* * *
Two days later, The Albatross dropped anchor in a grotto on the coast of Tortuga. Hope ordered the crew to guard the ship, but weigh anchor and get the hell away if they hadn’t returned by dawn. Leaving Mac in charge, she and Unc went ashore.
Lush trees swayed in the warm coastal breeze. Steep, rocky inclines rose toward an azure sky, almost obscuring the afternoon sun. Hope didn’t have time to admire the raw beauty of the landscape. With single-minded intent, she took out Pop's map.
“I’ve been studying this for a while now, and I think I have the right area.” She unrolled the parchment and held it out for Unc to look over. “The circles aren’t reef formations like we thought. They’re line ends. I’ve connected them all.”
The writing on the yellowed map resembled a madly etched star. Hope pointed to the spot where dozens of scratched lines intersected. “That’s where I think Poseidon’s Tear is.”
Unc studied the map for a few moments. His eyes widened, a face-splitting grin taking over his expression. “Atta girl! Always knew ye were a smart one. Pops would be real proud.”
Warmth spread through Hope. “I just pray he was right, and it’s really there.” She cleared a knot from her throat, and indicated a cluster of black spots on the map. “I think this rock formation here…” she lifted her hand to the coastline and pointed at an outcropping of palms, “…is right there, behind those trees.”
Nicor’s thick voice came from behind them, turning the blood in Hope’s veins to ice. “Good to know, biscuit. I can’t tell you how helpful you’ve been.”
Hope turned to face her guardian, pursuer, and bane. Determination stiffened her spine. “It’s time to let me go, demon. You’ve stolen my parents and my childhood, but you’ll not have the rest of my life." She poised, ready for his attack. “I’ll die before I go back to Port Royal.”
Nicor wore his usual human glamour, but Hope saw through it. Where the world witnessed a successful privateer, a richly dressed dandy with thick lashed, green eyes and a head for making money, Hope saw the inside. He’d told her once it was how he knew she was special.
Nicor's red eyes bore down on her from a contorted face. Gnarled, yellow horns jutted from his misshapen skull just above his too-small ears. His ashen complexion belied the myth that devils were red, but was spot on when it came to the hooves. Nicor stomped his ire in her direction as a twisted smile curled his black lips, baring rotted teeth.
Unc drew his sword, stepped in front of her, and puffed out his chest. "Yer not takin’ her back, Nicor. Not ever again.”
Nicor laughed, a harsh sound that made the hair on Hope's arms stand up. His devil tail swished behind him as he centered his annoyed look on Uncle Joe. “Foolish mortal. You have no power to stop me." His red eyes flashed with fire. "I showed your brother the consequence of defying me. Did you learn nothing from seeing him strangled with his own bowels?”
Unc swept his eyes around to Hope. His bleak expression stopped her heart. "Now’s your time, lass. Go get yer Tear.”
Before Hope could react, her Uncle, the last remaining shred of her fragile, makeshift family, charged at Nicor. “Run, child!” He plunged his sword into the demon’s shoulder.
Nicor howled in rage as she whipped about, grabbed the hem of her skirt and broke into a run. Her feet pounded against the ground while her heartbeat raged in her ears. Tears blurred her vision as she raced across the sand. Without looking back, Hope ran for her life, from the reality of Unc’s sacrifice, and from her utter loneliness. But more than anything else, she ran for her freedom, and for all that had been denied her since Nicor's cruel abduction.
Unc's scream of pain crashed over her, followed by a sound she refused to acknowledge as the tearing of bones from flesh. The tortured wails of his death throes clawed at her ears. With her eyes on the trees ahead, Hope ran as fast as her body would take her. When she reached the tree line, she veered left and headed for the largest of the cluster of rocks.
If demons existed, it meant God did too, so Hope prayed as hard as she knew how. Unc’s tortured screams had stopped. Nicor would be coming for her.
She threw herself into the sand at the rock indicated by the star point on the map, panting and gasping for breath.
Hurry!
Digging frenzied hands into the ground, she scooped the sand away, tossing it behind her. Please be here. Please be here.
Elbow deep in the sand at the base of the rocks, her nails scraped wood. She dug faster, working her way around the edges to free the box.
“Where are you, my biscuit?” His cooing voice made her stomach knot. She recognized the restrained violence in each slowly drawled word.
He made the trees, he's coming!
With shaking hands, Hope wrenched the small chest from the ground, falling back into the sand. Putting her back to the rock, she pulled the box into her lap. After releasing the rusted latch, she lifted the lid.
Inside the velvet-lined box lay a shimmering sapphire crystal on a long, silver chain--Poseidon’s Tear. Hope caressed the cool stone, her eyes wide. Her salvation, more beautiful than she'd imagined.
“I’ve had about enough of your games, young lady,” Nicor drawled as his shadow fell over the amulet. “Close the box now.”
Hope released a hysterical laugh. His paternal voice hadn’t worked on her in almost a decade. He must be getting desperate. She reached into the box and lifted the large blue gem, the silver chain dripped between her fingers.
Nicor froze in place, but to his credit, no fear showed in his beady red eyes and his voice held no hint of worry. “Put it down, biscuit. I don’t want to hurt you.”
A smile curled Hope’s lips as the wind shifted in her favor, tossing her hair with its wild jubilation. The sweet scent of freedom filled her nose. She inhaled deeply, eyes lifting to meet her demon’s.
With heart hammering in her chest, Hope winked at Nicor and recited the words from her father’s note.
“I banish thee, cursed demon of the Sea, back to the hands of your father, Poseidon.”
Clutching the crystal in both hands, she held it out like a shield, just as the note instructed. Fierce, black bolts of lightning rent the cloudless sky. The crystal grew warm in her palms. It’s working!
She closed her eyes and whispered the last part, “Demon, be gone.”
A scream tore from Nicor’s throat, a mix of rage and pain, drawing Hope’s startled gaze. She scrambled to her feet, still holding the crystal between herself and the demon. She stood mesmerized as Nicor’s body turned from solid to liquid. His tortured howling voice changed as he transformed, from his usual thick timbre to the gurgling rush of water.
When his entire body had transformed and he shimmered like waves in the sun, the crystal vibrated in Hope’s hands. Tiny droplets of water flew from Nicor’s liquid shape to the gem like a magnet, then absorbed into the face until a solid stream of water connected Nicor to the sapphire. The stone pulled at him, sucking him in drop by drop.
Hope tilted her head, enthralled, unable to tear her gaze away. Within seconds, Nicor had disappeared completely, leaving only a wet spot in the sand. The heat emanating from the gem waned and she glanced down at the amulet. A clear diamond hung from the chain where the deep blue sapphire had been only moments before. Hope stared at it. Could it be true? Am I really free?
Unshed tears clung to her lashes. Hope blinked them away, cursing her weakness, eyes darting every few seconds to the spot where Nicor had stood. She slipped the heavy amulet over her head and glanced up at the pristine sky. She inhaled the sweet scent of freedom.
The breeze brought the comforting scent of sea spray to her nose, Pop’s favorite smell. Hope inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with the smell of home and family.
After laying what was left of her uncle to rest beneath a cluster of swaying palms, Hope stood alone on the southern beach of Tortuga and watched her last sunset with him as
she considered a course for her future.
As the last rays of sunlight disappeared from the sky, she made her decision. Just like the Matthews brothers had done, she would make the sea her home, and her crew would be her family. From then on, Hope would take The Albatross, and go wherever the wind took her.
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