Page 50 of Ozma

“An enchanted object.”

He leveled a stare at the back of Tik-Tok’s head. “You don’t say.”

“I’d prefer to saynothinguntil we get there,” he replied casually, but the implication was clear.Shut the fuck up.

Jack balled his hands into fists. He would listen, not because he was afraid of the fae, but because Ozma’s life depended on it. If he were being honest, Tik-Tok’s plan was smart. Put one of them in danger to guarantee the other behaves.Fucking asshole. He bit his tongue and trudged farther into the woods.

Orkland wasn’t a huge island judging by the maps he’d seen, but that was in comparison to all of Oz. It could take days to cross it for all Jack knew. It had taken one just to find the Wizard, but there was no telling how far from the other coasts they were.

The longer they walked, the worse the forest became. The skeletal trees with dripping fruit slowly lessened. In their place stood rotting stumps covered in black sludge. Each stump was hollow except for more stagnant goop, and the bark that was left clinging to the outside protruded in jagged strips. Tiny flies floated, dead, on the surface.

The ground was soggy beneath Jack’s boots, and he’d never been so glad of his worn footwear. With the sun nearly gone, Tik-Tok hurried his pace, causing the thick liquid to splash up onto their pant legs.

In front of him, Tik-Tok kicked something from his path. A skull skidded across the ground in front of Jack, cracked and covered in muck, with pointed teeth.

Fucking hell.

There would be no getting this stench out—especially if it was partially made of dead bodies. He would have to burn his clothes after this. Perhaps it was better that he wouldn’t be able to see much going forward. He could pretend the ground was made of fertilizer after a heavy rain and the smell was simply rotting pumpkins. Nothing new there.

“Your power is rather handy,” Tik-Tok said conversationally, breaking the silence that had lasted uncomfortably long. He slowed to walk beside Jack instead of in front of him. “Can you do anything else?”

Jack shrugged. He wasn’t aware fae regularly had multiple abilities, but if they did, he wanted to find out what else he was capable of.Later.

“Hmm.” Tik-Tok’s eyes practically glowed with the last rays of sunlight. “It’s a new power for you—that’s why you exhausted it so quickly—so maybe you’ll come into more later. You’re young yet.”

“Not that young,” Jack grumbled.

“No? A decade past maturity, I’d guess.”

Accurate, you kelpie scum.“It’s really none of your business.”

“I’m approaching my first century now. By the time I was your age, I had at least three abilities. My first was feeling weather before it happened—quite useful on the sea. Then I—”

“What happened to not talking?” Jack snapped. Hewascurious about what else this asshole fae could do, but he was more concerned with finishing their quest without attracting any of the rotting creatures.

“You piqued my curiosity, but fine. That’s our destination.” He pointed to the lone silhouette of a tree.

It was free of both fruit and leaves, its branches reaching skyward in perfectly straight angles. As they approached, Tik-Tok took an orb from the pouch at his waist. It lit up in his palm, casting them and the immediate area in a soft white glow. The orb highlighted the razor-sharp edges of the branches and the rough, gritty texture of the bark. The tree was variegated brown and white instead of solid black like the ones on the rest of the island.

“Okay,” Jack said slowly.

Tik-Tok motioned to a round knot jutting from the middle of the trunk. “Use your magic to open this and take the object inside.”

Jack crossed his arms. Telling him how low his powers were seemed like a fucking horrible idea. The pirate had implied that he knew Jack was running low, but notthislow. He wouldn’t be able to defend himself for long if anything went wrong, but why give him the advantage ofknowingthat? “Why can’t you do it? Hack at it with an axe or something.”

“Hack at it with an axe,” he repeated mockingly. “As if I haven’t spent years trying to crack it open? Oz spelled it against me and my crew specifically to ensure my loyalty.”

“Why does it feel like it’s better to leave this thing where it is?”Because it probably is.

“It’s mine,” Tik-Tok said through a false smile. “And I want it back.”

Jack hesitated. The enemy of his enemy wasn’t his friend … but they could be temporary allies. Whether he was lying about the object or not wasn’t important. They needed to kill Oz, then get the hell off this island. Not that he had much choice in helping if he wanted Ozma safe.

“And the thing inside will get us into Oz’s house?” Jack asked.

“It will,” he replied with a stiff nod.

Jack licked his lips. There should be enough magic for the task, but he wasn’t sure how much would be left to fight the Wizard afterward. Especially if he had to share it with Ozma—however that worked. But no one would be fighting Oz if they couldn’tgetto him. Jack sighed and lifted his arm.

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