Alessandra glances between us, one eyebrow raised. “Is everything okay?”
“Fine.” I force brightness into my tone. “Just... give us a minute?”
She hesitates, then nods. “I’ll be in our suite.”
Once she’s gone, Nina guides me to a quiet corner near the windows.
“Is this about Oliver?” I try to sound light and casual, as if I’m not falling apart inside.
“It’s about all of them.” Her dark eyes hold mine. “Because I know you don’t believe the official story any more than I do.”
My practiced smile falters. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean that you don’t believe they left voluntarily,” she says, her sharp gaze unwavering. “Neither do I. Oliver wouldn’t leave without talking to you or Evie first. He was too...” She pauses, searching for the word. “Considerate.”
Considerate.That’s one way to describe someone who remembered everyone’s coffee order, who noticed when people were struggling before they knew it themselves, and who asked me to be his emberlinked partner because he trusted me, even if he never loved me like I loved him.
“He wouldn’t leave without telling Jade, either,” I hear myself say, and there’s an edge to my voice I can’t quite control.
She studies me for a long moment. “Meet me at 10:30 tonight at the Crone Chamber,” she finally says.
I should say no.
But Oliver is dead. I know it in my bones, even if I can’t prove it, and someone in charge is lying about why.
“Okay.” The word comes out before I can stop it.
Nina nods once, sharp and decisive. Then she turns and walks away, disappearing into the crowd like she was never here at all.
JADE
The Straitof Scylla and Charybdis. This is our only way home.
Ever since leaving Circe’s island, Evie’s been running us through the details of Scylla’s reach, Charybdis’s pull, and the narrow window of time we’ll have to thread between them.
But when we round the final outcropping and the strait opens before us, my stomach plummets through the deck.
The channel’s maybe a quarter mile of water squeezed between two massive cliffs, which doesn’t seem nearly wide enough to give us space to evade two monsters. Although, I suppose being forced to choose which monster to face is the entire point.
It’s a shitty point, but as I gaze ahead, it becomes undeniably real.
“The barrier’s active.” Logan’s at the front of the ship, his eyes fixed ahead. “I can feel it pressing against the hull. There’s no going around it.”
Right. There’s a barrier surrounding the strait that makes it impossible to travel forward any other way than sailing between two monsters determined to kill anything that gets near them. Because of course there’s a barrier. Of course we don’t have achoice. Well, we have a choice between two monsters, but again, it’s areally shittychoice.
Kieran moves to stand next to Logan, quiet as he scans the cliffs.
“Quick recap.” Evie’s in mission mode, ticking points off on her fingers. “Charybdis cycles every eight hours, but she also activates when boats pass directly over her. A faster ship could clear her zone quickly enough to outrun the pull, but we’re working with sails and oars—not an engine. Which leaves us with Scylla. Six heads, each with an approximately twelve-foot reach beyond her cave opening. She’s fast, aggressive, and will strike the moment we’re in range.”
Callie positions herself at the wheel. “The oars are locked and ready in case we need to maneuver fast. We’re sailing just right of center—as far from Scylla as possible without activating Charybdis. The farther we are from her, the harder it will be for her to strike.”
Evie nods—she and Callie have been getting along surprisingly well so far this journey—then turns to the rest of us again. “I’ll maintain a heat shield to deflect Scylla’s blows, hopefully giving her some burns from Hell in the process.”
Kieran draws one of his swords, the blade catching what little light filters between the cliffs. “The rest of us stay ready to fight in case Scylla breaks through Evie’s shield.”
Nods all around.
“Full speed ahead,” Callie says, and we enter the strait.
