways before my eyes, but I see Rowe. I see the end. I run and jump onto the last plank, and my foot misses. I scream as I fall, managing to catch the edge of the wooden plank, just before it’s too late. The flames lick up my feet, and I scream in pain as I yank myself up as quickly as I can onto the ledge, crying out as I look at my burnt feet.

I take three deep breaths before I stand up, the pain in my body almost too much, the feeling like I’m going to collapse into darkness pressing on my mind. I jump the final bit, landing on steps before the creature, who’s sitting on a red rock. I can’t get up off the floor, I realize with horror. Rowe slips off the rock, and he walks over, standing above me. He kneels before me, morphing again into someone I don’t know. A man who looks eerily beautiful. If I hadn’t seen Ren before, I’d say this is the most beautiful male I’ve ever seen. But Draven is that, and he will always be that.

“The antidote or the key?” he taunts.

The key is no use to me if I’m dead. “The antidote,” I bite in anger, knowing this was all for nothing the second the words left my mouth. He hands it to me and I pop the lid off, drinking it quickly. The relief is almost instant. The pain stops and I manage to sit myself up, the paralyzing feeling leaving my body and everything slowly coming into focus again. The fog, the creature in front of me.