The Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan
As he reached the top, the smoke cleared, and before him the forest stretched out to the interior of the island. Suddenly, he could see it: Glens opened up like courtyards among the undergrowth. The mightiest trees were towers. He looked back. The walls, the hall, the battlement—he had crossed them all. This whole forest was laid out like a fortress.
It had all been a fortress, he realized at once. A huge fortress overgrown with secrets and rumors. People turned into plants, just sitting around, listening to the things other people actually did.
“Whoa.” It made his head spin. “Hey, Leferia, I get it now!” he called out. “Where to next?”
But nothing answered him, only the cries and sobs of the rumor vines. “Leferia?” he tried again. Still nothing. Without Marrill, she’d forgotten him.
Of course she had. He skimmed his surroundings, finally spotting a Coll-shaped lump hanging from one of the towers in the distance. But a sea of leaves lay between him and it.
“Awww, blisterwinds,” he said to himself.
CHAPTER 28
Discombobulation
Wait!” Marrill squeaked. But it was too late; Fin was gone. Marrill spun from side to side, smoke stinging her eyes and making her throat burn. She hadn’t really meant to take the hard way! What was Fin thinking, listening to her?
“Just hold on and follow me,” Leferia’s voice called. Marrill half ran, half stumbled through the brush, one hand skimming along Leferia’s vine.
Sweat poured from her as though she were back under the Arizona sun. Just as her skin started to get uncomfortably hot, Leferia yelled again, telling her to stop. “He’s here!” she said. “The wizard, to your right!”
Marrill squinted. The world flickered in a haze of smoke. A few feet from her, the orange glow lit up a man-sized bundle of vines hanging in the air. A purple point stuck out from the bottom of it, and a white beard pushed out between the overlapping tendrils.
“Pull at them,” Leferia told her. “Without fresh rumors to nourish them, they should be weakening!”
Marrill yanked at the mass fiercely. The vines uncoiled in her hands, one at a time, revealing more of the wizard stuck inside. “Ardent!” she screamed.
“I am sorry to be here,” a new voice whispered from the leaves of the weeping vines surrounding them. “But now is the time.”
“He’s coming!” Leferia screeched. “Hurry!”
Marrill swallowed, her throat tight. The voice sounded so sad. So, so sad and hopeless. Her own will seemed to drain away, even as she tugged at another vine.
“Bwagh, he’s a fool!” Ardent gasped, snapping her back to reality. The wizard blinked, focusing on her. “First Mate Marrill, is that you?”
“Oh, Ardent!” she said, throwing her arms around his suspended form.
“I was having the oddest dream,” he pronounced, his voice muffled against her shirt. “Zambfant the so-called Great was doubting my best theories, as if he knew anything about transcendental Stream-snorkling. Incidentally, did the pirats burn dinner again?”
The sad voice crackled from the fire. “The scenes are so carefully ordered,” it said. “We must keep them in line.”
Ardent’s eyes widened. His eyebrows crashed together in a furious frown as his lips tightened. “That would be Serth,” he sighed. “How… unfortunate.” Though his words were calm, Marrill had never seen him look so troubled.
“Does everyone know this guy but me?” Marrill wondered aloud. She yanked away one last vine, and Ardent tumbled to the forest floor.
“Oof,” he grunted. “One for you, gravity.” He climbed to his feet, swaying one way, then the other.
“Put out the fire!” Leferia screamed. Marrill looked up. A gout of flame burst into the clearing, searing the jungle. Ardent waved one hand at it. A few snowflakes coughed out. The fire flickered back briefly, then surged forward once more.
“Oh dear,” Ardent said, frowning and staring at his fingers. “We can’t stay here. We need to leave. Now!”
Through the wall of flames, Marrill saw an outline of a man in long robes. He raised his hands toward them, and the fire exploded. A bright orange ball of death hurtled straight toward them.
The next thing Marrill knew, she’d been yanked into the sky. “Hold tight!” Leferia screamed from the wilted leaves of the vine snaked around her waist. For a moment, Marrill couldn’t tell if she was swinging or falling, and then a new vine snared her around her wrist.
Ardent let out a whoop as he flipped through the air behind her. In moments, they were clear of the smoke and headed fast across the island. For all her fear, Marrill couldn’t help but grin. They’d made it. And for just a moment, she was like the one-armed chimpanzee from the animal-preserve brochures, flying through the trees in someone else’s arms.
“What happened back there with the snow?” she asked as Ardent swung up beside her.
He clutched his cap against his head. “Ah yes,” he said. “Embarrassing, that. The jungle seems to have left me a bit discombobulated. It appears my rapport with the magic is somewhat destabilized.”
“I don’t… urf… speak wizard,” Marrill said, holding her breath mid-sentence for another handoff.
“The rumor vines have broken his focus, made him too disoriented to talk to the magic,” Leferia explained. “Common problem when the rumors get you. Slenefell was once the greatest magician on the Stream. Hasn’t cast a spell in four thousand years. And even that last one was just a minor hex against root beetles.”
Ardent sighed. “Exactly all that. Except the root beetles part—I’ve nothing against them.”
“The fire is still spreading,” Leferia said, ignoring Ardent. “I’m building firebreaks where I can, and beating it out if I can. But there’s no way I can put it all out without the aid of the rest of the Council.”
Ardent coughed. “It’s more than that, unfortunately. That fire burns hot with magic,” he said. “Serth fuels it. Your efforts will be useless so long as he remains nearby.”
The jungle whizzed past them. “Precisely,” Leferia agreed. “Once we get you to your ship, the rumor vines I still control will tell him you’re sailing out with the Face. He’ll head back to his own ship and leave me to put my island right. But I don’t plan on giving him any lifts, so by the time he makes it to the shore, you should have plenty of head start to get away.”
“What about Coll and Fin?” Marrill asked.
“Don’t worry,” Leferia said. “My vines have picked up the sailor as well. I’m not sure I know the other one, but the sailor seems to have someone else clinging to him.”
Marrill couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image. Her good mood only improved when she spied water past the tree trunks ahead. The masts of the Kraken bobbed among them. Marrill shouted for joy.
A moment later, Leferia set them gently along the scrub on the shore. “End of the line,” she announced. “Now hurry up and get that Map out of here before the Oracle catches you.” Her voice quivered ever so slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Marrill asked. Ardent stumbled around nearby, regaining his composure. “Is it the Oracle’s sadness again?”
“Oh, it’s nothing like that,” Leferia said. “I’m just… going to miss my Map, is all. It told such lovely stories. It let me drift away from all the pettiness and bickering.”
The leaves on her vine fluttered in a sniffle. “You know, all I wanted was to have that stupid Council of termite-boxes answer to me for once. It’s been so long, squabbling back and forth, getting nowhere, doing nothing. It just would have been nice to be in charge, just for a little while.”
Marrill clasped her hands against her chest. She hadn’t had a second to think about Leferia’s life. How she’d spent all that time rooted to the same spot, just wanting to get away from the bickering. It wasn’t fair to finally get that for a moment, then lose it forever.
“Ah, well,” Leferia sighed. “As horrid as they are, I can scarcely stand to lose them after all this time. They’re my fam
Marrill’s instincts overwhelmed her. She just wanted to reach out and hug Leferia. Even if she was a weird and possibly evil old tree, she was such a nice weird and possibly evil old tree. And she had helped them so much. Suddenly, Marrill had an idea.
“Marrill,” Ardent said behind her, steadier now. “We need to go, dear. The wind is right, and Serth will not take long to follow.”
“One second,” Marrill said. She rifled through her pockets quickly, pulling free the smooth scrap of siren silk. She looped it carefully around the vine, tying it tight with a little knot. “Thank you,” she said softly.
The Leferia vine bobbed, its green leaves turning just a bit pink. Then it slipped around Marrill and squeezed her in a big hug. “The Gibbering Grove is in your debt, Marrill Aesterwest,” Leferia’s voice whispered from a leaf next to her ear. “Now get out of here and take all these wizards with you. I have a fire to put out!”
Marrill waved as the vine retreated into the forest, carrying the scrap of siren silk back to the island beyond the briar lake. “Ready now!” she said, turning back to Ardent.
Ardent, however, was already halfway up the ship’s ladder. She could see Coll at the top waving and the shadow of the Ropebone Man hauling at the rigging. The Kraken was ready to move.
She started to run, but a familiar “Caw!” stopped her in her tracks. Sure enough, just behind a stubby bush, Rose sat atop a squat tree stump. Two crooked branches hung over it, like hands with fingers trailing down. Ripe little acorns hung from each one.
“Come on, girl, we have to go,” Marrill said. The bird knocked at an acorn with her scribbled beak. “No time for lunch,” Marrill told her. She gently but urgently waved her arms to shoo the bird away.
Rose cocked one inky eye and knocked at the acorn again.
Marrill sighed. Out on the water, the Kraken shook, stirring and ready to move. There was no time for this! On the other hand, it wasn’t like they could leave part of the Map behind, even if she’d wanted to. She stamped her foot in frustration.
“Come on, Marrill!” Fin’s voice called.
“I have to get Rose!” she yelled back.
She snatched at the acorns roughly, jamming them into her pockets. “Okay, girl, you want acorns? Well, you gotta come with me to get them.”
No sooner had she picked the last one than Rose gave a satisfied “Caw!” and took off, headed back to the ship.
“Finally!” Marrill grumbled.
The first thing she did when she hauled herself onto the deck was pull Fin into a fierce hug. “So glad you made it safely!” she said, smiling. “I guess everything went okay rescuing Coll, then?”
Fin grimaced and picked a twig out of his hair. Marrill suddenly imagined him clinging to Coll like a koala bear as Leferia tossed them from vine to vine. “Yeah, I don’t really want to talk about it,” he said. Marrill couldn’t help but chuckle.
Karnelius stepped out of the ship’s hold and stretched languorously in the sun. Padding toward Marrill, he paused to rub his cheek against the mast and yawned, baring every single one of his teeth. He gave a swipe toward where Rose perched nearby, but it was halfhearted at best.
“Stop being so ornery,” Marrill scolded, picking her cat up and settling him in her arms.
Rose let out a loud “Caw!” and took to the sky, wheeling out ahead of them. The pirats tugged free the last mooring line while the Ropebone Man hoisted the mainsail. And the Enterprising Kraken, moving as fast as Coll could guide her, headed for the Pirate Stream once more.
As they neared the open waters, Marrill and the rest of the crew stood on the aft deck, watching the Gibbering Grove disappear behind them. A cloud of smoke billowed into the sky above it.
Fin pointed across the now-glowing water at a dark shape slipping from the far side of the island. “That’s the Black Dragon,” he said, voice anxious. “She’s Stavik’s best ship.”
Coll grunted in dismissal. “Doesn’t matter whose best ship she is, we’ve got too good of a lead for them to catch us any time soon.”
Marrill tried to take comfort in the words, but her emotions were a tangled mess: She was horrified that the Grove might burn until there was nothing left. And terrified that by taking the Face, they’d just made a powerful enemy in Serth.
But also hopeful that they were one step closer to putting the Map together so she could get home. As if to fortify her hope, a raindrop splattered against her cheek, then another, on her shoulder. Karnelius hissed and struggled from her arms, bolting back belowdecks.
Ahead of them, storm clouds churned, and gusts of wind blew rain across the Stream. Straight for the Gibbering Grove. She’d never been so happy for rain in her entire life.
She turned to Fin, grabbing his arm. “Maybe the storm will put out the fire!”
He turned toward her, a smile on his face. “I hope—” The words died on his lips. His face paled as he stared at something over her shoulder.
She hated when that happened.
Already wincing, she turned. Where once there’d been open water, there now sat a ship under full sail, less than a football field’s length away. Somehow, the Black Dragon had gained on them after all. In the blink of an eye.
And at its helm stood a pale man dressed in dark robes, his hands held to the sky.
CHAPTER 29
Down She Goes
Fin’s eyes froze on the low black ship behind them. It wasn’t possible, he thought. The Kraken had had a solid lead—there’s no way the Dragon could have caught up to them so quickly.
He blinked and shook his head, wondering if perhaps he was just seeing wrong. But when he looked back toward the Stream, the Dragon was still there. Worse, she seemed to be even closer.
Much closer.
“Um, guys?” he called out. He glanced over his shoulder. Ardent and Coll looked at him with identical suspicious expressions. Before they could ask who he was and what he was doing there, he pointed to the Dragon. “The Oracle’s ship’s right behind us!”
Coll leapt to the railing and leaned out, hanging from a rope. “That’s not possible,” he said. “The wind is ours and our lead unbeatable.”
Fin looked back at the Stream. Something strange was happening. It wasn’t just that the ship was gaining on them; it was as if the distance between them had vanished. He and Marrill exchanged anxious glances.
“She isn’t outpacing us,” Coll spat. “The space between us is just disappearing. That’s not possible. Ardent, is that possible?”
The wizard pursed his lips, considering. “With magic, anything is possible.” His eyes watched the Dragon cautiously. He flexed his fingers. “But no,” he added. “I have yet to see the magic that can do that.”
Even so, they’d just seen it happen. A chill wind tickled the hairs on the back of Fin’s neck. He looked around; dark clouds gathered off the starboard bow. He could smell the rain coming on the rising breeze.
Behind them, the Black Dragon had drawn to shouting distance. Voices carried across the waves; the pirates were singing a mournful hauling shanty. Fin’s chest squeezed tight at the sound of it. Even if they didn’t remember him, the thieves were his friends. He hated hearing the misery in their voices.
Down the rats go
And down the hounds go
With a wind atop, we watch her drop
And Down. She. Goes.
Coll jumped to the deck. “Well, I don’t aim to let anyone—magic or no—outsail the Kraken!” He raced to the wheel. “Hoist the jib, you rats! Full sail, Ropebone!”
The ship scuttled to action, pirats racing to follow Coll’s command. Ardent waved his hands in the air, muttering something about “treacherous wind spirits.” Sails billowed to life, more of them than Fin had realized they had. The Kraken turned at Coll’s touch, headed straight toward the center of the black storm.
Thunder broke the sky overhead. Lightning boiled inside the clouds. But instead of the
Everyone on the ship froze. Goose bumps raced along Fin’s arms. “The storm rises unnaturally,” he heard Ardent tell Coll under his breath.
“Iron Ship weather, I know,” the sailor muttered.
Fin gulped, remembering what he’d heard about the ghost ship: a ship made of iron, a crew cut from shadows. Lightning flashes red, and suddenly you’re dead.
Behind him, the pirate voices grew louder.
Down her knees go
And down her ribs go
And now her hands are in the sands
And Down. She. Goes.
While Fin didn’t particularly desire to find out if the Iron Ship legends were true, anything had to be better than facing Serth again.
“Turn into the storm!” he called to Coll. The sailor gave him a look as though he were headsoft. It was clear he didn’t recognize Fin, much less trust him.
Fin grabbed Marrill by the shoulders as rain began pelting across the deck. “You have to convince Coll—he won’t listen to me. Serth’s afraid of the Iron Ship,” he told her. “He won’t follow us into the storm. We can lose him!”
She chewed on her lip, uncertain.
“Trust me,” Fin urged.
She nodded and raced toward Coll, slipping across the slick deck. Waving her arms, she explained Fin’s plan. The knotted rope of Coll’s tattoo flashed along his neck as he considered. Finally he spun the ship’s wheel hard, grunting at the effort.
Marrill flashed Fin a thumbs-up, but as they turned into the storm, Fin wasn’t quite sure it was time to celebrate just yet. They might lose Serth, but who knew what they might find instead?
Ahead of them, lightning struck, turning the sky a dark and angry red. The storm was intensifying, the rain getting so thick Fin could barely see the Dragon on their tail.
But he could still hear them.