CHAPTER 38: SALT IN THE AIR

The forest died in gradual inches, as if it had given up trying.

Apollo noticed the change in the soil first, dark loam thinning to pale grit that crunched under his boots. Roots twisted up through the earth like arthritic fingers, exposed and grasping at nothing. The canopy, once a solid ceiling of green, now fractured into puzzle pieces of blue sky.

"Look," Lyra said, pointing upward where three birds wheeled in lazy circles. "First birds I’ve seen in days."

Apollo squinted at them, dark silhouettes against harsh sunlight. After the constant twilight of the deeper woods, the unfiltered rays felt like an accusation. He blinked away the sting, aware of the sweat beading at his temples, the way his shirt clung to his back.

The trail grew rockier as they followed Cale’s lead, winding between stunted trees and patches of scrubland.

Thorin cursed as he stubbed his toe on an outcropping, but the words lacked their usual venom. Even Nik’s complaints had dwindled to occasional sighs. They’d been walking for so long that forward motion had become its own kind of stillness.

Renna stopped suddenly, head tilted back, nostrils flaring. "Salt," she said, the word sharp and certain.

Nik frowned, sniffing the air himself. "Something’s burning, isn’t it?"

"No," Yiv said, turning to point downhill. "It’s the wind. Tastes different."

Apollo breathed deeply, letting the air fill his lungs. There was something there, a tang, a bite, a memory. His pulse quickened, though he couldn’t have said why.

They crested the next ridge in silence, each lost in their own exhaustion. Then the world simply... opened.

The ocean stretched before them, vast and pale under the midday sun, a sheet of hammered silver extending to the horizon.

Apollo had forgotten how much space there could be in the world. After days of trees pressing in from all sides, the sudden emptiness felt like standing on the edge of a precipice.

"Well," Cale said, the word barely audible over the distant roar. "There she is."

For a long moment, no one moved. The waves rolled in with mechanical precision, breaking against the shore in rhythmic violence. The sound filled Apollo’s head, constant, insistent, a bass note that vibrated in his bones.

’I’ve been here before,’

he thought, though he couldn’t remember when or why. The gold in his veins seemed to pulse in response, warming under his skin.

Nik broke the spell, clapping Yiv on the shoulder. "Race you to the bottom," he said, and started down the slope without waiting for an answer.

The path to the shore was treacherous, loose stones that shifted underfoot, patches of sand that gave way without warning. Apollo picked his steps carefully, one hand hovering near his pocket where Torgo’s amber shard lay warm against his thigh.

Each time the ocean disappeared behind an outcropping, he felt a strange mixture of relief and disappointment.

The beach itself was little more than a narrow strip of pebbles and sand, littered with driftwood and half-buried shells bleached white by sun and salt.

Thorin immediately began collecting flat stones, testing their weight in his palm before sending them skipping across the water. Most sank on the first bounce, but he persisted with grim determination.

"Bet you can’t wade in past your knees," Nik said to Renna, eyes bright with challenge.

She stared at him, then at the water. "Not today," she replied, her usual bravado oddly absent.

Lyra wandered along the tideline, eyes scanning the debris. She stooped to pick up something that caught the light, a piece of glass, worn smooth by sand and waves, a deep bottle-green. Without ceremony, she slipped it into her pocket and continued her patrol.

Apollo stood apart from them all, feet planted at the edge where dry sand gave way to wet. The breeze pulled at his hair, carrying the scent of brine and something older, something he couldn’t name. He stared at the horizon, at the place where water met sky in a seam so perfect it might have been drawn with a ruler.

There was a flicker there, a shadow of recognition. This place knew him, even if he didn’t know it. The vastness of the ocean seemed to look back, patient and unmoved, as if it had been waiting for him to return. He felt small, but not in the way that mountains or chasms made a man small. This was different, a smallness that came from inside, from memory.

He didn’t realize how long he’d been standing there until Cale’s voice broke through his thoughts.

"We need to keep moving," Cale called. "Tide’s coming in."

Apollo turned back, surprised to find the others already gathering their things. He hadn’t heard them, hadn’t sensed them moving around him. The gold in his veins had gone cold again, retreating beneath his skin like an animal burrowing for safety.

They left the beach single file, following Cale along a path that hugged the shoreline. A gull appeared from nowhere, white wings slicing through the air as it paced them. It followed for several minutes, an escort or a spy, before suddenly banking away toward the open water, as if something out there had called its name.

Apollo watched it go, feeling a tug in his chest like an invisible thread pulling taut. He resisted the urge to turn back, to stare once more at that perfect horizon. Instead, he fixed his eyes on Lyra’s back, on the steady rhythm of her steps, and forced himself forward.

The sound of the water stayed with them long after the shore was gone.

The dog whimpered and pressed itself against Apollo’s leg, drawing his attention away from the horizon. He scratched behind its ears, feeling the animal’s warmth through his fingertips.

"What’s wrong, boy?" he murmured. "You don’t like the ocean?"

The animal’s only response was to press harder against him, as if trying to push him away from the water’s edge. Apollo understood the sentiment. There was something both alluring and threatening about that vast expanse, like staring into an abyss that stared back.

Cale cleared his throat. "We should make camp before dark. There’s a sheltered spot up ahead."

Apollo nodded, though he couldn’t tear his gaze from the water. The waves continued their relentless assault on the shore, each one erasing the evidence of the last. Something about the rhythm tugged at him, a half-remembered melody played on an instrument he’d forgotten how to name.

’I know this place,’ he thought again. ’But how?’

They followed the shoreline north, the group spreading out as the beach widened. Nik and Yiv walked ahead, heads bent in conversation, gesturing occasionally at the cliffs rising to their right. Thorin trudged along with his typical stoicism, pausing only to collect a particularly interesting stone or shell. Renna kept to herself, her spear balanced across her shoulders, eyes constantly scanning the horizon as if expecting trouble to rise from the depths.

Lyra fell into step beside Apollo. "You’re quiet," she observed, voice pitched just loud enough to carry over the waves.

"Just tired," he lied.

She studied his face, green eyes narrowed slightly. "You’ve been staring at the water like it owes you money."

Apollo shrugged, uncomfortable under her scrutiny. "There’s just... something familiar about it."

"The ocean?" Lyra raised an eyebrow. "It’s the ocean. Big, wet, full of things that want to eat you. What’s to recognize?"

He couldn’t explain the pull he felt, the way the horizon seemed to beckon. Instead, he changed the subject. "How’s your supply of arrows?"

"Low," she admitted. "But I can make more. Plenty of driftwood here."

They walked in silence after that, the conversation exhausted. Apollo was grateful for it. His thoughts felt too jumbled to share, fragments of memory and intuition that refused to coalesce into anything coherent.

By late afternoon, they reached a small cove sheltered by an outcropping of rock. The cliff face curved around it like a protective arm, blocking the worst of the wind. Driftwood had collected in the far corner, bleached and dry, perfect for a fire.

"Here," Cale announced, dropping his pack. "We’ll rest. Might even get a decent night’s sleep for once."

The group dispersed to their tasks with the efficiency of long practice. Thorin and Yiv gathered wood, Nik scouted the perimeter, and Renna set about cleaning her spear, the blade glinting in the late afternoon sun. Lyra disappeared briefly, returning with a handful of small crabs she’d found in the tidepools.

Apollo helped where he could, but his attention kept drifting back to the water. As the sun began its descent, the ocean changed color, from silver to a deep, burning gold that matched the fire now kindling in their camp. The sight made his chest ache with a longing he couldn’t name.

They ate simply: the crabs Lyra had caught, supplemented with the last of their dried provisions. The salt air made everything taste sharper, more immediate. Even Thorin seemed to enjoy the meal, licking his fingers with unusual enthusiasm.

As darkness fell, Apollo found himself sitting apart from the others, back against the cliff wall, watching the stars emerge above the water. Each one blinked into existence with precise certainty, as if following a script written at the beginning of time.

The amber shard in his pocket seemed to grow warmer. He pulled it out, turning it over in his palm. In the firelight, it glowed with an inner life, not just reflecting the flames, but somehow amplifying them, concentrating their essence into something purer.

’What are you?’ he wondered, not for the first time. ’What am I supposed to do with you?’

He remembered Torgo’s face in those final moments, the old magician’s eyes bright with something that might have been madness or clarity or both. "The sea remembers what we forget," Torgo had said, just before pressing the shard into Apollo’s hand. At the time, the words had seemed like the ramblings of a dying man. Now, with the ocean stretching before him, they took on a new weight.

The sound of approaching footsteps pulled him from his reverie. Cale settled beside him, legs stretched out toward the fire.

"Good spot," Apollo said, gesturing at their camp.

Cale nodded. "Used it before. Long time ago." He paused, studying Apollo’s face. "You recognize it too."

It wasn’t a question. Apollo tensed, fingers closing around the shard. "What makes you say that?"

"The way you look at the water." Cale’s voice was matter-of-fact. "Like you’re trying to remember something important."

Apollo said nothing, unsure how much to reveal. Trust was a luxury he couldn’t afford, not with the gold still flowing beneath his skin, not with the bounty on his head.

Cale didn’t press. Instead, he pointed toward the horizon. "There used to be an island out there. Just a speck, really. Visible only at certain times of day, when the light hit it just right."

"What happened to it?"

"Same thing that happens to everything eventually." Cale’s expression remained neutral. "The sea took it back."

They sat in silence for a while, watching the waves. The rhythm seemed to slow as night deepened, the water darkening to match the sky until it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.

"Tomorrow we follow the coast," Cale said finally, rising to his feet. "Should reach the glass fields by midday, if the weather holds."

Apollo nodded, though the mention of their destination brought no comfort. The glass fields. Another place he knew without knowing why.

He remained by the cliff wall long after the others had settled for the night, watching the ocean breathe. In and out, in and out, a pulse as steady as his own heartbeat. The amber shard grew warmer in his hand, until it seemed to match the exact temperature of his blood.

’The sea remembers,’

Apollo closed his eyes, letting the sound of the waves wash over him. For a moment, just a heartbeat, he thought he heard something else beneath the roar: a voice, calling his true name from across an impossible distance.

When he opened his eyes, there was nothing but darkness and the patient, endless sea.