Without another word, Galen passed the crystal to Carina, who placed it in a pocket in her skirt. She then rose from her chair.

"Thank you. I won't forget this."

"I expect you won't." Galen rose as well. "You should all get moving. I'm sure if you're on our trail, one of your rivals for Limuria will find us soon enough. We need to relocate."

"That would be wise, we discovered you were here and that we needed to look for a Mirandola from one of the correspondences to the Pirate King," Captain Jennings warned.

Galen nodded. "Noted. Venetia, if you would—"

"I'll get right on it, sire." Venetia darted out of the tent.

"And what about me, then?" Kas lingered as Captain Jennings, Carina, and Ventus started toward the entryway.

"And what about you?" A familiar note of irritation rose in Galen's voice.

"I'm your son." A shadow of insecurity flickered over Kas's face. "Or was my mother lying about that too?"

"No, it rings true, I can see it in your eyes." Galen stared at him directly. "You have my eyes. And I can hear it in your voice, you've learned our power of words without being taught."

"Wait, that was a magi thing?" Jade interrupted.

"Yes." Galen was hesitant, but still he continued to speak. "Many of our children begin to use magic in such small ways at first, before they are properly trained or discovered. They're more convincing, their words hold so much more power than they should. They find themselves better at games of chance, call it luck without knowing that they are subtly-guiding the die, the arrow, the cards."

Kas blinked. What Elodie read into his expression was a mixture of things. It wasn't exactly a surprise. Some part of him might have always known, or at least suspected the truth. But he was taken aback by it still.

"I've always wondered about things like that," Kas mused aloud, raising a finger to his chin. "My tricks, my luck—I'd like to learn how to use more of these skills I was born with. I'm a fast learner, truly—give me any one of your spellbooks and I will dedicate myself to it. I'll learn."

"I cannot give you what you seek, child." Galen sighed. "Magic is not your birthright. You would easily lose yourself to it, if I allowed you to take one of these books out of my collection."

"Why not?" Elodie could hear the genuine hurt in Kas's voice. He then changed tactics."If it really is so dangerous, you don't have to let me take a spellbook and study it on my own. You could teach me yourself, if you wanted."

Galen set his jaw. "It really isn't that simple, Kaspar. Magic is dangerous—and far more so in those who have noble blood. Being brought up with such entitlement, such power—it more often than not awakens an insatiable greed when it comes to magic."

Before Kas could continue to argue, however, gunfire pierced the air, punctuated with screams.

Elodie, Galen, and the rest of the party darted out of the tent, to be greeted by open violence.

Tents were burning, gunpowder filled the air. Everyone was running and screaming, a mix of magi and pirates alike at war.

"You need to go, now, protect the keys!" Galen shouted.

Elodie looked around her, a silent headcount of everyone who had just come in the tent. One was missing. As she opened her mouth to call for him, she saw Kas scramble out of the tent, tucking something into his long scarlet vest.

She glanced over to Galen, but he wasn't paying attention.

Now wasn't the time, anyway.

She grabbed his wrist. "Come on, we have to get back to the ship!"

Kas had the sense at least not to argue with her.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

----------------------------------------

The city of Dulcinea was also beset by pirates, in a haunting mirror to the night that Port Augustine had been attacked. Screams and gunfire and the crackling of fire lingered in the air, omnipresent. It was because of this that no one paid them any mind—they were not of any immediate importance to the pirates because they were not magi and they were not Albionese soldiers in uniform.

Somehow, through the smoke and the mists and the elaborate dance of battle unfolding around them, Elodie found her steps with her courage. She clung to Kas as tightly as her lungs clung to the air, an anchor as she weaved her way through the death unfolding around her in the streets of Dulcinea.

She wasn't entirely sure how, if she thought back on it later. But she and the rest of the onshore party managed to make it back to the marina.

They weren't the only ones with that idea—Albionese merchants and soldiers were fleeing to their warships and caravels. An entire fleet of ships with black flags surrounded the harbor, with their remaining crews firing off cannonballs into the marina and their revolvers into the would-be refugees.

At the center of them all was a large ship, much like the Albatross itself, clearly a former navy ship, with large white sails except for the signature black at the top with the Jolly Roger—the de facto symbol of the pirates, and of the Black-Sail Fleet.

"Oh shit!" Kas pulled them to a stop. "Not him!"

He pointed to the lettering on the side—the Morgenstern.

"We really do have the best luck, don't we?" Captain Jennings grumbled. "Come on, all of you!"

With that was the final push, and they sprinted to where the Albatross was docked.

There, Mr. Heyin was waiting.

"Get us the blazes out of here!" Captain Jennings ordered as she passed onto the deck. She'd purposefully brought up the rear, so all others were accounted for.

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Mr. Heyin signaled for two of the sailors to bring up the gangplank and started barking out orders to the front of the ship to withdraw on the anchor.

Captain Jennings then turned to Carina.

"Can you make them explode again?" Captain Jennings braced herself against the railing. "That would be really helpful right about now!"

"I can try!" Still, Carina looked queasy at the thought. She frowned, knitting her eyebrows together as she weaved the hermetic symbols with her long sun-kissed fingers. Then she blinked, a new resolution passing over her face.

"I have a better idea—I can feel it, the crystals here." She closed her eyes, and rotated the wheel of glowing symbols hovering in the air, right over her hands. "I can get us out of here, before any of them can follow."

As soon as the anchor was drawn up, Carina let her symbols fly—and with it, the Albatross shot straight up into the air.

Elodie's stomach plummeted, like the free-fall that she and Ventus had experienced when escaping the Foxtrot not so long ago. She barely caught herself on the railing, and the Albatross came to a jerky stop in the air.

Carina opened her eyes, and a smile of triumph grew across her face as she continued to create more of the magic, as her fingers danced skillfully through the air.

Then the Albatross was moving faster, faster than any ship of this size had any right to.

Elodie was certain she was going to be sick, and so leaned over the railing. As she did, she saw that they were leaving the island filled with smoke and mist behind.

They'd abandoned the magi and Clarida to their fate.

Elodie wasn't sick in the way she thought, she realized as she pushed herself away from the side and slowly dropped onto the floor. She knew it was for the best, that they left with the crystals. But she thought of the magi, of the ordinary people of Dulcinea.

Death seemed to follow her wherever she went, for the Black-Sail Fleet was looking for her, for the keys, for her father's treasure. They would not have even cared for it, without what her father had done.

A part of her could not help but feel responsible for the destruction unfolding in the fading mists behind them. How many more islands would be torn asunder by the greed of the pirates or the Manoans for the treasure of Limuria?

All the power in the crystals, and yet they were powerless to do anything other than struggled to play keep-away with them. It hardly seemed fair.

Captain Jennings straightened the folded collar of her jacket. "I think we should have sufficient distance now, Carina. It would take them more time to recall one of the crews and set off, especially when they don't know what we have, yet."

"Alright then." With a snap of her fingers, the symbols of magic disappeared, and the Albatross began a gentle descent, all while continuing forward.

"We can meet in my cabin to further discuss where we're going next." Captain Jennings looked back in the direction of Los Dorados, at the islands left behind. With such a sorrowful look, Elodie wondered if she might be thinking of her mother, of Keira Fleetwood. "We're not far from Cartagena. We should get the key there while we're still in the area."

She then shook her head slightly to clear it. "Well then. Mr. Heyin!"

With that, she was gone.

Jade offered Elodie a hand up. "All that movement had me a little green at the gills too, and I'm not usually one to get seasick."

Elodie smiled as she accepted it. Now that the movement was more steady, more within the realm of the usual, she felt much better.

"You alright, darling?" Kas had finally turned to her, now that the chaos was over.

Elodie wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, but something angry sparked in jade's green eyes as she let go of Elodie's hand.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"I'll go check in with Eric," Jade declared, and she stormed off.

"Is she alright?" Elodie tilted her head, confused by the merry girl's sudden stormy shift.

Kas bit his lip. "I've upset her. I'll talk to her."

"I don't understand."

"It's alright, you don't have to." Kas sighed. "Sometimes it gets messy, out here on the ships."

With that, he also disappeared, leaving Elodie alone on the deck.