Hidden Island Chapter 36, part 4 of 4

Hidden Island
Chapter 36, part 4 of 4

"I guess I'm a slow learner," Caine laughed.

"You and me both, my friend," Kaduska said, clapping him on the shoulder and heading back outside. "That is why she likes us."

"She likes me?" Caine said, surprised.

"Oh yes. She does not like your work. She was thrilled to learn you have left that place," Kaduska nodded, picking up the next crate the boys had left by the door.

"Wait, didn't she used to work... I mean, Will said... Never mind," Caine floundered.

"Yes, she did. That is why she does not like brothels," Kaduska explained.

"Gotcha,' Caine said. "Guess that makes sense. Mary's is one of the better ones, and it's still not great."

"It will get worse without you," Kaduska said sadly.

"I know," Caine said bitterly.

Once the last boxes were unloaded, Kaduska ushered his sons over. He counted coins out into the older one's hand. "Go get breakfast for seven and return."

"And ale," Caine said, adding a few coins to the stack.

"So early?" Kaduska asked as they headed inside.

"It's just liquid bread. It's good for you," Caine said as he shut and locked the door behind them.

Kaduska looked around at the disarray inside the lighthouse, shaking his head in disapproval. "William needs a wife."

Caine snorted. "Like any woman would put up with Will for that long."

"I had hopes for him and Miss Jaqueline," Kaduska said, picking up a dusty trinket from one of the many shelves. "She seemed well suited to his nature."

"I never really knew her, but I don't know if Will needs a girl like him," Caine said.

"A fair point," Kaduska agreed. "Who else could live in a place like this, though?"

"Well, we're about to have a go at it," Caine sighed. "At least for a while."

Gentle footsteps came down the stairs. "All of it," Samara's lilting voice said as she went around the corner of the bookcase in front of the stairs.

Janie came into the room behind her. "Will would never."

"William is not here," Samara said tersely. "He left you with a collapsing silo full of moldy books and unwashed clothes."

"He didn't mean to leave me," Janie protested.

"Regardless," Samara shook her head. The tiny metal beads at the bottom of her veil jingled faintly like little bells. "You are here, and you cannot live like this."

"We were going to clean up," Janie assured her.

"No amount of cleaning will save this place," Samara scoffed. "Wet books. Wet shelves. There is no food, and even if there is, there is no stove. Every last inch of this place is covered with things that belong in a museum, not a home."

"Yes, well, I don't think it was meant to be a home," Janie said. Her protests were weak, and she knew it.

Everything Samara was saying were thoughts she'd had herself.

"There are scorch marks on the wet stone floor," Samara pointed. "How does that even happen?"

"It's a long story," Janie sighed.

"I do not care," Samara shook her head again. "We have a warehouse at the edge of the docks. It has more than enough space to store all this... junk. We will pull everything down, clean it, dry it, box it, and make this a place where the three of you can be comfortable. If William returns and wants to return things to the way they are now, he can. Until then, there is no reason for you to live as he does."

Janie took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright. Yes. Thank you."

"You alright?" Will asked.

"Fine," Jack said. "I'm still shaking off the fatigue, but the longer we walk, the better I feel."

They were two hours into the jungle, trying to keep the ocean distantly visible through the trees. It was a way to stay close to shore, not get lost, and make sure they could return the same way they left. The further they'd gotten from the saltwater lagoon where the Kestrel was beached, the thicker the jungle became. Sandy dirt and scattered trees had become soft, dark loam and tangles of thick roots. Large ground plants with broad fronds soaked up the sun that filtered through the canopy and blocked their sightlines in nearly every direction.

"More sleep would have been nice," Will said wryly. He added another trail marker to a tree trunk, finishing off the marking stick he'd been using. "I blame Bella."

"Sleep loss is a rather common thing around her," Jack agreed. "Generally worth it, though." She pulled out another marking stick and tossed it to him. They'd made them before leaving, rolling a mixture of tar, grease, and paint into paper tubes. The stains they left would eventually fade, but they both hoped to be long gone.
"All that for a card reading that told us nothing," Will shrugged. He pointed to a high spot on a ridge a short distance away that would give them a good view of their surroundings.

"Not nothing," Jack corrected. "It told us that nothing catastrophic lies ahead. Going into an unknown jungle is excellent peace of mind." As she spoke, she started up the slope, scanning for the best way up and hacking away the foliage in their way.

"Good point," Will said as he followed her. "I still want to know what that last card was about."

"She said it didn't mean what it seemed," Jack shrugged. "Honestly, she was pretty happy about it."

"Were you? Tell me a chill didn't run up your spine when she flipped over Death."

Jack's changed direction, carving a switchback up the slope. "It didn't exactly feel like a good omen."

"How did she put it? Something was going to end, and something else would begin." Will ran his hands through his hair and readjusted his hat while waiting for Jack to clear more of the trail. "Something is going to change fundamentally. No going back to the way things were before."

"Is that a bad thing?" Jack asked. "Things haven't been good for a long time. Maybe it's time for a change."

"When did you become an optimist?" Will asked, putting a hand on her shoulder from behind and pointing past her to a spot ahead where a thick root protruded a few inches above the ground. A piece had collapsed into itself as it had rotted away from the inside. Termites swarmed in and out of the hole. There was no telling how big the termite nest was or what part of the ground might collapse if they stepped in the wrong place. On an incline like this, pitfalls were perilous. They needed to change course.

"Around the time, I gave up on my wishes and started focusing on what was in front of me rather than what was on the next horizon." Jack scanned the ground near them and spotted a water trail that ran down the slope.

Termites tended to avoid crossing running water, so the odds were that the ground on the other side of a small stream wouldn't be as infested. "Give me a knee."

"Hardly the creed of an explorer," Will teased as he tested the ground near the slick water trail and knelt.

"Explorers never get what they want," Jack said as she stepped onto his thigh and threw herself into a leap that carried her well past a slick water trail. Where she landed was solid enough but mulched and wet. Her boots sank a few inches. She pulled herself free, stepped slightly uphill, and held out her hand. "The finding is never as satisfying as the searching."

Will took off the large pack he wore and tossed it to her. She planted it next to her and held her hand out again.

He took a few steps back, then ran forward and jumped. His hand met Jack's, and she gave him a strong pull.

Her assistance was enough to get him to land where she had. His boots squelched right into her footprints. He sank deeper than she had and made a face as mud flowed into his bootlaces. Jack smirked at his misfortune but braced himself as he pulled himself free. They started up the incline again.

"You used to say it was about leaving a legacy," Will said. "You wanted your name on plaques and books."

"I used to want a whole museum named after me," Jack admitted. "I guess I still wouldn't mind if that happened.

I'm just not driven by what I will leave behind anymore."

"Then what are we doing?' Will asked as he pulled a dead branch out of their path and tossed it down the hill behind them. "What's the point of this whole expedition?"

Jack gave him a sidelong look. "To enjoy the search."

Will laughed. "So you went from being an explorer to a philosopher?"

"Hardly." Jack shook her head. "Quinn is the philosopher. I admit, he's rubbed off on me a bit, but I still have no idea what he's saying half the time."

Will scoffed. "Not surprising. He never talks."

"He talks to me," Jack said.

"Where is he anyway?" Will asked. "I thought he was your bodyguard?"

"He's not a survivalist," Jack said. "He can be sneaky when he needs to, but he knows nothing about tracking, spotting terrain hazards, or any other tricks that would make him helpful out here. He'd insist on going first and would have stepped right into that termite hole we just passed."

Will chuckled. "Now I kinda wish he was here. Watching Quinn fight a million termites sounds fun."

"I know you don't like him," Jack said, pursing her lips and trying not to laugh. "He doesn't deserve that though."

"Why do you think I don't like him?" Will asked.

"It just seems like you don't," Jack said with another shrug. "You're the old lover. He's the new one. There's always animosity in those situations, especially with men. You might be quiet about it, but it's clear the two of you aren't friends."

Will stopped as they reached the upward edge of the slope they'd been climbing. The other side dropped off even more steeply, down into a valley thick with foliage. It went lower than expected, forming a bowl full of greenery so thick they couldn't see the ground. "Damn," he sighed.

They scanned the sidelines left and right, looking for a path along the ridge."Jack, I don't have any issue with Quinn," Will said. "Honestly, I rather like him. He doesn't talk much, but he's straightforward and says important things when he does. He reminds me of Caine that way."

Jack snorted derisively, then pointed right. They headed single file along the lip of the bowl. "Quinn is not a brawling drunkard."

"The only reason you don't like him is because he told you off after I made it home," Will said from behind her.

"And you deserved it."

"I still think he turned Bella against me," Jack said bitterly. A tree as wide as Will's shoulders blocked their path.

The valley side was too steep to traverse. The slope they'd just come up was less steep but thick with fronds.

Jack hacked them back as far as she could reach, then put her machete away and drew her hatchet. She drove the spiked back end into the tree with a heavy thud, stepped in close, and held the hatchet like a handle. She looked over her shoulder and offered her other hand to Will.

He dropped his pack behind her, took her hand, and lunged past her into a leap that swung him around the tree trunk. He plunged through the fronds in a cloud of pollen and landed on the other side, holding the tree trunk in a bear hug. He sputtered, spitting the pollen he'd inhaled, and held out his hand where Jack could see it from her side.

She swung his pack into his hand and waited while he put it on again. Then, when his hand reappeared, she lunged and jumped like he had. She was lighter, and Will was more robust, so their efforts carried her past the tree and him. As she jumped past him, he turned and steadied her like they were dancing. She landed in front of him with their right hands clasped together in front of their chests and his left hand on her hip. "You might want to talk to Bella about that again."

"I hadn't thought about that in a long time,' Jack said with a sad smile. "I guess it's still a sore subject." She thanked him for the help with a pat on the chest and turned to push on along the ridge line.

"Seems to be a lot of that coming up lately," Will said, sounding more thoughtful than upset.

"It's understandable under the circumstances. Did you want to talk about it more?" Jack asked.

"Well, of course," Will said. " I still have a lot of questions. I'm just not sure what's left to say. You asked me not to pry into it, so I'm not. There aren't a lot of directions that conversation can go now."

"That's true," Jack said, sounding resigned.

"Why don't you tell me your side of things after you return without me," Will said, trying not to sound bitter. "You had about a year when nobody knew what... had happened.

"What I'd done," Jack corrected.

"Yeah," Will sighed. "I guess I still want to know if it was worth it."

"I told you it was," Jack sighed. "It still is."

"Because of Bella," Will finished. "Because she's alive."

"Yes," Jack said after a moment. "I knew I was on borrowed time. I'd have to face the consequences eventually.

At the time, I honestly didn't expect them to be so severe, but that was hubris on my part. It was a good year. I missed you, but I knew you were alright. I thought you'd be back a lot sooner."

"Getting back was a string of the worst luck I've ever had. I almost died a dozen times," Will said, not quite managing to avoid sounding accusatory.

"I knew you wouldn't," Jack said. "I never thought you were dead like everyone else did. Bella didn't either, which made it easier."

"How did you convince her of that?" Will asked.

"She didn't need convincing," Jack said, scanning the treeline to catch a glimpse of water to ensure they hadn't lost the shoreline. "She did a bunch of card readings and was convinced you were still out there somewhere. I didn't tell her that I knew she was right."

Will adjusted his pack while he waited for Jack to find the trail. "I still don't understand how you knew. If I had died on the way back, you wouldn't have known."

Jack shook her head with a small laugh. "No, I wouldn't have known. I just knew that wouldn't happen."

"How?" Will asked incredulously.

"Your curse," Jack said. "At the time, I was fairly sure it wouldn't let you die."

"Why the hell not?" Will asked, a bit heated.

"Because I knew you didn't want to," Jack said plainly. "You had too much to live for."

Will snorted. "Yeah. Revenge, mostly. Against you."

"Exactly. So I knew you weren't dead," she said with a glance over her shoulder and a teasing smile. They rounded the ridge curve that circled the valley below and finally had a view down the far side. The slope was much more gentle. A game trail made the path down obvious. "I honestly wasn't sure you could die anymore until Barcola."

"You're going to have to explain that a bit more," Will said, waiting for Jack to cut some foliage away.

Jack started carefully down the slope. "Remember how we talked about how your curse gives you what you want? Regardless of consequences or even understanding on your part?"

"Monkey with a gun, yeah," Will nodded.

"I didn't think you could die because it never occurred to me that you might want to," Jack said.

Will's brows rose. "Huh. No wonder you were so shaken up over that."

"I never wanted any of this, Will," Jack sighed. "I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I was doing and was willing to accept the consequences, but I thought they would be mine. It took me a while to figure out how badly I'd miscalculated. Now I... want to try to fix things."

"Is that what this expedition is really about?" Will asked.

"Yes," Jack said. "So far, we are on the right course."

"I've heard that from you before. It didn't end up so well for me," Will said dryly.

Jack started to slip, and Will caught her hand before either of them realized what was happening. As she steadied her feet, their eyes met. Her eyes were red, and her face was streaked. At some point, she'd started crying, but her voice hadn't given her away—a knot formed in Will's chest.

"Thanks," she said, then turned around again, continuing down the slope.

"Jack," Will said, unsure what he would say.

"It's just the pollen," she said firmly.

It wasn't. He knew that, but he decided not to press the issue.

"I know you don't trust me," Jack said.

"Why would I?" Will asked. "You decided I was worth sacrificing so you could go home with the treasure we'd set out to find together. How do I know you won't do that again? Or that do it to someone else?"

"I guess you don't," Jack said. "I still think you'd have done the same thing in my place."

"Never," Will shook his head.

"Don't say that," Jack said quietly.

"Why not?" Will asked.

"If you had to leave me behind to save the life of someone you loved, I hope you would," Jack said. "I hope you never have to, but if you did, I hope you'd trust me enough to survive and come back to you on my own."

Will's heart sank as he thought of Janie. It wasn't a perfect parallel, but there were enough similarities that it gave him pause. "I hadn't thought of it like that."

"I wish I'd been able to tell you more at the time," Jack said. "That's my biggest regret."

Will exhaled long. "Yeah, that would have been nice."

Jack reached the bottom of the decline and leaned against a tree for a quick rest. Will dropped his pack and rolled his shoulders.

"Someday, hopefully," Jack said with a wry smile.

"I'm still curious,' Will admitted. "Seems like fairy tale nonsense to me; with all this stuff about curses and promises and circular arguments, you're not allowed to explain."

"Remember how I told you not to think about it too much?" Jack asked.

"Because I might figure it out?" Will teased. "Am I getting close?"

"I'm not telling you anything. Stop it," Jack rolled her eyes.

"So I'm cursed, and so are you, I guess? And we are bound together forever because you made a deal with the wrong fairy to save a witch's life," Will said.

"It does all sound overly dramatic when you put it that way," Jack said.

"I'm nowhere close, am I?" Will asked.

"Oh, on the contrary. You're spot on. This whole expedition is to find the Gates of Dawn. We need to fight our way through the Labyrinth of Mists and petition the Summer Queen to break the spell," Jack said with wide, innocent eyes.

"That is far too specific," Will snarked.

Jack pushed herself off the tree she'd been leaning on and started to look around. "I didn't even mention the two giants we have to fight in the labyrinth or what the queen will demand in trade."

Will picked up the pack again with a groan of protest. "Is this from a book? A kid's story?"

Jack laughed. "Yes. My father read it to me. It was one of my favorites." She moved further into the brush to a thick tangle of fronds and kudzu, looking for a spot to hack through so they could keep going, but stopped and went utterly still. Will settled the pack and followed her but froze as soon as she stopped moving. She turned and looked at him quizzically.

"I swear I just heard music," Jack said.

Will listened. Sure enough, past the distant rush of the ocean and birdsong in the canopy, he could faintly make out a jaunty-sounding tune.

"I guess this place isn't as empty as we thought."




To be continued