The Midnight Strider (The Chronomancer Chronicles Book 2)

by Reilyn J. Hardy

  “He belongs to Drarkodon,” the man says.

  “Well Drarkodon should take better care of his belongings,” Antigone says, pushing me further. She takes a step too and the man stops her.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he asks.

  “I need to make sure he actually gets to the Underworld,” she says. “Dad doesn’t want this to happen again.”

  He clenches his fists before releasing them.

  “Fine,” he grumbles. “As long as you stay on the ship.” He turns to Benny, Jace, Nova, and Kina. “You four, follow me,” he says as he looks back at Antigone. “Keep an eye on him.” She grabs hold of my arm again.

  “Ready?” she whispers to me as she takes a step closer so that she’s right behind me, twisting my arm behind my back. “You’re going to feel cold, just ignore it. It goes away.”

  I nod when the man turns around. Though the ship is still a distance away, he disappears from the beach, as does Benny and everyone else. There’s no going back now.

  I take a deep breath as Antigone makes me walk forward.

  “Are you ready?” she asks me again in a whisper.

  “Does it matter?” I ask. She doesn’t respond.

  We both know it doesn’t matter.

  I close my eyes and keep forward.

  Hit with a sudden chill, my face feels like it’s on fire. Iced, I open my eyes, I can see my breath in front of me.

  “Welcome to the Midnight Strider,” she whispers.

  Hundreds of phantom faces greet us. Spirits, just like my friends turned into. I wonder how long Benny will be able to last.

  The faces, they all look at me as we pass them. Some work on the ship, scrubbing the deck, managing the sails. None of them look away, all keeping their eyes on me as they work. I wonder if they know, or if they think I’m who I’m pretending to be. I harden my expression and face forward, trying to pretend I’m unfazed by what I see.

  “I’m going to take him to the brig,” she tells the man from the shoreline. He nods and waves his hand. I frown slightly, there’s something hanging from his shoulder.

  Blue — shiny. It’s a lamp. He didn’t have it earlier — but then I turn my head, and there’s another man who looks just like him — and another.

  There’s three of them. Triplets.

  Maybe it wasn’t him who greeted us on the beach.

  I tear my gaze away from the men and the lamp, and follow Antigone down the stairs. Her hair has grown since drying. Puffier and puffier, the large red mass of kinky curls seems to have grown significantly, springing in all different directions from her head.

  I run my fingers through my own hair; it’s not nearly as thick, or as long.

  Antigone sticks me in the iron cell of the brig and I turn around just as she closes it. She doesn’t lock it. She nods her head to the left and I turn mine.

  Benny, Jace, Nova, and Kina are in there with us, barely visible in the darkness. I can only just see the outlines of their bodies.

  “How are you doing?” Antigone asks Benny, but he doesn’t turn to look at her. He just nods, acknowledging he’s heard her. I wonder if it hurts.

  I move to the side of the ship, away from the iron bars and I look out through a hole. I can’t see anything around us. Nothing’s visible, only darkness.

  I turn away from the hole and I sit down.

  “I won’t lie,” Jace began as he sits down on the other side of the cell beside me, still fading in and out of sight. “I was comforted by the fact she’d out live me because it meant I wouldn’t have to live without her.” His ghostly hands fold together, thumbs twiddling in front of him. He doesn’t look at me. “I figured I’d mean nothing eventually. I mean, we were both fine without each other before we met, so she’d be fine after. Which I guess, is why I didn’t really get why she was so bothered by seeing me dead in Newacre. But now I know how it feels,” he continues as he glances at me and shakes his head. His voice breaks. “And I’m not fine.” His bottom lip quivers.

  “We’re going to get her back. I know it’d be hard to live without her.”

  He nods. “But I can, Mae. I can live without her, I just don’t want to.”

  “I don’t want to either.”

  I’ve lost enough people. But how selfish are we allowed to be with the lives of other people?

  “I’m sorry for what I said.”

  I furrow my brows. “What did you say?”

  “When I invalidated you,” he says, glancing at me again. “What you feel, and don't… Friends don’t do that.”

  I shake my head. “I made you angry. We were both —”

  “Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t give me the right.”

  I’m not sure what to do. I’ve never actually heard Jace sincerely apologize before. I always knew when he was sorry just by the look on his face, but it was always immediate too. He apologized in the Whispering Woods when he snapped at me, but that wasn’t like this.

  “I’m sorry,” he says again.

  I nod, looking over at him. “I know you didn't mean it.”

  “I didn’t,” he repeats after me. “I didn’t.”

  I didn’t really think of it as invalidation, but we were both in bad places at the time and I knew better than to take what he said to heart. I scratch my arm and hook my feet at my ankles. “Can I tell you about something? Well, more of a someone.”

  “Yeah, shoot.”

  “When I was in Mithlonde, an older woman took care of me. Her name was Nannu. It’s actually kind of funny,” I say as I smile a little. “She found me unconscious after I got there and took me home for dinner — and not as a guest. I was supposed to be the meal.”

  My bottom lip quivers as my jaw trembles. I blink, trying to suppress any tears that are pushing their way forward.

  “I caught these strange looking creatures for her, called Skinharvester Drakes. This is actually one of their beaks,” I say, fumbling with the slender beak hanging from my neck. “She’d tell me stories about the dragons, and what things were like in Mithlonde before Drarkodon moved them out of Aridete. About the rebellion she led.” I scratch at my jawline. “She sacrificed herself so Vihaan and I could escape. She sacrificed herself for me.” I wipe my face with the back of my hands. “I don’t know how to cope with that.” I don’t turn to face him. I keep looking forward.

  “You’re unbelievably negative,” Jace says.

  “What?”

  “What about everything else you’ve done, Mae? You left your comfort zone to come with me. You put your own fears aside, for me. You didn’t give up on Rhiannon, despite having no reason to trust her. Same with Miko, even though she stole from you; you gave her another chance. By the sound of it, you probably gave Nannu strength to stand up for what she believed in, one last time. Your courage saved an entire town, and the spirit of a young girl who just wanted her mother to be put to rest.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” I say. “You killed the hag.”

  “So what if I did? Didn’t do anything? Mae, I didn’t sacrifice myself for someone else. You did that. None of us would have even been out there if it wasn’t for you.” He turns his head to look at me. “And all this time, you were putting yourself at risk to try to save your friends and your brother — the people you care about. Things don’t always turn out the way we want them to. That’s life. It’s not fair or easy, but we live it anyway.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe we all just hope it’s going to get better — or we’re all just too afraid to find out what’ll happen if we don’t. We’re on the voyage of the dead — where we hope we’re taken to a better place, even though we could be going to a worse one.”

  “Probably a worse one,” I say.

  He chuckles and scratches behind his ear.

  “I was so ready to be angry at you
. I didn’t wanna watch you die again.”

  “Jace —”

  “Let me finish,” he says. “You pick everyone else over yourself. You see someone having a problem, and you have to help them, and I think it’s because you never forgave yourself for what happened to Apollo. You want to save everyone else because you couldn’t save him.” Jace furrows his brows. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, look out for yourself too. Because I don’t want to live without you either — and I can’t save you.”

  I widen my eyes and I nod, trying to harden my expression. I nod again. I can try.

  I look up and see Nadia trying to pull what looks like a wiggling seaweed out from the stairs. I have to look again.

  “Nadia?” I say as I get to my feet.

  She turns around, letting go of the seaweed and it disappears. “Arthur! How are you here?” she asks, grabbing the steel enclosure with her fingers. She looks around, spotting the others before a frown crosses her face. “Where’s Rhiannon?” she asks.

  Jace gets up.

  I close my eyes.

  She cups her hands over her face. “Oh no, no —”

  “How are you alive?” I ask, opening my eyes again.

  “Nadia!” someone shouts for her. She glances at the stairs before turning back to me.

  “My lamp,” she says. “When a genie is near death, they get pulled back to their lamp to heal. I didn’t want to be a prisoner again — I wanted to get my lamp on my own terms —”

  “That’s why you wanted me to summon the ship.”

  “I’m sorry,” she says. “I did want to help you — I did — I just would have gotten something out of it too.”

  I’m not mad at her.

  “Nadia!” the same voice shouts for her. “Where’s my kryd? Get back up here. Now!”

  “I have to go,” she says. “Master’s orders.” I flinch at her mention of a master. She brushes her fingertips against my cheek. “Be safe,” she whispers.

  “I’m going to save you,” I tell her. She stops on the stairs.

  She takes a step down to look at me. “Don’t. You don’t know what they are.” She shrugs. “Can’t save everyone.”

  Nadia disappears up the stairs before I can ask what she means. Who she means. I turn to Antigone, who purses her lips together.

  “You know what she means, don’t you.”

  She sighs. “Those three men you saw up there, together they transform into a large, three-headed dog. It’s massive, the size of a house,” she says. “I’ve only seen it once when I came here with my dad to talk to Drarkodon about Pitch prisoners.”

  “Damn it!” Benny snaps. Jace, Nova and Kina are beginning to return to solid form.

  Antigone rushes toward their cell.

  “Are you okay?” she asks Benny, he’s just shaking his head. He looks at me.

  “I’m sorry,” he says, he looks away and keeps shaking his head. “I tried, I couldn’t hold it.”

  I open my mouth to speak but I’m cut off.

  The whole ship shakes, and I grab the first bar I can get my hands onto. I steady myself and grab Kina’s arm to stop her from falling. The ship jerks again and she ends up falling on me instead.

  “Thanks though,” she says quietly and laughs before getting back up. She steadies herself and offers me a hand.

  “Did we crash into something?” Nova asks.

  Benny sticks his head out through the wall. He pulls his head back through the ship. “We’re here.”

  Chapter TWENTY-SEVEN

  the same eyes

  Antigone grabs my wrist, twisting it behind my back as she leads me up first. Jace, Nova and Kina have all returned to their solid forms, and we have to create a distraction.

  I know exactly what to do.

  My gaze falls into the lamp hanging off of one of the triplets’ shoulders. I glance at Antigone, who raises an eyebrow at me. I nod to the lamp and she sighs, but she nods too.

  She releases her hold on my wrist as we walk past, and I grab the lamp. It slips off of his shoulder with ease, but not without grabbing his attention.

  He tries to snatch it back but I pull away from him.

  “That’s mine!” he shouts, coming after me and I throw it to Nadia, who drops the plate she’s carrying. “He stole it from — give me the lamp!” he roars, grabbing her by the neck.

  “You stole it from me first, Pycey!” she snaps at him.

  He rips the lamp right out of her grasp.

  “You’re my prisoner,” he says. He doesn’t take his hand off of her neck. I tighten my fists and walk toward the two of them.

  “Let her go,” I say.

  “Is that —” one of the other triplets starts to say to another, then he shakes his head. “No, it can’t be, can it?”

  They must realize I’m not Apollo.

  I clench my fists tighter.

  “I said, let her go.”

  Nadia kicks her foot back, right between Pycey’s legs and he releases her while he drops down onto the ground, curling into the fetal position. She stomps on his face with her heel and runs back to me.

  “Do not do chronomancy here,” she warns me.

  The other two pick Pycey off of the ground and stand together. They link their arms, and begin to merge together.

  “What’s happening?” I ask, just as the others emerge onto the deck.

  “Nadia,” Jace says, staring at the monstrous creature forming before us. “Please bring Kina into your lamp.”

  “Antigone too!” Benny adds.

  “But I —” Kina starts to protest but Nadia interrupts.

  “Don’t have to ask me twice.” Nadia shoves the lamp back into my arms as she grabs hold of Kina and Antigone, and the three of them disappear. I nearly drop it. I swing the strap onto my shoulder, not taking my eyes off of the creature blocking us from leaving the ship.

  “Is that a —” Benny says beside me and Nova nods.

  “A three-headed dog.”

  The three-headed dog is massive, covered in black fur, it growls at us from all three heads as drool drips from the mouths and onto the deck.

  “That’s disgusting,” Benny says, his lip curls.

  Jace is clenching his fists beside me and he’s about to jump at them when I stop him.

  “Remember what happened in the Whispering Woods?” I say. “Don’t change. You don’t know what could happen in here.”

  “Well, what are we going to do?” he asks. “I don’t think I can rip that head off. Not with my hands. This isn’t a hag, Mae.”

  “Won’t three more grow back?” Benny asks. We all look at him. Nova hits the back of his head.

  “That’s a hydra, you idiot.”

  “I don’t want to kill —” I start to say as the middle head knocks me over. It tries to bite me. I hold its jaw open, my arms are shaking. Jace punches it in the throat and ducks when the other head tries to bite him.

  “Does anyone have a plan?” Nova yells, his hands are lava rock again and he grabs the neck of the third head, singeing its fur with the fire emitting through the cracks. The dog whimpers and shakes him off. It pulls back, and sits down, scratching at the new burn on its neck. Shaking it off, the three heads lock focus on us once more and growl again.

  “Distractions!” Benny says, grabbing a rotten wooden board from the ship. “Fetch!” He throws it as far as he can, and the dog doesn’t even turn a head.

  “Are you serious?” Jace growls at him. He grabs Benny by the neck and throws him at the middle head. Benny vanishes in time to go right through the monster. The heads all knock into each other as they scramble to find him. Jace grins. He grabs the lamp from me and shows it to Benny. “Distract the dog or I’ll make sure Nadia doesn’t let your girlfriend out of the jar. We’ll domesticate her. Find a nice fish bowl —”

  �
��It’s not a jar!” Nadia yells from inside of her lamp.

  “Here doggy,” Benny says from behind the animal. It slowly turns around and starts to growl. “I hate you, Jace!” he yells as he disappears just when one tries to snap its jaw around his body.

  “I don’t care!” he yells back.

  “Let’s go!” Nova says, pushing the both of us toward the edge of the ship, while the dog chases Benny in another direction.

  As soon as I step foot on the ground, it shakes.

  “What was that?” Jace asks. The two of them look at me and I shake my head.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where do we go?” Nova asks, his fist is lava rock again, flames seeping through the cracks.

  I close my eyes and inhale deeply. I’ve been here many times in my dreams. My stomach is doing flip flops, because it looks exactly the same. They couldn’t have been just dreams.

  I focus on my brother, trying to sense him, but there’s nothing. I can’t sense anything alive in the Underworld aside from the two I’m standing with, though that might be due to their body temperatures.

  “What are you waiting for?” Nadia shouts from her lamp. “Hurry! The ship isn’t going to remain docked here forever!”

  I open my eyes and step forward.

  “Do you know where you’re going?” Jace asks.

  I nod.“It’s this way. I’ve been here before.” I rub the back of my neck.

  “Are you ready for this?” Jace asks me, and I shrug.

  I start walking. “It doesn’t matter.”

  The Underworld is just as I remember it from my dreams. I don’t touch the walls, I know better now, and at least I can see better with the fire illuminating from Nova’s arm. I can see the sharp, jagged edges of the black rock walls that surround us. I can see the points and tips. But I can hardly see in front of us, I can only see as far as the light travels.

  I just want to find Apollo and Rhiannon, and leave. But we’re in the Underworld now. Where dead lurk, where the Grim Reaper lurks — where he’s strongest.