Island of Bones (The Djinn Kingdom Book 2)

by LJ Andrews

  “You’d think he’d been missing for ten years,” Atlas mumbled to Nova.

  She smiled and nudged him. “Leave him be. He’s the only one who has a normal family out of the lot of us. Let him be excited.”

  “Nova, I don’t know if I can stay at Kale’s father’s home,” Atlas said quietly. “I’ll take Gold-tooth, but then I will find alternate lodging.”

  “Don’t be foolish,” Nova said. “Kale says his father welcomes everyone.”

  “There, just there,” Kale shouted pointing to a fine brick home built up on a small mound.

  Kale led the way as Briggs and Atlas carried Taylor behind Nova. The Tucker home was large, but not so exquisite that one would think them a noble family. The life of a captain had surely provided well for Kale’s father, but the house still felt humble and homey. Nova smiled at the tiny pink buds peeking through the soil around the large porch. Kale rushed up the steps, but before he could pound on the door, it swung open.

  “Kale! You’re here!”

  “Queen Neah,” he said in surprise.

  Nova grinned. She certainly looked like Neah, but her green eyes were filled with light and while she traded her fine gown for a simple yellow dress, she’d never looked so beautiful.

  “Please, my true name is Raine,” she said. Kale nodded his understanding just as Raine saw Nova. She leapt off the steps and wrapped her arms tightly around Nova’s neck. “I’m so happy you’re safe. And you’re free!”

  “Thank you for sending my uncle to help us. We couldn’t have escaped without you,” Nova said once Raine pulled back.

  “Where is your mother? Nova, she’s beautiful. I knew she was related to you the second I saw her. You both have the same eyes,” she rambled happily.

  Nova’s smile dropped. “She couldn’t join us.”

  Raine’s brow furrowed in confusion, but she nodded as if understanding not to press it further. “Well, thank goodness you’re all here now. Come in, come in—everyone’s going to be here soon.”

  “Kale.” A booming voice came from the doorway. Nova looked up and saw a large man with a handsome face, much like Kale. It was clear by the happiness in his kind eyes this was Captain Tucker.

  “Father,” Kale said and wrapped his arms around his father’s broad shoulders.

  Tucker clapped Kale on the back, laughing jovially. “I thought you were gone, son, taken in the raid on the treasury, until this lovely lady reported you’d saved her life and you were alive but trapped among pirates,” he said nodding at Raine. “My son, what stories you will have to tell. Come now, bring everyone inside. Your sister is on her way as we speak.”

  “Father, one of our crew is injured,” Kale said.

  “Ah, I see,” Tucker said seeing Briggs holding onto the cot. “Raine, dear, would you fetch the healer immediately, please?”

  Raine nodded and raced down the dirt path toward the town.

  “Being so close to the royal island we have some of the finest healers in town. They’ll do what they can to help,” Tucker assured them.

  Nova glanced back at Atlas. He hung his head low, not looking up, and her curiosity was piqued. She remembered his hallucination on the island. He feared Captain Tucker, but it was if he feared the man’s disappointment more than his wrath.

  “Tell me who we have here,” Tucker said as Nova stepped onto the porch.

  “This is Nova Willock,” Kale said. “Her mother and uncle were the ones who helped us escape. And she also saved me during the treasury raid.”

  Tucker bowed his head and took Nova’s hand in his. “A thousand thanks, my dear. I can never repay what you did.”

  “Really, sir,” she said. “I think I may have—ˮ

  “She saved me, I assure you,” Kale interrupted, silencing her with a fierce look.

  “And you’ve met my uncle,” Nova said, changing the subject.

  “Welcome back, sir, I heard the young lady tell Raine her mother was unable to join you on the return trip?”

  “Aye sir,” Briggs said. “It be temporary.”

  Captain Tucker nodded, though he seemed slightly bewildered. They turned inside the house and Nova felt a wave of relief. It was bright and open, and for the first time since her father was taken, she basked in the comfort of being in an actual home.

  “Wait now, who’s that fellow?” Tucker said, poking his head out the doorway again.

  Atlas was stalking away now that Taylor was safely in the house. Kale cocked his head before stepping off the porch. “Atlas, stop,” he called out. “Where are you going?”

  “Atlas?” Captain Tucker said quietly, then quickly followed Kale.

  Nova glanced at Taylor, who still slept soundly in the open parlor, before joining the men outside.

  “Atlas,” Kale called again. “Where are you going?”

  “Young Atlas,” Tucker bellowed. Nova’s eyes widened when she saw Atlas stiffen and turn around slowly. He lifted his eyes like a shamed boy and his face was stoic when he met the eye of Tucker.

  “Oh, my,” Tucker breathed out, smiling. “It really is you.”

  “Father, do you know Atlas?” Kale asked watching in confusion.

  “Son, remember the boy, that boy I told you about so many years ago?”

  “The slave boy on Dieb?” Kale said before his eyes widened in understanding. “No, are you saying…”

  Captain Tucker nodded and smiled as he clapped his hands on Atlas’s shoulder. “How did you find yourself mixed up in all this, Atlas? I’ve often wondered about you, my boy. How you got on after the crew was dispatched.” Tucker looked him up and down, smiling until he stopped on his wrist. The black seal of the Star’s Vengeance was plain to see. Atlas closed his eyes, as if to hide from the disdain Tucker was sure to give him. “Ah, so you went a different direction. Life can throw challenges our way, Atlas.”

  “Father,” Kale interjected. “We all were taken captive aboard that ship. We did what we had to do to survive.”

  Tucker nodded, never looking away from Atlas. Nova felt her heart wrench as she watched Atlas’s face. What had Captain Tucker done in his life to earn such admiration? Atlas respected the man, and it was plain he never wanted to disappoint him.

  “The ship Freedom was attacked by pirates, sir,” Nova said softly. “That’s where I met Atlas. He was a helmsman.”

  Tucker didn’t look back but kept his eyes on Atlas. “You must come inside. Stay in my home. It doesn’t matter what has happened. It matters how you will live your life from this day onward. It is so good to see you again,” he said, wrapping his arms around Atlas tightly. Slowly, Atlas relaxed and wrapped his arms around Tucker, too. When they pulled apart, Atlas was smiling and his light eyes were filled with relief.

  Kale opened his mouth the quickly closed it as if he wanted to say something but didn’t. Nova smiled and brushed Atlas’s shoulder gently as he passed. She planned to ask him about his history later, but for now, it was enough to see him enjoy a warm welcome after so long in the skies.

  The Tuckers entertained the small band of pirates well into the night. Nova laughed at the stories of the captain during his trade years. He even shared how Atlas had sailed beneath him. Raine was relaxed and carefree the entire evening, so different than the Queen Neah Nova had saved. The healer had been assigned to see to Taylor through the night and had immediately set to work on the infection spreading from the wound.

  Kale’s sister Jenna brought her new son and husband, Albert. They passed the baby around, doting over his pink cheeks and chubby legs. It was announced that Kale’s fiancée Geni was set to arrive within the week, and Nova wished most of all that she could be nowhere near their reunion.

  When the laughter quieted down, Nova made her way outside. She stood on the porch, looking up at the twinkling stars and thinking of the great ships that sailed above them. She wondered where the Vengeance was. Smythe would be furious. He’d lost his first mate, his Djinn, though he didn’t know it, and the spyglass. She shook her head
trying to erase the wicked captain’s face, along with his terrifying raven, from her mind forever.

  “Everything all right?” Kale’s voice shook her from her thoughts.

  He held out a mug of steaming tea and stood next to her against the white banister lining the porch.

  “Everything is fine,” she said sipping the fruity tea. “Your family is very kind.”

  Kale breathed deeply. “It feels so strange to be home with them again. So much has happened.”

  “Any regrets?” Nova teased.

  Kale nodded. “A few. I’m looking forward to not getting the frequent beatings for sticking up to a certain, headstrong female.”

  Nova laughed and nudged him with her shoulder. “I don’t think she needed help from a stubborn man in the first place. I think he might have liked the tension.”

  “He’d do it again, you know,” Kale said, his voice serious. He leaned on his elbows swirling his tea around, as Nova’s smile faded.

  “Would he? I don’t know if I would let him,” she said softly.

  Kale stood straight and stepped closer to her so his face directly in front of her. “I can’t pretend I can fall back into life again. It’s too different, I’m too different. And I can’t pretend to go about my life if you’re planning to leave it.”

  Nova’s heart thumped wildly against her chest. She felt a wave of confusion. Kale was her opposite, the man who tried her patience more than anyone. He was stubborn and short-tempered at times, yet she stood frozen wishing he would take another step closer.

  “Kale,” she said. “I am not someone good to be around right now. I need to figure out which piece of me is the right one.”

  “Why do you have to choose?” he asked, reminding her of her mother’s last words. “Be you, Nova. Both sides are part of you. Why can’t you be both?” He stepped closer, and she let him.

  “I don’t know how,” she whispered. Kale brushed a curl off her cheek and Nova closed her eyes. Then her stomach dropped. “Kale, stop. You…we can’t do this.”

  His eyebrows scrunched in hurt. “You love to shut me out, Nova. You shut everyone out.”

  “It isn’t that, Kale,” she insisted, ignoring the jab to her heart by his words. “Don’t you realize, I don’t even know who I am.” Her face flushed as her temper flared.

  Kale sighed. “And you won’t let me help you. What is it? Is it me?” he said. Nova looked at him knowingly. “Ah, how foolish of me. It’s Atlas, isn’t it? I understand you have history together, but—ˮ

  “Excuse me,” she snipped. “What about Geni, Kale Tucker?”

  Kale turned away, his jaw pulsing as he clenched his teeth. He shook his head sheepishly. “I’m engaged. I’m engaged, Nova.” The words weren’t angry, it seemed as if he said them to remind himself. “I’m sorry. Please accept my apology. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry. I’m going in to get some sleep. We have a lot to discuss tomorrow on how we’re going to find your mother and the temple.”

  Kale rubbed a thumb over her hand gently before turning inside and leaving her alone. Nova released a trembling breath as she turned and faced the stars again. Beyond the jungles of Silva, the open sky was filled with mysteries. She needed to finish what she’d started. And now she needed to end the hold of the temple on her family once and for all.

  Kale was right—tomorrow was a day for discussion, but also a day for action. The new morning would bring a new determination, one that would change the course of her life forever. Of that she was certain.

  ****

  Smythe slammed his fist down on his heavy desk. The Vengeance had sailed high above the Keys for hours. He’d watched as the mysterious black clouds shroud the peaks. He’d cursed as his few crewmen waved their hands from below on the beach as the island swallowed itself whole. He’d left his men, there weren’t enough to save, and the girl hadn’t been with them. It could only mean one thing. She was dead and now the spyglass was gone too.

  The Keys were destroyed. Without the spyglass and the girl’s extra sense of the ancient language, he couldn’t see how he would ever find the mountain. Smythe cocked his pistol when someone knocked at his door. In his anger, he was certain he would fire at will at the next person who stepped into his cabin.

  The knock came again, followed by the creak of hinges bending.

  “What do ye think ye be doing comin’ in without invitation,” Smythe shouted as he turned toward the doorway. He dropped his gun, and his breath seemed to stick inside his throat.

  “No,” he breathed. “It can’t be.”

  “Hello, Charles,” he said. “It’s been so many years since we last saw one another.”

  “It…it wasn’t me, it was Willock,” Smythe stammered.

  The man laughed. “Of that I am certain. You never had the brains to pull off something as masterful as a mutiny. Willock has what’s coming to him, I assure you. But now, we have you to deal with.”

  “How… how are you alive?”

  “I made my own deals, Charles. But not a day passed in that wretched prison below that I didn’t dream of seeing you again.”

  “Captain, no,” Smythe begged.

  “Call me by my name, you ingrate!” he shouted, his face twisting in fury as he flicked a long match stick along the wall. The flame ignited and burned brightly against his maddening eyes.

  “Cap…Captain Phoenix,” Smythe mumbled like a mouse.

  “That’s more like it,” Phoenix said, his lips parting into a terrifying smile as he let the match fall.

  Thank you for enjoying book two in the Djinn Kingdom. Read Pirate’s Atlas on me. When you subscribe to my mailing list you will receive free books, giveaways, updates on my new releases, but never spam.

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  LJ

  About the Author

  LJ Andrews loves to read and write fantasy. It helps to escape the everyday grind. She lives with her husband, four children, two dogs, and one paranoid cate in the mountains of Utah. When she isn’t tackling piles of endless laundry, playing Legos, or going to baseball games, she is writing.

  LJ loves to hear from readers at www.ljandrews.com

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank Katie and Aubrey first of all. This is the closest I’ve released books and you both have read chapters like a boss, so I could get this series out quickly. Thank you to Derek for standing by my dream of writing and encouraging me to keep going when it got hard. Thank you to my four kiddos, you put up with a lot, and I admit I am happy I have encouraged you all to be a little more obsessed with pirates.

  Thank you to my Grandma Spjut for hustling my books more than I do and you’re eighty-nine! I love you. Thank you to mom and dad for always reading my stories and passing them out like candy on Halloween to anyone you come across. I am so grateful for your support.

  And thank you to my wonderful readers. Without you, no one would even know I exist. I wouldn’t be able to keep my dream alive without you. I love to hear from you, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

  Thank you, keep reading, and stay amazing,

  LJ