Instantly, she felt an intense tugging sensation. She could see her life-threads being sucked from her fingers, but she fought her instinct to try to hold them inside her and let them rush into the stone.
Suddenly, the room lurched, and she was hurtling into darkness. Then she was floating, disembodied, in the void of nothingness. She concentrated, fighting the sensation that she was slowly dissolving into the emptiness around her.
Is it safe to land?
She had no idea if her question had been heard. She didn’t seem to have a mouth to speak it with. Then a glowing thread darted across the darkness, just as it had in her vision from the oracle. She became one with it, flowing along the tapestry of life until she came to a stretch of land shaped just like the beach in front of theArgo. Then, without any will of her own, she was drawn to the isthmus. She was no longer part of the picture but looking down on the scene from above. She watched the threads move like someone was constantly resketching the image in ever-moving lines of light. She drew closer and saw something imprinted on the isthmus that did not wash away as the tide lapped over it.
Three sets of handprints.
She was pulled out of the vision by the creak of the cabin door opening. She jerked her hand away from the stone. It felt as though someone had reached into her skull and yanked her out by her sinuses. She breathed through the nausea then shot a murderous look at the doorway.
Jason stood in front of her.
“I need an answer.”
“These things take time.” She flicked the hem of her dress over the stone.
“I am the captain of this ship.” Jason moved toward her, his left eye twitching. “You aremyseer.”
She cringed away from him.
At her expression, he faltered. “Please.” He ran a hand over his face. “I need the omens to be good.”
He was desperate. Lemnos had nearly cost him everything and they were about to run out of water. There was nothing in the vision that seemed obviously ominous, but she had no idea what it meant. Three sets of handprints could be anything.
“We should land on the beach.”
For a wild moment, he looked like he was going to kiss her, then he turned and launched himself onto the deck shouting, “The omens are in our favor! We land!”
She carefully wrapped the prophecy stone and stowed it back in her bag with unease in her heart.
Danae strode up the beach, her sandals crunching on the fine stones. The shore appeared deserted. A bleached cliff face guarded most of the mainland from view. Apart from a peppering of hardy shrubbery there wasn’t much in the way of vegetation. Everything about this place was sharp and inhospitable. There was even a dry, brittle quality to the air. She was glad of it after the soporific effects of Lemnos. She needed to keep a clear head.
The crew were all standing, and there were no darts in sight, but still her body sang with tension. She took a deep breath and felt for the energy of her life-threads. They answered her call, thrumming to the surface of her skin. It was comforting to test her connection to her power in case the vision turned out to be a warning after all.
She looked over at the isthmus, then her eyes were drawn to a collection of objects floating in the sea. The shapes were too angular to be seaweed. She went over to investigate and noticed there were more littered across the beach. When she reached them, she could see they were the planks of a ship, ripped apart and splintered.
“Argonauts, to me!” Jason thrust his sword into the rough sand, and the crew clustered around their captain, weapons in hand. He pointed to Ancaeus and three other men. “You four, take the empty barrels and find fresh water.” He turned to the twins. “Castor, Pollux scout the area. The rest of you, set up camp on the beach. We stay one night then we’ll be on our way.”
Danae hurried over to Jason. She kept her voice low. She had, after all, just claimed the omens were favorable. The last thing she wanted to do was to induce panic.
“Captain, there are what appears to be parts of a shipwreck further up the beach. Perhaps it would be wise to leave as soon as we’ve gathered supplies.”
Jason frowned. “You said the omens were good.”
“Yes, but—” she wanted to say he hadn’t given her much choice “—divination is not a precise art.”
From beyond the cliffs, a flock of birds scattered into the sky.
Jason looked at her with disdain. “Ships are wrecked all the time. It might even have been the same storm that caught theArgomonths ago.”
Gods, the man was infuriating.
“Jason!”
They both turned to see the twins running back toward the ship. Someone was chasing after them along the beach.
“Fall back, protect theArgo,” shouted Jason.
