“Yah. The guardians.” He snorted and spat over the side of the ship. While Tia clarified that he meant Asten, Ahmose, and Amon, the man continued, “Seems ta me they ain’t been doin’ too good a job o’ guardin’ lately. They’ve been missin’ for a while, an’ the dead are so thick now, they got no recourse but ta hold on ta the sides o’ the ship.”
I nodded. “The afterlife has been compromised. Ma’at hid the…the guardians to protect them from Seth.”
“I suppose that would explain it. Each time I drop off a new boatful, the dock’s so crowded with souls beggin’ ta be let back on, my ship’s almost capsized a few times. It’s gotten so bad that now I just throw the dead overboard when we get close enough.”
A little flare of alarm rose in me, and I glanced nervously from side to side. “I don’t see anyone.”
“Ya will once we get airborne an’ pass through the portal. The souls o’ the dead can’t be seen in the light o’ day, ’less they’ve got a special attachment ta some mortal.”
“Oh.” I rubbed my arms and glanced at Ahmose, who was doing some kind of spell to double-check our path.
“Are ya certain ya want ta follow that one?” he asked. “This path o’ his takes us inta dangerous waters. We ain’t too likely ta come out o’ the other end with our skins intact.”
I blew out a breath in a half laugh. “That’s nothing new.”
The man leaned closer, a serious expression on his face. He smelled of spice, wax candles, and the sea. “If ya want me ta throw ’im overboard, jes’ give me a sign,” he said, thumbing his nose. “Won’t kill ’im. Least, I don’ think so. Jes’ give the word.”
He lowered a thick eyelid in a secretive wink, and I almost giggled in response, but Ashleigh surged to the surface, bristling with indignation. “Ya barnacled ol’ bear! Ya’ll do no such thing ta my Ahmose!”
The man blinked, his eyes round with surprise. Mottled red shot up his neck, and he pointed a broad finger in my face. “And who gave ya leave ta mouth off in Lily’s stead?” he argued back. “I see ya in there. Come out right now and go back ta where ya belong, on the side o’ the ship, ya wicked fairy. Ya got no call hauntin’ this lovely young woman.”
“I’m not wicked,” Ashleigh declared with my voice. “And I’m not hauntin’ her either. I’m just as much a part of Lily as Tia is.”
The man folded his thick arms across his chest. “Are ya, now?”
“Yes, and what’s more—”
“Cease this!” Ahmose said. We hadn’t even noticed his approach. He stepped between me and the burly captain. “I’ll thank you to treat Ashleigh with respect, Ferryman. I think you’ve wasted enough time getting reacquainted, so, kindly do your job and please get us under way.” Ahmose’s expression was as hot and dangerous as a hellhound’s. “Immediately,” he added.
Ashleigh retreated, a bit smug after Ahmose’s gesture. I slowly rose to the surface, taking control over my own body again. I glared at Ahmose, not happy with his show of force. The captain hadn’t meant anything. At least I didn’t think so. Ahmose caught my look and turned away, heading back toward the bow of the ship, saying nothing.
To see the big captain step back from Ahmose and lower his head bothered me for a few reasons. The first was that, to my surprise, I liked the boatman. Second, Ahmose seemed too overprotective of Ashleigh, which irritated me, and his rude approach was uncalled-for. Also, I wanted to hear more about the haunting idea the captain mentioned.
I bit my thumbnail. Could it be possible that I was being haunted by two spirits? Was I possessed? I knew what everyone else believed, that we were destined to become Wasret or whatever, but I didn’t want to rule out any possibilities. Especially since the captain seemed to indicate that there was a way Ashleigh’s soul could be removed from my living person.
It felt like a betrayal just to think about evicting my tagalongs. I really did care about them. At the same time, it was my body, wasn’t it? Didn’t I deserve to have a life? If there was a possibility that I could be myself again, whole and complete and normal, was it wrong to harbor that desire? To try to find a way to make it happen?
The boatman mumbled his disgruntlement under his breath as he yanked on various ropes and pulled up the anchor, which he’d apparently attached to the top of a mountain. Ahmose stayed at the front of the boat, watching our progress for a while, and then turned to stare out at the ocean. I could tell he wanted me to head forward and stand beside him, but I decided to stay by the captain’s side instead. When he asked me to help, I was happy to. It felt normal to be asked to work alongside him. He reminded me of my nana in that way.
“Offer still stands,” the man said in a stage whisper as he helped me coil a rope. “It would be ma pleasure ta help one o’ the wanderin’ ta wander o’er the side.”
I did laugh this time, and though Ashleigh wanted to get up in his face again, I forcibly held her back. She didn’t like that and sulked in the back of my mind. “I think we’ll let him stay. For now,” I replied to him in a breathy whisper of my own, raising my eyebrows meaningfully and grinning to show I was teasing. “Will you tell me your name again?” I asked a bit louder. “Tia said it a few times, but I can’t remember it. I know you’re Charon the ferryman in mythology, but you don’t look much like the myth.”
“Yeah. Lots o’ people say that. Name’s Cherty. ‘Ferryman’ is all the wanderin’ three ever called me. Don’t show me much respect, those three don’t.”
“That’s a shame. They’re really not as bad as they seem, Cherty. Maybe they just don’t know you well enough.”
“Our paths cross enough, they should at leas’ treat me cordial. Jes’ ’cause they hate their job don’ mean they need ta take it out on me. Not my fault they got stuck with it. Not like I got ta choose my job either.”
I was going to ask him more about their jobs, but Cherty nodded toward a crate, indicating I should make myself comfortable and hold on. Tia told me to wrap my arms through the rope on the side and that she’d answer my questions as best she could later. I did as she asked, and a stiff wind filled the sails until they billowed out like great balloons.
The previously calm ocean heaved below. Giant waves rushed toward the beach, the tops of them brushing against the hull of the ship though we were far above the land. When a large one sprayed foam over the side, Cherty yelled, “Hold on!” The boat tilted at a deep angle, riding down the backside of a wave at roller-coaster speed, and then climbed the next and the next, each one increasing quickly in size until I feared we’d tip over.
I called out a warning to Ahmose, thinking he would fall, but he stared straight ahead, ignoring me, feet rooted in place as if they were locked into steel bands. The only sign he struggled to keep his balance was when he wrapped a hand over the railing. Then, just as we crested a wave big enough to sink a cargo ship, we were airborne again, rushing upward at breakneck speed. When the sea was far, far below us, the ship balanced out and steadied to a comfortable rocking rhythm.
Soon thin wisps of clouds passed around us. Before I could unwrap my arm from the rope, we were deep inside a cloud bank. I held out my hand in front of me and was unable to see it. Dew settled on my arms and face, and the air I breathed was wet and cold.
We went higher and broke through the tops of the clouds. An ocean of them stretched out beneath us. The sun burnished their puffy tops, making them resemble a landscape of fluffy pink cotton candy. They were so thick and solid-looking that I wanted to pull one close and take a nap. We kept going and the air grew colder. My cheeks and ears became numb, and I shivered.
“Almost there,” Cherty said. “Hang on, now.”
The blue shifted subtly at first, and then darkness overtook the sky. The air was too thin. I sucked in deep breaths, a hollow ache stabbing my lungs, but Cherty put his hand on my shoulder, and my breathing eased.
“Ya’ll be fine once we enter the portal,” he promised.
He pointed ahead to something dark and jagged that yawned li
ke an open mouth eager to swallow us.
“What is that?” I asked.
“A tear in the fabric o’ the universe. Well, more o’ a rift than a tear.” Cherty grunted, rubbing his jaw. “ ’Tis like a canal tha’ leads from this partic’lar realm ta the Cosmic River.” Cherty moved the rudder, and the sails shifted. The boat groaned and creaked as we altered course. “Steady, now,” he said, speaking to the ship and patting the rail. “Steady.”
The bow hit the opening, and the whole ship shuddered. I lost my footing and stumbled against the side. Immediately, my lungs seized. I coughed and grabbed at my throat, trying vainly to open my airway. Ahead of us, Ahmose and the entire front of the ship disappeared. Ahmose! I mouthed, terrified that he’d fallen over. Cherty grabbed on to my arm, and blessed air surged into my body again.
“He’s fine, girlie. Ya’ll see ’im in a moment.”
I only had time to blink once before the blackness enveloped us as well, and not only could I not see Ahmose or even Cherty, but I couldn’t hear them either. The only thing my senses told me was that I was still on the boat. Even when I tried to activate my lioness night vision, I was completely blind. I gripped the railing and screamed when the boat suddenly dove. We dropped down quickly, angling forward like we were rolling down a mountain, then we listed to one side and the other. If I hadn’t been holding on, I would have fallen overboard.
Finally, the boat steadied, and Cherty let go of my arm as I took in my surroundings. My night vision finally kicked in, and it was powerful. Black starlit eddies swirled around the sides of the ship like an inky river, and above us the stars twinkled like they had in my long-ago dream. I could hear the rustle of their voices whispering like shushing reeds along a river. It was comforting and peaceful.
“It’s beautiful!” I said.
“This is the best part o’ the river,” Cherty said. “ ’Tis why Apep makes ’is home in this part o’ the cosmos.”
“And Apep is…?”
Cherty opened his mouth to answer, but before he could speak I let out a bloodcurdling scream. All around us, wispy ghosts began to appear. Some of them stood quietly looking over the railing. Others curled up on the deck in little balls, sobbing bitterly. A little girl sucked her fingers as she stared at me with big eyes. A man that was part horse and part human shifted uncomfortably as other ghosts pressed close to his sides. He swished his ghostly tail in irritation.
At my scream, they all looked at me. More and more ghosts materialized. So many that I felt trapped. Surrounded by the dead. Their dark mouths split in a silent scream that echoed mine as those nearby pressed hands to their cheeks and copied my movements. I spun in circles, my claws emerging as I slashed at the air to keep them away. My daggered fingertips just tore right through their forms as if they were composed of nothing but air.
When I figured out that my sphinx claws didn’t work, I scrambled backward until I hit the railing of the ship and clutched the side desperately, hoping to escape. They drew closer and closer, peering at me curiously. Perhaps it was my mortal body that threw them for a loop, but they reached out and pawed at me. I whimpered and closed my eyes, trying to ignore the chill that crept through my veins every time a ghostly hand passed through my body.
I didn’t open my eyes until I heard Cherty shouting, “Back away. Back off, ya wretched ghosties!” The shining beings on the deck moved off a bit, their bodies blending into one another.
The ferryman had not been kidding when he’d said the ghosts were so thick there was no room for them on the ship. They were packed together in all shapes and sizes so tightly that there wasn’t enough space to slip a sheet of paper between them. Most of them stood with arms and torsos overlapping, and I could tell they didn’t like it. It looked painful. Like the fusing, though possible, wasn’t comfortable. I wouldn’t like it either. I glanced over the side again and saw that not just dozens of ghosts hung over the rails, but hundreds.
Those that couldn’t grip the wooden beam had attached themselves somehow onto the other ghosts, forming a ghoulish chain that disappeared down into the black water. Bobbing heads floated in our wake like downed skiers, but instead of dripping rope, they clung to the sallow limbs of their fellows. It was ghastly and horrific. I couldn’t imagine a worse means of transportation. Cherty’s boat was a hellish bride traipsing down a dark aisle trailing a long veil of the dead behind her.
When Cherty approached, casting aside ghost after ghost, even tossing some overboard, I took hold of his arm, needing something solid to focus on. “Won’t they…” I gulped. “Drown out there?”
He shook his head. “They’re already dead. Most likely they’ll get eaten. Then they’ll be dead, dead.”
“Eaten?” This was getting worse. “What kind of a monster eats ghosts?”
“The Devourer, for one.” Ahmose came close, and I was grateful for his presence. He placed his hand possessively on my arm and lectured Cherty. “You should have warned us you carried so many.”
“An’ whose fault is that? Ya summoned me in a busy time. Besides, if you an’ yer brethren were doin’ their jobs, I wouldn’ have so many clingers-on right now!” the boatman shouted, his face turning purple.
I summoned my courage, which took everything I had, and stepped away from Ahmose, who frowned. “It’s…it’s all right,” I said, patting Cherty’s arm with a grimace of a smile. “I’ll get used to them.” There was no indication as far as I could tell that I would, but I didn’t want to be thought of as a coward. Tia said we’d seen something similar in the netherworld, and we’d made it through somehow before. I stiffened my spine despite the itchy, bugs-crawling-on-my-back feeling and tried to make the best of it.
Cherty ducked his head down. “ ’Tis better this way, girlie. Apep’ll be distracted, with this many to fill ’is belly. We might even have a chance.”
“Are you sure this is the right path?” I asked Ahmose, hoping he’d say no and we could go somewhere else. Preferably somewhere we could disembark our passengers.
“It is. As far as I can tell, the oubliette where Ma’at hid the three of us is located on the Isle of the Lost. It is found far beyond the outermost edge of the Waters of Chaos, past the boundaries of the gods. Even they do not dare venture out so far.”
“If it’s so dangerous, then why did Ma’at trap them there?” I asked, my curiosity piqued despite our audience.
“She’s not the spell caster Isis is. It’s likely Ma’at used a particular spell that sent them to a place where Seth could not go,” he answered. “Spells are tricky in their wording. The fact that she sent us somewhere so remote and inaccessible is a sign of how desperate she was.”
“If it’s dangerous for the gods, then how are we expected to survive?” I asked.
“It’ll be fine, love. I’ll keep an eye on the path.”
I furrowed my brow. “Don’t call me love. You don’t get to do that anymore.”
Cherty snickered as he manned the rudder but didn’t look our way.
Ahmose stepped closer. “Not all of you feel that way,” he murmured quietly.
“No? Well, the others aren’t in charge right now. I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with me.”
“I don’t mind dealing with you, Lily,” Ahmose said softly. He lifted his hand to brush his knuckles down my jaw. Little tingles shot down my arms despite my resolve to be angry with him. He seemed to sense my weakening and ducked down to kiss me lightly on the temple. “I’ve got to keep my eye on the path ahead so Cherty can steer us in the right direction. Will you join me at the bow? I’ll try to keep the ghosts away.”
I wanted to. I mean, I really wanted to. The yearning Ashleigh felt to be close to him came at me in waves of desire so poignant that it nearly brought tears to my eyes to resist it, but somehow I did. I shook my head. “I’d prefer to stay with Cherty, if you don’t mind,” I said, wondering if that meant I was resigning myself to cozying up with creepy dead guys.
Ahmose looked up at the boatman and sighe
d deeply in resignation. “Be careful,” he warned. “Cherty will keep the dead away from you, but there is trouble ahead, and I want you close to me when it comes. Will you promise to come to me then?”
I peered up into his moonbeam eyes and nodded. “I will.”
Satisfied, Ahmose moved back to the front of the ship, walking through the numerous host of the dead as if he didn’t even see them. I shuddered and found a crate to sit on right beside Cherty. It appeared that Ahmose had been right. There was a circle around the ferryman that the ghosts wouldn’t cross, so I slid my crate as close as I could and tried to ignore the prickly sensations of invisible fingers trailing along my back, tickling my spine, and making my hair stand on end.
“Ya’ve gotten yerself into a mess o’ trouble with that one,” Cherty said, clucking his tongue. “The fairy pines for that fella, ya know. I fear ya won’t be free o’ his sway till she’s gone. I can cast out yer lingerin’ ghosts, girlie, if that helps.”
“It’s all right, Cherty,” I said. “The girls are a part of me now. We’re going to see this through, the three of us, until the end.”
“An’ what happens after the end?” Cherty asked.
“We…we don’t know,” I answered quietly, then smiled weakly. “We’ll probably end up as ghosts on your ship.” I looked around at my fellow travelers and couldn’t imagine losing my mortal body. “Will you tell me about Apep now?” I asked, hoping the distraction would help me ignore the creepy feeling of being surrounded by the dead.
The wizened old boatman glanced down at me with sharp, discerning eyes, and then looked back up, slightly adjusting his course to follow Ahmose’s signal. “The isle,” he began, “it’s called the Isle of the Lost fer a reason. When ya venture close, it comes inta view, beckoning. An’ what a view. ’Tis a beautiful place. Looks like a utopia land. Real peaceful-like. But the trick is, it slips away. When ya get close, it vanishes. Drives boatmen mad. Those who see it pursue it the rest o’ their days.”