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  Chapter 1

  The sky over Aventoll was a bright blue like the color of a lapis lazuli. Not as deep as sapphire, but not the robin’s egg blue of a typical summer back on Earth. Perfect white clouds scudded along the gemstone canvas as if they were painted there by some giant wielding a heavenly paintbrush, and the ocean I was floating in was the perfect temperature and was calm as far as the eye could see.

  It was enchanting, and I pulled myself stroke by stroke through the glittering waters of the Ocean Mercedes.

  The water itself was crystalline and tasted just as sweet as I remembered it tasting as it ran down my face and over my lips. I felt more buoyant than I normally did, and when I kicked my legs harder, it was almost as if I was skimming along the surface of the gently swelling waters.

  Then a black and green fin rose out of the water on my left like a sail that glittered with thousands of diamond droplets.

  I held my breath, streamlined my body, and dared myself to open my eyes under the clear water.

  Just like before, a pair of large chrome-colored eyes gazed up at me from below, and the monstrous koi-like fish kept pace with me while we raced toward the horizon. Now that I knew what the behemoth was, I wasn’t afraid it was going to eat me or anything like that. In fact, I wasn’t even sure what Mercedes’ Sacred Fish ate, but as long as it wasn’t people, me and Bubba down there would be just fine.

  “Come on!” I shouted and windmilled my arms faster.

  The fish below me seemed to grin, and it sped up until we were no longer swimming in tandem, but now trying to outpace each other.

  Stroke after stroke, I willed myself to swim harder until I suddenly lost sight of the Sacred Fish.

  “Hey…” I said as I stopped and turned myself in a circle in search of my swimming companion, but the green and black koi vanished into the inky depths of the ocean.

  I bobbed up and down on the ocean’s surface as I searched for any signs of… anything, come to think of it. What was I swimming toward again?

  Every direction was rolling blue ocean for as far as the eye could see.

  Where was Nata Isle?

  Or any of the other isles of Aventoll, for that matter?

  The waves started to swell higher, and the clouds darkened overhead. The water, which was once clear like crystal, was now a deep ultramarine so dark I couldn’t see my feet in the near blackness.

  A mighty wind began to whip and churn the seas, and I had to work my arms and legs overtime just to keep afloat as the heavy waves threatened to collapse on top of me over and over again.

  “Argh!” I yelled as I was hammered down just as I clawed my way to the surface.

  It seemed like the harder I tried to breach the relentless waves, the more I was dragged down as if by some invisible force until I didn’t know which way was up.

  A droning howl echoed through the depths, but unlike the howl that preceded the demon scourge, a second sound rose above the first.

  Singing.

  At first, it reminded me of the ethereal way Shay sounded whenever she sang, but the longer I listened, the more I could tell I had never heard this voice before despite the fact it sounded so familiar.

  I forgot about breathing and trying to struggle my way to the surface, and instead I propelled my way down where the voice was coming from.

  The singing was getting louder, and I kicked my legs harder even though the darkness was all-encompassing.

  My fingers strained, and I could sense I was almost… almost…

  “Alex?” a flicker of a voice brightened the darkness, but it wasn’t the voice I was searching for.

  Bit by bit, my surroundings surfaced again, and I registered that I wasn’t swimming in the ocean but meditating on top of the small terrace over Ithaca’s stone garden.

  Or, trying to meditate, at least.

  “Alex?” Rylan asked again, and I peeked one eye open so I could glance at him as he stood on the top rungs of the ladder. A small tray with a small steaming pot and cup were on the terrace landing. “Oh, I’m sorry! You’re meditating, I can come back later.”

  “No, no, it’s fine,” I chuckled and waved for my precocious stable-boy, and now foster-son, to join me on the terrace. “What’s on your mind, kiddo?”

  “Arvid wanted me to find you because there was some leftover dried kolee, and I-- I mean, we all thought you might like the last of it,” Rylan said as he settled cross-legged on the wooden slats next to me and pulled the tray closer.

  “Thanks, bud,” I said and ruffled his unruly mop of sand-colored hair. “I can’t believe there’s any left.”

  “Just enough for one more cupful,” he chirruped in his eager voice and then poured the fragrant brew from the tiny pot into the clay mug for me.

  “Yessss,” I couldn’t help but hiss as I brought the kolee up and inhaled a big lungful of that bold and energizing scent that was a little more smokey-sweet than the coffee I was used to. Lately, I found my taste buds craving things more Aventollian, and kolee fast replaced my need for my beloved caffeine. When I finally took a sip of the chicory-like tea, I groaned in satisfaction. “Great Goddess, that’s good.”

  “Is it really that good?” Rylan giggled at my dramatics as I rolled my eyes, groaned again, and quaffed nearly half in three gulps.

  “Why don’t you try for yourself?” I asked and then handed him the last few sips in the mug.

  “Really?” He took the kolee reverently between his palms as if I was letting him do something cool like sit at the Adults’ Christmas Table so he could have a sip of my wine.

  “Careful, it’s hot,” I chuckled again, and then I watched as he grinned and took a gulp of the drink.

  Immediately, Rylan’s eyebrows puckered, and his smile wobbled as his expression fought with itself. On one hand, it was obvious he didn’t like the flavor of the kolee tea, but on the other, he was trying to force himself to believe it was good so he wouldn’t disappoint me.

  “So, do you like it?” I asked innocently even though I could see his bulged-out cheeks because he refused to swallow.

  “Mmhmpf.” He nodded as his eyes watered.

  “Rylan,” I said and placed my hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to like it, it’s okay.”

  The boy nodded in relief and spat the large mouthful of kolee… back into the mug.

  “Thank you, that did not taste as good as it smells,” he said and wiped his mouth as he handed me the cup.

  “Sure,” I chuckled and then set the kolee now flavored with Rylan’s backwash to the side.

  “So, you come up here to meditate?” the kid asked a moment later as we sat side by side and watched the early morning sun climb higher into the sky.

  Shay was flying laps with Victory, her white canterfly with the gray-glass wings, over the pastures, and her bright red hair was like a flame that made her stand out against the backdrop of the dewy gray morning.

  “It’s the most peaceful place on the estate,” I said and leaned back on my palms.

  “Yeah,” he agreed as he mirrored my posture, and we both watched Shay. “Peaceful. And it helps?”

  “What, meditation?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he said as he kept his eyes trained on the butterfly-pegasus. “What does it feel like?”

  “To meditate?” I glanced at him, but he was still staring over the grounds as if he was being careful not to make eye contact with me. “Well, it’s quiet mostly, and hard to get right. That’s why I need to do it often, so I can get better at it.”

  “But it helps with your dreams, right?” Rylan finally turned to look at me with a calculating expression on his young face.

  Well, it did if the dreams would make fucking sense already. I’d been having that particular dream for days now, and meditation wasn’t giving me any new answers.

  I frowned as I scrutinized him, and I wondered what he was getting at. Something was definitely up with him, but before I could pry deeper, a pair of fluffy koala ears poked up from the terrace as Jenner, my trusty butler-slash-house manager, appeared on the ladder.

  “Terribly sorry to disturb you, Mr. Alex, but I believe we have a few matters to discuss,” the older man said as he tweaked his ever-present monocle, brushed off his tattered and patchy jacket, and took a seat in front of us. “Oh, Rylan, lad. Do me a favor and bring the poracks into the barn before it rains.”

  “You think it’ll rain?” I asked as I looked at the golden shafts of sunlight quickly devouring the remains of the morning mist.

  “I don’t, but Madam Midgen and her ‘wonky wing’ are never wrong, apparently,” Jenner chuckled fondly as his large ears trembled.

  I came to understand that was the koala-man’s version of blushing, and Rylan and I exchanged amused glances. It was Ithaca’s worst-kept, well-known secret our resident butler held a flame for the bat-woman who lived in a witchy cottage just north of the estate.

  She did us a major favor by offering her healing expertise when over half of us were down for the count, and then again when I nearly “bought the farm” after brea
king the curse Archus Doler snared me with. If it wasn’t for Horus and his fast thinking with the herald amulet we forged, and then Midgen’s herbal tinctures and concoctions, I probably wouldn’t be alive and out of bed like I was now.

  “Better do as he says,” I said to Rylan as I decided to trust their judgment.

  “Okay,” he sighed but got up and headed toward the ladder anyway.

  “Hey, thanks for the kolee, by the way,” I told him, and his smile perked up once more as he jaunted down the rungs and ran off toward the pasture. Then I put Rylan’s weirdness out of my mind for now and turned my attention to the koala-man. “What can I do for you, Mr. Jenner?”

  “I have some updates for you, sir,” he said.

  “Horus? Tovish?” My spine straightened, and I grabbed the robe I shed earlier so I could slip it over my shoulders.

  “Tovish is still looking for any leads on what Gella Vane might be up to,” Jenner said as he removed his monocle in order to polish it on a clean part of his worn jacket. “I sent Roofus back with his cuff as you requested.”

  I nodded as I rubbed the circular scar left over from Doler’s curse. The old archivist looked like a more senior version of Jenner with a wooden leg to boot, and he’d lent me his enchanted cuff so the pain in my arm was numb enough for me to focus on the Duel with Doler.

  “Thanks for sending it back.” I flexed the fingers in my right hand and inwardly winced at the zinging tingle that shot up to the back of my elbow as if I’d stuck a fork into a wall socket.

  “How is your arm feeling?” Jenner asked shrewdly as he looked me over from head to toe.

  “Fine,” I lied and forced a smile onto my face. “Never better.”

  “Because it wouldn’t be unheard of if you had some lingering effects,” the wise koala-man said to me. “After all, Horus’ arrow destroyed Archus’ enchanted hand well after you took your shot. Horus nearly vaporized that herald core just trying to shield you from the implosion of the curse.”

  The old man gestured to the amulet I still wore around my neck right next to my Duelist Stone and the wooden figure of a canterfly Rylan carved for me. The red gem was cracked right down the center and had gone from a bright ruby red to a dull maroon. I also could no longer feel the faint hum of power within it, which told me it was little more than a trinket now.

  “I’m fine,” I insisted and tucked my collection of pendants beneath my robe. “It doesn’t bother me like it used to. And besides, I promised I would make sure it got back to him.”

  “We’ll keep searching for a remedy, lad,” Jenner said as he patted my leg, and I smiled at the kindness shining in his eyes.

  “I’m sure if anyone can, it’s you,” I said and climbed to my feet. “Now, tell me about Horus.”

  I helped the koala-man to his feet as well, and we both climbed down from the terrace and headed back toward the courtyard, and to where I hoped something was cooking for breakfast in Arvid’s kitchen.

  “Our Horus is still unaccounted for, I’m afraid, so my news is actually from the Asher Council,” Jenner said as he cut to the chase and erased any false hopes.

  In a way, I appreciated his matter-of-fact attitude in these situations because it forced me to set aside emotion and deal with the present obstacle. I was a Rank Four Duelist with three successful Duels under my belt, and as my cat-wife, Zoie, liked to remind me, my status usually came with a lot of people gunning for me.

  It wasn’t until recently that I realized the full responsibility I had on my shoulders.

  Until it almost cost me the makeshift family I had accrued on Nata Isle.

  I needed to start prioritizing based on things other than my base instinct to rush in first, ask questions later, and fuck the details.

  That meant playing by the Asher Council’s pedantic rules.

  “What’s the Council got to say now?” I asked as I pushed open the outer doors to the courtyard.

  “They have again explained the property once belonging to Archus Doler is being held in stasis due to technical complications during the Duel,” Jenner recited as he followed me toward the kitchen. “They claim because they cannot be sure which weapon actually killed the man, your claim to his property and assets is null and void. Also, Horus is still outlawed, and the Council wanted to give us a friendly reminder that if we are caught harboring him, we are just as at fault and will be dealt with accordingly.”

  “Kind of them,” I said sarcastically. “Then we’ll just have to work harder on finding a way to clear Horus’ name. That way they’ll release the property to me, and we can check out the library. I honestly don’t want anything else from that place.”

  “Doler’s estate is just mainly land for the canterfly breeding enterprise he let go to the wayside when he became more and more involved in the arcane practices,” Jenner continued. “Your second estate, Icarian, is what Shay wished her father’s estate was and more. It seems the only good thing he did for that vibrant young girl was give her the love for the sky and all creatures big and small.”

  We both stopped in the center of the courtyard and watched Shay and Victory gallop overhead. The both of them looked so graceful and majestic as if they were one fluid machine built for the sky, and I couldn’t help but agree with the diminutive koala-man.

  Shay was beautiful all the time, but she looked stunning when she was in the air doing what she did best.

  “Actually, sir, I think I may have a solution that might give everyone what they want,” the clever koala-man said as he rocked up on the balls of his feet.

  “I am all ears, my friend,” I said and finally tore my eyes away from Shay’s idle loops and elegant barrel rolls.

  “Since you really have no desire for the property itself, save the books in the library, we might be able to interest the Council to let us in to record what we want and leave them the rest,” he said.

  “Really?” I perked up and tilted my head. “How would that work?”

  “I have a feeling they are making this situation more difficult than it needs to be simply because they have the most to gain if your claim is overturned,” he explained and tweaked his monocle. “If a Duel is not considered legit, then it is absorbed into the Council.”

  “So, you’re saying if we give them everything they want anyway with only one small concession, they’ll just drop the case against Horus’ interference during the Duel?” I clarified.

  “Exactly so!” he said with a wink. “We just need permission from the Council to enter the library, and that’s all we need. Shall I draft up an official letter with this request?”

  “Let’s hold off for now, but keep that in our back pocket for later,” I said. “If it comes to it, we’ll try anything to get Horus off the hook.”

  A sudden flurry of flapping grabbed our attention, and the eccentric bat-woman healer landed in front of us. Then she swiveled her long satellite ears atop her frizzy head and glared at Jenner.

  “I trust you are not tiring my patient, Cornelius?” the woman huffed, and she marched up to the koala-man with her odd bone necklace tinkling as she wagged her finger.

  “Cornelius?” I asked and eyed an embarrassed Jenner up and down with a smirk.

  “Ahem, yes, I mean-- no, I am not tiring your patient, Madam, I promise,” he spluttered and busied himself with cleaning the monocle he’d already cleaned.

  “I be the authority on that,” she said with a three-fingered hand poised on her hip. Then the batty voodoo-like priestess marched toward me, yanked my right arm forward, and moved my sleeve out of the way so she could examine my scar.

  It really was much better. The last time I saw it before I passed out after defeating the giant of a man, Doler, the skin where his enchanted marble hand clasped around my forearm was blackened and oozing pus. When I woke up back home, it had calmed down to an angry pink, and now it was all but faded into a white band that somehow took on the shape of a snake devouring its own tail.

  “What’s the prognosis, Doc?” I asked the bat-lady as she completed a slow circle around me.

  “I suppose you may resume all of your normal activities,” she grunted and blinked at me through her coke-bottle spectacles. “Come, Cornelius, I must make it back to my cottage before mid-epoch, or else I will miss my chance to harvest more purple toadstools.”

  “Of course, Madam,” he said and offered his arm. “I shall escort Midgen, and then I will draft that response to the Council for you, Mr. Alex.”