“No,” he snarls. His sword slashes, though it only glances off the creature. “You’ll look at me.”
But it keeps turning, slow and deliberate. Until those voids are somehow focused on me. A chill pebbles my skin, the hairs on my arms and neck raising as that vast, misshapen head tilts to the side.
The creature screams again, and my ears pop from the sheer shrillness. Frozen, I stare up at it as it steps closer.
Claws swipe. I stumble back, barely hearing Callan’s roar of fury. A line of fire erupts across my chest. “Run!”
This time, I obey. Calls for Leo still echo, Merrick’s desperation increasing as I push myself backward. But the creature follows. Its feet, closer to talons with those long, sharp claws, clack against the deck as it stalks me.
Callan darts between us, his back to me as he faces it head-on. “Come on, you gods-damned filth. Try a real fight.”
I almost don’t hear it over the chaos. The small, terrified cry. “Merrick!”
We all stop. Me. Callan. And… the wraith. I follow that endless gaze as it turns, fixing on the small boy clinging to the railings behind the rudder.
“Leo! Don’t move.” Merrick’s shouting. “I’m coming for you.Stay there.”
Oh, gods, theterrorin his voice. The creature turns. When Callan tries to intervene, it swipes again, tossing him aside as easily as flicking a feather.
He crashes to the floor several feet away.
“No,” I breathe. But the wraith steps past me, bones grinding and whirring in a hideous cacophony as it half walks, half crawls up the steps to where Leo stands.
Leo sobs. He pushes himself back against the railing, his feet scrabbling against the winding rope. He climbs up the wood, as if he can escape the nightmare that stalks him. When he stops, he’s balanced precariously, unable to go any further. My heart leaps into my mouth at the small, petrified plea that tears from his throat. “Merrick!”
But Merrick’s not close enough. Callan groans, pushing himself up. His head moves back and forth, shaking off the blow as the ship dips and tilts. Merrick goes down a few feet from Leo asVolatusmoves beneath us once more, his feet missing the step as it drops beneath him and sending him crashing to his knees.
None of us are close enough.
And Leo—
My scream echoes Merrick’s as he vanishes.
Just…vanishes. He tumbles overboard, and only silence remains.
Perhaps it’s in my head. Because there should be sound. Merrick grabs the handrail, hoisting himself up and running as if there’s anything he can do. Callan roars in silent fury. Sol stumbles down beside me, landing on his knees. He saysnothing, for there is nothing he can say. But his face is wet, soaked with sweat and emotion as his head falls.
All I hear is the beating of the wings that begin to shift and push together, tendons grinding as the wraith launches itself from the ground. A swishing, thumping noise fills my ears as it twists, swooping low over my head andup, spiraling into the void before it vanishes from sight.
Leo.
I stagger to my feet. At my back, my wings drape.
But there is no copper in them to stop me from flying. Not anymore.
I blink. And I see Deva, showing me a small nest that had taken residence in her garden as I trailed behind her, fidgeting and wondering when I’d be let free from my lessons. The tiny birds, fluffed and glistening, beaks opening and closing, had captured my attention.
They will fly,she had said gently. She had looked at me and smiled.One day, they will fall from the nest, and they will fly. It is how we all learn.
I don’t think.
My feet slam against the steps as I race up, across the deck and past Merrick. I don’t look back.If I am to be without a fate, without a Calling, then I claim this one for myself.
And I throw myself over the edge.
Chapter twenty-four
Callan
