Page 80 of Empire of Shadows

The landscape continued to rise around them. The water narrowed as the territory became more obviously mountainous. The thick, green foliage of the banks began to blur as Ellie’s eyes flickered from the shadows between the thick-trunked trees to the instrument in her hand while she searched for the next landmark on the map—a Black Pillar that Draws the Compass.

Their progress upriver was slower than the day before. The current that pushed against them grew stronger as they moved higher into the mountains, forcing the engine to work harder. Going too fast might also mean missing an all-important flicker of the compass’s needle.

By the time evening began to settle in, Ellie was ready to drop.

Bates tied the boat to the bank. TheMary Leeimmediately began to tug at her makeshift anchor against the force of the stream. The forest around them had changed from the world of the night before. New birds darted overhead and stranger rustles disturbed the underbrush.

“How can I be this tired?” Ellie protested as Bates pulled more cans out of the hold. “All I did was sit in the bow.”

“You were concentrating,” Bates replied. She could hear the exhaustion in his voice as well. “That’ll take more out of you than you realize.”

“More beans?” she guessed tiredly as she eyed the cans.

“No idea. The cans aren’t labeled. That’s why I got them at a discount.” He popped off the lid and gave the contents a sniff. “Beef,” he concluded. He peeked into the next. “Tomato soup.”

He considered them for a moment, then resignedly dumped the contents into the same pot and gave it a token stir.

Ellie dropped her gaze to the hedgehog-shaped rock on the small shelf by the boiler. She recalled how Bates had given it a tap when they had first boarded the steamer back in Belize Town.

“Whatisthat stone for?” she asked.

“It’s my lucky rock,” Bates replied.

Ellie frowned. The rock was conspicuously ordinary.

“What makes it lucky?” she pressed.

“I didn’t crack my head open on it,” he returned easily.

“You may need to elaborate,” she noted as she leaned back against the rail.

“Right after I started the job, I went out during the rainy season. Thought maybe folks were exaggerating how bad it was.” Bates dropped down to the deck beside her. “The ground was saturated and gave way beneath me. I found myself riding a landslide. Just a little one, but even a little one can be bad. When I stopped, I was staring at that rock—which was sitting about an inch from my skull.” He shrugged. “So now it’s my lucky rock.”

“How is it lucky, exactly?” Ellie wondered skeptically.

“As long as it’s on the boat, we’ll have smooth sailing,” Bates asserted confidently.

“How on earth can you expect arockto do that?”

Bates blinked at her uncomprehendingly.

“Because it’s lucky,” he replied as though the answer should have been obvious.

Ellie had no response to that. Instead, she looked to the peaks that shadowed the violet sky. They were much closer now than they had been the night before.

The air grew cooler and more delicate as the heat of the day broke into twilight, and the world of theMary Leenarrowed to an intimate circle against the gloom.

The memory of her conversation with Bates in the ruined cave chamber earlier that day continued to tug at her. Now that the stillness of evening had replaced the exhausting focus of their work through the afternoon, Ellie thought she ought to say something more about it—but what? Anything that came into her exhausted mind seemed awkward and inadequate… nor was she at all certain that her attempts at consolation would be welcomed.

“Should we have found theBlack Pillarby now?” she asked instead—and immediately feared how Bates would answer.

“It’s hard to say.” He let his head fall back to rest against the rail as his legs sprawled out in front of him. “The map’s not to scale.” He cast a meaningful glance over at her. “Though that might not matter if you let me see the rest of it.”

His routine jibe about the map failed to spark the usual irritation. Instead, Ellie unbuttoned the top of her shirt.

Bates’s gaze sharpened, but Ellie’s thoughts were elsewhere—on the parchment she pulled out from the top of her corset.

His expression shifted from taut focus to a look of dismay.

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