Read Wicked Path (The Daath Chronicles Book 2) for Free Online Page B

cheek. “I thought you wouldn’t be back for a few days?”
    “I was on my way to the ship when Beckett brought me this.”
    He handed me a rolled parchment.
    “What is it?” I yawned. After a long day working the shop by myself, I was tired, but this must be important if Grandfather couldn’t wait until morning.
    “Open it.” He rubbed his hands in front of him eagerly, resembling a young boy.
    I untied the red string and uncurled the document. “It’s a map.” I trailed my finger across the ink.
    A map of the western shores. Dots and script scrolled along the right side and toward the desert near the crystal caverns. Grandfather did a lot of business with Jehoia, the tenth land, which was also the closest to the desert. Sparkling jewels of every color of the rainbow littered those caverns. A wonder I hoped I could see one day.
    “Where does this lead?” Dotted lines sprawled across the lands but in no certain direction.
    “To the blue eye,” he said in a hushed voice.
    The blue eye: a sparkling, clear gem the size of a small melon. Legend said it had the power of the sea inside, and anyone who had the gem controlled the waters. Grandfather had searched for the gem since his father told him of its existence.
    After Daath, I believed in the unbelievable, and nothing seemed impossible any longer.
    Grandfather moved beside me, putting a hand on my back. “It will be the greatest discovery of our time.”
    “If it’s in the crystal caverns, why has no one found it?”
    “Because that’s not where it is.” He pointed to a section on the far left of the map with script writing and an eight-pointed star surrounded by two circles—the exact same symbol on the relic he wore.
    “That’s the sea,” I said. “There’s nothing there.”
    “It must be in the sea, but with this map, we’ll be able to find the exact coordinates.”
    “How do you know?”
    Grandfather smiled. “I didn’t. Then I remembered the first piece of jewelry my father gave me.” He lifted the chain around his neck holding the medallion. “He told me this would be the key to the map, if I ever found it, and now we have it.”
    “How will you find the gem if it’s buried at sea?”
    “A diver.”
    “Grandfather, no.” The flame on my bedside candle flickered with the wind. “It’s too dangerous,” I said in a low voice, suddenly afraid someone might hear us.
    He took the scroll, rolled it back up, and slid it into his interior jacket pocket. “It’ll be all right. Don’t worry. Beckett found someone we can trust. Mrs. Gen brought over some roasted potatoes and trout. Let’s eat.”
    He kissed me on the forehead and walked out of the room.
    Since I had arrived in Luna Harbor, I’d learned much about Tarrtainya. Grandfather spent many nights telling me stories of The Order and the people who hid from them, and families torn apart by magic. One tale spoke of a young boy ripped out of his mother’s arms because he had the strange ability to fly. The Order had killed the father for trying to hide his son, and the boy was never seen again.
    Divers were rare. A diver could swim deeper than any man could. Magic enabled them to dive great depths without the need to come up for air. Grandfather thought their magic gave them gills like a fish, enabling them to breathe under water. Sailors protected the existence of divers by keeping their identities secret. Only the high captains knew who they were. I wondered what Grandfather had promised or exchanged to gain access to that knowledge.
    Grandfather’s eyes sparked with life. How could I convince him this was too dangerous when it had been a childhood dream of his and his father’s? If Mother was here, she could talk some sense into him.
    I took a comb and brushed out my hair, looking at the clear sky. Nighttime at the harbor was my favorite time of day. The waves played along with the crickets’ song, creating the most beautiful chorus. There was a sense of order here. After