The shutters clattered in the wind.
Rain traced rivulets down the bungalow's wood-paneled walls as Alejandro and Aurora moved in practiced silence. Vera, quiet and diligent, tied bundles of dried herbs into long strips of cloth, her fingers nimble as she'd been taught. Her golden hair had been braided tightly, tucked beneath her hood.
The entire home had been packed with stunning efficiency. Windows were boarded. Loose charms and ancestor relics carefully wrapped. They didn't even glance up when the door opened.
When Elena, Niegal, and Phineus stepped inside, they froze at the sight.
"You were ready?" Elena asked softly, disbelief and sorrow bleeding together in her voice.
Aurora turned and opened her arms.
"We leave together," she whispered. "Or not at all."
Elena collapsed into her sister's embrace. The storm that followed her fell apart with her. She wept into Aurora's shoulder, chest heaving, the sound raw and human in a way few had ever heard from the Serpent's Vessel.
Niegal's hand tightened around Phineus's shoulder, but the boy was already running.
"Tío," he gasped.
Alejandro knelt just in time to catch his nephew, who trembled in his arms despite the practiced warrior's mask he wore.
"I should've stopped her," Phineus whispered.
Alejandro held the boy's head against his shoulder.
"No. You followed her because you love her. That's what matters. We will find her. You hear me?"
Niegal watched them silently, a flicker of pride and pain glinting behind his eyes.
"We leave at first light," he said.
Elsewhere, far from home…
The ceiling above Esperanza was unfamiliar.
She blinked slowly, wooden planks swimming into view. There was a soft creak of movement. Rocking. The sharp tang of brine in the air. The smell of burning incense, thick and sweet, hung like a fog.
She sat up too fast and swayed, grabbing for something, anything- and felt a hand.
"Good morning, mi Reina," came a velvet voice. "Sleep well?"
Juan.
She yanked her hand away as if burned.
Memory crashed into her like a wave- the ship, the strange scent, her knees buckling. She had barely crossed the threshold of the captain's cabin before her magic began slipping away from her fingertips. She remembered sinking… and now waking here, like some passenger unaware of the cost of her own ticket.
She staggered to her feet, fury blooming in her chest.
"You drugged me!"
Her mana snapped to life, green and violet lightning dancing across her fingertips-
Then it collapsed.
A sickening pulse echoed in her gut and her knees hit the floor.
"What did you do to me?!"
Juan calmly leaned forward, brushing invisible lint from his sleeve.
"It's just a spell, woven into the incense. You're still powerful, just… restrained. For now. I did promise to explain, didn't I?"
He knelt beside her, guiding her back toward the bench with infuriating gentleness.
"You chose this, Esperanza. You followed me. You wanted answers."
She shook her head. "Not like this."
Her magic sparked again, but only flickered. Her breathing slowed. Her limbs grew heavier.
Juan tucked the blanket over her shoulders.
"You'll understand soon," he said with a sigh, almost sadly. "I hate how messy this had to be, I really do. But secrecy is sacred. If your parents knew…"
His voice trailed off as her head dropped against his arm, slack and still.
Juan stared at her for a long moment. He brushed a strand of damp hair away from her face. For the first time since they met, his expression was not smug, but uncertain.
"Madre was right," he muttered. "Too easy."
The cabin creaked around them as the black-sailed schooner sliced through the bay under cover of cloud and sea mist.
Ahead, invisible but drawing closer, Isla Serpiente loomed- an island said to be swallowed by storms and reborn again and again. The cradle of Guabancex's worship, hidden in myth, whispered about in forbidden scriptures.
And now, with the daughter of the storm goddess herself aboard…
Their Queen was coming home.