Page 23 of A Descent Into Darkness

I watched from a distance as Teach feasted with Manann. My girl—my Kat—sitting by his side. He spent the night in a gluttonous frenzy. Eating, drinking, and indulging in the nymphs that clustered around him. I watched from my place with the crew as a toxic anger began to fester within me.

He’d claimed to care for Kat and yet he had no problem molesting the two nymphs that currently sat in his lap right in front of her. And what’s worse, it was clear that he’d given her to Manann for the evening. The selfish bastard would do anything to accomplish his task, no matter the cost. I questioned if perhaps I wasn’t all that different. If I didn’t have an agenda of my own, Kat and I wouldn’t be in this predicament. The truth of that further worsened my mood.

And for a place of plenty, there was no friendly drop of mead or rum to ease my conscience—only the wine that I’d been forbidden to drink. Apparently, I was the only one who’d received those orders, because the entire crew hadn’t had an empty cup all night. Each of them indulging in all the fruits of thisOtherworld.

“Cheer up, my dear friend,” Henry slurred as he sat down hard in the seat next to mine. “Can I tell you something?” he whispered dramatically in my ear. It was obvious the wine had gotten the better of my normally level-headed friend. His antics managed to pull a half-hearted smirk out from the corners of my mouth.

“I’m all ears, but I get the feeling you’d tell me even if I wasn’t,” I said sarcastically.

“Yoou… need to leave. Leave all of us behind. Especially Kat,” he slurred.

“Excuse me?” I growled, my sensibilities evaporating with the turn the conversation was taking.

“I know you. You aren’t… I mean, she’s not… well. I know you can do better. Plus,” he paused briefly before continuing, his words barely audible, “I think she likes it, what he does to her. Look,” he motioned to Manann’s table, “that’s not the smile of a tortured soul.” His whisper turned to a throaty laugh, and he sprung to his feet, stumbling back into the crowd of dancing fae.

I would have answered him with my fist, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Kat as Manann offered her his hand. I couldn’t deny that the coquettish smile on her face lookedgenuine. I’d seen her look at me that way hundreds of times. Henry had always been my confidante, someone who listened to me and saw past my flaws enough to be my friend. He’d never once admitted his distaste for Katherine in all these years. Why now?

I watched as Manann led Kat out of the great hall. My mind was at war. Henry’s words bred new doubts, casting dark shadows over my relationship with her.

“James,” Teach boomed and I jumped. His commanding voice intruding on my thoughts and catching me off guard. He had a beautiful nymph draped over each arm.

“Keep an eye on the men. I’ll be preoccupied for the remainder of the evening,” he grumbled, and the women nymphs giggled.

“Aye, Captain,” I said flatly, but it hadn’t mattered. His back was already turned to me, vanishing into the shadows with his trophies. This was supposed to be it, the brink of getting what I’d craved for so long, and yet the excitement I should have felt was gone, replaced by a rot of the mind, and my thoughts were deteriorating fast. Teach was whoring out my girl, and my best friend was undermining one of the few relationships that truly mattered to me. Sowing the seeds of doubt about the woman who gave my life meaning outside of my vendetta with Pan.

As the thought of him entered my mind, a flash of ruffled auburn hair caught my attention. I narrowed my gaze, focusing on a boy dressed in unkempt clothes with an oversized sword strapped to his back, weaving in and out ofthe crowd. My heart began to race as familiarity struck me like a bolt of lightning. I pushed back from the table, my chair kicking out from behind me. It couldn’t be. But when the boy turned to look at me, there was no mistaking that cocky smile.

“Pan,” I seethed, my hand shifting to my cutlass as I pursued him. The world around me blurred, my enemy finally within my sights. The demon in my chest roared, the sound deafening in my ears. I picked up my pace, weaving through the crowded hall, but I couldn’t catch up. I began shoving the fae aside, my desperation growing with each beat of my heart.

I caught his condescending smile every time he turned to look at me, goading me into the chase. Everything felt wrong, but damned if I could stop myself from hunting him down. For a moment, I thought I’d lost him amongst the crowd, only to catch a glimpse of him sliding through a cast iron gate. I followed behind, finding myself in a moonlit garden. There he stood—my nemesis. My entire life’s sacrifices had been leading up to this moment. His back was to me, standing on the edge of a massive fountain.

“Pan!” I called, stalking toward him. “I know you’re a fucking coward, but the least you can do is turn and face me!” I was losing control, and the demon within me threatened to take over. The edges of my vision turned red with years of repressed rage. I closed the distance, reaching for him, needing to look into his eyes when I pierced his traitorous heart with my blade, but my hand ghostedthrough him. I stumbled forward, falling through the vision of my enemy. His form vanished into a cloud of mist that swirled around me and disappeared into the night sky.

“What the—” I spun around, desperate for it to be a trick. Desperate to find that I hadn’t lost my grip on him after all these years of waiting.

“He speaks highly of you.” I startled at the sound, instantly on guard as a dark figure emerged from the shadows.

“Who goes there? Show yourself!” I demanded, my adrenaline still churning through my veins. It was the sea god himself who stepped into the moonlight. “Manann? You know him? You know Pan? How is that possible?” I fired off the questions just as quickly as my calculating brain could produce them.

“Young James, am I right?” he asked, deflecting my questions as I appraised him with new eyes. “He tells me you’re rare, a human with the heart of a true adventurer. A man who can see past what is on the horizon before you. For a human to be a traveler between the realms is rare indeed.”

“Pan told you that?”

“Blackbeard. Although, I am familiar with this Pan you speak of. Another rarity of your kind. Curious that your fates are so ensnared with one another. Such a notion stimulates my mind. You see… I like to collect rare things. They intrigue me. Every time I think I’ve figured out the Divine’s plan, something or someone finds a way to remind me just how small I am in the scheme of things,” he mused.

“So, that was your little trick? How did you know of my connection to Pan? Were you trying to lure me here?”

“So many questions, it’s unbecoming of a mortal,” he tsked.

“Not just any mortal, as you so clearly pointed out.”

“I knew I would like you, young James. A cunning mind will take you far. Now come, have a drink with me. Tell me of your adventures.” He clapped my shoulder, pushing me toward an arched doorway at the back of the garden. The hair on the back of my neck prickled. My instincts told me I couldn’t truly trust this man.

“I… I should probably get back to the crew.” I fumbled with an excuse to walk away from the situation without offending a god in his own home.

“Just a glass of wine. You tell me your stories, and I’ll share my tales of Neverland.”

That was all I needed to hear. Teach had always been a means to an end. Maybe that end was leading me to Manann.

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