Page 83 of Ship of Shadows
“They live on a different part of the island, in the mountains. I’ve never seen any of them.”
A chill skittered down my spine at that.
“We thought we’d found a paradise, and as we delved deeper into the jungle, we came across items scattered about. You could feel the power seeping from them. We were beyond excited. Couldn’t believe we’d found the magic. We grabbed a few items and tried to leave. And that’s when they attacked.”
“Who?” I asked, pulse spiking.
“The shadows. They came down upon us, lifting some of us in the air and tossing us like rag dolls. They were so fast, like lightning. It was impossible to fight against them, but we did put up a good fight. We had torches and quickly figured out the shadows don’t like the light. We were able to keep them at bay until it started raining. Jungle and all. I gather that happens quite often. Our fires went out and they descended.”
“That’s terrifying,” I said.
“All I remember were the screams, and then nothing. I awoke in the jungle, these beings hovering over me and my men, skin tinted green, wings translucent and shimmering, teeth sharp. Pixies. I’d never heard of them, but I soon learned they wanted to talk, to make a deal on behalf of their boss.”
My throat grew dry. “And who was their boss?”
“The shadow king.”
Just the name caused the gooseflesh on my arms to rise. “The shadow king?”
But the shadow king had been killed during the Shadow War. Unless a new one had risen...
I opened my mouth to ask a question, but Bastian cut me off. “Before you ask, I don’t know who he is, love.”
“What were the terms of the deal?” I rubbed my arms, cold despite the humid air.
“Do you know how bodies get trapped? Why they can’t age? Why they can’t leave the island?”
I thought about what Driscoll had revealed from the books he’d read and nodded.
“The deal was simple,” Bastian said. “This shadow king needed help collecting shadows.” He held up his hand to stop me from asking the obvious question. “I don’t know why. All I know was that he’d heard of us, and when we stumbled on his island, he knew he could use us. So we had a choice: let him take our shadows and bind ourselves to our ship, to him, or try our luck escaping the island, fighting through the shadows and the pixies. Wasn’t much of a choice, I’m afraid.” Bastian started pacing now, coat whipping behind him. “Truth be told, it didn’t sound so bad. We wouldn’t age, we’d be able to keep doing what we loved, and he was giving us free rein to take whatever magical items we wanted and sell them, use them, he didn’t care.”
“But what did he want in return?” A stone had settled in my stomach.
“Shadows,” Bastian said simply. “We were to bring him a boy every month, any boy. He didn’t care. All we had to do was drop them off on the island, and he’d take care of the rest.”
My hand floated to my mouth. “So you’ve been doing this for... sixty years? Kidnapping children? Children, Bastian?”
His face was grim. “Yes. And I didn’t say I kidnapped them.”
I crossed my arms, waiting for an explanation.
“The shadow king told us to take orphans, boys that didn’t matter, that no one would go looking for. Probably because he didn’t want anyone to catch on to what he was doing.” He took a deep breath. “The boys, they’ve created a home of sorts fromwhat my friend has told me. A community, a place where they’re happy on the island.”
“Your friend?” I asked. “Is this the friend you mentioned who you betrayed? The one who gave you the dust?”
He nodded.
“Well your friend can’t be correct,” I said.
“It’s what Goji says.”
“How did you ever become friends with a pixie?”
“We started talking when I’d visit Sorrengard. Me on one side of the jungle, her on the other. She’s the one who brings us the magical items that fill the jungle. We can’t enter the jungle, what with all the shadows guarding it. So she throws the items onto the beach for us.”
I couldn’t believe he’d made friends with a pixie. We’d have to get more into that later.
“We did what the shadow king asked,” Bastian said. “We looked for boys who had nothing, no one, to rely on. But we never kidnapped them. We told them the truth and gave them a choice. Some said no, but many said yes. Why wouldn’t they? They had to fight for their lives every day, and we were offering them a place where they could be fed, clothed, never having to worry about anything again, and they’d get to meet other boys just like them.”
