6. Raven

Raven

I took the lead toward the lighthouse, much as I wanted to shove Maverick out front like the cannon fodder he was, the last thing I needed was him tripping some booby trap and getting us all caught.

I’d seen more than the two I’d pointed out to Diana. There had been strands of webbing above our heads, some attached to what looked like chunks of metal.

Fucking dinner bells by what I could see.

This place was giving me the serious heebie jeebies. Because as we’d walked, I’d remembered stories my old master in Seattle had told me. While I was hoping I was wrong, it was feeling more and more like this was it—this was Ludumin Island. Stories of Ludumin were that it was caught between the human realms and the Alpha Territories. A place that some fools thought to prove themselves when it was first discovered because of the terrors that lived here.

Very quickly, they’d stopped going on purpose and the island had fallen into myth and legends, as if it truly were its own realm, caught outside all others.

We walked toward the lighthouse and I slowed my steps so I fell in beside Diana. She wasn’t going to like what I was about to suggest, but I had to try.

“I think I know of this place.”

“What?” She grabbed my arm stopping me. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t put it together until we were in the jungle, and then I wanted to stay quiet. But there’s an island that is known to be somewhere off the coast of the Alpha Territories, closest to the demons. Ludumin Island.” I stared at her. “‘Game Over’ in Latin.”

Her frosty blue eyes were wide. “And? What else do you know about it?”

“There isn’t much outside the name. People don’t come back from here, Frostbite. It’s why it’s a legend and not written up in some book with maps and directions.” I looked over my shoulder to the jungle. Somewhere in there were our friends. And as much as I didn’t have many, I counted Nicholas and that cantankerous old oracle Myrr as two of them. And that goofy hell-hound had started to grow on me.

More than that, though, was the fear that Diana would be hurt if we stayed. Taken by that fucking spider thing. Or something else. Something worse…I knew her well enough to know that she would stay and fight to the bitter end. “I think maybe you should go. Take the chickenshit and start the search for Jade. I’ll stay behind and get Nicholas, Myrr, and Kevin, then we’ll catch up.”

Her eyes never left mine as she let out a snort. “You aren’t serious.”

Much as I hated to send her away, especially with Maverick, it was more important that she stay safe. Alive. No matter the cost. “I am.”

“He’s right,” Maverick interjected and it took all I had in me to not smash his face in. “You are the one we need to keep alive, Diana. I hate to agree with him, but we should go.”

Her face hardened, frosted blue eyes flashing. “I am not leaving my friends in danger. And that includes the two of you…for now. But you’re going to want to stop treating me like I’m a dainty fucking princess. I’m a queen, boys, a warrior queen. Try to remember that before you suggest something that stupid again.”

She shoved past me, anger radiating off her as surely as if she’d swallowed a piece of the setting sun.

“Good job,” Maverick muttered as he passed me. I snapped a fist out and nailed him in the shoulder, sending him reeling across the sand a good ten feet. Not hard enough to break anything, just hard enough to make the point that I didn’t appreciate him speaking.

Or breathing.

Or existing.

Diana made it to the base of the lighthouse ahead of me and she ran her hands over the exterior. “It’s made of smooth marble and I don’t see any doorways or even any cracks to suggest a secret entrance anywhere.”

I put my hands on the stone and helped her search. “How would they get up and down?”

She shook her head and kept looking. “I don’t know. Rapunzel style with a rope maybe? One they could pull back up so the creatures of the island couldn’t reach them?”

The sun disappeared and the soft blue of the early night fell. I’ll admit, it eased something in me. Staying out in the sun, even with the dagger at my side, felt…vulnerable in a way I didn’t like.

We made our way around the base of the lighthouse at least ten times before we stopped.

Maverick stood with his hands on his hips. He huffed a laugh and put one hand to the base.

“Maybe it’s a magic doorway. You know, open sesame?” A groan of stone on stone made him jump back. “Holy shit, it worked!”

Indeed, the lucky little chickenshit had figured it out.

“Good job, Mav.” Diana smiled, patting him on the shoulder. He took the opportunity to grab her hand and give it a squeeze.

I struggled to breathe normally, to not launch myself at the two of them and tear him limb from limb for touching what was mine.

What I did do was push between them, so I went through the doorway first. “Night vision eyes in the lead,” I said.

Then I reached back and took Diana’s hand before she could protest and dragged her along with me. Maverick muttered something that sounded like ‘dick’ under his breath and then he followed us in.

The doorway behind us slid closed, but by the light of the stars filtering in for that brief moment, I’d gotten a layout of the room. Circular, there were stairs on the far side that curled up and toward the top of the lighthouse. Lacing my fingers with Diana’s I held tight to her as I stepped slowly across the room, all my senses on high alert.

The scent of a human caught me off guard. I’d fully expected our lighthouse keeper to be something else. Fae. Demon. Shifter. Not human.

The first few steps were taken in utter darkness. But by the time we were halfway to the top, there was a light filtering down from above.

Diana’s hold on me tightened and I tucked her close to my back, relishing in the closeness of my mate. She might not ever accept me as such, but I would take whatever moments I could get of her touch.

As we neared the top the sounds of movement filtered down along with the light.

A man was humming a soft tune, words caught here and there. The sound of footsteps, a limp, a heavy sigh. The creak of wood and the clink of utensils against a plate.

“Gods be praised, I suppose,” he grumbled, “I’m still alive. Despite all the efforts made to the contrary.”

I lifted my eyebrows and glanced over my shoulder at Diana. I mouthed human . She nodded and I reluctantly let go of her hand, untangling my fingers from hers.

Creeping up the last of the stairs, I kept my head down so I was out of sight but could take in a bit of the upper room. It was half the circumference of the rest of the lighthouse. To the left was a bed.

“I know that someone is here,” the man said. “I have no weapons, and I’m old as I want to be. Likely will die soon anyway so…come on up.”

He could have a weapon pointed at where my head was, and even I couldn’t replace a head blow apart by a high-powered boom.

It left me with one option. I turned on the speed and was through the opening and standing in front of the man between one blink and the next.

He was probably in his late seventies, with a swath of thick, silver hair. He was tall, and slim, and his clothes had been patched a great deal. His shorts had obviously been pants at one point the ragged, uneven edges clear even under the table. His shirt was threadbare and stained, one sleeve missing totally.

He sat at a small wooden table, unflinching despite my sudden appearance. A plate covered in a variety of fruits and nuts, a glass of chilled wine by the smell of it. He motioned at the chair across from him.

“Have a seat. Did Akmon send you to replace me?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Ah. Well, I guess not then.” He speared a few chunks of fruit and stuffed them into his mouth. “Do you know what I’d give for a loaf of bread? You’d think I’d not miss it after all these years, but I still crave it.”

I didn’t sit down. I didn’t call Diana up. I wasn’t sure what this man was about. “Who are you?”

“Ah, right, very rude of me. I don’t talk to anyone but myself, so it’s not often I have to reintroduce me to me.” He sat back and took me in. “Name is Theodore. But call me Theo.”

“Hello, Theo.” I nodded. “And who is Akmon?”

He leaned forward. “It’s been a spell, but shouldn’t you give me your name before asking more questions? I could be wrong, like I said it’s been a long while since I spoke to anyone but myself.”

Diana shuffled as if she’d come up the stairs and I motioned for her to wait. I wasn’t sure just what this fellow was playing at. Truly out of his mind, or just trying to fool me? I wasn’t sure which.

“Raven. That’s my name. Now tell me who is this Akmon?”

“You probably saw him out there. Giant big spider? Huge human body attached to the top, like Andre the Giant? I loved that wrestler. He was great. Do you think he’s still alive now?” Theo leaned forward, excitement lighting his features. “I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve had the guava wine go bad on me, this is a really good hallucination.”

Shit.

Well, if that was the case. I grabbed the second chair and sat down. “Tell me about Akmon.”

Theo leaned back with a sigh and took another swig of his guava wine. He never offered any to me, but why would you offer wine to a hallucination? And I wasn’t about to dissuade him from that notion. “Well, what is there to tell? He likes to chase his prey, really loves to hunt and he loves to keep them alive as long as he can. I mean, it makes sense if you think about it.”

“Does it?” I raised my eyebrows. The more I could get out of this guy, the better. “Why does it make sense?”

“Because we don’t get a lot of shipwrecks anymore. So he—Akmon that is—has to keep his food prisoners alive for longer. That’s why he made sure to plant more and more fruit trees.” He waved his hands, his movements slow like he was moving underwater. “You know, he said he likes the taste of them better once they’ve been eating nothing but fruit for a few weeks.”

I played along. “Right, well that makes sense I suppose. I have a preference for certain food types too.”

“You like bread?”

“I like my food…frosty.” I smiled as Diana huffed from the stairs.

“You won’t get that here,” Theo said. “Too hot.”

“Fair enough. This Akmon here, you talk to him? Any tricks to staying alive out there? Better yet, where does he keep his prey, so I can avoid that?”

Theo frowned and looked into his cup. “You know, my hallucinations don’t usually ask me so many questions.”

I shrugged. “I’m special. The guava wine is really off this time. Bat shit fell into it.”

Diana hissed and I wasn’t sure if she was trying not to laugh, or she was trying to get me to shut up. Either way, it made me smile.

She made me smile.

“Ah, frick, that makes sense.” Theo sighed. “Yeah, well, his pit is on the east side of the island. Not far from the big waterfalls. And as for surviving…most people don’t. I can’t help you there.”

Apparently, I wasn’t moving fast enough with my questions.

Diana stepped up into the room. “We need your help. Anything you can tell us about Akmon. Anything at all.”

Theo’s eyes went to her, blurry and unfocused. I opened my mouth to tell her to get back down in the stairwell, when a splat on the window turned my head.

“Damn,” Theo whispered. “I really don’t like it when Akmon visits.”

The entire window was covered in web.