Also by Alex Aster
The Emblem Island series
Curse of the Night Witch
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Books. Change. Lives.
Copyright © 2021 by Alex Aster
Cover and internal design © 2021 by Sourcebooks
Cover art © Fiona Hsieh/Shannon Associates
Internal design by Danielle McNaughton/Sourcebooks
Internal images © Shutterstock
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Published by Sourcebooks Young Readers, an imprint of Sourcebooks Kids
P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410
(630) 961-3900
sourcebookskids.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the publisher.
Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Back Cover
For my twin sister, Daniella, my first reader and forever friend.
1
The Waterbreather
Tor Luna looked down at the girl in the sand and wondered if she was dead. Just moments before, she had washed ashore, like the torn plank of a shipwreck. Her peculiarly pale skin matched her silver hair, and neither was as strange as the marking on her wrist. A rare symbol that matched Tor’s.
A fish.
It was the emblem he had spent almost his entire life wishing for. The one he had finally gotten, under the worst of circumstances. The power to breathe underwater.
Tor stumbled to the side as his friend Melda pushed past him to get to the girl, who had surprised them all moments earlier with a warning: “They’re coming.”
Melda flipped the girl onto her side, revealing a deep gash along her rib cage. Blood stained the pearls stitched onto the girl’s dress. Melda looked over her shoulder, eyes wide. “Engle, get help!”
Engle took off, following her orders without hesitation. Whether he moved with such speed because he had a new respect for Melda after their deadly journey together, or because of the power of her leadership emblem, Tor wasn’t sure.
“Tor, do something!” Melda said as she firmly pressed the wound. The girl still wasn’t moving.
If anyone could save her, it was Tor. A month ago he became the most powerful being on Emblem Island after inheriting all of the Night Witch’s abilities. His first new emblem had already sprouted.
And, if the Night Witch’s dying words were to be believed, more would follow.
Tor knelt next to Melda on the sand. He placed a shaking hand on the girl’s shoulder. It was ice cold. “I—I don’t know how.”
Melda ripped the hem of her long skirt off and wrapped it around the girl’s torso, tying it tight. It didn’t take long for the light blue fabric to stain red.
“Wake up!” Melda cried, and her voice made Tor flinch. Those with leadership emblems had especially loud voices. He would know. Before he had made a wish that had gotten him cursed, he had worn the same purple bands around his wrist, marking him as a future leader.
Without warning, Melda took off running toward the water. Tor watched, blood pooling beneath his hands, as she grabbed something buried halfway into the sand.
She was back in an instant and before Tor could cover his ears, Melda put the conch to her lips and blew.
A sound like a siren pierced the salty air, and the girl’s eyes flew open.
Behind them, faraway shouts sounded. Tor recognized the three voices. They belonged to Engle, Mrs. Herida, who was the only healer in their village, and Tor’s mother—Chieftess of Estrelle.
“You’re going to live,” Melda said steadily to the girl. “Now who did this to you? Who is coming?”
The girl’s green eyes suddenly narrowed. One hand found her wound. She sat up, wincing, her long silvery hair caked in sand and blood.
Though her fingers shook, her voice was steady.
“Pirates.”
The Vicious Sea
Wherever there is treasure, there are pirates. And wherever there are pirates, there are mermaids.
And wherever there are mermaids, there is hunger.
The sea is an endless cauldron, and pirates sit within it, simmering, accepting both the biting salt and starry beauty.
For any gift the sea gives, it takes back twofold.
Beware of songs sweet as honey that ring through the darkness.
Never make a bargain with a pirate that isn’t inked in blood.
Do not trust cloudless skies, for they are almost certainly followed by a storm.
And above all, do not stare too carefully into the sea—
For the sea will begin to stare back.
2
The Calavera
The healer had stopped the bleeding. Tor tried not to look at his hands, stained red right over the lifeline running through his palm. Instead, he eyed the horizon, half expecting ships to appear at any moment.
“Pirates?” Tor said, turning to watch as Mrs. Herida continued to stitch the wound. Though she had applied some numbing oil from willow bark, the girl bit down on her lip with each poke of the needle.
She nodded, face remarkably pale. “Not just any pirates.” She whispered the next few words the same way Tor used to say Night Witch. “The Calavera.”
Tor’s mother, Chieftess Luna, knelt at her side. “You’re sure?”
She nodded.
“What’s the Calavera?” Engle said, who was also facing the sea. “I don’t see anything.”
Tor felt a bit better. If Engle, with a sightseeing emblem that allowed him to see incredibly far distances, couldn’t spot the pirates, then they were still miles away. He wondered how long it had taken the girl with the waterbreathing marking to reach shore. Where had she come from?
Chieftess Luna shook her head. “They’re a myth. A group of pirates cursed by the Night Witch to sail forever just short of shore, never to make landfall.”
“But now there is no Night
