Page 32 of By the Flames of Her Fury

“I wonder how long it took Vera to get used to it,” I said, mostly to myself as I leaned my elbows on the railing and looked back to the water.

“You’re confident she’s actually out there, aren’t you?”

“It makes sense, when you think about it. You know what Milo said. All those magical messages I’ve sent haven’t reached her. She’s either in Mysthelm or up north, and Her Majesty has already used her connections to pry around Mysthelm to find her. This is the only place left.”

“I don’t want to make you feel worse, but have you considered the possibility that Vera got your messages and just didn’t write back? She’s been through a lot, Ev. I wouldn’t blame her for needing space.”

“And I’ve given it to her.” My voice was sharper than I intended, but I was tired of this conversation. “Something could be wrong, Tessa. For all I know, she could be—” I stopped myself. I couldn’t even think of that possibility. “She would have responded,” I said, tone softening. “You don’t know her like I do.”

There was a pause, then Tessa shifted to mimic my position against the rail. “Okay, I won’t ask again. I’m all in, I promise.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

She was quiet for a moment, until she added, “But I still refuse to be alone with Captain Stone Beard.”

I smirked. “I think you’re judging him too soon. The pipe adds mystery. I thought women liked that sort of thing.”

She smacked my arm. “Is that why you’re always so broody?”

Before I responded, a crewmember called out, “Rock sighting, bearing straight ahead!”

The atmosphere immediately shifted. Deckhands rushed to the nearest rail to try and glimpse what lay ahead. We all knew how significant this moment was. Only a handful of people in existence had ever ventured this far north, and the air was filled with mingled excitement and trepidation.

In the distance, the sea turned dark and restless instead of crystalline, with mist swirling low across the water. The fog smeared the blue horizon in gray, hazy streaks. Then shapes emerged. Black, jagged, imposing shapes. A row of broken rocks hovered above the surface like the spine of some ancient beast. I gripped the rail tighter and leaned forward to get a better look. When a rough, gravelly voice appeared right behind me, I nearly launched myself over the side.

“There she is, boy,” Captain Rossa growled, nodding ahead with his pipe. “Yer Shattered Spine.”

14

Everett

Wind and salt water sprayed in my face as the Shattered Spine loomed closer. That same gray mist clung to the water, revealing vicious stone reefs that jutted from the surface. Geysers of steam hissed between them. When I squinted through the fog, I saw glowing red veins snaking up the rocks where molten heat came from beneath the surface.

“Fates,” Tessa muttered. I’d seen the jaguar Shifter face mutated Veridians and monsters alike without so much as a wince, but this had her features turning ashen.

The Grand Dragon of the Sea shuddered as she turned to a small gap between the rocks. The change in angle brought the first line of reefs into sharper view. They were taller than even our ship. Massive and craggy, each one bulging up out of the shallow water, waiting to snag our hull.

“Tell me again why we can’t just go around this thing?” Tessa asked.

“Can’t skirt the edge if yeh don’t know where the edge is,” Rossa said around his pipe, puffing out a stream of smoke.

Tessa squinted at him. “What does that even mean?”

“The Shattered Spine goes on for thousands of miles,” I explained, picturing the maps I’d perused. “We would be out at sea for weeks simply trying to find where it ends. The smartest, most efficient way is to go through, not around.”

“Yeh,” Rossa grunted. “That’s what I said.”

As if summoned by his words, a geyser exploded from a vent up ahead, sending steam into the air. Sweat beaded at my temples.

It was eerily silent. The ship came upon the first narrow strip of rock, with shadows from the reefs on either side casting towering silhouettes over the deck. My gaze snagged on one long, skinny stone spearing up from the water, as sharp as a dagger. My stomach rolled when I saw what hung from it.

“Somebody please tell me that’s not what I think it is,” Tessa said, pointing a finger at it.

A human chest was skewered on the end of the rock. Bits of old fabric clung to decayed bones, parts of its body hanging on by mere threads of flesh and sinew. Birds pecked at what was left of the skull. Beyond the dead man was the remains of a shipwreck—splintered wood, pieces of a hull, shredded sails. Wind whistled by, cooling the back of my neck as we slowly, slowly sailed past it.

The first impact came from below. A sickening grind reverberated through the hull, and Tessa and I both grabbed the rail as the deck jolted.

“What was that?” I demanded.