The Dragon Realm (Dark World The Dragon Twins #2) - Michelle Madow Page 0,47
Eternal Library, but Ethan insisted we spend the least amount of time there as possible. It was too tempting to walk into the hall of books and browse for answers ourselves. We couldn’t risk getting lost there.
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right.
Plus, we had to stay on board the ship, in case the dragon heart picked up on the location of the second half of the Crown. But we still visited the Eternal Library every day—we had too many questions to not at least try to get answers from Hecate.
She was never there.
What on Earth did she have to do that was more important than helping us save the world from the demons? Didn’t she want the world to be saved?
Judging by how little she made appearances in the Library, apparently not.
On the sixth morning of the cruise, I was jolted awake at 6:05 am by the captain making an announcement over the ship-wide intercom system. The intercoms were everywhere—even inside the suites—and it was impossible to turn them off or lower the volume.
Add that to the list of things that were making this voyage extremely unpleasant.
“In ten minutes, we’ll be crossing into the Antarctic Circle!” He was elated, because cruises usually didn’t make it so far south. Especially not ones that had such a rough crossing of the Drake.
Little did he know that we’d gained so much time because Mira had been coaxing the ocean currents and the wind to help us sail faster. After all, the more land we covered, the better the chance of the heart picking up on the exact location of the second half of the Crown.
“Our expedition guide Malcom is at the front of deck six with a GPS tracker,” the captain continued. “Get bundled up to meet him there and see exactly when we cross the 66 degree south line!”
Of course, we didn’t go to deck six. But Mira, Ethan, and I did step out onto the balcony, where we heard people cheering on the deck below when we crossed into the Antarctic Circle.
I gazed out at the icebergs sitting on the water in the distance. We’d passed some huge ones during our journey—the only way we’d been able to enjoy Antarctica so far was by stepping out onto the balcony and viewing the icebergs, snow-covered mountains, and the occasional whale spotting.
Bella had stayed inside the suite so far. It was freezing outside, which didn’t bother me, Mira, or Ethan, thanks to our elemental magic. Bella, on the other hand, had to put on multiple layers of clothing to brave the cold. She said it wasn’t worth the hassle, since she could see the same thing from the window.
After taking in the view, we went back inside. Like he did every morning, Ethan took the golden box out of the closet and brought it to the dining room table. He opened it and reached inside to touch the heart.
“We’re getting closer,” he said, which was what he’d been saying each day, the farther south we got. “Bring out the map.”
Mira grabbed our Antarctica Atlas from the bookshelf, laid it out on the table in front of Ethan, and opened it to the zoomed-in page of the Antarctic Peninsula. The three of us—me, Mira, and Bella—gathered around Ethan, waiting.
Ethan pointed to an island on the page. “Here,” he said, and I moved closer to get a better look.
Detaille Island.
“That’s where the captain’s trying to anchor down today,” I said.
They hadn’t stopped talking about it on one of the few channels we got on our TV—the Goldensea channel that discussed our journey through Antarctica. There were lots of educational segments on the history of the continent, and on the wildlife we might spot.
During my time in bed while seasick, I’d learned more about Antarctica than I’d ever wanted to know.
Detaille Island was the only place we were trying to land that had remnants of human settlement, thanks to the British scientific station—Base W—that had been occupied and then hastily abandoned in the 1950s.
“Do you think the second half of the Crown is at Base W?” I asked.
“I think it’s worth a look.”
“Me, too.”
Mira bounced in excitement. “So we’re finally leaving the ship?”
“That’s the only way to Detaille Island,” I said. “So, yes. We’re leaving the ship. Then, hopefully, coming back on board with the second half of the Holy Crown.”
30
Gemma
The ocean was rough when the ship anchored down—so rough that at first glance, it seemed like it was going to