The Wand & the Sea (17 page)

“Just show me.”

Avery took a deep breath, then turned the wand counterclockwise in a circle no wider than the mouth of the jug. The blue spark glowed from the tip, then turned indigo, and floated down into the jug. It was almost like fire and water combined. It glowed there briefly, beautifully, then hissed and disappeared.

Everett released his breath. “How did you do it?”

“I know not,” Avery said. “I made several turns with the wand, holding the scarf always, and all at once did I feel a sort of power grow within, and this beauty issued forth.”

“It
is
pretty cool,” Everett acknowledged. Then suddenly his chest felt quite hot, as if the skin were burning. He pulled the chain from inside his shirt. It was the locket. It glowed now, the water symbol pulsing with a blue light very like the one Avery had just conjured.

“Whence came this?” whispered the prince.

“I found it in the wood.” The gold cooled in Everett's palm to a pleasant warmth that soothed them in the dark hold. “It reacted to the wand. I think they're connected somehow.”

“The locket is magic as well,” said Avery. “Perhaps it has found its brother. Canst open it?”

“I've tried. It's stuck somehow.” Everett pulled at the catch with his thumbnail, but the locket held fast.

“Mayhap the wand can open it, as the Adept has done.” Avery circled the wand over the locket. The water symbol glowed blue again, but nothing else happened. “There was an incantation the Adept uttered in the king's dungeon—if I can only recall it—”

Everett remembered it, though it gave him a cold feeling in his chest when he thought about telling Avery. But so what? Holly didn't own the magic. And anyway, Avery probably couldn't even do the spell. Still, when he uttered the word, he whispered.
“Osclaígí.”

Avery nodded, then touched the wand to the locket.
“Osclaígí!”
he repeated. The word sounded different in his mouth, as if it belonged there.

The locket's catch sprang open.

It was a large brass compass with a lid, like a pocket watch. But unlike the compass on Holly's watch, which she used so faithfully whenever they entered the woods, this one had so many markings and such tiny writing that Everett could hardly read it. The needle spun around madly. “It must be faulty,” Everett said. “It's meant to settle on a direction.”

Avery took it in his hands. “Only look at the workings, Everett.”

The longer they stared at them, the more legible they became. When Everett squinted at them and brought the locket to his eye, suddenly he could see all sorts of things, as if he were looking through a microscope. One direction pointed to a sandy beach; another to an island whose coastline was ringed with impossibly high cliffs. Around the dial to the east, he even spied the king's castle. And something
moving
in front of the castle.

“Let me,” Avery said, and took the compass from him. He did the same thing Everett did, holding it to his eye like a spyglass. “Look here! I see Sir Pagett pacing before the gatehouse! But how can it be?”

Everett ran his fingers over the locket's gold face. It was warm, almost breathing. He glanced at Avery's hand, where he still held the wand tightly. He could see it trembling. “I think the wand is helping it, letting us see what's usually hidden.” He took the locket and peered at it again. Away to the southwest, something dark loomed on an open sea. An enormous ship with black sails. Rising from the ship were tendrils of black smoke, like Everett had seen in the wood. He pulled back and closed the lid of the compass.

“Can you not tarry a bit longer? I would see more of this instrument,” Avery said, looking sulky.

“We have to be careful. We don't know what we're dealing with.”
And we should let Almaric and Holly know,
he thought.
Before something bad happens.

“These two objects act in concert, Everett, and only we know how they work. We can learn more about them together, but only if we keep them secret. Are we in accord?”

Everett considered the black ship. He only saw it, he reasoned; he didn't create it. Besides, all sorts of ships must be roaming these seas. And the smoke was just some odd feature of the compass. Holly didn't own rights to all the magic in this world, and anyway, it wasn't like before, when an evil fairy creature was brainwashing him. “Right then, here's the deal,” he said at last. “I'll stay mum about the wand, but we'll learn how it works
together
. And Holly doesn't get hurt, clear?”

“I have no quarrel with Lady Holly. I only wish to know her better, to learn from her as well—in time.” Avery shifted his feet and looked down at them as if there was something to learn from the dank floor. “She does not favor me, I gather.”

Everett snorted. “I'd say that's a fair guess. If you want to be friends with her, with any of us, you can't be allied with the king.”

Avery looked up. “Then consider me a friend. For I swear the king to be my greatest enemy.”

A few mornings after they'd set sail, Holly stood on the deck of the
Sea Witch
, proud of her calm stomach and steady sea legs. She stood beneath the main staysail and gazed up at Kailani, who stood in the crow's nest with a spyglass to one eye. Holly thought she'd love to be like Kai, as she was called, at home on the sea, inspecting the sails and hull, giving orders to the crew. More than one of them stopped to watch her when she scrambled up the ratlines in her bare feet, her long black hair swinging down her back, but if she caught them staring, they busied themselves with swabbing or pulling on the braces. Holly leaned on the ratlines and nearly stumbled over Ben, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the ship's waist.

“Oggler taught me this trick,” said Ben. “Keep a low center of gravity. And keep an eye on the horizon. It's helping with the—you know. My stomach.”

“Which one's Oggler?”

“The guy with the eye patch. He's helping Pike at the steering wheel—I mean, the helm.” Ben pointed astern. Holly remembered Oggler. Pike was no more than seventeen, with short, curly brown hair. She double-checked his face for stubble to make sure she'd judged his gender right.

Kai waved at Holly from the crow's nest. “Come up, if ye've a mind to,” she called down.

“Do you think it wise?” asked Jade, who shadowed Holly's every move.

“I'll be okay.” Holly put her foot into the ropes.

She was used to climbing. At home she had topped every rock wall in town, even the forty-foot one at the giant sporting-goods store. Still, it was dizzying to see the deck shrinking the higher she went. Jade became a small black dot amidships as the wind puffed out the flapping spanker sail to her left. And even when Holly reached the crow's nest, she wasn't at the very top, where she spied another crew member hanging above the topsail.

“Too high for ye?” Kailani asked, grinning.

“I'm fine. It's beautiful up here.” Holly steadied herself against the ratlines. The stiff breeze blew back her hair, and tiny salt crystals peppered her glasses. “I can't believe how far we've come.”

“It's the sea portal. Only the captain knows where to open one. They're connected, one t'other, like tunnels. One portal will seek out another. Here, have a look.” Kai handed Holly her spyglass.

The sea stretched on forever. The masts creaked in the stiff breeze, the deck below looking not quite big enough to land on if she were blown off into the air. Holly wrapped one arm around the mast, feeling foolish as Kai stood holding on to nothing, and she scanned the horizon. It wasn't much to look at; only a straight line of unending blue, topped with whitecaps and leaping fish and—

“There!” she cried. On the southwestern horizon she spied a bump with little sticks poking out of it. They looked like trees. “I see land!”

Kailani's eyes widened and she took the spyglass from Holly. Her face went white beneath her tan. “That ain't land. That's a ship. Get below, Lady Holly. At once.” She cupped her hands and hollered down to the deck. “A sail, Captain! A sail!”

“But who is it?” Holly asked.

“Now, milady,” said Kai, and there was no disobeying her.

Holly backed down the ratlines, wondering who it was Kai could've seen. Below, the sailors ran to the rails, hollering about a ship. She kept her eyes fixed on her hands and the spanker sail until she felt the sun-warmed deck beneath her feet.

Ben stood peering out to sea. “Everybody's yelling about a ship. Could you see it? What'd it look like?”

“I could hardly see a thing,” Holly said. The ship pitched suddenly, and Holly lost her footing, bowling into the captain, who was striding across the deck.

Morgan nudged her aside. “Pike!” she hollered to the bridge. “Helm quarter to port! Hands aloft to loosen topsails. To the north, Kailani!” She jerked her head at Holly. “And you lot—down below. Now.”

Holly, Jade, and Ben followed the captain down the hatch and to the ship's mess, which was like the dining room. The rest of the new passengers had gathered around the small table.

“Is this about the ship we saw?” Holly asked. “Who is it?”

“Let's just say it's a party best avoided,” said Morgan grimly. “So we're stepping up our itinerary. That's where you come in, Lady Adept.”

“You propose to use Her Ladyship as a tool for navigation?” Ranulf asked.

Morgan glanced up sharply. “I've been sailin' for months lookin' for this island, to no avail. But I've since learnt of a legend: The Adepts can be found only by one o' their own.”

“It still seems strange,” said Holly, “that the king—or the Sorcerer—wants to find one of the Adepts that he sent away in the first place. They must have some kind of plan. What if we end up helping them?”

“Setting a horde of spell casters free won't give 'em any help, that's sure,” the pirate said, swigging a stein of rum. “And if he ever wants to see his own flesh and blood again, he'll pay handsome, as well.”

“You're gonna ransom the prince?” Ben asked, his eyes wide.

“What did you think?” Holly asked, trying to look like she knew exactly how a pirate's mind worked. “He's not here to join the crew.”

“True enough.” Morgan stared straight into Holly's eyes. “And he's takin' up rations as it is.”

Holly didn't quite know what to say to this.

“Have you contacted His Majesty?” Almaric asked.

“Aye, Crews was sent just afore we set sail.”

“Who's that?” Everett asked. “A page or something?”

Morgan snorted. “Ye'll meet him when he returns.”

Holly wondered how anyone could find them, especially if they were changing course, but at the captain's dark look she closed her mouth.

“Now then,” Morgan went on. “Adept navigation's got to be done at the right time. Kailani will wake ye tonight, at the end of first watch.” The captain pushed back from the table.

“But—” Holly started. She had no idea what Morgan meant.

Jade spoke up. “Captain, is Her Ladyship to steer the ship?”

“By the sea demon, she'll not be at
my
helm.” Morgan scowled. “Ye're there for the navigation, as I say.
Lady
.”

“But . . .” Holly looked at Almaric, who shook his head. “
How
am I supposed to navigate?”

“Ye'll do what the crew tells ye,” the captain said. “And see that ye steer us true. If ye don't fancy feeding the fishes, that be.” She left the mess hall, slamming the hatch behind her.

“Well!” Almaric said. “I never! The cheek!”

Jade pressed a warm paw to Holly's face, which had gone suddenly cold. “Are you quite well, Lady Holly?”

She tried to smile. “I guess so.” The truth was that a chill fingered down her back and through her toes, despite the stuffy mess hall, and her stomach heaved a little with the gentle pitch of the brigantine. The hull groaned.

“
I'm
not well,” Ben said. “It sounds like they're just going to point Holly out at the horizon, and if they don't find this island, they'll dump her overboard. In fact, it doesn't look good for any of us.” He paused. “Am I the only one who thinks we're more like prisoners than passengers on this boat?”

“But we conjured the ship, not the other way round,” Everett said. “Doesn't that put us in control?”

“No one controls the captain of the
Sea Witch
,” said Almaric. “We may have netted ourselves a bigger fish than we can stomach.”

Jade raised his whiskered eyebrows.

“Yes, all right. I realize I pushed the idea.” Almaric looked so upset that Holly patted his shoulder. “But we're here now. All we can hope is that our own desires will marry happily with the captain's.”