Page 117 of Ship of Shadows
Tears pricked my eyes. I wasn’t safe. None of us were. And if we didn’t figure out how to get out of here by tomorrow morning, none of us would ever be again.
Chapter Fifty-Three
“Fuck,” Lochlan said, echoing what we were all feeling after I told them everything that happened with me and Goji.
Mia wrinkled her nose. “Goji? In love with the shadow king?”
Bastian scratched his jaw. “I think you misunderstood, love. She would’ve told me something like that. She didn’t even hardly know him.”
“I’m telling you, that’s what she said. That’s why she wants to leave so badly.”
Bastian still looked doubtful.
“And we have to do it by tomorrow morning.” Mal paced inside the tent where we all stood.
The rest of the crew was outside, playing with the boys, helping them make weapons, cleaning, cooking, while we tried to create a final plan.
Bastian, Mia, Kara, Mal, and I stood in Lochlan’s tent now, all of us looking at a new sketch he’d made of the island, this time on a piece of parchment, which was much easier to read than a picture in the dirt.
Mal’s hands bunched at his sides. “We need more time to solidify this plan. I know that necklace told Marian we have to use the light, that it’s the key to saving us, but I’m not sure light alone will be enough.”
“Goji should’ve just let the shadow king take Gabrielle’s shadow,” Kara said. “Then he wouldn’t be agitated, wouldn’t have any reason to worry about someone escaping him.”
“Goji made her choice,” I said. “And I promised her we’d help her escape.”
“Oh, great. Another person we somehow have to save.” Kara threw up her arms. “This is going splendidly.”
Bastian squeezed my hand under the table. He hadn’t let go of me since he’d found me on the ground just inside the entrance to the camp. I didn’t know if he’d ever let go of me again.
“This isn’t helping.” I directed my words at Kara, who just glared at the map. “We need to focus. We don’t have a lot of time, so let’s figure this out. The shadows are all over the island, right?”
Lochlan nodded as Mal still paced behind him.
Bastian cleared his throat. “You said that the shadows take days to bind to a person?”
I nodded, and he swore.
“I didn’t know that was how it worked,” Lochlan said. “I thought you grabbed your shadow and poof, you were reunited.”
“Apparently not,” I mumbled, staring at the map with furrowed brows. “Can we get to the shadow king?” I pointed to his castle on the map.
“That’s far too risky,” Bastian said. “We don’t know what kinds of powers he holds, how to get into his castle. We don’t have time to do that kind of reconnaissance. And from what Goji told you, it sounds like there’s much we don’t understand about this king, how long he’s been here, where his shadow people are.”
Damnit. He was right.
Mal’s lips flattened into a thin line, his hands behind his back.
Right then, a little boy burst through the tent, falling with a heap on the ground in front of us. He was only four years old. One of the priestess’s boys. It broke my heart that I might not be able to save him after all.
“Sorry, Princess.” He bowed, such a look of contrition on his face that I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my mouth.
“Arlon, what in the Dark Seas are you doing?” I asked as I knelt down to help him stand.
He looked down at his bare, dirty feet. “We’re playing treasure hunt,” he muttered, face red.
Everyone was smiling now, none of us able to help it.
“Are you winning?” I asked, then whispered in a playful tone, “Has anyone actually found their treasure?”
