Sadly, pain returned. At first it was irritating, like something tickling my ribs, and I groaned, hoping it would stop. But it quickly worsened. I slapped at whatever it was like I’d inadvertently walked into a spiderweb. I grabbed on to my pain stubbornly, tucking it deep inside me and holding it there like a cat would hold on to a mouse, unwilling to let it get the best of me. “No,” I slurred. “Leave me alone.”
“I’ve got to heal you, love.”
My nerves tingled, stinging like a thousand hornets. There was a pop, and water leaked from my ears, trickling down my neck. That’s when I heard the sound of crickets. They chirruped together, sawing their little legs back and forth, wondering if I was dead like them or still among the living. Their song was wild and annoying.
“Stop it,” I called out to them.
“Stop what, love?” the glowing man leaning over me said.
“Stop the bugs. They’re so noisy.”
“I think she’s talkin’ bout the ghosties,” a familiar voice suggested. “Shut it!” the man demanded.
The buzzing suddenly ceased, and I rolled my swollen tongue over my numb lips. “Thank you,” I mumbled and promptly fell asleep.
When I woke again, I lay still for a moment assessing my body for injuries.
Ahmose healed us, Ashleigh said.
Tia? I asked.
I am here, Lily.
Are you guys okay?
We are fine, Tia said. Though we need to have a frank discussion about turning your back to a hunter.
I know. I’ll add it to the list. I’m sorry I endangered the two of you.
Slowly, I cracked open my eyes and saw Cherty at the rudder. “ ’Bout time,” he said. “Was thinkin’ you’d sleep the whole way ta the island.”
“Ahmose?” I called out softly.
“He’s sleepin’ it off,” Cherty said, nodding his head to something behind me.
I turned around and saw Ahmose, back propped up against the deck of the ship, his head hanging low to his chest as he slept.
“Took a lot out o’ him ta bring ya back from the brink,” Cherty said. “Didn’ think he was gonna make it.”
“I was that bad off?” I asked.
Cherty leaned forward, bushy eyebrows raised. “Ya was dead, girlie. Don’t rightly know how he did it, but he did. Fished ya outta the river himself.”
I nodded and scooted a bit closer to Ahmose. His golden skin had a dusky pallor, and his fingertips were as blue as if they’d been nibbled on by hoarfrost. A gray bruise colored his jaw, and his cheek was slightly swollen. I knew I didn’t look much better. My clothes were still damp in places, and the parts that were dry were scratchy and rough. I didn’t even want to look down at my bone-white limbs or the scar on my leg that was still sticky with blood though it had healed over.
“Are we safe?” I asked. “What happened with Apep?”
“The burnin’ rocks were too much fer ’im. He ran off ta lick his wounds. Don’ worry, though. He’ll be back. Did plenty o’ damage before he left. Mesektet had ta heal herself. Apep broke ’er apart in frustration before he hightailed it outta here. Lost more’n half my ghosties.”
The ship did look considerably less crowded. “How much time do you think we’ve got until he returns?” The idea that the giant snake would be coming back for round two filled me with horror. I hadn’t done well before. Sure, I’d distracted him for a short time, but ultimately we’d lost. I wasn’t sure we’d survive a second bout.
“Hard ta tell. Could come back soon or could leave us alone for the duration. Depends on ’is mood. If we’re lucky, we can grab the two boys and skedaddle from his island before he even knows we’re there.”
“Let’s hope so.”
After a brief moment of hesitation, I reached over and smoothed Ahmose’s thick hair away from his forehead. His lips were slightly parted, and the worries he carried with him like a cloak upon his shoulders had lifted away as he slept, revealing a slight trace of the happy, carefree man who’d spent an afternoon in Ashleigh’s sunshiny, strawberry dream.
Despite everything, I loved him. It wasn’t all Ashleigh. It was time I admitted it to myself. I wanted Ahmose to be happy. It would be a travesty to never see that moonbeam smile again. To never feel the comfort and warmth of his arms around me. Maybe the others were right, and we should grab every moment of happiness we could. It wasn’t going to last. An end was coming. We all knew it.
I draped the healing stela around his neck, hoping it would work its magic as he slept, and scooted back against the boat, positioning myself alongside Ahmose and dropping my head on his shoulder. He stirred only slightly when I took his hand and twined my fingers through his.
“Best rest while ya can,” Cherty said. “Won’t be long till we reach the island, and ya’ll need ta have yer wits about ya.”
I gave him a grateful smile and closed my eyes, my body rocking with the motion of the boat.
Lily. Sunshine filled my mind. I startled awake. “Amon?” I murmured groggily, reluctant to rouse myself. Ahmose shifted beside me and rubbed his eyes.
“Good thing. Was gonna fetch ya in a moment anyway,” Cherty said.
“What is it?” I asked, clambering nervously to my feet. “Has Apep returned?”
“Naw. It’s the island. We’re here. Found ’er an hour ago, but she disappeared. This is the second time I’ve been able to spot ’er. Don’t look at ’er directly, else she fades away in the mist again.”
“I can find it without looking now that we’re close enough,” Ahmose said as he turned me toward him. After he inspected my former injuries, his eyes found my face. His fingertips followed his gaze and he touched my cheek, the contact as fleeting as a butterfly’s wings, but still my skin burned. I wondered what he saw when he looked at me. Was it Tia? Ashleigh? All three of us? Maybe it didn’t matter anymore.
“How do you feel?” he asked. “Are you still in pain?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing. Cherty said you brought me back, expending your own energy to do so.”
“It was nothing.”
I took his hand, cupping it in mine. It was a bold move on my part, but it somehow felt right. “No, it wasn’t.”
He looked down at our hands, and then his eyes flickered up. For a moment he studied me and a corner of his mouth lifted in a small, hopeful smile. Ahmose squeezed my hand, not painfully but possessively, and I took a step closer. “I’d do it again, love,” he said as he bent down to my ear, his breath warming my cheek.
When I nodded, he pressed a soft kiss on my jaw next to my earlobe and goose bumps shot down my body. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I tucked my head against his chest and said, “Thank you.”
His big hand cupped my head and stroked my hair softly. I was so lost in the moment that I was surprised when Ahmose said to Cherty, “Bear right.” The ship listed, and I would have had to grab on to the railing if Ahmose hadn’t kept me solidly planted against his body. “Now straight on,” he added. “That’s it. I can feel them nearby. Keep your eyes tightly closed, Lily,” he said.
“You best do it, too, lad,” Cherty said. “Don’t look straight upon it.”
“You can sense your brothers?” I mumbled against his chest, both of us swaying with the ship.
“Yes.”
After another moment, Cherty said, “You two can open yer eyes now. Lost a few more ghosties what looked on the island, but now we’re anchored ta her, so we’re safe enough. Nice havin’ ya aboard, lad. Came in real handy.”
Ahmose reluctantly left me to help Cherty with the sails, and I rubbed my arms, feeling cold after having been enveloped in his warmth. I felt a combination of giddiness and guilt over my feelings for Ahmose. Indulging my desire to be close to him, even knowing everything I knew, made me feel like I was an addict passing by a bar. I was walking slowly enough that temptation seeped from the windows, beckoning. My limbs trembled with wanting something I shouldn’t have. I approached Cherty and asked, “Will the island
move now that we’re here?”
“Naw. She can’t drift away once we’re anchored to ’er.”
I nodded, shifting my gaze from the coarse beard on Cherty’s face to the view off the bow of the ship. A heavy mist obscured the island at first, but then spears of sunshine pierced the clouds. I saw the top of a green mountain part the gray billows like a shark fin on the ocean. When it disappeared again, a sense of foreboding and danger swept over me just as surely as if we were indeed being encircled by a school of the dangerous predators.
Channeling the powers of Wasret, we created new clothes and I reached up to find my windblown, salt-ridden hair was now clean and hung in a loose braid down my back. I wore a white T-shirt tucked into khaki cargo pants with a long-sleeved white button-down shirt tied around my waist, and a pair of supple hiking boots adorned my feet.
Ahmose appeared a moment later, also freshly changed. His hair, as dark as the churning water of the Cosmic River, was swept back from his face. He offered me a tired smile and gave me back the stela. “Thank you for loaning your token from Horus,” he said. “It’s done all it can for me,” Ahmose added cryptically. I draped the necklace around my neck and wondered exactly what healing me had taken out of him. I made a mental note to find out.
Cherty took my hand and helped me into a dinghy that had magically formed on the side of the ship. “That’s convenient,” I said as I stepped into the boat and took a seat. “Bet the captain of the Titanic would’ve appreciated having that ability.”
He clambered aboard and started pulling on the ropes to lower us down. “I was watchin’ that, ya know. Terrible thing ta see a fine ship such as that one find its home at the bottom o’ the sea. Carried many o’ those souls on their last boat ride. Didn’t have the heart ta tell the captain everythin’ he did wrong. Least he went down with the ship. Gotta give ’im credit for bravery.”
When we were bobbing on the Cosmic River, I looked up to see Ahmose drawing in the ropes, then he raised his hands, and his body lifted into the air and floated down toward us. He settled into the craft on the bench next to me, but I could see how using his power drained him. I took hold of his hand and pressed it between mine. He squeezed my fingers weakly.
Cherty sat by the rudder and twirled a finger in the air. We shot forward, heading toward the island as quickly as if there were a motor speeding us along, but as far as I could see we flew across the waves on whatever power Cherty had at his disposal. Starry flying fish raced alongside our craft, and a larger animal that looked like a cross between a black dolphin and a sea horse leapt from the water and reentered with a splash.
I caught glimpses of the island that teased me with flashes of green, but most of it was covered in swollen clouds so thick it was really difficult to make out the size and shape of it. Then, when the boat ran aground, the mist dissipated before us and the Isle of the Lost showed itself in all its splendor. A magnificent green paradise rose out of the depths of the black Cosmic River. Mountains loomed high overhead, their tips hidden by the clouds. Trees of all kind with heavy canopies that shifted in a warm breeze butted right up next to the thin black beach.
“It’s lovely,” I murmured in a hushed voice.
“It’s lovely, all right,” Cherty agreed. “Lovely until ya get all twisted and turned around in the forest wonderin’ if ya’ll ever see the light o’ day again.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Cherty rubbed the stubble on his cheek as he considered the jungle ahead. “The whole island is…well, it doesn’t like ta let ya go once ya set foot upon it. Now, me, it doesn’t much care for. Nothin’ it can get outta me. But two kickers like you? Well, let’s just say, it’s not too likely ta let ya go easy-like.”
“But Ahmose can find a path.”
“He might. He might. Then again, islands are confusin’ things. An’ keep in mind ol’ Apep lives here. Could be he’s waiting for us ta walk into his mouth again. If he’s not bad enough, ya should know that the island can hypnotize you as well as the snake. It’s got ways o’ trappin’ ya.”
The thought of walking into the mouth of the snake again froze me in place. Fear crept through my veins, forming icy rivulets, and my breath hitched.
“You might have told us that before we set foot upon it,” Ahmose said, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. I inhaled shakily.
“Oh, I mighta. Wouldn’a changed yer minds anyhow,” Cherty replied.
“He’s right,” I said, putting my hand on top of Ahmose’s. I turned to face him. “We have to save your brothers. We don’t have another choice.” I added hopefully, “So if the island isn’t interested in him, then we can have Cherty lead the way instead of you.”
“I’d like ta be able ta help, but I’m tied ta my ship. Can’ leave Mesektet. Bad enough the ghosties still aboard have ta wait. I can only give ya a day or so ta find the other two guardians. After that, the pull o’ the dead will force the ship ta continue on an’ I’ll have ta go with ’er.”
When he saw my fallen expression, Cherty stiffened. “I’ll not have ya givin’ me a coward’s name,” he said, his chin tilting up.
I shook my head and stepped toward him. His rough, chapped hands twitched at his sides. “I’m not thinking you’re a coward, Cherty. I’m just a little scared of the unknown.”
Cherty peered at me with one eye shut, then nodded gruffly and pulled me aside. “As am I. But the lad is a good one,” he said, indicating Ahmose, who had crouched in the sand and was waving his hands over it, seeking a path.
Ahmose’s thick hair, as black as the sand, hung over his forehead, obscuring his moonbeam-gray eyes. “I judged ’im unfairly before,” Cherty continued. “He clearly loves ya and is willin’ ta risk himself ta save ya. I thought the guardians were cold men with hearts as unfeelin’ as a crocodile’s hide, but seein’ ’im with you changed my thinkin’.”
“He’s not coldhearted at all,” I found myself saying. “Ahmose jes’ keeps his feelin’s all bottled up inside, so he does. Ya might think he’s intimidatin’ an’ stern if ya jes’ look on the outside, but once ya break through ta his heart, he’s as soft an’ sweet as a newborn kitten at Christmas, the poor darlin’.”
I stood there, staring dumbly at Ahmose with a goofy expression on my face. I wasn’t even aware that Cherty was still there until he cleared his throat and spat into the sand. Blinking, I jerked and turned to face him.
“That was disconcertin’,” Cherty said. “Ya should be ashamed of yerself, fairy.”
“What?” I said, confused.
“Yer fairy. She plum took over and ya didn’ even notice. The three o’ ya are blurrin’ together more an’ more.”
Ashleigh began sobbing in my mind. “Stop it,” I said to Cherty. “You’ve hurt her feelings. She can’t help the way she feels.”
“Maybe not. Jes’…jes’ be careful, Lily. Bad enough ta be confused here, where it don’ mean much. It’s ’nother thing entirely ta be turned about out there.” He pointed toward the jungle, where dark branches and trunks gave way to soaring greenery that beckoned us closer. “The three o’ ya got ta keep tight control o’ yerselves. If ya show the island yer weaknesses, it’ll exploit ’em, sure as a sharkie zooms in on a flailin’ fish.”
“We’ll be careful,” I promised him. “Will you wait on the beach?”
“Yes. I’ll stay here as long as I can, but if fer some reason, me and my boat are gone, don’ look back on the island when you leave. It’ll trap ya sure as a kingfisher. If Apep returns, I…well…let’s jes’ hope he don’. Be safe, Lily,” he said. “An’ hurry.”
“We will,” I answered with more confidence than I actually felt. I adjusted my leather harness containing my spear-knives and the quiver of arrows over my shoulder.
“Are you ready?” Ahmose asked, coming up behind me and shifting my bow to a more comfortable position. His face looked grave and serious, the dark hollows beneath his cheekbones made him look severe, almost like a starved and desperate animal.
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“Yes,” I answered, longing to see the happiness and sparkle return to his eyes. To see him as he was in Ashleigh’s long-ago dream. I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile and cupped his cheek with my hand. He pulled it down to kiss my palm, his lips as light and soft as flower petals. I squeezed my eyes shut for just a moment. Then he wrapped his hand around mine, leading the way forward.
Together we walked to the edge of the jungle and, with a last look at Cherty behind us, plunged into the dimness beneath the trees of the Island of the Lost.
The jungle closed around us. Within a matter of moments, I could no longer hear the sound of the waves hitting the beach. Ahmose had seemed confident before we entered, but once we were beneath the trees, his smile slipped and his steps became less sure. Not ten minutes later, he stopped and turned in a slow circle.
He crouched down and spread out his fingertips searching for a direction. After several tries, he blew out a breath in frustration. “The path to my brothers is unclear. When I channel my power, not one but many paths appear, and as soon as I follow one, I find it broken. They cannot all be the right way. I fear leading you down the wrong one.”
“Are there any that seem to be stronger than the others? Can you still feel your brothers?”
“Yes and no. I know they are close, but I can’t pinpoint their exact location.”
“Cherty said he could only wait for us for a few days at best. What do we do?”
A group of large birds squawked loudly overhead. I glanced up and a shiver ran through me as I realized they were watching us. Their long beaks snapped shut in a series of clicks that sounded like they were communicating. They reminded me of miniature pterodactyls looking for an easy meal.
Ahmose studied the paths for a moment, grunted in frustration, and then said, “Whatever we do, we shouldn’t stay here.”