Hidden Island Chapter 37, part 2 of 3

Hidden Island
Chapter 37, part 2 of 3

She blinked and glanced at him as if realizing she'd been talking. "It reminds me of you, Will," she sighed. She rolled her eyes. "It seems so dramatic to say it out loud. Wearing it reminded me of the last time I saw you, for all the good and bad of it." She looked down at her hand. "I suppose it's just a habit now. It didn't occur to me that seeing it might upset you."

Will watched as she twisted it on her finger. It was a reminder to him, just as much as to her, which was why he hated it. It didn't need to be, though. Objects only mattered as much as people wanted them to. "It's just a ring."

"If only," Jack sighed.

Will gave her a puzzled look, and she swallowed, looking like she'd come to a decision.

"Quinn," she said quietly.

A sudden, pleasant breeze brought the sea spray to Will's face. "What about him?" he asked.

Branches crunched behind them, and Will turned, reaching for his sword. He was shocked to see Quinn push through the underbrush and join them on the cliff's edge.

"Mistress," Quinn answered in his strangely accented smooth baritone. Will blinked.

Quinn looked... translucent. Will swore he could see the outlines and shadows of the trees behind Quinn's body. His raised, teal tattoos were moving. Their delicate filigree swirled and flowed across his green skin in patterns that reminded Will of waves. They slowed and settled as he watched until they were still, and Quinn was solid again.

"I need to ask you a question," Jack said without looking at him.

Quinn waited. Will looked between them in confusion but somehow knew better than to say anything.

"When we first met, did I ask the wrong questions?" Jack asked.

"That is subjective," Quinn answered.

"Do you think I asked the wrong questions?" Jack clarified.

"No," Quinn said.

"Did I ask for the wrong things?" She continued.

"Again-" Quinn began.

She cut him off. "Do you think I asked for the wrong things?"

Quinn was quiet for a few moments. He looked between Jack and Will, implacably considering. After an agonizing few moments, he slowly nodded. "Yes."

Jack's composure cracked. Her eyes closed tightly, and she swallowed back her tears. She nodded. "Were there ways I could have gotten what I wanted without things turning out like this?"

"Yes," Quinn said without hesitation.

"So it is my fault," Jack whispered. "It didn't have to be this way."

A hint of sadness crept into Quinn's dark eyes. "No."

Jack began to cry quietly.

Not knowing what else to do, Will took her hand. She squeezed like he was stopping her from falling. He had no idea what was happening or how Quinn had even gotten here, but he found himself distracted, as bizarre as the situation was. Something else plucked at the edge of his mind. It was his way. When he couldn't understand something, he instinctively focused on what he could. When things were too complex to grasp, he tried to focus on the simple. At the very least, it was a lifeline when the world plunged into madness.

"Would other ways have been worse?" Will asked, looking up at Quinn.

The green warrior raised an eyebrow at him. It was clear he was considering the question but also wasn't going to answer questions from anyone but Jack. He said nothing. Will squeezed
Jack's hand. She looked at him, blinking back the tears as what he'd asked Quinn started to filter through her grief.

Her eyes went wide. "Yes!" Her whole body trembled with the shock of revelation. "If I had asked for what I wanted differently, would things have turned out... worse?"

Quinn's eyes narrowed in thought. "That is impossible to say." Jack started to open her mouth to clarify again, but Quinn held up a finger to subtly ask for time. He looked at Will,
considering, then went back to Jack, deciding how much to say. "Many have attempted similar things. All I am aware of became tragedies."

Jack's excitement drained. "I suppose I am no different."

Quinn gave her a rare, small smile. "That remains to be seen."

"Sure seems tragic so far," Jack said bitterly.

Quinn shook his head. "That is not what I see."

Jack looked up at him. "Tell me what you see that I don't."

"In your whole life, you haven't the time," Quinn half-smiled.

"About this. Us," Jack clarified, gesturing between herself and Will, sounding slightly
exasperated.

Quinn crossed his legs and sank to the sparse grass to sit beside Jack. "I see the world creating this moment for you both. It has arranged itself to accommodate the desires of two people who desperately seek what they already have. They are so caught in their past that they cannot see their present. Together, they sit on a beautiful day, at a cliffside overlooking the sea, holding each other's hands in a scene fit for the song, yet still unable to enjoy the short time they've been gifted."

Will looked at Quinn like he'd grown a second head. He shook his head, bemused. "I see what you mean about him being the philosopher."

Jack's heartache cracked enough to smile for a moment. "I told you."

"He does that a lot?" Will asked, masking his wonder with mocking sympathy.

Jack smiled at Quinn. "No. He only does it when I'm being particularly thick."

"So a lot," Will teased.

Jack rolled her eyes.

Are we just... being stupid?" Will asked.

"Yes," Quinn answered.

Jack and Will looked at him with the same expression of affronted surprise and impressed amusement.

"You are human," Quinn said with a hint of mockery in his eyes. "It is your nature."

Jack gave him a slight glare. "Alright, smartass. What would you do?"

Quinn gestured to the small, bustling port below. "Focus on the task at hand. Let go of as much pain as possible. Appreciate joyful moments when they present themselves."

"A bit vague," Jack retorted.

"It's a point on the horizon," Will considered thoughtfully. "Sometimes that's all we have to
work with."

Quinn nodded.

"So we need to focus on getting the ship fixed," Jack said, forcing her mind to focus in a different direction.

Will nodded. "And we can't do it if we keep dragging each other into this swamp of old problems."

"The situation isn't your fault," Jack said.

"Sounds like it isn't yours either," Will said with a long exhale. He'd been blaming Jack for so long that the words sounded alien. The bottomless pit of anger he had devoted so much energy to keeping a lid on felt like it had drained in a moment. He felt hollow.

Jack swallowed, struggling a moment to hold her composure. "That... is nice to hear."

Will's accusatory glance swept between the other two. "I have a book's worth of questions, by the way."

"I hope someday I can answer them," Jack said, glancing at Quinn.

"Is she right that explaining things puts you at risk?" Will asked Quinn.

"Yes," Quinn answered. "And herself. And you."

"What the hell is so bad that just knowing about it is risky?" Will asked. Jack started to speak, but Will raised his hand. "That was rhetorical. I believe you, and I guess that's good enough."

"So where does that leave us?" Jack asked.

"I don't know," Will shrugged. "Somewhere new."

"Finally," Quinn said with an exasperated roll of his eyes.

They both looked at him, shocked. Then Will started laughing. "I like you."

Jack looked between the two men, flanking her with a pained expression, then turned apologetically to Quinn. "This must have been insufferable to watch."

Quinn's lips tightened a bit in consideration. "Quite."

Jack let out a tired laugh. "I'll try not to subject you to it anymore."

Quinn looked doubtful.

Will snorted, then looked away when Jack turned a glare towards him.

"Will that be all, mistress?" Quinn asked.

She turned again and leaned in to kiss him. "Yes. Thank you."

Quinn gave her a small, secret smile and stood without a word.

"Just going to disappear like you came?" Will asked.

Quinn gave him half a smirk. "Differently."

With two steps, he jumped powerfully off the cliff. Will began to surge to his feet, but Jack's hand against his chest held him back. Will looked at her in confusion, his heart pumping in his ears. Quinn's heels arced out of sight as he flattened himself, then dove.

"He's fine," Jack said.

Will sat up straight and craned his neck just in time to see the green warrior hit the waves and vanish.

"We're two hundred feet up," Will exclaimed.

"A hundred and fifty. Perhaps a bit over," Jack corrected, settling back against the tree.

"What about rocks below the surface? Or getting dashed on the walls?" Will demanded.

"He's fine," Jack repeated firmly.

Will stared at her. "Why the hell did he do that?"

"He likes diving," Jack said. "And I think he was telling me that he trusts you."

"What?" Will shook his head, confused. "How?"

"Now you know more about him than you did," Jack explained. "He showed you something he usually keeps hidden."

"That he's a mad cliff diver?" Will's voice was thick with disbelief. Something dawned on him, and he looked back over the cliffs to the water below.

"He... didn't make a splash."

"He never does," Jack shrugged.

"Is this another one of those things you're just not going to explain?" Will asked.

"Yes," Jack said, unable to hold back a teasing smile.

At a loss, Will relaxed against the tree, shaking his head to clear it. "I think we should find a different way down the cliff."

Jack leaned her head on his shoulder. "In a bit."

Will stared at her a moment longer, then shook his head in bemusement and let himself relax against the tree again.

Comfortable together for the first time in half a decade, they sat and watched the rolling sea glitter under a clear blue sky.

For thehe hike around the cliff took a couple of hours but was pleasant. Jack and Will came out of the treeline to the surprise of twenty or so loggers busy carving back the jungle. They were nice enough and pointed across the curve of the cove to two places where cargo lifts had been built to ferry goods and people up and down the sides. Or they could walk around the curve to the slope where the houses were and find lodging at the top or bottom of the steps.

They stood at the edge of the first lift, waiting for it to reach the top. The old codger running the apparatus barely moved when they'd approached and only responded in grunts when they'd asked to head down. Instead of a conversation, he'd raised a red flag and waved it. A few moments later, they saw the oversized pulleys start to move.

The whole thing was an oversized block and tackle operated by someone they couldn't see. It took about ten minutes, but a flat, raft-like platform eventually reached the top. It hung by a single thick rope that split into four lines attached to the platform's corners. It had nothing in the way of railings. The only thought to safety seemed to be the smaller ropes suspended across the corner lines about seven feet above the raft. The older man reached out with a shepherd's crook without getting up and hauled the platform towards him. It pivoted on a rickety-looking crane arm until it was above solid ground, and then he waved a yellow flag.

The platform lowered a foot and came to rest in front of them.

Jack and Will exchanged a worried look, deciding if they wanted to get on the gadget.

"You first," Jack said.

Will shrugged. "My magic luck will save me, so why not." He stepped onto the platform and reached up to grab the rope.

"Yes, well, it might not save me," Jack said dubiously. After a moment's hesitation, she followed.

The older man grunted and gestured his flag back and forth between them. Will and Jack exchanged another confused look.

"I'm sorry, what?" Will asked.

The older man rolled his eyes and raised the red flag. The platform rose, tilting dangerously as Jack and Will's weight swung. He raised the yellow flag. The lift stopped rising. The platform was barely a foot off the ground and already tilting wildly. The corner Jack and Will stood on caught the ground and started pivoting.

Jack and Will held tight, looking like they were about to jump free when the pivot slowed and rocked back in the other direction.

"Oh," Will muttered as a realization dawned on him. "Right. That's what he was saying."

"You're going to have to translate grunts and flag-waving," Jack said, annoyed.

"The load has to be balanced," Will explained.

The older man grunted an affirmation, waved the yellow flag again, and lowered the lift back to the ground.

Will walked to the center of the platform. "Over here. We need to stay at the center and balance our weight. I'm heavier, so you'll need to adjust out a bit once it's up." Jack looked like she'd rather walk around to the other side of the ridge line but followed him to the middle of the lift. The older man gave them a nod and waved his flag again.

The lift started up again, this time not tilting. Jack and Will adjusted their footing and held onto the ropes above. The older man waited until they were stable, then used his hook to push the crane arm back over the edge.

The platform swung gently over the long drop, and Will's stomach felt like it was trying to crawl into his throat.

Jack started to step closer to him instinctively, but he held his arm out to stop her. She stopped and thought for a moment, then nodded. "Right. Don't want to do that."

After a few moments, the swaying mostly stopped. The older man waved the yellow flag again, and they descended.

The thick rope creaked and rotated as they dropped, slowly spinning them in a circle, giving them a panoramic view of the cove from the inside. As they descended, they began to pass the layers of ropes, walkways, and suspended platforms they'd seen from above. A few people waved, but most ignored them. It looked like they were hoisting a salvaged mast from one of the ships below.

"Getting off here?" a voice called from below.

It took a moment for them to realize the voice was talking to them. Will answered. "We're looking for whoever runs the ship repairs."

A waving flag came into view, and a one-armed Nivalese man peered at them as they stopped before him. He sat in a deck chair beside a small table with a shade umbrella. His setup was nailed down to the slightly tilted hanging platform he worked from. "New fish, eh?" he asked.
Will nodded. "First time here."

"How 'Dja get up top?" the dark-skinned man asked, seeming more curious than inquisitorial.

"Our ship is beached around the curve of the island. We came in through the jungle," Will explained.

The man looked impressed. "No easy trek, that," he grinned. "Be wanting to talk to Shady, you."

Will suddenly felt like the blood was being drained from his body. "Right. That's who we're looking for. Point the way?"

The man pointed down and across the cove. "One stop down, across the bridge to the craneworks, then take the big bridge to the red house. Ask there."

"Thanks," Will said.

"Good luck, new fish," the dark man grinned. He waved his flag, and they started descending again.

"The last time I saw that look, you'd seen an actual ghost," Jack said once their guide was out of sight. "What's going on?"

Will was concerned and made no effort to hide it. "We're in Shady's Cove."

"I take it that's bad?" Jack asked.

"Well, it's a place I've always managed to avoid before now, and I live in Bastard's Bay," Will said pointedly.

Jack checked her weapons, ensuring none were hanging wrong or tight in their sheaths and holsters. "Right. Bad."



To be continued