in the bays looked as if they were carved from rays of daylight, crisp and clean against the wide sky. The cities of the Unnamed Sea prided themselves on their opulence, and none more than Bastian. My mother had never carried the same air, but it was still there in little things. Like the way she kept her dredging tools pristine on her belt or the way her fingernails seemed to always be clean.
There are some things that can’t be carved from a person, no matter how far from home they’ve sailed.
The harbor master appeared in the distance, followed by a throng of dockworkers trailing behind him. His severe brow made his eyes look squinted and the parchments in his hand fluttered as he waved his arms over his head. But Zola didn’t waste any time making himself at home. He didn’t even wait for approval before having the crew secure the hauling lines.
“Who’s that there?” the harbor master called out, stopping to look up and study the crest on the foresail.
Zola met Clove’s eyes before he took the ladder down, and the crew of the Luna watched over the side of the ship as he walked up the dock to meet him.
“Time to go.” Clove tucked an extra knife into his belt.
I eyed him suspiciously. He hadn’t even glanced in my direction since we’d stood in Zola’s quarters and I realized there was more to his place on the Luna than even Zola knew. But he’d given me no hint of what was going on or what part I was supposed to be playing. Everything had been on a racing clock since we’d left Dern, and I wanted to know what happened when it finally ticked down. Jeval. The dive. Sagsay Holm. Zola was meticulously making each move with careful precision. I knew it had something to do with Holland, but that’s where my revelations had stopped.
Koy watched me from the quarterdeck as I disappeared over the side of the ship. The crew had been instructed not to leave the Luna for any reason, and the Jevali dredgers didn’t seem to mind one bit. Their eyes studied the city on the hill warily, as if something about it scared them. Bastian itself was bigger than the entire island of Jeval.
Zola was still talking to the harbor master with an easy smile when Clove and I slipped around them, headed for the wide stone staircase that led to the merchant’s house. This wasn’t anything like the rusted structure the Narrows merchants traded in. It was built with clean white stone, the corners studded with ornate statues of seabirds that unfolded their wings over the street below.
I stopped when we reached the top step, and the street widened to reveal the rolling expanse of the vast city. I turned in a circle, trying to take it in, but Bastian was immense. Overwhelming. I’d never seen anything like it.
Clove disappeared around the corner of the merchant’s house as I turned back to the street. When I stepped into the alleyway, he was already waiting. He leaned against the brick, the glow of streetlamps lighting half his face. Even standing in the middle of the street, surrounded by buildings that hid most of the sky, he looked like a giant.
The harsh coldness that had been in his eyes since I first saw him on the Luna softened when he looked up at me from beneath the brim of his hat. It was a look that was so familiar that my shoulders drew down my back, the tension that had me wound tight for the last ten days uncoiling itself from me. In an instant, I felt as if I were unraveling. One side of his mustache slowly ticked up and a crooked grin illuminated his eyes with a spark.
I took the four steps between us, my boots hitting the cobblestones in an echo, and I threw my arms around him. The cry that had been trapped in my throat finally escaped, and I leaned into him, my fingers clutching his jacket. I didn’t care that it was weak. That it was an admission to how scared I was. I only wanted to feel like for a moment, I wasn’t alone.
Clove stood rigid, watching around us warily, but after a moment his huge arms came around me, squeezing. “There now, Fay,” he said, one hand rubbing my back.
I curled my arms into my chest and let him hold me tighter, closing my eyes. “Does