CHAPTER 25

The Last Port

Marrill leaned out over the railing, the breeze brushing her hair from her face. Overhead, the sails popped and sang with wind. Below, the hull of the Kraken cut her way through the golden water, throwing sprays of whispering magic into the air.

It was a beautiful day on the Pirate Stream. The water was wide open and perfect before them. Alive again, fresh and new.

Reborn.

And Marrill was about to leave it all behind.

Tears stung her eyes. She closed them, trying to memorize this moment so she could carry it with her. The chittering of pirats as they scampered through the rigging, the squeal of the Robebone Man hauling lines through the tackle. The sun sending golden reflections to dance against her eyelids, wrapping her in warmth. The smell of possibility and the hum of raw potential tingling her skin.

Behind her, Remy called a command, her voice carrying across this ship. The deck swayed under Marrill’s feet as the Kraken changed course. She leaned into the movement without thinking, her knees soft, her body naturally attuned to the sway and tilt of the ship.

On the main deck, the tip of Ardent’s cap snapped in the wind. He leaned over a giant tome spread open on the table before him, tapping a page as he passionately argued the finer points of some obscure magical theory with Serth. Serth mumbled something under his breath, and Ardent tilted his head back, laughing. Serth’s lips twisted, a chuckle escaping him as well.

At the stern, the rumor vines echoed a twining symphony of ornery grunts and contented purrs as the Naysayer tended his prollycrab traps with Karny perched on a shoulder.

And beside her: Fin. His arm brushed hers as the Kraken slipped between waves. She could feel the warmth and steadiness of him. Could hear the slight hitch in his breathing and knew he was thinking the same thing she was.

This was good-bye. Again.

“Will you come back?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” It was an honest answer. And a better one than the last time she’d left the Stream, when she’d felt certain she’d never return. Only now, she had no idea what she was going home to. What her disappearance might have done to her mother’s health.

“I want to, but…” She sighed, the thought trailing off. She didn’t know how to explain that she would spend the rest of her life on the Stream if she could. That a part of her wanted to tell Remy to turn the ship around and set a course for anywhere but home.

But she would only be running away. And she knew now that running wouldn’t help. It wouldn’t fix her mom. Nothing would. It was time for Marrill to face that.

And once she went home… well, now she knew better than to think never when it came to the Stream. But coming back was unlikely, to say the least. After all, it was the Master of the Iron Ship who’d created the storm surge that had brought her to the Stream to begin with. And it was the Master of the Iron Ship who’d started the Syphon of Monerva and brought her back, when that should have been impossible. With him gone, not only were there no more Master-induced storms—there was no one left spinning evil plots behind the scenes to bend the forces of creation.

Fin didn’t ask her to finish the statement. He understood without her having to explain.

After a moment, he lifted his eyes to hers. “Are you scared?”

She bit her lip. More tears burned their way up her throat. She nodded. “I really thought I could save her,” Marrill said, her voice cracking.

Fin shifted his hand over hers on the railing, his fingers slipping into place between hers. “I’m sorry, Marrill.”

She pressed her lips together, trying to hold back the fear. “What if I’ve made everything worse?”

He pulled her into a hug. “You’re going to be okay, Marrill. Whatever happens.” He held her a while longer before pulling back, his hands still on her shoulders. “Do you want me to go with you?”

Her eyes widened with surprise. “And leave the Pirate Stream?”

He shrugged like it was no big deal. “You’re my best friend.”

“But you might never be able to come back!”

He laughed. “I just said, ‘You’re my best friend.’ What more do you need?”

He said it so simply that she couldn’t help but laugh. But she would never ask him to leave. Nor did she want him to. The Pirate Stream was his home. It was where he belonged.

She squeezed Fin’s arm. “You’re my best friend, too, you know. Which is why there’s no way I would want you to leave this awesome place.” She looked off toward the horizon, watching for her world to appear soon. “Besides, you faced losing your mom. It’s time for me to face the possibility that I might lose mine.”

“Yeah, but I had a friend by my side to help me get through it. You’re having to face it completely alone.”

She smiled at him. “No,” she said. “I’m not.” He frowned in confusion. “You may not be with me in person, Fin. But you’ll still be with me—in my heart.”

His grin turned wobbly. She leaned her shoulder into his. Growing up, it had always just been her and her parents. She’d never stayed in any one place long enough to make friends, so saying good-bye and moving on had never been a problem.

Now, though, the thought of leaving Fin and the rest of the crew behind caused a hole to open in her heart. One she wasn’t certain she’d ever be able to fill.

Especially since the one person who should have been coming with her wasn’t. “The Kraken needs a captain,” Remy had said. Her smile had been genuine, but a hint of sadness dusted the edges of her eyes.

The reality, of course, was that Remy couldn’t go home. Not with the Sheshefesh tattoo. Staying in one place too long would be deadly. She was now cursed to a life of wandering, same as Coll had been.

A wave of guilt had hit Marrill at the announcement. After all, it was her fault Remy was even on the Stream in the first place. “Maybe I should stay and help you find a way to break the curse,” Marrill had suggested.

“No way. Northern Arizona’s best babysitter is getting you home,” Remy had told her, fluffing her hair. She’d then turned, eyes on the horizon, and added softly, “Besides, I have some loose ends that need tying up.”

Marrill hadn’t asked more. She’d known from Remy’s expression that the older girl wasn’t likely to elaborate.

Marrill cleared her throat, forcing her thoughts back to the present. “So, what’s next for you?” she asked Fin.

A small smile lit his face. “Sailing on with the Kraken, of course! Where else am I going to find an entire crew who remembers me?” He cast a quick glance at Remy. “Well, more or less, anyway. But hey, Remy even asked me to stay on as crew. I’m officially First Mate Plus One!” He scrunched up his face. “Which I’m pretty sure makes me a second mate, but that seemed like a demotion, so who am I to argue?”

He was cut off by Remy calling, “Land ho!”

Marrill looked up. She could just see the dingy ROSEBERG’S sign, see the stores in the abandoned strip mall near her subdivision. And it was much, much closer than she’d expected.

Her breath hitched. She was almost home.

Ardent came to stand beside her. The old wizard’s eyes fell on the bird perched on the very tip of the bowsprit. She spread her scribbled wings, letting out a sharp cry before taking flight and banking toward the parking lot.

Rose. Forever leading the way.

He let out a small sigh. His eyes shone with a tangle of emotions. Grief. Adoration. Pride. Regret. Confusion. Acceptance. Love.

Marrill understood them all because they were the same feelings knotting her own heart.

She braced herself for the keel to run aground, but the ship continued crashing through the waves. The Kraken soared across the asphalt, swinging gently in an arc before coming to rest against the row of abandoned shops. Waves lapped gently at the concrete walkway bordering the water-filled parking lot.

Marrill’s eyes widened. The last time she’d come home they’d floundered several hundred yards away, the Stream not deep enough to carry the ship all the way into her world. And the only reason they’d gotten that close in the first place was due to the storm surge caused by the Master.

She spun, scanning the horizon behind them for hints of clouds, but the sky was clear as far as she could see.

“You wouldn’t know it took me four times to pass the parallel parking part of the driving test,” Remy said as she swaggered across the ship to join the group at the bow.

“How were you even able to get us this close?” Marrill asked.

Remy shrugged. “Ask the wizards,” she said, nodding to Ardent and Serth. “I don’t explain the Stream. I just navigate it.”

“Yes, well.” Ardent twittered his fingers together. “Do recall that for a time I was one of the most powerful beings that ever existed. I may have controlled the Lost Sun of Dzannin, but I also controlled the Pirate Stream. I may have… er… made a few slight changes to things before relinquishing control.”

Serth barked out a laugh. “Show-off,” he coughed under his breath.

Ardent scowled at him, but that just made Serth chuckle more.

Hope caused Marrill’s heart to soar as possibility thrummed through her veins. “Does that mean the Pirate Stream now touches my world all the time?” she asked excitedly. “We can come and go as we want?”

Ardent cringed. “I’m afraid not.”

“Oh.” Disappointment crushed her insides.

He tugged on his beard. “Of course I still have to work out the timetables for the tide, what with the currents and the whatnots. Factor in the gravitational alignment—”

“Don’t forget the time disparagement facsimile quotient,” Serth interjected.

“No one’s listening, old men,” the Naysayer grunted as he lumbered up the stairs toward the group, Karnelius on one shoulder. “Wizards, and your need to sound all impressive and everything. Cutting to the chase, they’re saying the Stream’ll crash into that parking lot every 12.0012948 months with a slightly smaller after-tide three months later.”

Ardent readjusted the cap on his head. “Well, I think you may be off by a decimal point or two.”

“But more or less, yes,” Serth added.

Marrill glanced between the three with wide eyes. “Are you saying I’ll be able to come back to the Stream?”

Ardent laughed. “Of course!”

“Only if you bring this guy,” the Naysayer said, stroking a protective hand down Karny’s back.

Marrill looked at Fin, her heart so full she thought it would burst. His expression of surprise and excitement mirrored hers. She grabbed his hands. “I get to come back!” she squealed at the same moment he shouted, “This isn’t good-bye!” They jumped up and down in celebration.

There was only one other thing that would be better than knowing she could return to the Stream again. She glanced toward Ardent. “Are you sure I can’t take anything back to save my mom?” She said it as a joke. Mostly. Even so, her heart broke a little at the resignation in his eyes.

“Your mother doesn’t need Stream magic. She needs you.” He wiped a tear from her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Whatever happens, Marrill Aesterwest, you will make it through.” He pulled her into a hug. “You are the one who taught me that,” he said softly. He held her long enough for her to catch her breath and swallow back the worst of her tears. When she let go, he continued to cup her shoulders.

“Thank you for having faith in me, Marrill,” he said. “I’m sorry for”—his eyes drifted to the scribbled bird soaring far overhead—“disappointing you.”

“Also ya nearly destroyed the Stream and killed everything that ever existed, but yeah, disappointing a little girl, that’s the part you regret,” the Naysayer grunted. “Least ya learned to prioritize.”

Marrill swallowed a chuckle. A smile played around Ardent’s mouth as he straightened. “That too.” He gave her shoulders one last squeeze. “See you soon,” he said before stepping back.

Then Serth stood awkwardly before her. Black scars still marred his cheeks, but they were tempered ever so slightly by the wrinkles of laughter creasing the edges of his eyes. His smile still looked more like a tortured grimace, but it was progress.

“You didn’t have to help us save the Stream,” she told him.

He lifted a shoulder. “One could argue otherwise. If the future is set—”

“It wasn’t, and you know it,” said Marrill, laughing. “It was your choice, and I’m glad you made it.” She gave him a hug. “We couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you.”

“Well, that’s true, certainly.” He cleared his throat. “I… I’m glad I made that choice, too,” he said, stepping back.

Remy was next. She clutched several intricately folded sheets of paper, and her hand trembled as she held them out to Marrill. “For my family.” She cleared her throat, her eyes red. “To explain. Tell them”—she took a deep breath to steady herself—“tell them that I love them and I’ll see them again. I just don’t know when.”

Marrill took the letters and folded her babysitter into a hug. She could feel the older girl’s shoulders shaking as she struggled to control her emotions. “They’ll understand,” Marrill told her. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Remy gave her a watery smile. “I should check the…” She waved her hand aft and turned to go, tears spilling down her cheeks.

The Naysayer held Karny with all four arms, and the cat purred loudly, bonking his head against the lizardy creature’s chin. After another moment, the Naysayer let out a huff and thrust him into Marrill’s arms. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He frowned and swallowed several times.

“Good-bye, monster,” he finally said, his voice rather gruff. He spun and stalked off. A moment later she thought she heard the rumor vines sniffling.

Then it was time to say good-bye to Fin. Though it was a little easier knowing she might see him again, there were still no words. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, that if she said anything at all, she might start crying and be unable to stop.

So she simply pressed a thumb to her heart. He did the same. They were best friends. No matter where they were, together or apart. And they would be forever.

With a watery nod, she raised a hand and a line dropped from the rigging, snaking securely around her waist. “Good-bye,” she whispered to them all. And then Ropebone Man swung her out over the railing and lowered her gently to the ground below.

A deep grumbling came from within the hull, a groaning of dullwood as the sails filled and the massive ship pulled away from the row of empty stores. Marrill stood on the concrete sidewalk, Karnelius clutched in her arms, watching as the Enterprising Kraken sailed toward the sun, the glow of the Pirate Stream turning the entire world golden.

When the ship was no longer in sight, when she could no longer hear the calls of her friends shouting good-bye, when the world stopped shimmering and the endless lake returned to a cracked asphalt parking lot, Marrill took a deep breath and finally started for home. She had no idea what she would find there or what her future held.

Anything was possible.