Sixteen
Ice-cold water lapped at Erinna’s ankles. The chill clawed through her skin and settled into her bones until the rest of her body felt stiff and numb. Erinna stood in a glade, surrounded by a night-steeped forest. Inky dark water reflected a moonless sky painted with streaks of shining stars. Everything was eerily still and quiet.
Even as Erinna surveyed her surroundings, the water barely rippled at the perturbation. The stillness in the air crept into her lungs as she took in quick, panicked breaths.
I shouldn’t be here, she thought. Terror flooded her veins as the memory of her childhood nightmare returned, piercingly clear. It had been ten years since she last dreamed of this place.I grew out of this.
Erinna tried to will herself awake—pinched her cheeks painfully, and squeezed her eyes shut in desperation, hoping that when she opened them she’d be back in the small room next to a sleeping Inez. They had been placed in a small hut together, and Erinna would give anything to be back in that reality.
The attempt was futile. Nothing changed. She was stuck in the same eerie place that used to bring tears to her eyes as a child and make her wish she’d never have to sleep again.
Then she heard it. Soft, soul-rattling sobbing somewhere just beyond the forest edge. It was her.
Erinna’s chest constricted as she frantically searched for a place to hide.
The trees, she could run to the trees and hide among their shadows. Erinna took a step, legs prepared to sprint, but she was too late. The Weeping Queen had emerged.
Erinna spun around, ready to flee, but the Weeping Queen was already there. She whirled in every direction—the Weeping Queen blocked every path. There was no escape.
The Weeping Queen drifted closer with slow, lethal grace. Darkness shrouded her features, the edges of her form blended with the night itself. She wore a once regal gown that swept across the water’s surface. A crown of jagged glass adorned her brow, its sharp spikes pressing into delicate, pale skin. Dried black ichor left streaks down her temples.
It was the same as last time. In all those years, the nightmare never changed. The Weeping Queen sobbed into the darkness, gliding across the lake where she would disappear into shadows once more.
Erinna went deathly still. Do not engage. Do not interact. If she didn’t make a sound, if she didn’t alert the wraith to her presence, the Queen would pass her by and leave her be. Unmoving. Unseen. A deep, primitive version of Erinna knew that stillness meant survival.
The sobbing grew louder as the Weeping Queen neared. Then, she was finally within reach. Her shoulder a step away from Erinna’s own.
It would be over soon, Erinna tried to calm herself. But then the Queen stopped. In every iteration of this nightmare, the Weeping Queen always passed her by—until now. She turned to face Erinna, and with frail, bony hands she lifted her shadowy veil.
Tears streamed down a hauntingly beautiful face with black hollowed eyes.
“You came back,” she croaked, an inhuman, guttural sound. “I’ve missed you.” The Weeping Queen wrapped a hand around Erinna’s throat, blocking her airway. Sharp, bony fingers pressed into Erinna’s skin and lifted her off her feet.
It wasn’t supposed to go like this. Erinna thrashed against the hold, hands clawing against the Weeping Queen’s arm, legs kicking at her person. None of her blows were strong enough to make her attacker flinch. The Weeping Queen squeezed harder.
This isn’t real. This isn’t real. This isn’t real.She tried desperately to clutch control of her sleeping mind. Erinna opened her mouth to scream and gasp for air as the Queen’s fingers pressed harder against her throat. Erinna was met with nothing but pain and silence.
A tremor went through her shoulders, her body shaking against the hold. Erinna’s vision hazed before she was ripped away from unconsciousness. A pair of wild eyes met hers as Erinna jolted awake. Inez was crouched above her, hands still gripping Erinna’s shoulders.
“You stopped breathing,” she said, fear laced in every word as she held Erinna upright.Stopped breathing, that’s new,Erinna thought, trying to ease her pounding heart.
“I’m fine.” Erinna patted Inez’s hand in assurance before reaching to prod her own neck where she could still feel the remnants of ghostly fingers, sore but physically uninjured. The cycle was starting again. If there was one thing Erinna could count on, it was that once the Weeping Queen made an entrance to her nightmares, she wouldn’t go away that easily.
The last time she saw her was the last time she’d felt her Talent. Now, ten years later, both were coming back. Why now? Why was all of this happening now?
Her mind swam with a mixture of fatigue and adrenaline. Her gaze drifted to the mark on her forearm. It was too much to be a coincidence. Somehow, the curse and the resurgence of the Queen, her nightmare, were related. Were all the afflicted stuck in nightmares of their own? Was she just the lucky one who got to wake up?
“I’ll get some tea.” Inez was out of the room before Erinna had a moment to protest. She groaned, pressed her back against the wall, and tried to settle into some sort of normalcy. The Weeping Queen was not a stranger to her, but deep down, she could feel the small prickle of Talent. A sleeping serpent that finally woke after years of slumber. Erinna didn’t care for it.
“Rise and shine, stowaway!”The thin walls barely buffered Lila’s voice. Erinna startled awake from her restless slumber and quickly checked the space beside her. The mat where Inez slept was empty.
Erinna rubbed the sleep from her eyes and scrambled to prepare for the day. It felt unreal to her. Like she was in some sort of nightmare or a test in the afterlife to determine the heaven or hell she deserved. Her family was cursed, and she was working with a pirate to find answers.
She looked at her hand, remembering that feeling of arcanum as they made the deal. The sensation was carved into her memory. Erinna had heard of deals like that. Magical pacts of compulsion. They were much more common in the north. That was what her father said. Pacts like that were deemed a vulgar misdirection of magic, according to the academy. Butshe was also something vulgar and tainted, according to them. Fitting, she supposed.
“Kane says you’re on ship duty.” The woman watched from her towering height as Erinna pulled on her boots.
“I guess you’re on babysitter duty?”
