Page 47 of Children of Anguish and Anarchy

I wake with a sharp flinch. A thick coat of sweat drenches my wrap. Amari sits before me, hands pressed to my chest.

I breathe deep as I look up at the open skies. It takes me a moment to gather myself. I reach up to my neck and my head, feeling the undamaged flesh.

“Are you alright?” Amari asks.

I nod, fighting the part of me that wants to cry. The animal-horned skulls of King Baldyr’sgaldrasmiðarhaunt my eyes. I run my hands over my body, feeling every place they cut up from inside.

“Did I wake you?” I ask.

Amari shakes her head. She looks out over the black waters and hugs her knees to her chest. I can’t imagine how she must feel away from her brother, out here with just me and Tzain. I glance at his sleeping frame—we share less than ten meters of space, yet he hasn’t looked her way.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks.

I don’t answer. I wouldn’t know how to talk about it if I tried. The dream felt real.

Too real to just be in my head.

I have to stop him.

I pick up the compass, once again focusing on the metal in my chest. This time the tangle of vines spreads through my mind. The thick vegetation curls to life over stretches of black rock.

“When you close your eyes, what do you see?” Amari asks.

“It’s different every time,” I explain. “Small flashes of her people, the foods they eat, the things she must see.”

Amari nods at my words, but from the way she stares at the compass, I can tell they’re not what she truly wants to hear. I offer to hand her the compass, but she shakes her head.

“Does seeing make it any easier?” she asks. “Handling the fear?”

“Do I look like I’m handling anything?” I raise my sweat-soaked wrap. “We’re sailing into a new world. I’m terrified of what’s next.”

Our fingers lace together once more. Instead of Nailah, I rest myhead against Amari’s shoulder. I miss the days when we were able to sit like this. The days before magic flared between us.

“You should’ve seen him,” I speak quietly. “You should’ve smelled the mead on his breath.”

The golden skull of my nightmares glimmers behind my eyes, and the medallion starts to pulse. Amari tenses as the winds increase. I reach for the steering lever to keep us on course.

Once again, the sound of falling rain bleeds into my ears. The skies start to crackle above. I think back to the wooden carving on the Silver Skull’s wall—the man built from storm clouds. What will I become if I can’t stop Baldyr in time?

If he finds me again, what will he do with my heart?

“I won’t let him get you.” Something shifts in Amari’s tone. She steadies her shoulders, removing her fear to take on my own.

“You can be so sure?”

“We’ve taken down kings before.” Amari smiles, and I see the girl in the marketplace. The princess who was brave enough to steal the ancient scroll. Her words make me think of all we’ve faced together. Every enemy who’s fallen at our hands.

“We follow this compass.” She looks back down at the red dial. “We’ll sail it to the ends of the earth if that’s what it takes. We can do this, Zélie. We’ll find a way to keep you safe.”

I wrap her words around me like a blanket, allowing it to grant me ease.

The waning moon smiles down on us as we fall asleep under the open stars.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

INAN

THE MAJI MAKE STEADYprogress in our trek across the seas. With Nâo leading the Tiders, the currents work in our favor. The very waters propel us forward. Above us, the rotating Winders grant our ships great speed. The large sail billows with their powerful gusts of air. We fly through the ocean waves, traveling closer and closer to our shores.

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