Chapter 7

W e're hauled up onto a massive wooden ship parked outside The Crown and Feathers. It's impressive, and reminds me of the Swedish warship Vasa. We're dumped unceremoniously onto the deck. Aidan is curled up alongside me and, like me, has his hands and feet bound together tightly.

I look up as Captain Blackbeard strides onto the deck, followed by a short, neatly dressed man in a white shirt and cravat, a rich brocade doublet, and black pantaloons. His brown hair is tied at the nape of his neck with a black ribbon, and he carries a roll of parchment and a quill.

Blackbeard's fearsome gaze falls on me and Aidan. "Tie 'em to the yardarm!" he thunders as he approaches.

"Um, sir!"The small man scurries along in his wake, almost colliding with Blackbeard's broad back when he stops abruptly and spins around to face him.

"What is it?"

"Sir, deepest apologies, but we no longer have a yardarm. It was accidentally broken last week while the crew were playing cannonball cricket."

Blackbeard pauses, his expression contemplative, then turns to the assembled crew. "Tie 'em to the jibboom!"

"Sir." The slim man clears his throat again, drawing Blackbeard's attention. "Once more, a thousand apologies, but we no longer have a jibboom either."

"We don't?" He frowns.

The other man shakes his head. "It was damaged yesterday when the crew were playing fireball volleyball."

"Bowsprit?"

The petite man shakes his head slightly.

Blackbeard scowls. "Well, what do we have?"

"Um." The small man looks around thoughtfully. "We have a comfy sofa on the recreational deck?"

Blackbeard closes his eyes and sighs loudly, then composes himself and fixes his attention on the crew, who aretwitchingwith anticipation while they await his orders.

"Tie 'em"—he glances back at the small man dubiously, who nods with a smile of encouragement—"to the… comfy… sofa."

A loud cheer is followed by several hearty arghhhhs! and then there's a flurry of activity. Several men disappear through the black wood cabin doors whose edges are gilded gold.

Aidan and I are wrenched off the floor and lifted aloft by many pairs of hands. From where I'm dangling awkwardly, I see the other crew members reappear, carrying a worn-looking but plush crimson velvet sofa between them.

"Ow," Aidan mutters as we're dumped on the cushioned seat with a little bounce and collide with each other.

They then proceed to tie us to the sofa withelaborate knots and lots and lots of rope.

"Prepare to get underway!" Blackbeard stalks up and down the deck, yelling at his scrambling crew. "Hoist the mainsail, raise the anchor!" He pauses, turns to the little clerk guy, and raises one brow, his tone dry. "Do we still have one of those?"

He winces, and Blackbeard growls. "Just go and deal with those two." He points at me and Aidan, then stalks into his cabin.

Hastening to obey his orders, the clerk scurries across the deck and stops in front of us, still clutching his journal and quill.

"Good evening." He gives us both a wide, friendly smile. "My name is Oren, and I'm Captain Blackbeard's events coordinator. I'm in charge of ship morale, making sure the crew are happy and entertained while maintaining a strict fitness regime. After all, heart health is very important!"

He chuckles happily.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for joining us today as our hostages. The crew are very excited to have you with us. While stuck within the pages of The Gospodar, they just don't get the chance to commit a kidnapping as often as they'd like, so this is really special."

He presses his hand to his chest in a sentimental gesture.

"You'll notice your ropes and bindings are of the finest Persian weave and are, of course, included as part of your welcome package."

He dips his fingers into the pocket of his doublet and retrieves a small brass pocket watch, thentuts.

"Ooh, we do seem to be running a tad behind schedule. We have a poison darts tournament at ten followed by rum cocktails on the lido deck at eleven. However, we are hoping to serve supper before you walk the plank but after your trial."

"Trial?" I blurt out.

Oren hums slightly. "Not exactly a trial, more a recounting of your crime," he clarifies, then tucks his watch back in his pocket. "Right, then. I think that covers everything. Just holler if you need anything and thank you once again for choosing the Queen Anne's Revenge as the destination for your ultimate demise. Please don't be shy withany feedback as we do like to make sure we continuously improve our service."

He steps back and gives us an enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Thank you."

He scurries away and I turn to Aidan.

"I'm beginning to think someone might have spiked that punch with Viv's magically laced gin."

"You might be right," he mutters. "They're not actually going to make us walk the plank, are they? There may not be water down there, but it's a long drop to the pavement below."

"Don't worry." I try to force as much confidence into my voice as I can for his sake. "There's no way Danny will let anything happen to either one of us."

"Do you think Chan is okay?" He chews his lip and shifts uncomfortably against his bonds.

"Definitely." I smile. "Did you forget who his boyfriend is? I'll bet he's awake and already stalking this way to tear Blackbeard a new one."

"I hope so." Aidan frowns in worry. "Not about the tearing him a new one, but I hope he's awake and okay."

"Look, it's going to be all right, Aidan, I promise. They'll all come for us. You forget we've also got two powerful witches. Olivia and Harrison are the real deal, plus we have the advantage that Olivia has dealt with these clowns before."

I hear a loud, derisive scoff and crane my head around Aidan to see who made that noise. It's only then that I see a wide barrel set close by, and on it is the small cylindrical cage containing the hobgoblin Puck.

His expression is thunderous. He has his fleshy jaw propped on one fist and he's sitting cross-legged, giving me an unhindered view of something I could have quite happily gone my entire life without seeing.

"Got something to say?" I snap. "Considering you're the one who got us into this mess."

"It's not my fault," he says sullenly. "It's all that Blackbeard's doing."

"Really? Because he wasn't the one who stole the book from Olivia and hid it in the books for Harrison."

"Blackbeard made me do it." He glowered.

"What?"

"He's powerful, that Blackbeard is. Maybe the most powerful of all the fairy-tale creatures. He's learned to access the fae magic, but he couldn't break himself out of the book. Need a human for that, but once you opened the book, it was just a case of finding you and stopping you from stuffing them all straight back in."

"Me?" I stare at him. "How am I supposed to put them back in? I just see dead people. I'm not a witch."

"Only the one who opened the book can put them back," Puck replies.

"And so you served me up like a Christmas turkey," I hiss.

"That's your fault!" He grasps the bars of his cage. "I tried to escape. As soon as I arrived in that shop, I hitched a ride with that tall, brightly coloured woman with the ginormous yellow hair."

"Ginormous yellow hair?" I mutter. "Do you mean Dusty?"

"I followed her and saw you for the first time."

"That's why you were at the mortuary," I whisper. "Because Dusty was there. She'd been at the bookshop earlier with Bruce. So you followed her to Hackney."

"I stuck with you, thinking I'd move somewhere else and switch."

"Switch what?" Aidan asks, trying to avoid the line-of-sight view of the area between Puck's legs.

"People. Keep up, boy," he snaps peevishly. "I leapfrog from person to person. That's how I travel in the human world unless it's a powerfully magical place like Mercy; when I'm there, I can move freely on my own. That's why I stayed so long. It was only when Marta, the keeper ofThe Gospodar, died that things started to get a bit hairy. I thought if I could abandon the book in one of the Old World countries like England, I could be free of it and then make my way back toMercy.I kind of think of it as my home now."

"I'm sure Olivia will be thrilled to hear that," I murmur.

"Anyway, I hitched a lift with you and that Dusty person, thinking you'd take me someplace else, but instead you brought me right back to the bookshop, where Blackbeard managed to get his hands back on me."

"What a mess." I blow out a breath. "What can we do?"

"Do?' Puck scoffs. "You can't do anything. Now that Blackbeard is out of the book and in the real world, there's no stopping him. He'll have you fed to the sharks before the clocks chime midnight."

"Hate to break it to you, Puck, but we're in the middle of Whitechapel. There aren't exactly a lot of sharks around here."

"He's a magical creature. You think that's going to stop him? Believe me, he can get very creative."

"Great," I say sourly.

"I'm sorry, human, but you're screwed," Puck laments. "I do feel a little bad about that."

"Yeah, well," Aidan pipes up. "Don't be so sure we're screwed. He may be a fairy-tale villain or whatever, but we have a Grim."

"What's a Grim?" Puck asks curiously, his little pointed ears perking up.

Feeling a shiver run down my spine, I look up into the night sky and watch as the tiny pinpricks of starlight momentarily disappear behind a large, dark shadow.

"Oh." My mouth curves slowly. "I think you're going to find out very soon."

"Holy shit, they were actually serious?"

Aidan's voice shakes from behind me.

I can't see him as we are currently standing back to back at the end of a rather sturdy-looking plank hanging over the side of the huge pirate galleon. We both still have our hands and feet bound in ropes of the finest Persian weave.

"Oh, would you look at that?" I murmur, looking down. "Sharks."

Thirty-something feet below us circle three ominous fins. There's no water; instead, the grey concrete ripples and churns as if it were liquid. At this point, I'm not sure what's worse, plunging to our deaths and hitting solid concrete or finding the concrete is not solid and being eaten by whatever is attached to those fins.

"Tristan Frankie Everett Hayes, you have been sentenced to death for the crime of using The Gospodar to trap and imprison fairy-tale persons. How do you plead?"

"Fuck off," I call out.

"Tristan," Aidan hisses.

"What? There's not really any point in arguing with October's cover model for Big Boys in Boots over there, or his peppy little holiday rep sidekick," I reply.

"You're starting to sound like Chan."

"It comes from hanging out with him and Dusty for too long. I think I've lost my filter, plus my world perspective is somewhat skewed now."

"I don't want to die," Aidan says in a quiet voice.

"Oh, sweetheart, no. I wish I could hug you, but I swear to you, nothing bad will happen to you. Granted, circumstances are not exactly optimal right now?—"

"Not exactly optimal?" Aidan blurts incredulously. "Tristan, we're tied up and being forced to walk the plank like the end sceneof The Goonies ."

"That's what it reminds me of!" I let out a laugh. "It's been bugging me."

"Oh, I'm so glad I could put your mind at rest," he says sarcastically.

"I don't think I'm the only one starting to sound like Chan," I point out.

"HEY, YOU GUYS!" a loud voice rings out.

"Wow, Aidan, that sounded just like Sloth. Very impressive," I mutter.

"That wasn't me."

I lookup into the rigging to see two figures grasping ropes and about to swing from the cross section of themain mast.

"Is that"—my eyes narrow as I try to focus—"Thor and… Shirley Temple?"

Clutching their ropes, the newcomers leap off the mast, and as they swing closer, I see one is actually my husband, which sets my heart pounding, and a wide smile spreads across my face.

"Danny!" I exclaim.

"I bet Chan chose his outfit," Aidan replies.

As they reach us,Thor grabs Aidan and Danny grabs me.Their momentum lifts us off the perilous plank and swings us over the deck. They drop us onto the comfy sofa, and we land with agrunt. The boys swing out over the edge of the ship and then back in, where they both body roll onto the deck and jump up ready to fight.

"And what time do you call this?" I call out to Danny, who is grappling with a pirate. "You were supposed to finish work hours ago."

"Sorry, love," Danny pants as he knees the pirate in the balls. "I got held up." As the pirate doubles over, Danny grabs a small wine casket and cracks him over the head, dropping him to the deck.

"DCI Butler?" I ask as he twists around to plant his fist in another guy's face.

"Three bears, actually." He wrestles another into a headlock.

Thor, it turns out, is actually our nephew, Nick. While Aidan is staring at him with stars in his eyes, Nick leans down andgrabs Aidan's bound hands, hauling him up off the sofa and throwing him over his shoulder.

Bless him, he must have been watching The Princess Bride again.

Nick has a cutlass in one hand and, with the other firmly holding one of Aidan's thighs to keep him in place, Nick proceeds to fight off two pirates.

"Holy shit." Aidan lifts his head and peers over his shoulder. "Nick, where'd you learn to do that?"

"After-school fencing club while Mum was working. It was that or crocheting, but my fingers kept getting knotted up in the yarn."

I'm beginning to thinkthe Hayes men just have this air of sexy competence about them, but then again, I've met Danny's older brother, Derek, and he's a complete dick, so clearly not all Hayes men are created equal.

A shrill whistle pierces the air, and when I look over, Chan has just climbed over the rigging.

And boy, does he mean business.

His long skintight black gown has been ripped so it now only reaches mid-thigh to allow for more movement. There are tiny rips and tears in his fishnet tights, and on his feet are a pair of neon pink Converse. But most noticeable is the shiny metal baseball bat he's holding in one hand and tapping menacingly against his other palm.

Three of the pirates still, like animals sensing danger. One of them has a small bald patch over his right ear and a long scratch mark down his face, and I'm pretty sure he was one of the ones Chan went for earlier.

"So you thought it was a good idea to make my kid walk the plank, huh?" He raises one brow dangerously.

The three of them look at each other and then turn and run. I can't help the chuckle that escapes me as I watch Chan leap gracefully over the bodies piling up on deck and chase after them.

"Get those bitches, Chan! You show them who's boss."

Glancing up, I see Dusty standing on top of a barrel with one arm wrapped around the main mast,hanging half off it with a bull horn in one hand as she shouts encouragement.

She's still wearing the corset, skintight pants, and thigh-high boots, but she's switched the cat ears for a bandana and gold hoop earrings that are so big, they look as if they could be used for the obstacle course at Crufts.

I haul myself off the sofa and onto the wooden planking as another pirate is thrown in my direction.I duckout of the way just in time, and he tumbles over the back and hits the floor with a loud cry of pain.

Icrawl across the floor commando-style, thankful that those idiots had tied my hands in front of my body, and head towards the body of an unconscious pirate. Grabbing the small knife tucked into his waistband, I set about sawing through my restraints with the half-blunt blade.

"Tristan!" I hear Harrison call out to me, and even though I keep frantically sawing away at the finest Persian-weave ropes, I look up. Sam has a long piece of pipe he's obviously appropriated from somewhere and is in front of Harrison to clear a path for him to get to me.

Harrison is clinging onto the book that I accidentally opened earlier.

"The Gospodar!" Puck shouts excitedly, standing up and rattling the bars of his cage. "Remember what I said, human? Only the one who opened it has the power to force them back inside."

"Tristan, catch!" Harrison goes to launch the book at me, but at the last moment, he trips over a prone body and loses his grip.

The book arcs slowly through the air, straight for me.

Oh no , I have time to think before it cracks me straight in the forehead and I see stars.

"Are you really the best the humans of the Old World have to offer?" Puck says in disappointment.

"Fuck off," I mumble. "At least I don't look like a buffalo's ball sack." Wincing, I lift my still bound hands to my forehead and feel a welt in the shape of The Gospodar's lock.

"NO!" Blackbeard bellows, his dark eyes wide when he sees the book lying next to me. He starts to stomptowards me, literally treading on his own fallen men, the intent in his eyes unmistakable. I set the rope back on the blade and begin to saw frantically at the remaining threads.

Suddenly, Death appears directly in Blackbeard's murderous path. "Excuse me," Death says politely. "Are you the one who cursed my beloved into an enchanted sleep?"

"Who are you?" Blackbeard growls.

"I'm Death," he says simply. The tone of his voice literally chills my blood as he nods in Chan's direction. "I'mhis boyfriend."

Death's hand shoots out and grabs Blackbeard's throat, then squeezes. The pirate captain's mouth falls open as he tries to gasp in a breath. Black veins appear at the edges of his throat, and his hands scramble uselessly against Death's grip.

Blackbeard's eyes fill with fear as he watches Death explode into a huge, black, smoky mass undulating and crackling with microbursts of power. The black veins keep spreading across the pirate's face, and his fingers tear at what is now a roiling black rope of smoke tight around his throat. The sky boils and churns above us, the wind ripping at the sails and pushing everyone off their feet.

And amidst the chaos is a man calmly sipping a goblet of wine and looking like he could be Death's twin, not a hair so much as flickedout of place by the wind. He glances up into the violent maelstrom swirling above the ship, then back down at Blackbeard, who lets out one last screech of thwarted rage and explodes in a cloud of black glitter.

Death's twin sets his goblet down and applauds in delight. "Oh, yes! It's all in the showmanship," he says to Olivia, who stands beside him and is gripping the foremast to stop herself from being blown off the deck by the turbulent wind. "No one takes pride in their craft any more. It's so exquisite to see one of the masters at work. Truly inspiring."

"Tristan!" Harrison yells above the howl and shriek of the storm. "The book!"

I yank my wrists apart, the last of the ropes giving way, and grab The Gospodar. Kneeling up, my ankles still bound behind me, I open the book and lift it up.

"EVERYONE IN THE BOOK! NOW!" I yell.

Suddenly, the bodies strewn around the deck lift up, tumbling around as they head towards the book and dive into the pages. Fairies, toadstools, wolves, bears, whip through the air, shrinking as they approach the book and are sucked into its pages.

My fingers cramp from holding on so tight as I watch pumpkin carriages, ticking clocks, a huge golden tree with pink leaves, a beanstalk, and a gingerbread cottage all sail towards me.

"Ahhhhh!" I close my eyes,yelling loudlyas I fight to hold up the book, which grows heavier and heavier. Then suddenly the book slams shut, and I'm surrounded by silence. I'm sitting in the middle of the empty road, my ankles no longer bound, breathing heavily and clutching the locked book. Next to me, still in his cage, is Puck, looking grudgingly impressed.

The ship is nowhere in sight. Aidan stands next to Nick, his arms wrapped around Nick's waist, and Nick's rest on his shoulders.

Sam helps Harrison to his feet and Danny steps up beside me and gently sweeps my hair out of my eyes, wincing at the egg-sized lump I can feel growing on my forehead.

Death has now reverted to his human form and holds Chan in his arms, who's smiling smugly, his baseball bat propped on one shoulder and his arm slung around Death's neck. Dusty stands next to them looking amused.

"Nice job." Olivia rises and dusts off her jeans. "This is Hades, by the way."

I stare at the God of the Underworld for several long seconds. "Why does he look like Death?"

Chan snorts loudly, and Death looks slightly bashful.

"If you don't mind, Tristan?" Olivia holds out her hands for the book, and I hand it over with relief.

"Oi, witch." Puck rattles his cage. "Aren't you going to let me out of here?"

"No," she says irritably and picks up his cage. "You and I are taking a little detour to the fairy realms, and you're going to explain to Oberon how Blackbeard nearly escaped."

"Argh. Do I have to?" Puck whines. "He gets so shrill when he's angry."

"'Fraid so, little man." Olivia looks at each of us in turn. "Nice to see you all again, despite the circumstances." Then she looks directly at Harrison. "And don't think I've forgotten that we need to have a conversation," she says, her expression serious. "There's something going on in that bookshop of yours, something that wasn't there last time I was here."

"What?" Harrison frowns. "What's there?"

"I'm not sure yet," she murmurs.

"You should listen to her," Hades says. "She's right. There's something very dark and very powerfulin that place."

"You can't just drop that bombshell on me and leave," Harrison snaps waspishly. "What am I supposed to do?"

Olivia stares at him. "I'm going to send someone to help set you on the right path. He has a real soft spot for London. After all, he met his wife here." A small, enigmatic smile plays across her lips. "You coming, Hades?"

"I suppose so," he says in a bored tone. "I do find the fae rather tedious though." His gaze sweeps over to Death and Chan. "Don't forget, supper next Sunday. I can have Charon bring you down the River Styx. There's nothing like a romantic boat ride down the river of souls."

"What?" Chan's eyes widen. "Charon? The actual Ferryman?"

"Oh, you'll like him," Olivia says. "Charon's a sweetheart. He was in love with my great-great-aunt Charlotte. My husband, Theo, and I rescued him one time when he'd been kidnapped."

With that parting statement, the pair of them disappear.

"Okaaay," I drawl as Danny's arms wrap around me and pull my back into his chest.

"Some night," Danny says tiredly as he rests his chin on my shoulder. "Are you okay, Harrison?"

I look back to our friend to find him chewing his lip.

"Am I okay?" Harrison replies. "Am I okay when the God of the Underworld and the Guardian of all the hell dimensionstell me there's something dark and powerful in my shop, the place where I now happen to also live?"

"Yeah, sorry. That was a bit of a stupid question." Danny sighs.

"What do you think is there?" Harrison says quietly, and there's a hint of vulnerability in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Prickles, you won't be alone," Sam says and takes his hand, and it's a testament to how unsettled Harrison must be that he doesn't let go.

Instead, his knuckles whiten as he grips tighter.

COMING SOON

20th December 2024

Pre-order available from Amazon