CHAPTER 23

The Rise Before the Fall

Fin held his chin high and chest out until he was sure Marrill and Ardent had disappeared into the forbidding forest. Then his head dropped, and his shoulders sagged. Overhead, a wheeling seagull gave a mocking cry, and the salt-and-seaweed air felt acrid in his lungs.

“Well,” he said, “I don’t actually have any ideas. So if anyone else has thoughts, I’m open-minded.”

Fig paced up and down the deck beside him. “There’s nothing we can do,” she muttered. “The Rise can’t be beaten. They can’t be stopped.”

“Okay,” Fin said, clapping his hands together. “That’s not really helpful, so does anyone have any thoughts that aren’t of the we’re-all-going-to-die variety?”

Behind them, the warships crashed through the surf, racing between the rocks far faster than any sane captain would dare. Because sane captains feared for their lives, Fin realized. The Rise had no such fear. They would be on them in moments.

“I should have stayed in Arizona,” Remy muttered to herself. “Oh, wait, I never chose to leave Arizona.”

Fin gulped. “All right, grab whatever you’ve got on hand,” he said. “All we need to do is slow them down for a while. So we’ll fight them until they take us, then I’ll pretend to lead them to the wish orb in Ardent’s cabin.” He chuckled to himself, already thinking about Vell covered in screaming gel. “Any questions?”

The first boarding hooks whistled through the air, digging into the wood of the main deck. Fin took a deep breath, loosing his climbing daggers. Beside him, Fig continued pacing nervously. On the quarterdeck, Remy swiped the cutlass Coll kept by the ship’s wheel, holding it away from her body as though she was scared of it.

Another boarding line struck the Kraken and another. The Rise soldiers crouched at their railing, preparing to jump between ships.

“Okay,” Fin said. “This is it. Time to buckle some swash!”

The first of the Rise landed on the quarterdeck. Remy lifted her cutlass and charged, only to be tripped by a Fade who jumped out of nowhere. She careened into the side of Ardent’s cabin, where more of the Rise and Fade appeared, securing her.

Additional soldiers reached the main deck, advancing on Fin. He dodged the first, rolled around the second. A third blindsided him, grabbing for him. Fin parried the man’s hand away with his dagger and bounded off the railing, spinning as he hit the middle of the deck.

More Rise had made the ship, though, starting to fill it. They had Remy, and Fig seemed to have put up no fight at all. Even the pirats had their arms in the air, toothpick-swords dropped in surrender.

The crew of the Kraken hadn’t lasted long. It was now up to Fin to draw out the battle.

“Hello, Brother Fade,” his own voice said behind him.

Fin whirled, lashing out with his dagger instinctively, fully expecting a parry, preparing to redirect the rebound energy into a dodge. But Vell just stood there, taking the blow straight across the chest.

Cloth gave way like paper. The blade made a sweeping sound as it passed across Vell’s bare flesh. Fin gasped. He heard Remy gasp, too.

But there was no blood. Vell didn’t wince. Fin stared up at him in shock, raising his dagger again halfheartedly. His twin didn’t even blink. In one swift motion, Vell batted the dagger to one side, grabbed Fin’s wrist, and twisted it until he dropped the blade. He then brought up his elbow to smack Fin straight in the face.

Fin stumbled back, pain shooting through his head, dropping him to his knees. His Rise watched him impassively. “We don’t cut,” Vell said, cracking his knuckles. “We don’t burn. We don’t bleed. We are the Rise. Do you see now we cannot be beaten?”

Another voice broke across the ship. “Stop toying with him, Vell.” The Rise ranks separated.

The Crest herself had come to the Kraken.

She snapped her fingers, and Vell obediently stepped back, just beside her. “You know what we are here for,” she said. “The wish orb.” Her eyes flitted up and down Fin as he crouched on the deck, one hand nursing the rapidly forming bruise on his cheekbone. “And to secure you, of course. It’s a miracle you haven’t died out here without our guidance. The way you act so… rashly. Do you have any idea how painful it would be for Vell if you became a part of him again? All your fears and doubts and insecurities pouring into him, making him mortal?”

Tears welled up in Fin’s eyes. He couldn’t honestly say where they came from: the pain from Vell’s blow, or the sting of the Crest’s words. He looked at the two of them—they didn’t seem real, standing here before him. Himself and his mother, together once again… and yet, they didn’t care for him at all.

It was so difficult for him to understand. He thought of all the love and loyalty he felt for the crew of the Kraken, for his adopted family, the Parsnickles, back in the Khaznot Quay, even for the Naysayer: people who didn’t remember him, yet who he loved nonetheless. Vell was his Rise—they’d been the same person once. His mother was the same way with the Crest. That had to make them some form of kin. That had to mean something.

He didn’t fight the tears. They’ll help the con, he told himself. The battle was lost. Time for stage two of the plan.

“Fine,” he said. “You want the wish orb; you can have it. We won’t fight you anymore.”

“Fin, no!” Remy called. Her tone was so fake that it made Fin cringe. On top of it, when he looked at her, she gave him a big, dramatic wink. An actress, she was not.

He took a deep breath, hoping that Remy hadn’t blown the ruse. Slowly, he raised one shaking finger, pointing to Ardent’s cabin. “It’s in there. On the far side of the wizard’s desk. There’s a chest. The wish is inside. Just… take the whole thing, and I’ll come with you.”

The Crest didn’t seem to even register his words. Instead, she looked past him, to Fig. The Rise had pushed the Fade girl forward so that she stood just behind Fin. Her arms were crossed, one hand tucked inside her vest. Her head was bowed, and her eyes met neither the Crest’s nor Fin’s.

“Did you retrieve it?” the Crest asked.

Slowly, Fig nodded.

Fin’s heart beat faster. Confusion and fear bubbled up inside him. What was Fig doing? Did she have some other plan he hadn’t known about? Why wouldn’t she have told him?

All his questions were put to rest when Fig pulled free her hand. Clutched in it, glowing brightly with the concentrated magic of the Pirate Stream, was the wish orb.

“Oh no,” Fin groaned. He slapped a palm against his forehead. He had a faint memory of Fig grabbing Ardent’s arm, trying to stop him before he and Marrill disembarked. She must have nicked it then, and no one even noticed.

Fig was a better thief than he’d given her credit for. Not for picking the wizard’s pocket—that was easy enough. But for making him believe she cared about them.

For stealing his trust.

Fig’s hands were shaking. “I’m sorry, Fin,” she stammered. “I didn’t have a choice. Vell ordered me to, back at Margaham’s Game, he ordered me to secure the orb before the next time we met.…”

Despair and betrayal flooded Fin’s heart like a ship’s hold taking on water. “And you did it. You chose them over us. Over me.”

The Crest stepped forward. “Come now,” she said. “The Fade are not real. They have no choices. A good Fade must do as the Rise command. And now, I command you to give me the orb.”

Fig hesitated, eyes locked on the softly glowing wish in her hands. Fin could see she was struggling. He seized the moment and stepped toward her. The Rise were rows of statues, standing rigid on the decks of the Kraken. The Fade peered through them, nondescript faces filling out the ranks.

“No,” he pronounced. The sun fell hot on his cheeks. The salt air that had so recently burned acrid in his mouth now fueled a fire in his lungs. “No, you can’t have it.”

The Crest’s eyes fell on him. Fin wasn’t used to people seeing him so directly, to being scrutinized, examined. His every instinct told him to run, to hide, to slip away and be forgotten. But he couldn’t. Not now. And more than that, he didn’t want to.

His eyes locked on the Crest’s. Fin forced himself to meet the iron in her gaze with all the power of his will. And when he did, he saw a flicker of something he hadn’t expected.

Uncertainty.

Suddenly, everything he knew about the Rise, or thought he knew, came into question. He had an advantage now. And he had to press it. “You say the Rise are unbeatable,” he spat. “And yeah, maybe you can’t be cut or hurt or whatever. But the way I see it, you have been beaten. Over and over again.”

“Still your tongue,” the Crest said. But she didn’t make a move.

Fin felt the edge of a smile dancing across his lips. “Fact is,” he continued, “seems like we’ve beaten you every single time you’ve shown up.”

“Yeah!” Remy shouted from the quarterdeck. “Like how Coll slipped past your little blockade on the way to see the Sheshefesh!”

“And at the game…” Fig mumbled.

Fin’s smile turned into a full-blown grin. “And when we outran your warship back at the Soporific Straits.” He crossed his arms. “Seems like the unbeatable army is pretty beatable to me.”

For the first time, a squirm seemed to pass through the statue-still ranks of the Rise. Out of the corner of his eye, Fin could even see Vell looking uncomfortable. It was true. And they all knew it.

“You don’t understand what you’re saying,” the Crest barked. “Now stop standing between me and my wish!”

She started toward him, reaching a hand to his shoulder. Fin slapped it away with a sharp rebuke. “Don’t touch me.” He felt her fingers catch against the zipper of his skysailing jacket. She drew back with a hiss that sounded almost like pain.

The Crest’s gaze dropped to her hand. There, blooming on the tip of her finger, was a bright red drop of blood.

“You’re bleeding,” Fin whispered.

She nodded slowly. Her eyes met Fin’s once more. This time, a wash of emotion filled them: fear, regret, resignation.

Across the deck of the Kraken, a murmur of disbelief passed through the ranks of the Rise and the Fade. Even Vell, who up until now seemed incapable of showing emotion, was stunned. “This can’t be,” he protested. “Rise don’t bleed. Not unless…”

Understanding hit Fin far harder than the force of Vell’s elbow had. The Rise were invulnerable because their weakness had been removed from them and turned into the Fade. And so long as their Fade still lived, they remained immortal.

So long as their Fade still lived.

“No,” he gasped.

The Crest nodded. It wasn’t arrogance in her eyes. Not hardness. Just sorrow. “So you’ve found out my secret.”

Fin couldn’t believe what he was seeing, what he was hearing. The leader of the invincible army could be hurt, just like him. She felt fear, just like him. She could fail, just like him.

The Crest of the Rise was mortal. Which could only mean one thing. Her Fade… Fin’s real mother…

“My mom is dead,” Fin breathed.