Page 118 of Ship of Shadows
Arlon looked up, excitement lighting his face. “We find the treasure all the time, but capturing it is the hard part.”
Lochlan ruffled Arlon’s thick black hair. “Run along, boy. The adults are talking, okay?”
“Wait.” His words were so specific. Capture. He’d said capture. “What’s this treasure you’re hunting?”
He was practically vibrating now, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “The wispies,” he said. “Haven’t you seen them? They’re all over the island. We try and capture them, but it’s hard. They always get away. They’re slippery.” He donned a thoughtful expression. “Kind of like snakes. Our goal is to find our wispy. The one that belongs to us.”
We all exchanged looks, every one us thinking the same thing.
Mal swallowed. “Arlon, will you go get Hammond please?”
Arlon nodded. “Yes, Prince Maledonan.”
He ran from the tent and returned a few minutes later with an older boy whom I didn’t recognize. Freckles dotted the boy’s face, his hair orange and unruly.
“What’s going on?” Hammond asked, staying near the entrance to the tent like he was ready to run if he didn’t like our answer.
Mal stepped forward. “This treasure hunt game you all are playing. . . What are you trying to capture, exactly?”
“Our shadows,” Hammond said like we were idiots.
We all gaped at him.
Bastian was the one who finally found his voice. “How do you know where your shadows are?”
Hammond and Arlon both shrunk away from the pirate lord.
“It’s okay,” Mal said. “You can tell us.”
“Don’t you feel it?” Hammond asked, his eyebrows bunched.
Lochlan scratched his head. “Feel what?”
“Your shadow.” Hammond studied him. “It calls to you, and when you get closer to it, you feel a pull. It’s like a rope is attached between you. My shadow is always in the same place, a cave near the cliffs.”
Mal and Lochlan looked at each other, stunned, then back at the boys.
“That’s what that is?” Lochlan’s blue eyes widened. “I thought it was just some weird shadow court thing.”
“Blood and water,” Mal muttered.
“The wispies,” Arlon said with glee, then his face turned into a pout. “I just wish they weren’t so slippery. Mine never lets me grab it for very long before it flies away.”
A plan began forming in my head as I mulled over Goji’s words.
“You two can get back to your game,” Lochlan said, and Hammond ushered Arlon out of the tent, the flap closing behind them.
Bastian’s arm came around my waist. “What are you thinking, love?”
I met his gaze. “Have you felt it? That pull?”
“Maybe,” he said. “But we’re never on the island, near our shadows, long enough for me to.” He brushed a stray strand of hair out of my eyes, and I leaned into him, into that touch.
Lochlan cleared his throat. “Are they always like this?” he asked.
“You mean obsessed with each other?” Kara asked.
“Yes,” Mia said.
