Page 39 of The Crown of Nyx

My stomach flipped. Before I could utter a word or even reach for our bond, the air stilled with the sound of screams.

I whipped back to Elias, who wasn’t watching me. There was a stern set to his features; I followed his line of sight, and through the haze of rain, I spotted what looked like an outcropping of rocks.No. It was an islandof shipwrecks, all converged to allow for therevenantsto stand on.

I shuddered and pressed myself into Elias’s side. There were maybe a dozen or so figures standing on the island. Lightning struck, illuminating the darkness for only a moment, and with that brief flash of light, I realised there were more.

They were in the water.

And in that simple moment, I realised they were climbing the sides of the ship.

17

Ivy

Ascream lodged in my throat as the first zombie made its way up the side of the boat to the railings. A skeletal hand reached between wooden planks, but the crew member standing nearby drew a sword from their back and brought it down with such force that it severed the hand from the body.

It felt like a scene out of a movie. Watching the hand try and creep across the deck. I wanted to throw up again, but someone tossed it overboard with a grunt.

I forced myself to look away, only to find the rest of the ship was dealing with much the same. Half-decayed bodies climbed the sides, some making it further than others. They were all in different states of decay; some were actual skeletons with what was left of their clothinghanging from their bones, while others looked freshly dead—save for the gaping wounds that killed them.

I always thought the dead would do no harm. But seeing these things trying to climb aboard, I realised just how little I knew about this world.

Why are they like this?I asked Maeve, glancing over at where she stood on the quarter deck with Hawk.

My vampire mate looked up, black hair clinging to her face from the rain.It’s the curse of the ocean. The Titan’s Channel leads directly into the Underworld’s fields of death. Captain Vale and his ship would have taken us a different route, one other vessels use. But those would be blocked now. This is the only one Dante can’t control.

Because of the curse?I asked, wincing as Rowan cut down one of the less-dead looking zombies. Even over the roar of the storm, I thought I heard the body hit the water. Would it just come back? I had a feeling I already knew the answer to that one. Chances were, our efforts were in vain. I doubted we could kill the dead twice.

Let’s hope he has not found a way to control it,was all Maeve said in response.

My stomach twisted as I pulled away from the bond in time to notice something dart across the island we were slowly passing by, launching itself at the main mast.

Sometimes, it was easy to forget that I was surrounded by supernatural creatures with abilities that surpassed my own. Elias and Maeve were faster and stronger than the average supe.

And the dead were the same.

Before I could alert anyone to the creature, a dark, twisted form stopped the revenant midair. A shadow-likethingwrapped around the decomposed body until I could no longer see it before throwing it back into the dark, rolling waves.

I gasped and watched as the shadows returned to its post on the mast. I caught only a flash of silver before realising what it had been.

Orion. He was hiding in the crow’s nest. Somehow, the worry I had for him only heightened.

The roar of blood in my ears did little to drown out the crash of waves hitting the ship’s hull, or the grunts and sound of swords coming down on the revenants. But magic…magic carried on the wind. It ghosted over my skin, lifting the hairs on my arms and neck.

It didn’t feel like anything I recognised. The magic didn’t belong to one of my mates, that much I could be certain of. And although I’d only spent a few days with Captain Meira and her crew, I’d come to pick up on all their magical signatures in that time.

But this was…different. A type of power I couldn’t identify.

A chill rushed through me, settling deep in my bones. Not one caused by the rain, which flooded the deck, or the storm still raging around us. I didn’t even care about the revenant-zombie things anymore. They were pushed to the back of my mind as I surveyed the ocean and its angry waves.

We passed the island of the dead, and were in open water once more, but the feeling refused to pass. The magic drifted over me, teasing me with the promise of death. The fighting died down, though with every strike of lightning that illuminated the sky, I caught sight of the bobbing bodies still coming towards us. The waves sometimes revealed more wrecks before hiding them again.

The witch lights weren’t enough to cut through the darkness, giving us only enough light to see ourselves,really. And yet I couldn’t figure out why the sensation of magic unsettled me.

Elias’s hand tightened around mine, jerking me out of my thoughts. I looked at him with furrowed brows, noticing the way his eyes glowed with the proximity of his wolf.

What’s wrong?I asked, pressing myself into his side, feeling the heat of his body despite the wetness of his clothes. I was not looking forward to the rashes I’d have after we made it out of the storm.

Shaking his head, Elias pressed his lips into a firm line and brought another arm around me.Something doesn’t feel right.

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