Chapter 1: Caden

Violent wind rips through the ocean waves.

I squint, trying to navigate through the darkness. The boat beneath my feet rocks back and forth, barely staying above the choppy waves. A chill settles over my body, numbing my fingers.

“Is there land nearby?” Andromeda yells from beside me. “We should be nearing the western continent s—woah!”

A great gust sends her tumbling forward, and I grab onto her mere seconds before she careens off the deck. Water trickles down her sharp features. She coughs, steadying herself. Her dark curls stick to her face as she clings to the mast.

We’ve been sailing for three days now, and we were lucky enough to get by. Having traveled miles from Lintue, a country in the east, our only choice was to continue until we reached our destination in the forests of the west.

I knew hitting some bad weather was inevitable during a journey this long. Still, I curse myself for not preparing for something like this sooner. The wind dies down, but I know it’s only a brief reprieve. Andromeda bursts into action. I recognize the look in her eyes—she has a plan.

“We might not make it,” she says. She crouches, chalk in hand, and begins scrawling something on the deck. She hands me another piece of chalk. “Here, help me.”

The white dust stains my fingers as I kneel beside her.

“Draw five circles that create an arc around here.” She motions to the planks of wood where she needs the circles. “Quick, before it all washes away.”

Hurriedly, I follow her instructions. Even while light rain patters down on us, the chalk sticks to the wood like glue. When I’m done making the last circle, I lean back to inspect my handiwork.

“Okay, now what?” I ask Andi. I turn back to face her.

She wipes sweat off her brow, chest heaving. “This is a temporary fix. It’ll help reinforce the wood. But if we get hit directly, we’re done for.”

Moments after the words leave her mouth, a thunderous blow hits our boat. My eyes barely process the blinding flash of lightning before I’m thrown to the side. Splinters fly into the air, and I blink away white spots from my eyes. The two of us cling to the mast, watching as the wood catches fire and waves of heat fan out around us. The storm is right above our boat. It’s only a matter of time before we get struck by lightning again.

“It’s not working!” she cries out. Then her eyes zero in on something in the distance, and she points excitedly. “Caden, the mainland!”

I follow her gaze, my heart lifting. If we aim for that land, we might just have a shot at surviving this disaster. We’re wildly off course from our original destination, Tell, but we’ll at least make it to Hintua where we can seek help. That is, if the Hintuans accept us.

“Steer the boat south,” she says. “I’m going to fix up the chalk spell. Maybe I can calm the waves a bit too, at least until we get there.”

I nod, launching myself toward the helm of the ship. My fingers slip across the wood, struggling to turn the helm to the left. The land comes into full view before the ship, but it’s still too far.

And the wind is getting stronger.

Frantically, I spin the helm so that we’re back on course.

“Andromeda!” I yell.

“I know! I’m trying!”

I turn back, watching as she finishes an incantation. The wind around us dulls, the waves lulling into a gentle sway. That must be her spell to buy us some time until we get to land. She comes up beside me, helping me keep the boat steady. The hood of her cloak drips water onto the deck below us. The freezing air bites at my cheeks and nose, leaving my face numb. But at least we’re not getting tossed into the ocean.

After our arduous journey across the Serchan deserts, we were ultimately confronted by General Nox’s men at Kiowa’s tomb. We had just acquired a cure for calaris—specifically, a variant of the disease that was being used to control the lives of our loved ones. I gave it to my brother, Killian. Andromeda gave it to her best friend, Eris.

But while we were escaping the collapsing tomb, Eris was crushed beneath the rubble.

Now, Andromeda is convinced that something important happened before Eris died, and she’s decided that we should travel to Tell to find out what. Using a flower of resurrection would allow her to speak to Eris, even if just for a moment.

And me? I’m just trying to figure out why this all happened and keep my brother safe. We managed to save him from the tomb, but he wasn’t targeted randomly. The sheer amount of effort that the general put in to keep Killian in his clutches was no coincidence. But what does Killian have to do with his plan to open the gates to the Underworld, anyway?

The Underworld. Which we now have a key to.

“Is everything okay?” Killian comes up beside me, surveying the scene ahead. “I practically got hurled out of bed.”

He blinks blearily at the scene before us, running his fingers through dark curls. How the heck did he sleep through this storm? He seems surprisingly calm, even as he surveys the destruction done to our boat.

It’s strange to finally see him after over a year. Even now, my throat closes as I process his presence. It hurts even more when he just stares back at me blankly, awaiting an answer. I can tell that there’s something different between us now, an invisible, insurmountable wall.

“We’ll be fine,” Andromeda says. “But the minute we shore up, we’ll have to be careful. This is unfamiliar territory. If there are people, there’ll be resources, but we also don’t know what their rules and customs are.”

Killian nods. “I’ll pack our things.”

He moves back to the cabin, slightly more confident in his steps. I watch him leave, then turn back to the waves ahead. We’re almost there. In a few minutes, we’ll be on land. After disembarking, hopefully we can find a place to stay before heading to the forests of Tell.

Just as the thought crosses my mind, a loud splashing sound draws my attention. Even with the wind rattling in my ears, I hear it clear as day. I look at Andromeda, frowning.

“Do you hear that?” I ask.

She hums. “Probably just a large fish.”

Another splash sounds, this one louder. She furrows her brow.

“Yeah, that’s not just a fish,” I say. “I’m going to check it out.”

“Careful.” Even while she’s focused on steering the ship across the now-smooth waves, she can sense something is wrong. “These areas sometimes have dangerous creatures—”

The splashing morphs into a screeching, and the boat begins to shudder.

“That’s not the wind, is it?” Panic rises in my throat. “Andromeda?”

She ignores me, steering the boat sharply to one side. I gasp, almost tumbling into her.

“Hey!” I yell. “What’s wrong?”

She grits her teeth and another splash sounds, this time from the other side of the boat. A curse escapes her lips.

“Brace yourself,” she says. “We’re about to be attacked by sirens.”