by LJ Andrews
Nova’s chest tightened violently. She wanted to pounce on Hadwin and show him who was truly in command. But though the dark power yearned to reach out and strike, something about the man caused it to ricochet back.
“You do not frighten me,” she snarled.
Hadwin chuckled. After a while, he studied her, and for a moment, Nova thought she detected a hint of perplexity in his expression, but he quickly darkened again and stepped closer to the bars.
“I’ve spent my life hunting pirates like you. Each one is the same—power hungry, obsessed with the temple treasure. You’re all fools, never stopping for one moment to consider the ramifications of stepping foot on the mountain. Each time those of Launi reach Dia’s soil, it brings destruction for both Launi and the b…” he stopped himself suddenly, notably ruffled as if he nearly gave away a great secret.
“As I said before,” Nova snarled. “You have us wrong. I’m not interested in whatever treasure is at the temple.”
His eyes turned a mystifying shade of gold that swirled like a molten storm. His jaw clenched, and his pale skin flushed in anger. “You have no business connecting Launi to the world of the Djinn. Not when this kingdom was created and saved at such great sacrifice. Even with wretches like you and your posse, no one deserves the life of the temple.”
Nova gulped as his words pierced her deep into her soul. The inner turmoil billowed like a fluttering cloak wrapping around her heart. Hadwin spoke with such passion, such fervor, it shook everything she’d thought of the Djinn. He seemed to view the Djinn as monsters. But it was the hint at an unknown history between Launi and the temple that caused her to relive all her mother’s warnings.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she said in a small, but determined voice.
Hadwin scoffed, his gold eyes still blazing. “Your lies do nothing to me, pirate. I have come to tell you and your wretched shipmates, tonight you will be given one final meal before entering the ring tomorrow.” He turned to walk away before turning back over his shoulder, his face scrunched in disgust. “Clean yourselves up.”
“I suppose you shall just play judge and executioner without hearing our side,” Nova cried after him in desperation. Hadwin gave her no indication he’d heard her and slammed the heavy door behind in response.
Nova leaned her head back against the cell wall, feeling a sense of hopelessness fill her with despair.
“What do you suppose they’ll do to us in this ring?” Atlas asked, finally breaking the silence.
“Hard to know,” Briggs responded. “Me advice to us all is take the evening tonight and enjoy the time we got left.”
“Did it seem that he knew more about the temple than we’ve been told?” Kale asked with hesitation.
Nova bit her lip as tears of anger fell down her face. It was clearer than ever before; they were facing something they didn’t understand. And it was her fault they were trapped. Her voice cracked as she spoke through the walls toward the others. “I’m sorry I failed you. I thought I could free us from this prison, but I fear we are meeting the end of our adventure together.”
The silence among the four prisoners as the reality of the dire situation settled was more haunting than the echoes filling distant hallways of their captor’s movements. They were powerless.
When the island air washed their faces in a warm sunset breeze, they were taken to an upper level for their final meal. The dark shroud was ripped from Nova’s head as she was pushed into a muggy room filled with silver trays of strange foods. The towering trays were rippled in green and purple berries along with blue melons chopped in tiny squares. Red meat from a fowl she didn’t recognize wafted intoxicating smells throughout the small room.
“One hour,” the masked man said, slamming the door behind him. The four prisoners stared at the table hesitantly before slowly sitting down in the padded chairs.
“Do you think it’s wise to eat? Could be poison,” Atlas suggested, looking at the food longingly.
Nova shrugged, feeling angrier about her inability to protect them. What good was the Djinn power if it ran out when she needed it most? “If we’re going to die in the morning anyway, why not get it over with?” she said, taking a small, round dessert from one of the trays.
Kale took one of her hands and watched her with his knowing eyes. “Don’t give up just yet.”
She turned away, feeling the anger begin to seep away the more he touched her. In frustration, she bit into the sweet treat. She wanted to hold onto her bitterness; it was the only thing she could control. Without realizing it, she sighed as the delectable taste filled her mouth. Sweet morsels of dark chocolate danced down her throat. She’d only tasted Koning chocolate a few times in her life, usually for special occasions. The chocolate cost more money to ship to neighboring islands than her father had made in a week. She’d relished each taste when she’d been given the chance. But this was different; this chocolate was smoother, richer—like a sweet velvet. Her lips curled into a smile as she reached for another.
“These are delicious,” she said.
The three men paused briefly, watching Nova devour the decadence before slowly adding food to their plates.
“What do you make of the commander they speak of?” Kale said after a few moments of pleasant silence.
Atlas dropped his fork and quickly licked the flavor off his fingers. “I question if there is a commander. I’d take it to be the man who spoke to Nova. He seems like he’s the one in charge around here.”
“I could see that being the case,” Kale agreed. Both Atlas and Kale paused for a moment and watched one another as if remembering they were meant to be at odds over Nova’s affection.
“If there is a commander, why wouldn’t he have shown his face?” Atlas continued, digging his spoon into a pile of gravy-covered mashed vegetables. “I just don’t believe there’s another person in charge.”
Nova crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. Something seemed so strange about this entire situation. “I think there are two leaders, but both come from different groups,” she finally said.
“What do ye mean, lass?”
“Hadwin, the man who spoke with me, insinuated they invited this so-called commander to be here with them. I wonder if he means there could be another group of pirate hunters joining with the band of shadows. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t shown his face. Perhaps we would recognize him.”
Atlas’s face sparked with understanding. “Nova, you don’t think…you don’t think it’s Smythe, do you?”
Kale dropped his spoon with a loud clang and closed his eyes. Nova squeezed his hand tighter. “It makes sense. Who is our ultimate enemy? Who would tell the band of shadows we were pirates looking for the mountain? It wouldn’t be difficult to hunt down Kale’s family and he could’ve bribed Dirk for all we know. Smythe is the only one sinister enough to keep us alive for so long, then kill us in some elaborate way.”
“From what I know of this Smythe, he wasn’t smart enough to pull off somethin’ like this, Missy,” Briggs said. “At least yer pap didn’t boast much of his thinkin’ skills.”
Nova shook her head. “He’s the only logical answer I can come up with. We don’t know what happened after the Island of Bones. Do you really suppose he’d let us get away so easy?”
“I don’t want to believe it, but the more you say it the more it makes sense,” Kale said quietly.
Before anyone could say another word, several masked people pushed through the door.
“Time’s up,” one of the men growled.
With hasty movements, the shadowed men ripped them up from the table without resistance and had each prisoner’s hands bound in heavy rope. Nova’s mind whirled as the idea took root in her heart. The more she envisioned Smythe being the reason she was in the grasp of the band of shadows the angrier she was. With clomping steps, she allowed the men to drag her back to the cell, where she spent the cool night dreaming of coming face to face with Captain Smythe and making him wish he�
��d never heard her name.
Morning seemed to come the moment her eyes closed. She shot upright and took in her surroundings—the cell was gone! Nova looked around and saw she was surrounded by a dense forest, but it wasn’t a Launi forest. The treetops created a canopy from their dark blue and green leaves. Through small openings, she could make out the sky filled with puffy white clouds floating lazily against a bluish-purple backdrop. The trees were smooth, made of dark wood, much like the band of shadow’s ship hull. Long, snake-like vines traversed the sides of the enormous trunks.
Loud shouts and cries of distress spurred her into motion. The forest was strange but full of life. Her feet sank into the softy mossy earth as if a pool of water had just soaked the ground. Chirps and clicks from insects called out, then silenced as she drew too close.
Ahead, she saw blurry shadows of people frantically rushing around. A tremble rumbled beneath her feet causing her to lose her balance briefly. The shouts grew closer, and Nova saw a hoard of darkly dressed people running toward her. Quickly, she dipped out of their path, hiding behind a wall of bushes filled with rose-gold leaves and black thorns lining the branches.
The frightened people rushed by in a blur and Nova could hardly make them out, except for their pale skin and dark hair. Women carried small children and a few men held older children’s hands as they rushed by.
Where am I, she thought.
“Where worlds began,” a trembling voice said quietly.
Nova whipped her face around. An old woman sat curled over on a boulder. A long, glittering robe enveloped her head and shoulders, down to her frail toes sticking out from the hem.
“Who are you?” Nova asked. “Where am I?”
“I am of little importance,” she said. Her eyes were dark, and the gray in her hair was peppery beneath her robe, revealing her hair had once been dark. “You must know where your world began if you can ever hope to save it. Look around you—what do you see?”
Nova obeyed and took in the surroundings with greater focus. The forest opened a clear path in front of her in the same direction the fleeing people had come from. Up a slight hill, she gaped at the glimmering walls of a gilded building. Great pillars stacked upon each other, making each level. Sparkling doors and windows lined the outer terraces; it was the most spectacular sight she’d ever seen. The gold building was grander than even the king’s palace, but something seemed amiss. Starting at the peak of the spiraled roof, clouds gathered in black tufts before swirling menacingly around the spire. Something dangerous was happening, though she didn’t know how she knew it.
“It’s the temple, isn’t it?” she said without looking at the woman. “Where am I, though? Am I on the mountain?”
“There was great sadness in this world, and one took compassion to save it,” the woman responded vaguely. “When you are called to do the same, will you rise to the challenge?”
The words came out as if the woman were daring her to accomplish some great feat.
“I don’t understand what you mean. What world? What challenge?”
The woman smiled, the folds of her aged skin pulling up in waves across her cheeks. “You will know it when you are faced with it. Remember, circumstances around you may not be as they seem. Now, watch!”
At the old woman’s final word, she seemed to fade into the background of the dark forest, and the ground with a heavy surge of power burst into the forest. The fury seemed curiously familiar as it hit her in the chest; it burned through her limbs with the same darkness she’d grown accustomed to. It was Djinn power. Nova fell to the ground as great groans louder than roaring thunder filled the dim world.
Screams sent shivers down her spine as the ground shifted and great scars broke the swampy earth apart. Nova screamed and clasped onto one of the thick tree trunks as bits and pieces of the forest detached and drifted away from each other toward the white clouds. The gold, pillared temple shrunk as she flew higher and higher. The rush of wind held her firmly on the ground, watching as the dark trees burst through the dark sky into the warmth of a white sun and peaceful peach colored sky.
Nova cried out, hitting her head against the hard wall of her prison cell. Her head dripped in sweat and her heart raced like a stampede against her chest.
“Nova,” Kale was shouting. “Are you all right?”
Nova coughed as her lungs tried to breathe in more air. Slowly, her composure strengthened and she sat up, reliving the terrifying dream over in her mind just as the creaking hinges opened on the great door of the prison cells.
The band of shadows was back, and a man without his mask was eyeing her with smug victory.
“Nova,” Kale shouted again.
“I’m fine,” she breathed out heavily. “I was dreaming. Kale, if anything happens to me today—ˮ
“Stop,” he said firmly. “We’ll be fine. Just don’t give too much away.”
Nova gulped, wishing she could show the man what he was going up against, but the stifling barrier had settled in against the stormy darkness once again. More shadow men filtered in behind him, and she heard them unlock the other cells.
“Hey, don’t put that thing on my head,” Atlas shouted.
She grimaced when she heard him fall to the ground with a loud thud. The man in front of her stepped closer, his pale face pulled into an annoying smile. He unlocked her cell slowly, never losing his smug expression. Withdrawing the black shroud to cover her face again, Nova glared at him but her heart still raced from the dream. As he threw the shroud over his head, she couldn’t help but notice how similar his features were to the people fleeing in fear through the dark forest in her mind.
Chapter 13
The Ring
Nova slammed against a stone floor, with the others thudding next to her. Through the shroud, excited cheers filled the small room. The ground rumbled close to them as if hundreds of wild stallions were running nearby.
She squinted against the sudden light hitting her eyes when the shroud was aggressively lifted. Nova pushed her wild curls from her face and rushed toward a heavy wooden door with bars over the only opening. Gripping the cold iron bars, she held her breath as she took in the new scene.
Rows of long wooden benches stacked up high on a hill, each filled with dark haired people cheering and chanting in excitement. At a center point was a pavilion covered by a red canopy with gold trim. The pavilion was too far to get a good look, but it was clear there were several people sitting on the platform.
The commander, she thought darkly. The person responsible for their capture was watching with pleasure, ahead of the crowd. Nova glared toward the pavilion with deep hatred.
The surprise of the arena was so great, she hadn’t even realized the others had been tossed into the small holding cell behind her.
Kale lifted himself from the ground, his back creaking like a snapping twig from endless rough treatment. She shivered with exhilaration, the way only his touch could make her do, when he placed his hand on the small of her back and looked out at the ring.
“What is this?” he said. Nova’s anxiety heightened at the notable concern in his voice.
“It’s madness, that’s what it is,” Atlas said angrily.
“They got us set up in a death trap,” Briggs whispered. “And all them people are goin’ to watch.”
Nova scanned the audience in disbelief. Women, families, men. All were there to watch, and it proved her suspicions that the band of shadows was greater than she’d once thought. This was an entire community of people sworn to despise her.
“How do we get out of this?” she said, more to herself than to anyone.
Kale pulled her in tighter against him and sighed. It was clear there was only one way to escape and she couldn’t summon the dark power to save them. The burden fell upon her chest like a heavy anchor locking in between two enormous boulders. They had no choice—they would have to do the bidding of the band of shadows.
From the back of the room, five men dressed in black
stepped through a small door.
“The she-pirate is first,” one said, pointing to Nova.
Two other men stepped forward, one holding the same familiar shroud she’d grown accustomed to.
“No!” Kale said.
Kale shoved one man hard, bringing him to the ground while another leapt, as if weightless, onto Kale’s back. The man wrenched him backward before effortlessly flipping him onto his stomach. Kale flailed tirelessly, but it was no use. The shadowed captor held him tightly with seemingly no effort.
Atlas and Briggs had stepped into the fight, hoping to fend off the men, while Nova fought to bring out any sign of the Djinn power. She cursed the darkness when not even a spark ignited. The rest of the men subdued Briggs and Atlas with movements so swift, so acrobatic, when they moved they became nearly invisible to her eye.
“Leave her alone,” Kale grunted beneath the man’s knee, which held him firmly, face down on the hard floor.
From behind his mask, the man carrying the shroud chuckled. “Hadwin asked for you to be first. He must have something special planned to start the show. But he is just and granted you a moment to take in your surroundings.”
Nova glanced at Kale struggling on the ground, then to Briggs and Atlas who were being held firmly against the wall.
“Please let me say good-bye at least,” she said softly.
The man stopped, his dark eyes peering over the brim of the mask covering his mouth. With a click of his tongue, he nodded at the other prisoners. “Say your farewells.”
Nova fell to her knees next to Kale. The man holding him down stepped back, but only by a few paces. Nova wrapped her arms around Kale’s neck and he buried his face in her thick curls, giving gentle kisses to her neck.
“You’ll be fine,” he whispered. “I’ve seen you get yourself out of worse. Just…come back, okay?” Nova bit the inside of her cheek, hoping to keep the tears at bay and nodded. “I love you, Nova.”