by E. G. Foley
Jake looked at her and knew he had to try one last time. He could not let Jones take Archie and Nixie–and then force them to help him destroy the world.
Izzy was right. He was scared down to the marrow of his bones that one more attack with his telekinesis would result in the pirates returning to finish the job of chopping off his hands.
But he had to try.
Remembering Sapphira’s words about how Jones would die like a fish drowning on dry land if he lost contact with the sea, he suddenly had an idea. If he could lift him up out of the waves and drop him somewhere up in the garden without his buckets of seawater on his feet…
Drawing on what was left of his nearly spent energy, Jake hit the pirate captain hard in the back with one last burst of his telekinesis, determined to raise him out of the shallows.
But Davy Jones had already reached the sea. It was only up to his knees, but it must have given him unexpected strength. He jolted forward, then sank into a fighter’s crouch, and somehow planted himself, one foot a step ahead of the other to brace against the invisible force buffeting him.
Jake kept it up, but, blast it, the man was as immovable as Gibraltar!
When what was left of Jake’s telekinetic energy dissipated, Jones turned around and glowered at him. “My turn, laddie.”
With a wide motion of his arm like a swimming stroke, the Lord of the Locker summoned a huge wave some twenty feet high. It came racing up from somewhere past the boulders, roared into the cove and up onto their private beach. Curling high, it towered above them. The kids cowered and held their breath. Isabelle put her arms around Maddox to try and protect him as the wave slammed down on top of them.
It turned Sapphira instantly back into a mermaid, though she was still tied up. It left Maddox with tears of pain in his eyes, Isabelle gasping for air, and Jake half-drowned.
But when the rogue wave retreated, gurgling back down into the ocean, Jake squeezed the salt water out of his eyes and gaped at what he saw. The moon-silvered waves were calm, but there was no sign of Davy Jones, his crew…or his captives.
They were all gone.
PART V
CHAPTER 29
Riptide
The muffled sounds from the beach seemed to have stopped.
Up at the house, Dani listened intently at the door of Her Ladyship’s bedchamber, her stomach knotted with suspense over what was happening out there. She was fairly sure that Archie had been captured, but maybe Jake had managed to free him…
Meanwhile, inside the dark, quiet room, the baroness had not yet awakened. Teddy was still barking silently, and Lil was still scared. But after several moments of keeping her ear to the door while kneeling on the dresser blockading it, Dani was fairly certain they were the only ones left in the house.
She turned to Liliana. “I think they’re gone,” she whispered, “but I have to go check. You stay here with Teddy and Her Ladyship until I come back and tell you if it’s safe. All right?”
Liliana nodded, her light blue eyes wide in the darkness.
Dani opened the bedchamber door and slid down carefully off the other side of the dresser into the sitting room. She did not dare shut the door behind her because of the locking spell Nixie had put on it as their second layer of defense. If she closed it, she might not be able to get it open again.
Thankfully, the dresser blocked Teddy from following her. Crouching down behind it, Lil peeked out over the top to watch Dani tiptoe across the sitting room.
Arriving at the door that Jake had broken down and Nixie had disguised with her illusion, Dani silently pulled it open and found the upstairs hallway empty.
No sign of the pirates.
She poked her head out past the plane of the doorway to scan this way and that, wondering how odd it would’ve looked if anyone had spotted a girl’s head peeking sideways out of a wall.
But no one was there to witness it, and with an exhalation of relief, she stepped out through the magical barrier into the hallway. She glanced behind her and was intrigued to see that the doorway to the sitting room was totally hidden again, sealed up seamlessly behind her.
The house was silent, so she crept a few paces down the hallway, peering into a couple of the rooms, only to see that, just as she had suspected, the drawers were pulled out of the dressers, their contents scattered about the floor. Lamps and decorative vases were broken here and there, pictures on the walls knocked askew, a few pieces of furniture thrown about. Still, things could’ve been much worse.
Just when she started to breathe a sigh of relief, she heard running footsteps pounding through the house. Unsure if the pirates were still here or if it was one of her friends, she peeked carefully over the staircase banister and saw Jake bounding up the stairs, dripping wet and looking very shaken up.
“Is it over? Are you all right? Are they gone?” she whispered.
“Yes to all. Can’t talk. Need a gryphon feather.” He raced past her to go most likely to the boys’ shared chamber, where she assumed he kept them.
Dani hurried after him. “Who’s hurt?”
“Maddox.”
“Is it bad?”
Jake didn’t answer, just sent her a dire glance over his shoulder.
Oh, no. Dani’s heart sank.
# # #
“Well, that didn’t go exactly as planned, did it?” Maddox joked through gritted teeth, his face a waxy shade of white.
“Not exactly.” Isabelle helped him over to sit on the bottom step of the beach stairs, trying to hide her horror at her little brother’s kidnapping on top of seeing their strongest fighter so badly injured.
She knew Maddox had borne the brunt of the battle. Her mind kept replaying the whole thing over and over again…
“Hey,” he said softly, drawing her back out of the spinning black vortex of her thoughts. Then the Guardian apprentice proved more of an empath than she was in that moment, reading the anguish in her face. “At least they’re together.”
Isabelle pressed her lips shut to hold back the threat of a small sob of sisterly dread, and nodded.
“I’m sure between the two of them, they’ll think of something,” he promised. “Your brother’s smarter than the rest of us combined, and that Nixie, she’s just devious. In a good way.”
“And brave,” Isabelle said, her voice little more than a whisper.
Maddox nodded as they exchanged a glance of mutual awe at the little witch’s tenacity.
“When we get Archie back safely,” she added in a somewhat steadier tone, “I’ll have to see that she is suitably rewarded.”
“Psst! Maddox! Isabelle!” Sapphira called from the shallows as loudly as she dared.
They looked toward the waves, where the mermaid was treading water.
After Davy Jones’s well-targeted little tsunami had flattened them all and turned Sapphira back into her true form, Jake had quickly untied the princess and carried her back into the sea before running up to get a gryphon feather to heal Maddox.
“What is it?” Isabelle said, leaving Maddox where he sat and taking a few steps toward her.
“Jones and his crew have almost reached their ship,” the mermaid reported. “I’m going to follow them and find out where they’re headed.”
Maddox frowned. “Sapphira, that sounds very dangerous—”
“It’s the only way we’re going to be able to save Nixie and Archie! I have to go now. We can’t afford to let them get away.”
“Thank you,” Isabelle called uncertainly, relieved that they had at least this hope. “Be careful out there.”
“Don’t worry, Isabelle,” Sapphira said. “If we rescued my little sister from him, we’ll get your brother back, and Nixie, too. Tell Jake I’ll return as soon as I have information.”
“Good luck!” Maddox called, but Sapphira had already arced over the next wave. She dove out of sight with barely a splash.
“I’ll bet she’s glad to be back in her element.” Isabelle stood for a moment gazing out to sea,
hoping Archie was safe. Nixie, too, of course.
It was good of Sapphira to do this, she reflected. The sea was so vast it would be easy to lose her brother forever somewhere out there. She thought of the earlier enmity between Sapphira and her—all over Maddox. How juvenile it seemed now.
As did the ugly fight between her and Maddox yesterday.
She shook her head. Though still jittery with anxiety over her brother and Nixie, now that the battle had passed, she was suddenly exhausted. Her body felt like lead.
Wearily, she turned around to go and sit down beside Maddox on the bottom step and saw him trying once again to pop his shoulders back into their joints, to no avail.
She winced and hurried over, but didn’t dare offer to try putting the bones back in place for him. She was no healer, and she certainly didn’t want to hurt him worse. “Just try to be patient. Jake should be back any minute.”
“Right,” he rasped.
Scanning his face, she noticed that his dark eyes glittered with pain; they looked coal-black against the ashen color of his face.
She lifted her head, frowning toward the villa. “How are you holding up?”
“Oh, I’ve been better,” he said in a low tone.
“I promise you, the gryphon feathers work every time.” Still, she winced at the slumped angle of his shoulders. “I’m so sorry for this. I know it was my fault. I let myself be distracted when I sensed Archie being captured, and I–”
“Don’t worry about it,” he interrupted. “That’s what happens in a battle. People get hurt.” He paused. “You fought well.”
“I did?” She glanced at him in surprise.
He nodded.
“Well, you were brilliant,” she said. “You’re very good at what you do.”
“Not good enough, though, eh?” he said with another slight wince. “But thanks anyway.”
“You can’t blame yourself! It’s only because of me that they did this to you. You rushed to my defense,” she said, “and this is what it got you.”
He looked at her and said, “It was worth it.”
Isabelle returned his gaze, at a loss.
“What?” Maddox prompted, almost smiling at her confusion.
“The quarrel we had before…” She would’ve thought she was the last person he would ever want to rescue after that angry exchange.
Maddox searched her face. “You really don’t know how I feel about you, do you?”
Taken aback by the question, she did not know what to say.
He let out a long, judicious sigh. “I can’t move my arms, but if you reach into the breast pocket of my coat, I have something for you there.”
“For me?”
He nodded. “Go ahead. It’s all right. The inside pocket of my jacket. Please.”
Gingerly, Isabelle pulled back the front of his beloved black jacket and, rather embarrassed by this close contact, tucked her hand into his breast pocket, as directed.
The pocket was deep, so she had to lean closer and reach down farther, until she could feel the warmth of him. Their nearness gave her a small flutter inside. But then, her searching fingers came to the bottom of the pocket and discovered a small metallic oval.
“Careful,” he warned as something sharp almost pricked her finger.
Furrowing her brow, she pulled the object out of his coat and looked at it.
In her hand was a carefully worked piece of silver jewelry in the shape of a unicorn. The sharp thing that had poked her fingertip was the pin for the clasp.
She looked at it and then at him uncertainly, half delighted, half baffled. “You got this for me?”
“I made it for you,” he admitted.
“You did?” Her heart skipped a beat and a small gasp escaped her.
She knew he enjoyed metalworking, but usually he created weapons. The blush that rose instantly in her cheeks felt as hot as any blacksmith’s forge. “It’s lovely. I-I didn’t think you’d had the chance to take up the anvil while we’ve been here,” she stammered with a bashful smile, not knowing what to say. “Wh-when did you do this?”
“About forty-eight hours after I met you,” he said, staring into her eyes.
Overwhelmed, Isabelle looked down at the brooch in wonder. She could barely speak. “You made this for me…right after we met?”
“At Merlin Hall. Dani was the one who first told me you’re a Keeper of the Unicorns. I thought you might like it.”
“Oh, I do. It’s beautiful. Thank you. I just… I’m in shock!”
He smiled wryly. “I thought you might be a little surprised.”
Her panic over her brother momentarily forgotten, she stared at Maddox in amazement, trying to figure out what exactly he was telling her. “If you’ve had it all this time…what made you finally decide to give it to me now?”
“Well, as a certain young redhead reminded me earlier today,” he said slowly, “a Guardian’s not supposed to lie. And I’ve been lying to you, Miss Bradford.”
She held her breath as they stared at each other, inches apart, as though the rest of the world had ceased to exist. Isabelle could feel her heart boom-booming as both Maddox and she started leaning closer. Oh my goodness. He’s going to kiss me, I think.
Isabelle suddenly wasn’t sure if she still wanted him to, though. She had been so infatuated with him for weeks, and had only just freed herself from her preoccupation with him yesterday.
If he kissed her now, it would get her all confused again and probably change everything. She didn’t see how there could be any going back to a normal friendship after that. They both knew all the reasons they couldn’t be together…
A hundred questions stormed through her mind in that brief moment as Maddox leaned toward her. Heart pounding, she couldn’t decide whether to pull away or accept her first kiss ever from him.
It was hardly the perfect situation, what with her brother and friend kidnapped, and her possible beau sitting there with his arms nigh pulled out of their sockets.
But he had rescued her from the pirates and, of course, it was Italy, there was the moonlight sparkling on the waves, so didn’t that make it at least a little romantic?
Sitting stock-still, Isabelle decided there was no time like the present. She squeezed her eyes shut, the way she’d heard other girls say you were supposed to do when being kissed.
Unfortunately, Maddox’s lips had barely brushed against hers, soft as butterfly wings, when along came Jake to ruin it all.
“I’ve got the feather!” he shouted from the top of the stone stairs.
His voice jolted them apart.
The clamor of his footsteps came pounding down the beach stairs.
“I’m going to kill him,” Maddox breathed.
Isabelle let out a nervous giggle, her cheeks incandescent. Though mostly disappointed, a tiny part of her was relieved, because she knew she really wasn’t supposed to be doing this.
And Maddox knew it, too.
Gryphon feather in hand, Jake dropped into their midst, all business, Dani and Lil just a few steps behind him.
Maddox gave her a look that said, Oh, joy, the whole crew came.
Izzy’s lips twitched with a smile that did not match their dire situation, but she doubted her cousin would’ve seen anything from up there.
“How are you feeling?” Jake asked him, tense.
Maddox glanced discreetly at Isabelle. “Just dandy.”
Joining them, Dani gasped when she saw the unnatural slope of his shoulders.
“Oh, Maddox!” she murmured, but rushed past him to go and hug Isabelle. “I’m so sorry, Izzy! Jake told me on the way about Archie. I could hear some of it from Lady B’s room, but I wasn’t sure what happened.”
“Where’s my sister?” Liliana cried in alarm. “They didn’t kidnap her too, did they?”
“No, Lil, your sister’s fine. Sapphira wanted to follow the Flying Dutchman,” Isabelle told everyone. “She’ll be back as soon as she finds out where they’re taking Archie an
d Nixie. Once we have their location, then we’re going to rescue them…somehow.”
Lil turned and gazed at the shimmering silver waves. “You mean Sapphira got to go back in the water?”
Isabelle nodded, then filled the younger mermaid in on how Davy Jones had sent the huge wave crashing down on them, breaking the Landwalker’s spell on her sister.
“Lucky,” Lil said, glancing toward the waves with great envy.
“Don’t worry,” Dani said, putting her arm around Lil’s shoulders. “Your sister will be back soon, I’m sure, and when all this is over, you can both go home.”
Jake was preparing to use the magic from the gryphon feather on Maddox’s shoulders. “Hate to say it, but this is probably going to hurt a bit.”
“Not as much as the other part did, I’ll bet,” Maddox drawled.
Isabelle smiled at his wry humor.
Then they all watched, silent, while Jake took one of the scarlet feathers that Red had left for them in case of emergency and held it between his palms. He began rolling it back and forth swiftly. It twirled in his hands until white smoke began to rise from it, and then, all of a sudden—poof! The feather exploded into a handful of glittering gold-and-crimson dust as the magic was released.
Jake quickly sprinkled it over Maddox’s shoulders.
Maddox yelled out and Isabelle winced as the joints lifted and popped back together, the humerus bone reconnecting to each shoulder socket. The internal tissues around the joint began healing in seconds.
“Sorry about that,” Jake mumbled.
After a minute or two, Maddox moved his arms gingerly, one then the other. “You know, I think it worked. It feels like the swelling’s already going down.” He looked at Jake. “That’s amazing.”
“That’s Red for you.” Jake glanced around. “Is anybody else hurt?”
The girls shook their heads.
“Good. Then let’s get back inside and figure out what we’re going to do.”
Maddox rose to his feet, relief and exhaustion written all over his face. “Jake, would one of those gryphon feathers work to bring your aunt out of her coma? I assume she’s still asleep. Dani?”