“It’s Alvyrjax,” she said, practically beaming.
My eyes darted between them, wondering whether she was serious. The blush creeping up Jax’s neck suggested it was true.
“If that was my name,” I said dryly, “I’d go by Jax, too.”
Oasis and Jax both stared at me—then burst out laughing.
“I like this one,” she said. Turning to me, she added, “I hope you don’t die.”
“I’m hoping that, too,” I said, realizing Jax had stopped laughing.
“Show her,” Jax urged, sounding sober.
Oasis produced not a flask from her coat, but a compass. She held it out to me, crossing the invisible line into my half of the cabin.
I stared at it in her palm, reluctant to touch it until I understood what I was looking at. And rightly so. This object was clearly magical. I could sense a pulse of wild chaos that matched the ticks of its shifting arrow.
When Oasis cleared her throat impatiently, I took it from her.
“Why did I think an enchanted map showed the way to the Hidden Isle?” I murmured, wondering what else the crew had misled me about. Everyone was always talking about a map.
“The maps are a decoy,” Oasis explained, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “We’re hardly the only pirates who want the thing.”
I turned over the compass, befuddled when the dial began to spin in complete circles.
“It’s an ornery thing, as magical objects go,” Jax said. “It only shows the right direction four times a day.”
“How did you get it?”
“Do you really want to know?”
I looked up at Jax, scrutinizing him. Try as I might, I couldn’t read the open and earnest expression he wore, except as one brought on by too much rum.
“It would be helpful,” I replied.
“It was headed for Dewspell on one of the ships we raided.” He scratched the underside of his chin. “It’s how this whole mess began.”
“But how did you know it would lead you to the Hidden Isle?”
“I didn’t. I only knew it had powerful magic on it, and that I wanted to puzzle it out. Figured it must lead somewhere good.” He paused, patting his chest until a belch came out.
“Charming.” I curled up my lip in a sneer.
“I did promise to be a gentleman,” he mused, sounding like he was genuinely weighing this rather than making a quip. “Oasis, have I ever been a gentleman?”
“Of course not. You’re a gutter rat through and through.”
“Surely I used to have better manners.”
“Only when your mother was alive.”
I paused, not daring to look up. I had guessed she was no longer of this realm, but I’d also gathered how important she was to Jax. Even so, I didn’t expect to feel this much sympathy for him.
I wasn’t close to my mother—the gods knew she never went out of her way to visit since I left home, even missing my graduation ceremony—but I couldn’t imagine losing her. For one thing, Aegle was a stronger, safer place while she could still handle a sword and spear. Theworldwas safer with a shield-maiden like her, able to dispatch scores ofdraugr, the walking dead Haakon the Harbinger tried to invade Aegle with, singlehandedly.
“Alas, my social graces are yet another thing fallen by the wayside,” Jax said, holding out his hand for the flask.
“More like tossed overboard.” Oasis took a swig before returning it…empty.
