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His face lit with a boyish grin that I’d never seen before. He gripped my shoulders, and the excitement in his forget-me-not blue eyes was infectious. I returned the smile, and he crushed me to his chest.
“There’s no time to waste. Neverland has been waiting too long. Now that we have the ruby, how do we use it?”
My heart stuttered, beating erratically in my chest. I told James that the secrets of the ruby would reveal themselves the moment I held it in my hand. I assured him of this. But aside from detecting the vortex of energy that swirled around the stone, the way to harness it remained a mystery to me.
“Well, we should probably get a few things in order before we go. We need to be prepared.” I stalled, gnawing on my lower lip as my mind raced. Admitting to him I didn’t have the answers I’d promised felt like an utter failure. James had proclaimed his love for me, but a dark part of me whispered that his affections might change if I didn’t prove useful.
He nodded absently, toying over my words, his eyes distant and calculating as he stroked his short, sun-bleached beard. “Do you want to see where I found it?”
“Huh, what?”
“Come with me. I should show you what else I found on the ship.” I grabbed his large hand and tried my best to pull him to his feet. He didn’t move in the slightest, but it was enough to refocus his attention on me. “Come on. You’ve waited years for Neverland. She can wait a few more minutes. We have our whole lives ahead of us.”
This pulled another smile from his lips, and my breath caught in my throat. Paralyzed by the sight of him. He hadn’t smiled nearly enough. It was something I would never grow tired of seeing. My future—wrapped in a happy and dangerously handsome package.
“You’re right. Show me what new mysteries you’ve uncovered.”
I gripped a polished silver candelabra tightly, hoping James wouldn’t notice my hand shaking as I led him into the bowels of the ship. My mind was reeling, trying to determine how I could make the ruby work for him. But the harder I concentrated, the further away the answers seemed to be.
I pushed the nagging thoughts from my mind and focused on the task at hand. We followed the same path I’d taken earlier while searching for food. A gnawing in my stomach and the promise of an evening reveling in our newfound freedom had been more than enough incentive to scour the ship. But now that seemed like a lifetime ago.
We approached the familiar door, another piece of the puzzle waiting just behind it. Years of neglect had rusted the hinges, making it nearly impossible for my slight frame to open. I pushed my shoulder against the solid wood and with a groan, it gave way.
Candlelight illuminated the grim scene as the musty scent hit me. It was a peculiar smell—one of decay that lingered in the air, even though the men who sat around the center table had been long since dead. It was an echo of the stench that must have once filled this room.
The three of them were little more than parched skin pulled tight over their skeletal remains. A moment frozen in time. As though they’d been in casual conversation when their souls were ripped from their bodies.
“Did you find yourself in Davy Jones’ locker?” James breathed, his cunning eyes taking in the small room. It was starkly appointed, the only furniture being the table and chairs. There weren’t portholes this far below deck, and the dark wood paneling gave the feel of a cave.
More curious than the dead pirates were the rubies that covered the table they sat around. Each one was a perfect replica of the Heart of the Divine that James now clutched in his hand. Their identical cores swirled with a specter of false magic. The convincing decoys were nothing more than pretty paperweights used to disguise the true ruby.
“Do these stones speak to you, too?”
“No. These are all fakes. If you cannot feel the vibration of power in the true ruby, then you would never be able to tell one from the other.”
“Manann, you tricky bastard.” James walked around the table, fingering the maps and books that lay strewn amongst the gemstones. “This looks like the captain’s log,” he said, fingering the frail, discolored pages of a leather-bound book.
Journal of the voyage, by Divine permission, in the good ship, Jolly Roger, entered by acting Captain Starkey, as our prior captain hath succumbed to the beasts that lurk in the deep. This may well be my last entry as we have depleted the food stores. There are but three of us left out of the crew of two hundred. These are dismal odds, and we are no closer to finding the Heart of the Divine than we were the day we set sail from the safe harbors of Patreyus.
We were once proud fae of the first realm, but now we toil in this otherworldly place that teeters on the ley lines. All the while, piles of rubies mock us. If only the Captain hadn’t been such a cynical prick and had confided the true nature of the stone to at least one of us, maybe we wouldn’t be starving with our salvation hiding right before our very eyes. The quest is all but lost. Signing off for what may be the last time, may the Divine have mercy on our souls.
James read the passage aloud, shedding light on the mystery of this ship and those who inhabited it. Now, there was no question; the Jolly Roger, as they’d called it, was not of this realm. I stared at the skeletal remains in awe, feeling very small in their presence, wondering what they had seen throughout their lives.
“You truly are a magnificent thing, Katherine,” James started, breaking the spell and bringing me back to reality. “These fae, even with all of their magic, couldn’t determine which stone would save them. And you, a mere mortal, were able to see it instantly. You truly are my diamond in the rough… or should I say, ruby?”
I blushed fiercely under his praise, but it wilted quickly. I wanted nothing more than to please him. My inability to tap into the power of the ruby nagged at me. What would he think of me when I confessed the truth of my inadequacies? My anxiety unfurled in my chest and tightened around my fundamentally defective heart.
“Thank you,” I whispered as he looked at me expectantly.
“It’s such a shame that we’ll have to leave the ship behind, but it would be an impossible feat,” he continued, idly tossing our ruby and catching it in his fist. Casually holding a world of power in his hands. “If only we had a few more men to put her out to sea. She’d make a mighty fierce presence in Neverland.” The words no sooner left his lips than those sinister whispers became a roar in my head.
I pressed my fingers into my temples. The noise filled my ears with chaos for a moment, and then—deafening silence. I peered up at James to see if he’d heard it too, but he seemed oblivious, fixated on the ruby as if staring at it would unlock its secrets.
I jumped when a clacking filled the space, and this time, James heard it, too. Both of us tensed at the sound. My eyes caught on the corpse nearest me and watched in abject horror as his dangling jawbone became animated. It rose from where it had fallen on the dead man’s chest and clicked back into place. James pulled his cutlass, grabbed my arm, and tucked me behind him. I peered out from behind him, unable to look away. The click and pop of bones realigning was a sickening sound. The sunken, discolored skin of the corpses rejuvenated, their bodies returning to the vigor of life before our eyes.
The corpse across the table pulled in a deep, wheezing breath, exhaling a plume of dust before his eyelids popped open. I had to remind myself to breathe as intelligent, amber eyes regarded me from across the room.
“You can put that down now, boy. You have nothing to fear from us,” the fae said, his voice a rich, sophisticated baritone. With his grey-streaked hair neatly pulled back, he exuded an air of refinement that was only enhanced by his well-tailored clothes. He looked more like a gentleman than a pirate.
