Page 115 of A Yulean Sister’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped

We turned a corner and were down a dark alley I couldn’t even see the back of.

“This is creepy,” I pointed out.

“I told you it’s exclusive,” he said.

I stopped. “I’m going back,” I said, turning on my heel and starting back towards the main road.

Before I could get too far, his hand came around my arm, holding me in place.

“Get off!” I shouted.

His other hand covered my mouth, and I started kicking and screaming. I had to get away from him.

“I didn’t want to make this hard,” he said, though his voice sounded a bit weird. Was it my screaming distorting it? “But you haven’t left me much of a choice.”

I was left to wonder what he meant as the world around me faded to black.

Chapter 40

Adrian

Bramwell and I went back to the cafe and he laid a book out in front of me. “Look at this,” he said, opening to a page and showing me a map.

It wasn’t a real map, it was an illustrated one. Nothing was in the right place, the continent lines were all wrong, islands that existed were missing.

But right in the center was an island labeled “Lestia.”

“This is fictional,” I said with confusion.

“I know,” he said. “But it’s the spot, the one the necklace leads to.”

I stared at it. “So you think… the necklace leads to somewhere that doesn’t exist?”

He huffed. “No I think it leads to somewhere that once existed.”

“Lestia isn’t real.”

“You’re the one who said to follow the fairy tales,” he said.

It was true, but Lestia was a fictional island, its story of vast treasure told to everyone who grew up near a port, giving them hope of a great treasure they could acquire one day.

“I mean for references, not for entire existences.”

“But it tracks,” he continued. “If Lestia was real, it was obvious someone went to great lengths to hide it. Enough that it was turned into a fictional story. But someone was getting too close. Maybe the sirens protect it, since it sunk. I don’t know. What I do know is that this is basically the location, and I can’t think that’s a coincidence.”

“And it would keep it far from the ocean,” I said, finally starting to grasp what he was saying. Could it be true? It sounded so… out there, but all the places together made sense.

“Speaking of which, where is she?”

“At the tavern,” I said. “We had a bit of a… disagreement.”

“You fuck up, Cap?”

I gasped. “Why do you think it was me?”

“It’s always you,” he said.

I sighed. “It was me, you’re right.”