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“Because that’s what you do when you’re trying to be friends with someone. Not that we’re friends, but…in fact, I didn’t know what I was thinking,” I whisper. I need more of that ambrosia for this conversation. It’s already wearing off.

“It’s probably the same reason I fixed this for you.” He pulls the locket, my gold locket from my parents, and dangles it in the middle of us. “It’s fixed. I couldn’t restore it completely, but I managed to mend the shape of the locket back and add a new chain for you. It seemed like it was important somehow.”

“Thank you,” I whisper, taking it from his hand and stepping up to him. The necklace rattles and it is locked; I can’t open it anymore. “I mean it, thank you. It was my parents’ and I don’t have much left of them…but this. It’s stupid, when it’s just a locket, but it makes me feel closer to them.”

“What happened?” His question is gentle. I didn’t know he could be gentle.

I know it’s the drink; I know it’s the fact he fixed this locket for me, but I end up telling him about the worst night of my life. “I was fifteen when they joined a new rebellion, aimed at poisoning the royal family from within the walls of the castle. My uncle—well, he wasn’t my blood relative but like an uncle to me—worked in there, and my father was very skilled at cooking, himself, and he tended a garden for a big home in the noble district. He was growing poison. I didn’t know any of it until I was woken up one night by my uncle, and he took me to see. I watched as they cut the bones from my parents’ bodies on the wall, every bone and the light of their souls, and made two new lanterns on the wall. They were the first to join the original rebellion souls,” I whisper. “I watched everything, and I didn’t move. I will never unsee it, I will never understand why they risked their lives and left”—I almost say us but stop myself—“me alone.”

“I’m sorry.” I feel how much he means it. “I am so sorry. No child should see that.”

“They said the king himself killed them, and he took hours to do so in front of his royal court.” I lower my head. “My uncle was never seen again. I had nothing…and no one to tell me why. They were just called heretics and enemies to the nobles. Heroes to the Stilts in secret. I’m glad my uncle dragged me out in the middle of the night to watch them on the wall, to see it. It forced me to grow up, it forced me to be tough because I saw what happened.”

“What are these?” I tap his neck, needing the distraction before I start to cry. “They’re markings, but why are they all over your neck? What do they stand for?”

“That’s something only my family has. Like Freckles and Chaos and Tracker with their names,” he explains. “My family is born with the crown.”

Until he says it, I never saw it as a crown. He lifts his chin so I can see the markings and how it’s a crown around his neck.

“Now, can I put the necklace on you?” Ren asks, holding the necklace out. “And then you will get some rest while I read my new book.”

He likes the book, then. A warm feeling spreads in my chest.

“Yes.” I lift my hair up with my hand and turn around between his legs. His fingers drift across my throat as he pulls the necklace around my neck, and I close my eyes. For a second, I swear he smells my hair before I turn around and look at him. Really look at him, at every groove or blemish on his perfect face. At the freckle on his left cheek, at the light scruff of hair on his jawline that I’ve not seen often. I lift my hand and touch his pointed ear, and he shivers, his hands gripping my hips. I want him closer. My eyes drift to his lips, and I think he is looking at mine, too. “You’re really handsome.”

“And you’re beautiful even when you’re drunk.” He lifts me away and points at the bed. “You need to drink the water and then get into bed before you pass out on my floor or throw up.”

“I’m not going to throw up.” I grimace as I feel sick. Okay, he might be right.

“Bed,” he demands, and I face-plant onto the bed with a yawn. He picks me up, cursing, and tucks me into the sheets that smell like him. I curl up in a ball, watching him click his fingers and make the lights go off one by one. My eyes drift shut, and seconds later, I feel his fingers drifting down my cheek. “I’ve waited so long for you, and it was all worth it.”

Chapter

Eighteen

There’s an odd sound in my ears, like a tapping and a song mixed in one, humming away. I blink my eyes open to the quiet ship, the humming growing louder by the second. Limi is sitting up, wide awake, and she turns to me with her haunting pink eyes like she knew I’d wake up. Her eyes are not the only thing glowing in the dimly lit room; my map is lit up across my chest.

“Danger’s on the ship,” Limi whispers into my mind. “I will stay with you for as much as I can, but this is your trial, map bearer. Not his or mine.”

His? I look across and see Ren’s in bed with me, and I’m shocked. I’ve never caught him actually sleeping in the bed, and here he is, shadows like a blanket across his stomach and legs, and he’s breathing deeply, his shirt gone and his arm bent as he sleeps on it. “Ren,” I call, shaking his shoulder. “Ren, wake up, something is wrong!” He doesn’t stir, he doesn’t even budge a little. “REN!”

“He won’t wake. None of them will ever again if you do not get the key from this realm,” Limi interrupts. “We have slipped from our world and into something more.”

I climb out of the bed and go to the window next to my side of the bed, looking out at the thick, dark fog that hovers on the still water. There is nothing out there but fog for an endless number of miles, and the ship is not moving. It feels frozen in the water. I look down to see a stream of fog on the floor, leading from my feet to the closed doors. I have a feeling I need to see where the fog is going, so I throw on my boots and cloak.

My heart races as I look at Ren one more time and begin my walk following the fog, every bit of it disappearing under my feet with each step. I find Tracker fast asleep right outside the door, alongside Wyatt, like they were talking and then just stopped to sleep. I reach down and check they are both breathing, which they are. Everyone is asleep. I rise up, shaking my head as I look at Limi. “Why are they sleeping? What is going on?”

Limi doesn’t answer, but I get the feeling it’s a choice, not just because she can’t tell me. “If I die, do you die?”

“Yes,” she purrs into my mind.

“Well, try answering me, then, so I stay alive,” I mutter to her. She just looks up at me with unblinking eyes.

“Stop being stupid, then.” I blow out a breath at her snarky answer. “As long as they don’t eat my mind, I’m fine to survive this.”

“What do you mean, eat your mind?” I snap.

“They put people to sleep and they eat their minds in this realm. There are realms in this world, pockets of reality that the witches once ruled and used to punish the wicked. The witches are nothing anymore, and these monsters are free to pull the unsuspected into their realms without fear of punishment. But you? You came here for the key. That’s what they do in this place. But this crew”—she looks around the ship—“knew what they were going into, well, everyone but you.” Limi yawns. “Every minute, the creature in this realm is feeding on your crew, Miriam. What are you going to do?”