The princess’s flesh-and-blood heart bangs away, a barometer for my desperation. “Father Time sent me for the sword of Avelyn.”
“Did he?” replies the king, still playing the dreary song. “Why?”
“I’m dying.” My voice catches on the bluntness of my statement, said without pity, but I’m not above appealing to his compassion. “The sword can save me. Without it, my husband will become a widower like you.”
King Dorian quits playing and narrows his eyes at me. His eels continue circling, so close their sleek bodies brush my hair. “Who are you?”
“I’m Everley Donovan, the girl with the clock heart.”
“The Terrible Dorcha mentioned your name to me.” He turns around on the bench, swinging his tail toward me. “Why have you come to our world, Time Bearer? We have no place for you here.”
“Father Time wants his sword. Give it to me and I’ll be gone.”
King Dorian rises from the bench and swims to his late wife’s throne. He reaches beneath it, into a narrow gap I did not see, and pulls out the sword of Avelyn. Raising it between us, he points the gleaming blade at my chest. “Tell me, Everley Donovan, what would you give to have more time with your husband?”
“Anything,” I say, my voice breathy. “I would do anything for more time.”
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to have one more day with my wife, but my daughters are all I have now.”
He swims closer and the eels back away. The king rests the sword over my pounding heart. Though I doubt he will harm his daughter’s body, I dare not move.
“My family will soon build a new empire in your world. Mankind is too weak to have inherited the Land of the Living. Merrows may never possess your land, but we will surely dominate your seas.” He lifts the sword higher between us, aiming it upward, and considers the blade. “Prince Killian is recrafting the worlds in his image.” He offers me the sword. “Take the weapon, Time Bearer. You must have seen or been shown what’s to come, so you know just how badly you’ll need it.”
I hesitate, not trusting that he won’t lunge at me, and then swiftly take the sword.
“Upon your return to the grotto, tell Muriel to release my daughter or I will tear her home down stone by stone and throw a grand banquet for the whole castle to feast upon her precious gaggle of cats.”
The king sits back down and resumes playing the pipe organ. His eels lie on the dais near his tail fin, like mongrels at his feet. His dismissal confuses me into stillness. King Dorian gave me what I wanted, yet I sense that, in taking the sword, I have lost something much more valuable.
My hand starts to loosen on my blade, almost to the point of dropping it. I hold up my other hand and see my spirit starting to peel away from the princess’s body.
As I turn to go, the king says, “Leave my wife’s necklace.”
I remove the string of pearls, set them on her throne, and flee.
As I approach the exterior gate, the castle guards take off toward a small group swimming away from the highest tower. Osric and Laverick are holding Claret between them, her bare feet sailing out behind her.
I rush after them, my sword at the ready. “Leave them be!”
The guards withdraw and offer their apologies to their princess.
Claret hardly appears awake. Her pale skin is pruned like fruit rotting in the sun. When my friends reach me, we do not stop.
“Open the gates,” I say.
The guards rush back to push open the gates. Lamps filled with glowworms highlight the quietness of the city. Osric guides us upward, over the city, instead of navigating the streets.
“We must hurry,” he says. “I can feel my spirit slipping.”
“Mine too,” I reply.
The undersea portal swirls overhead. Markham has probably escaped through it by now and must be on his way to my uncle and the infinity sandglass.
Past the city, we swim into a swift current. The flowing water picks us up and propels us away from Everblue. Laverick, Osric, and I don’t stop swimming despite the extra speed of the current. Claret’s protective bubble is so thin I fear it will tear.
Osric soon guides us out of the current, and we start our ascent over Skull Reef. He and Laverick speed for the surface with Claret as I heft the heavy sword. Our dazed friend begins to rouse, the enchantment fading.
We break the surface with large splashes. As soon as Claret hits the air, her bubble bursts, and she gasps and coughs. She holds on to Laverick until she recovers and then starts thrashing.
“Let go of me, you monster!”
She lands a well-aimed hit to the side of Laverick’s head. The Fox slips underwater to evade her strikes and rises behind her, locking Claret’s back against her front.
“It’s me. Lavey. You’ve been missing since you fell off the longboat. You were under the merrows’ enchantment. We found you, and Everley’s gotten back her sword.”
I raise the sword of Avelyn as proof that what she says is true.
“Lavey?” Claret says, her acceptance dawning. “Why do you look like a merrow?”
Laverick lets go of her. “It’s a long story.”
Claret revolves to hug her friend. “I remember what happened now. I heard this sweet song, and then I was in a strange place far away from the light. The whole thing was dreadful.”
The Fox holds the shaking lass at the surface. “Everything is all right now. You don’t ever have to go back there.”
The late-morning sun beats down on us, revealing our location off the southern coast of the continent, between the village and the spit. Traveling by sea is fastest, so Laverick carries Claret, and we follow Osric to the sea stacks. Seeing the familiar rock formations in the distance, I double my speed. I will miss having a heart of flesh and blood, but the thought of returning to myself doesn’t trouble me.
It’s time to go home.
At the entrance to the sea stack, I leave my friends at the surface and dive into the clear blue water. I arrive at the cavern pool first and search the landing for Jamison and Muriel, for my body, and for Radella. Everyone has gone.
I lay my sword on the side of the pool and rest while the others catch up. On the ground near me is Muriel’s hand mirror, its glass shattered. My senses jump and stay on high alert.
Osric and the others swim into the pool. “Where did everyone go? Why did they move our bodies?” he asks.
I show him the broken mirror. “Something must have gone wrong.”
“I suppose it’s true what they say,” says a surly voice. “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”
Captain Redmond steps out of the passage from the grotto. The giant wears his gaudy red jacket with black embroidery and gold toggles, the collar and sleeves of his white shirt a frilly lace.
In one hand, he has a sword. In the other, the severed head of the sea hag.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Captain Redmond has not a splash of blood on his fine white shirt. I don’t know why that’s my first thought at seeing Muriel decapitated, her head hanging from his big hand, but I must look away from her face or I may retch.
Her glamour spell has fallen. She is herself, every wrinkle and gray hair showing. I saw her true appearance, so this doesn’t startle me, but she would hate to know she’s lost all her beauty in death.
Several members of the pirate crew march out of the grotto and flank their captain. I snatch up my sword and swim away from the ledge, closer to my friends. Daylight filters down from the gaps in the cave ceiling, shimmering off the water and reflecting onto the walls. Claret gawks up at the well-dressed giant, her first view of him.
“Osric,” Captain Redmond says, “you must know I wouldn’t forget your betrayal.” He tosses the head of the sea hag into the water. We all cringe away.
Osric restrains his tone with an admirable level of calm. “We don’t want trouble, Mundy. Where are our bodies?”
“They would still be here if I had them.”
Jamison and Ra
della must have taken us out of here. Regardless of where they are, the transference will fade, and our spirits will leave this space to find our bodies. Claret will be left behind, and I will return to my physical form without the sword. Our entire expedition to Everblue will have been for naught.
Something large moves behind me in the water. The captain’s saltwater crocodile swims through the passageway into the pool, blocking our only exit. Tattler swallows the floating head of the sea hag, and again, I cringe.
“Mundy, listen to me,” Osric pleads, shedding his composure. “Markham is pursuing the helmsman. All the worlds are in peril now. You must let us go.”
The enormous croc swims closer, sliding silently through the water. Claret squeaks and grabs on to Laverick harder.
“It’s high time we finish the war,” replies the captain. “The Land of the Living doesn’t belong to mankind. Prince Killian will recraft the worlds and repair this division. Then we can go home.”
“The prince lies!” I say, my voice echoing off the high cavern ceiling. “He makes false promises so you’ll serve him. He cares nothing for your kind.”
“Prince Killian cares enough to release us from captivity while the rest of the worlds do nothing!” the giant hollers back. “He will return the worlds to their proper order, and you won’t be here to see it.” Mundy gestures at his crocodile. “Kill them and fetch the sword.”
Tattler speeds at us, his jaws opening for Osric. The elf smashes his fist into the croc’s nose and smacks him in the head with his merrow tail. The crocodile redirects from him to Claret, Laverick, and me. I dive to draw him away from them, and Tattler catches up in seconds. I twist around him and slash a shallow wound down his side with my blade.
Tattler comes back for a second pass. His teeth nip at my tail fin, and Laverick, who has dived down, grabs his neck and climbs on top of him. The croc rolls and rolls while she hangs on. I stab him in the tail, and the thrashing croc throws Laverick off. On the surface, I see Claret kicking away from the edge of the pool with Osric.
Diving under Tattler, I stab upward into his soft belly. Laverick races for the open passageway. Osric dives with Claret, who’s obviously holding her breath, and speeds for the exit. I wrench my sword out of the crocodile’s middle and race after them.
We surface in the passage outside of the cavern. Captain Redmond’s howls boom behind us, echoing off the stone walls. Radella flies down through an opening in the ceiling.
“Radella,” I say, “where’s Jamison and our bodies?”
Zipping low, she motions for us to follow. We swim hard after her, out of the sea stack and into the cove. The Undertow isn’t visible, but the captain’s vessel must be close by.
Radella flies toward the mainland, staying over the water, and we track her path. Though we are exhausted, we are wary of the captain and his crew, so we keep swimming. She leads us down the coastline, following the same beaches we traveled by foot when we left the watchtower. We swim hard, but the sea is strong, and our strength is dwindling.
Osric and Laverick take turns carrying Claret on their back while the sword of Avelyn threatens to drag me down. For something I wanted so badly, I am awfully close to letting go and letting it sink back to the bottom of the sea.
Osric notices me struggling and leaves Laverick to help Claret. “Everley, let me.”
I pass him the blade and swim alongside him as he works twice as hard to combat the waves with the heavy weapon. My tail twitches as my control over the merrow body wanes. The sun is too bright, the current too powerful.
Laverick flails at the surface behind me. “Everley! I’m going—”
Her spirit lifts from her borrowed form and sails off into the distance. Osric stops suddenly. We lock gazes. He throws me the sword, and as I catch it, his spirit also flies away. I immediately lose sight of the merrows in the waves.
Claret grabs on to me to keep afloat, her grip weak. “Don’t leave me, Evie.”
“I won’t.”
Radella hovers over us. I swim harder after her, towing Claret and the sword. My spirit starts to lift farther off my body, like a snake shedding its skin, but I charm it back in with my stubbornness.
Stay here. Stay for Claret. You must stay.
Radella veers toward land. I spot the watchtower and my strength is renewed. Using the tower as my beacon, I redirect for shore.
Several minutes later, land is still too far away. The extra weight I’m dragging grows heavier, and my spirit starts to slip again. I will not leave the merrow body until Claret and the sword are safe. Although I try, I cannot push my spirit fully back in, but I do stop it from leaving.
Radella stays just in front of us. My movements are slow and heavy, my slipping spirit making them less precise. I swim to her, and then she darts away and waits. I swim to her again, and she flies ahead. She is a more attainable marker than the watchtower, but she keeps moving.
And I am so tired.
“Everley!” Jamison stands on the beach, waving his arms.
I push harder to catch up to Radella, but Jamison is my new marker.
The pixie darts ahead of us two more times until she’s with him. Suddenly, I can see more land than sea in front of us.
Claret slides off my back and grabs my arm, and we both kick for shore. I swish my tail the last few lengths into the shallows. Her feet touch the bottom, and we let go of one another. Claret collapses and crawls for shore. Jamison runs into the surf. My arm shakes as I lift the sword to him. The second he takes it, I release my hold on the body.
My spirit shoots above the merrow princess and soars over my friends to the watchtower and through the open door. I slam into my body, where it is lying on the floor. The falling sensation dissipates—and then the emptiness comes. The absence of a solid pulse, a beating heart of flesh and blood, is stark. My limping ticker has never felt more fragile. The desolation carves me out and leaves me hollow, like carrion-picked-down bones. I lie on my side and try not to compare my heart to Princess Nerina’s, but it’s more evident than ever that my time is almost spent.
Sometime later, I don’t know how long, someone touches my cheek. I open my eyes, and a blurry face peers down at me.
“Welcome back,” says Jamison.
As he unties my bindings, I try to push to sitting, but everything hurts. My body is fractured, like a splintered bone that was reset wrong.
Osric lies beside me, still unconscious. Laverick and Claret are together on the stoop, Claret with her long, wet hair hanging down her back and Laverick with her arm around her. Claret glances over her shoulder at me and touches the center of her chest. The Fox must be telling the Cat about my ticker. Radella is with them as well, and they appear to offer the pixie condolences for Muriel’s death.
The sword is propped against the wall. Seeing it sends the day’s events back to me in a wave of dizziness. I shut my eyes and recount the worst of it to Jamison. “Captain Redmond killed Muriel.”
“Radella told me. A lot happened while you were gone.” His monotone voice restricts his sorrow, but it comes through in his slowness of speech. “When we spotted the Undertow off the coast, I loaded you three into a skiff with all the supplies I could carry. Muriel stayed behind to point the pirates away from us. Before I left, she told me . . . she told me many things. Foremost, she wanted me to ask you to forgive her. She said you would understand what she meant.”
“She told Markham where we were, and he and the finfolk ambushed us.” My head finally clears and I reopen my eyes. “Markham didn’t want the sword from King Dorian. He wanted the name of Father Time’s helmsman. My uncle Holden.”
“Your uncle?” Jamison asks, rubbing his chin. “I suppose he is a clockmaker.”
Now that I have time to think back, my uncle wasn’t shocked to see Father Time the night they installed my ticker. He knew who Father Time was without an introduction. They weren’t strangers.
“Where are my apples?” Osric asks, groaning. Jamison hands him a small bag t
hat he must have brought from Muriel’s. The elf gets up stiffly, moving like someone a few hundred years old should. He bites a huge chunk from his charm apple and swallows before he speaks. “Captain Redmond won’t give up until he finds us. How soon will you be ready to go?”
“I’m ready now.” I rise gradually to prevent myself from having another dizzy spell. “My uncle is in Dorestand, in the Land of the Living.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go. If we hurry, we may beat Prince Killian. The bubble tonic he took wouldn’t have been strong enough to protect him as he traveled through the undersea portal, so he’ll be heading to the land dwellers’ portal too.” Osric polishes off his apple and cranks his neck right and left, setting off several loud pops. He fills his pockets with more charm apples, his movements faster. “I don’t know what the prince wants with the infinity sandglass, but the helmsman has sworn to guard the timepiece with his life. Your uncle will protect it.”
This is meant as a comfort, but it makes me more anxious to get to the portal.
Osric takes swords to Claret and Laverick outside while Jamison helps me into my cloak. The sea hag’s spyglass is in his breast pocket. He shoves a pistol into the front of his belt and hands me another one.
“It’s loaded,” he says. “The extra black powder got wet, so we each have one shot.”
I tuck my pistol at my waistline, pick up my sword, and start for the door. I almost make it outside when light-headedness grips me. I brace against the doorframe, my chest heaving and my fingertips tingling.
“Are you still recovering from the transference?” Jamison asks.
“No, I have something to tell everyone.” I sit on the stoop, my face sticky from perspiration. Jamison sits beside me. He waves Laverick, Claret, and Osric over from where they are sheathing their weapons, and they encircle us. My inclination to bite my tongue flares, so I outwit it by opening my mouth until the words finally fall out. “I haven’t told you all how my clock heart functions because I haven’t known. But recently, I learned from Father Time that my uncle gave me ten years of his own life to animate my ticker. Much like Muriel would take years as payment from her customers, Uncle Holden gave me those years nearly a decade ago. My ticker has been growing fainter because that time is almost spent.”
Into the Hourglass Page 22