Page 42 of Lethal Souls

I know exactly where it is thanks to the coordinates Callista left on my desk.

“I’ve never been able to afford enough petrol to make it that far. Good thing this ship’s loaded with it,” Boro had said when I told him where we were headed.

He’s intrigued. The whole crew is, and though they know the dangers, they have no idea what may come for them once I set foot on that island.

I lift my binoculars to get a better look ahead. As expected, I spot a blip in the distance.

From where I stand, the island is a dark, jagged shadow. But the closer we get, the more I realize exactly why the name stands.

Mountains have been birthed from the land, and they stand tall and spiked, lined haphazardly with fiery orange lava.

There isn’t a single bird in the sky, a single organism, a single soul…except for the one I’m meant to wake.

A Regal.

The only kind of being meant to survive an island so perilous.

I lower the binoculars and step down from the pedestal as Captain Boro steers the ship left, facing the island head on.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is it that you hope to find on this island, Monarch?” Boro asks, eyeing me. A few of his men drift by, working the halyards and sails.

“If I tell you, you won’t believe me,” I say, walking past him to collect my bag.

“Oh, there are a lot of things I believe in. I’ve traveled these seas for many years, Monarch Harlow. More years than you’ve been alive. I’ve seen all kinds of sea beasts, but I knew better than to go looking for Inferno Isle. Can’t imagine the beasts lurking these waters, but if I’m lucky, maybe I’ll catch one and take it back to Blackwater. Sell it for enough rubies to retire.” Boro breaks out in a hearty chuckle while I sling my bag over my shoulder.

“I’ve got fifteen grandchildren and they—” Boro’s sentence is abruptly cut off as something bumps into the ship and rocks it sideways.

I stumble, gripping the ledge as one of the crew members in the crow’s nest yells, “We’ve got incoming, Captain!”

Captain Boro grins at me as he allows one of the other crew members to take over the wheel. “Must be my lucky day.”

The ship rocks again, and with it, I feel a prickling in my mind. It’s familiar and, frankly, annoying.

I know exactly who is attacking the ship.

A blur of purple sweeps past the ship, and the whole thing comes to a screeching halt. I stagger forward, slamming into one of the posts and sliding as the ship careens frontward.

“Caspian!” Korah shouts.

“What the bloody trench is that?” Boro hollers as he hangs on to a thick rope.

The ship continues tipping. If I don’t jump now, I won’t make it. I push to a stand and rush toward one of the built-in benches with my bag to jump ship.

I plunge into the icy waters, gasping when I resurface. When I look back, the ship is still tilting forward. The crew is shouting, trying to get a handle on it. She’ll flip the ship right over and let them sink.

A buzzing noise sounds nearby, and I peer back as a speedboat makes its way toward me.

“Hurry! Get in!” Rowan shouts, bringing the boat to a stop next to me. I climb into the much smaller boat and drop to the floor, catching my breath.

Rowan wastes no time speeding off. As he goes, I sit up, and we pass the steel ship where Korah is using her hands and wielding her magic to dump everyone and everything off of it.

But she senses us, just like I knew she would. Just like I knew she would even before now, when the tracking spell from the Mythic I hired wore off. She told me the farther I got from the mainlands, the less she could keep me covered.

That’s why I had Rowan drop this boat a few miles back just in case there was an interference.

I stare into Korah’s blazing eyes as Rowan guides us toward Inferno Isle. As we zip by, only a few seconds from the island, she shouts my name again before letting the ship drop.

As quickly as she does, a beam of lavender light hurtles toward the speedboat and sends me and Rowan flying out of it.

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