Saint-Sauveur snatched it from her. “Fantastique! Merci à dieu. After all this time I finally have it. I have them both.” He yanked the moonstone off Luísa’s neck. Carefully, he joined them together, but they wouldn’t stick. He growled, the angry wolf coming out in him.
“Curse her protection spells! It will only merge in the right hands. Your hands.” He shoved both halves of the stone at Luísa.
She cupped them, one in each hand, and felt their raw power. The moonstones called to one another. Was there truth in Saint-Sauveur’s claims?
Each stone thumped with a heartbeat, separate but equal until they found their rhythm and beat as one.
“The devil take me,” she whispered. “Something’s happening.”
“What is it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.” Her hands gripped each stone. She was afraid to open them, afraid of what she’d find.
The stones sought each other, pulling toward each other like a compass needle pointing north.
She opened her palms and showed them to Saint-Sauveur. “What do I do now?”
“Join them,” he ordered. “Fuse them together and repeat these words.”
The moonstones shimmered like the wings of a dragonfly. Its pulse was regular and strong. Soon, her heart beat with theirs. A warm glow overtook her, and for once she knew peace. She finally understood. She was in no danger, for she was the rightful mistress of the moonstone.
“They want to be together,” she murmured.
“Then do it. Do it! The blood moon has risen.”
Luísa folded her hands and joined the stones. When she opened her palms again, they were as solid as a single gem.
The chamber rattled with a thunderous noise as a hatch above them slid open, pelting them with tiny bits of loose rock. The rock walls of the shadowy chamber sparkled as the light from the blood moon poured in, bathing the room in a ghostly pink glow.
A bolt of light shot straight up from the hand that cupped the whole stone. Almost immediately, Luísa found herself encased in a cage of moonlight. She touched her bars, remembering how it had sealed Sibyl and slashed her lover, but this wasn’t the same. It was no cage, but a harbor. And it told her it existed only to protect her.
Protect her from what? She stared at Saint-Sauveur.
The Frenchman grabbed Luísa by the arm but earned a scalding burn for his trouble. “Sacre dieu! What sorcery is this?” He stretched out his fingers, inches from the soft bars of moonlight. “Luísa, can you hear me?”
She nodded. “I’m all right.” Though she knew it wasn’t her well being that concerned him. Luísa held the merged stone and looked into it. She swooned and stumbled backwards, but the gentle arms of her harbor held her up.
The stone’s magic had entered her mind, and it showed her a world where were-creatures had become the dominant species, a world that knew only bloodshed and savagery. She looked up at Saint-Sauveur and saw the monster inside him. The demon who would unleash hell on earth. Her mouth fell open, but nothing came out.
“Luísa!”
Luísa clutched the stone to her breast. “I’m sorry, Capitán,” she said at last.
“Sorry? Sorry for what, woman? Show the stone to the moon and repeat these words.”
Luísa shook her head. “It’s too late.”
“Nonsense. The moon is high above us. The gates between Otherworld and the mortal realm are wide open. We can change things now, change them forever.”
“No, Saint-Sauveur. I mean it’s too late for you.” She nodded in the direction of a growing shadow to his right.
From the dark emerged Shadrach, a heavy mace swinging behind him.
“Long time, I have waited, Saint-Sauveur. Long time,” the gargoyle said in a rough gritty voice.
“How did you get in?”
Shadrach barked a mirthless laugh. “Don’t you realize, blasphemer? The moment the stones were merged, the gates between our worlds opened. Every gate. Everywhere. The dead and the living are one, and so are all the other creatures in between.”
The shadows in the cavern grew, and the drag of feet and breathy moans filled the chamber. Lurid grins and dead eyes greeted them with earnest.
Luísa’s throat tightened in horror as they formed a circle. But these were not avengers, but witnesses. These limbless ghouls, their flesh eaten and their tongues torn out, had come for the ceremony.
One more figure walked into the breach of light. This one Luísa recognized.
“Paqua!”
“Querida.” His gentle smile gave her courage.
Saint-Sauveur lost none of his gall. He bounded in front of Luísa with his sword drawn. “I control the moonstone. And I control your lives. Leave here and vex me no further.”
A low murmur of laughter echoed in the crypt.
Shadrach rolled his mace to the front and swung it gently. “You’re mistaken, heretic. Luísa controls the moonstone. No other.”
“But I control Luísa,” he countered. “I hold her father and her crew as hostage. If she doesn’t obey…”
Shadrach lifted the mace and swung it over his head.
“What are you doing?” Saint-Sauveur cried out.
“Keeping a promise,” he replied, the mace still in motion.
“You will leave, all of you. Obey me and I will grant you pity.” His cries were like scratches on pitted steel.
“Pity, coward? The same pity you gave Sibyl when she refused your advances? The same pity you gave her when you strangled her?”
“It was an accident,” he screamed, his voice as shrill as a woman’s.
“You killed her!”
“A misfortune, Shadrach. My lust overwhelmed me. I didn’t realize my own strength.”
Sibyl walked into the room, and stayed Shadrach’s arm. An obedient servant, Shadrach lowered his mace.
She stared at Saint-Sauveur in disgust. “I begged for mercy, Luc. Instead you killed me.”
Saint-Sauveur fell to his knees. “Sibyl, amoureuse,” he murmured. “It was an accident, truly. I never meant to hurt you.”
“You meant to have your way with me, even after my brother refused your offer to marry me.”
“I would’ve given you anything!”
“Anything but my freedom.” She squeezed Shadrach’s arm, a shy smile on her face. “Faithful friend. You are and always will be my only love. I leave you to your oath, and gladly.”
She glided past him and Paqua took her by the arm and led her out of the room, disappearing through solid stone.
Shadrach raised his mace once more and grinned with grisly satisfaction. Saint-Sauveur screamed, but it was short-lived. His head, severed at the neck, bobbled off his shoulders and thudded into the dark. The headless body jerked in spasm, blind arms reaching for mercy.
Luísa had seen men killed often and in horrid ways, but this death shocked her. She reeled back and again the bars of light surrounding her held her like a mother with her child.
Seconds later a new ghost appeared. Saint-Sauveur carried his head under his arm. He said nothing at all, staring at his dead body on the cold hard ground. He turned and walked out.
Shadrach nodded to the ghouls that had been his witnesses. One by one, they vanished. Luísa felt certain Saint-Sauveur’s suffering was only now beginning.
Shadrach approached her and bowed. “May I help you out?”
She nodded. “Yes, please.”
Shadrach pulled out her knife and slashed through the bars of moonlight. Like a mirage, it too vanished.
“My task here is done, mistress. I have no other purpose in this life.”
Luísa reached up and hugged Shadrach. He flinched and then softened in her embrace.
“Then you must find yourself another purpose.”
He had no time to answer her because Paqua and Sibyl returned to the tomb’s chamber. Sibyl rushed to Shadrach and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him and for a moment Luísa thought she witnessed stone turn to flesh. Shadrach held he
r by his side, his wings shielding them both.
“You have one more duty to perform, Luísa,” Paqua said. “If you love me, you will do what must be done.”
Luísa wasn’t sure she had the courage for what he had in mind. “I need your help, viejo. Tell me the words I must say to release you to the other side.” Tears stung her eyes before running down her cheeks. She looked up at Paqua and choked back her sobs. “Look at what you’ve reduced me to. Shameless old man! What would the crew say?”
Paqua lifted her chin and wiped her wet cheeks with the backs of his fingers. “They’d say their mistress was a jewel of the sea and far more tender than she betrayed.”
“I don’t want to lose you.” She sobbed.
He patted the moonstone in her hand. “Part of me will always be with you and with this island, querida.”
“And the werewolves?”
No one answered her at first. Then Sibyl approached.
“I’ve never known a pirate, Luísa, least of all a woman pirate. But I know how strong you are, and how noble. Xander saw it in you all along. He knew in the end the choice was yours alone. And he was right.” Sibyl hugged her, the scent of roses on her hair. She kissed Luísa on both cheeks. “’Tis your decision, Portuguesa. We’ll not sway you.”
Where was Xander? She needed to see him, to explain to him why she must do what she had to do.
Luísa shut her eyes. The smell of the crypt had freshened and the creaks and groans had been replaced by silence. She felt the thump of her heart and the heat of the merged stone in her hand.
She opened her eyes and saw her friends. There was only one curse she could rescind. Her lips didn’t want to move, but she forced them. “Say your farewells, Shadrach. I know which curse to undo.”
Shadrach heaved a raspy breath. He took Sibyl into his strong hard arms and kissed her. His words to her were soft and breathy—and for her alone.
Paqua pulled Luísa into his arms and rocked her the way he did when she was but a child. “Not the journey you expected, was it?”
“No. Not at all.” She hugged him back.
“And what of the Inglés?”
Her heart was breaking. She had lost him too. “I doubt our paths will cross again.”
“I’m not so sure.” Paqua glanced behind him. Shadrach and Sibyl were ready. He took Luísa’s hands in his. “Time for us to go, querida.”
Luísa’s heart sped up, and at first she couldn’t hear him for the sobbing in her head. She had to say goodbye. Forever. “I can’t,” she cried.
“Yes, you can, mi amor. Luísa Tavares is no coward.”
“I love you, Paqua.”
He gushed, the first time she’d ever seen that side of the gruff old mystic. “I love you too.” He cradled her face with his craggy hands. “No child has ever been dearer to me.”
She wiped her nose and sniffled. “I won’t forget you. Not ever.”
He wrapped his hands over hers, cupping the merged stone between them. “I will always be here, niña.” He squeezed her hand, and she knew what he meant. He was tied to the stone and to this island. They all were.
“I’m ready, viejo.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
When Luísa left Izabel’s tomb, only Shadrach accompanied her. He put his arm around her and showed her the way out of the vine-covered jungle.
They walked in silence, and then it struck her. The jungle was silent, completely silent. She stopped in her tracks.
“Why is it so still?”
“No need to be frightened, Luísa. It’ll take the mortal world a few days to get used to the calm, but soon it will return to its rhythm.” A flap of wings rustled above their heads and then stilled. He squeezed her hand. “See? The living are still here, only now they don’t have to compete with the dead.”
He led her to a cove in the shadow of Izabel’s tower. Shadrach turned to her and rubbed a thick rock finger across her cheek. Its warmth surprised her.
“We part company here, mistress.” He pointed at the beach. “Follow the shoreline to the west. It’ll lead you to the werewolf village—and your father. I wish you long life and happiness.” He bowed low, his eyes refusing to meet hers.
“Shadrach.” She clutched his hand. “Where will you go? What will you do?”
He looked up at the tower and then at her. “My life is here. It won’t be the same without Sibyl, but I cannot follow her and she could not stay.”
“Come with me, Shadrach. The sea has many adventures. By God and Jonah, none of the brethren has ever seen the likes of you.” She smiled at him benevolently. “My father would welcome you aboard. With Paqua gone…”
“I can never take the place of your friend.”
“Maybe not. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t make a new friend.” She tugged on his arm. “Come with me! The world is large and beautiful. There’s so much I can show you.”
Shadrach unraveled Sibyl’s rope-belt, the one she had left him and brought it to his lips for a kiss. “My home is here, mistress. Sibyl—her memory is here. This is as close as I can get to her.”
“There’s nothing here but grief. What will you do with the rest of your life?”
He squared his shoulders, jutting out his solid chest. “I’ll do what I was made to do, watch, listen and protect. The island is alive again and it will need watchers like me and my thralled brothers.”
Luísa’s mouth tightened to a thin seam, knowing she couldn’t convince him otherwise. Shadrach was beaching himself deliberately. But what of the were-creatures? She had doomed them by using the stone to free the dead.
“I wish I could have done something for the were-tribes. Papa and I should leave here before they realize what I’d done.”
“They already know. Some will be angry. Most will get over it.”
Luísa blew out a breath. “If only I could’ve helped them. Dios mío, I would not wish that hell on anyone.”
Shadrach rubbed coarse fingers over his chiseled gray chin. “Perhaps there is a way.”
“What? How? How can I help them?”
“You can’t rescind their curse, that much is finished, but perhaps you can exchange it for another curse.”
“You mean I can put a new curse on top of the old one?”
He nodded. “The right words will blanket the first one. A curse atop a curse.”
“But how can that help them? What good would it do to give them a different curse?”
Shadrach shrugged. “It’s only a suggestion, mistress. You’re the only one who wields the power of the moonstone.” He looked up at the sky, the moon beginning its downward descent. “And you still have time to use the moon in your favor. Think carefully on your words and utter the curse on the stone while it’s whole. Once the blood moon leaves us, the stones will be deaf to your prayers.”
Luísa clasped the merged stone in her hand. She had the power to change the destiny of the werewolves. Was there a curse that could free them?
She hugged Shadrach and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll miss you, Shadrach, more than you know.”
“And I will miss you, Luísa. Go now while you still have the moon.” He bowed again and then turned, bending at the knees and launching himself into the air. His tattered wings carried him up and up toward the white tower of the Sorceress. He flew around the parapet once and landed on a roost. He squatted there and waved. Shadrach had returned to his purpose.
Now Luísa had to find hers.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Luísa ran as hard as she could to the werewolf village. Her mind raced along with her legs, and by the time she reached the settlement, she knew what she had to do.
As she expected, the werewolves were not happy. They had already gotten the news that Saint-Sauveur was dead, and that every ghoul on the island had gone to its rest.
Etta growled at her in greeting. “What more suffering do you wish on us, woman? Take your people and get off our island.”
The crew of the Coral was aboard ship,
getting her ready to sail on the morning tide. Only her father and Dooley stayed behind to wait for her.
“Gracias a Dios! I didn’t think you’d ever return,” her father said with an exasperated sigh. He hugged her, unwilling to let her go. “Luísa, mi corazón. I never wanted this for you. None of this. I should’ve never taken you to sea. I might have spared you this heartache.”
She kissed his wrinkled cheek and wiped the tears off her father’s face. “I freed the undead, Papa. There’s no heartache in that.” She lifted her face toward the moon. “But now we must leave. I have one more task to complete before the moon goes to bed.”
“Miss,” Dooley interrupted. Koko, the mischievous monkey that had tormented her during her stay, danced on his shoulder, checking his scalp for bugs.
“Dooley!” She rushed up to him with a hug so tight he blushed. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
“I’m fine, Miss. And I’m awfully glad to see you too. We’d thought the worst for a while. Captain Daltry…” He paused, glancing down at her to measure her reaction. “The Captain, Miss. He asked if you’d take Koko aboard and care for him. He said now that his sister was gone, there’d be no one here to keep him company.” He petted the monkey’s cheek. “I’d be glad to take care of him, Miss.”
“Where is Captain Daltry?” Luísa looked at Dooley and then her father. Neither responded.
Koko squealed and put his hand to his heart, bowing his head in obeisance.
“Papa? Where’s Xander?”
“Gone, daughter. He felt certain there was little else to say between you.”
Luísa fought back tears. He didn’t even say goodbye.
“I see.” She took a breath and pushed the curls off her face. “Then we best get off this island, Papa. We’re done here.” She rolled the words to the new curse in her head. Would it work, or make things worse? The werewolves were hostile. It would be safer for her and the crew if she tested her spell aboard ship. If she failed, at least they wouldn’t get murdered prematurely.
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