Page 27 of Beneath the Starlight and Storms

After a moment of my silence, he sighs, exhaling his frustration, before answering me.

“From what I can gather from our little thief earlier and what I’ve sensed from the bracelet itself is that you can think of a building or group of people that share some sort of connection. The connection can be through bond, blood or a similar power.”

“Then how did the thief hide—”

“The thief was able to hide from the entire House of Trell because of the connection that House has with one another. A House doesn’t need to be of the same blood to form a connection. They’re family through a bond they share. He focused on that bond and was able to stay hidden from them all.”

Bond, blood or power…

Blood wouldn’t work as I needed it to expand larger than that. I had no bond that I could pull on like those in House Trell, so my best option was power.

They all had a similar power only a certain group of High Fae had. I could focus on that and in turnthem.

Wasting no more time, I focus on them and their powers. The one thing that joins them together as I try to activate the bracelet. I keep them in my mind and silently pray this works.

The bracelet heats, growing hotter before pulsing again. A flutter inside my chest spreads outward and a feeling of safety, similar to Neverland washes over me.

And somehow, I know that the bracelet heard my call and granted my wish.

“You’ve activated it,” Hook confirms. “Whatever you chose. It will now stay that way.”

I glance up, my stomach sinking at the look in his eyes. A look that has far too many questions in it.

“Tink…Who—?” He starts, but I pull my hand out of his and move a step back and clear my throat.

“What makes you think I won’t just run off now that I have what I need?” I quirk a brow.

The question does what I intended it to, making him lose that questioning stare and bringing a spark to his eyes.

“You mean apart from having to get past me and off this island?” he says with a cocky grin.

“Yes,” I grit out. “Apart from thatlittleissue.”

He chuckles low in his throat, his eyes lighting up with humor just like every other time I seem to let him get to me.

“Two reasons,” he says, straightening up.

“One. Not many people can do what I can. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that my talents are rare. There’s not one person in this city or the next that can do what I can, nor have I met anyone in any of the Realms I’ve come across.” There’s no smugness to his tone or expression. Just a surety in his voice, like it’s a fact of the matter.

“And in order to even attempt to push power into a relic like that, especially those already created by magic, you need to be able to match the frequency it’s on before binding it to you. Both of which are not easy feats,” he tells me.

“But all of which you can easily do?” I ask, as I piece together everything he’s just revealed.

“Exactly.” He gives me the smug look I was expecting moments ago and waits for me to speak.

There was just one little problem with his little revelation. I can agree that he’s probably the only one out there that can do everything he can, but I also knew for certain that there were others that could mimic certain abilities he had.

A Darling witch may not be able to manipulate, imbue and control a magical item, but they could cast a spell powerful enough to do what I needed.

So, all his little speech told me was that there’s not a Darling witch in this city and that if I needed to find one, I’d have to search further out.

But to even consider that, I’d first need to escape Hook and his fortress. And considering what I just found out about him and his abilities, I doubted it was going to be as easy to achieve as I originally thought.

But none of that should matter now. At least the part about finding anyone that can do what he can. I already had the bracelet, and it was charged and activated now.

Unless there was some catch, I was unaware of.

“You mentioned finding a more permanent solution? Why would I need it?” I ask.

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