Chapter 28

I'm floatingin a vague echoing space, the power and energy coursing through me in warm honeyed waves, my bones the hollow pipes to contain them. My head is light, as if it might snap off and float away. I discern the contours of the Garden mapped out in a linear grid of glowing lines that swell, contract, and sway.

Amorphous human forms, devoid of features or gender, spool up from the matrix and encircle me, their garbled voices intermingling with the birdsong and the burble of the fountain, until finally, they coalesce into something I can understand.

We've been waiting for you, Rosalie Gatell.

"You're ghosts," I think I say, though no words come from my lips. If I have lips.

Liam and his family are the guardians of a graveyard. Souls are stored here. So many, many souls. No wonder the Garden is such a conductor of power. It's amplified by the spirits of the dead.

Have I joined them?

You brought me home. Shall I call it for you?

Tyler? Is that you? Call what?

Tyler is the name you know me by. Shall I call the healing plant?

Warmth ripples up my arms, Tyler's charm now burning like a hot brand against my chest. The voices rise louder and louder, drowning out all sound.

Yes, I answer. I need it for my friends.

The figures work ribbons of light into intricate knots—the same symbols I've found all over the island. The same ones buried in Doggerland. Inscribed on my palm.

The knots morph into towering salttain stalks that merge with the glowing figures. I search for Tyler among them, but they're indistinguishable from one another. The figures surround us, then bind Evan and Aurora in a mesh of glowing threads.

Joy fizzes through me as I braid my awareness into theirs. As one, we wind through Evan and Aurora's flesh, repairing and replenishing them, infusing them with life.

I am them. They are me.

Euphoria sweeps me away. If I could, I would remain with these Garden spirits forever—with Tyler—a stream of flowing energy and light.

"Rosalie," a voice whispers. "Wake up. You need to see this."

I struggle to see, to hear, to understand what Rosalie is. Sounds rebound and reverberate. Nothing touches me, nothing can steal the pureness of my being. And then in a wrenching agony, torn from Tyler yet again, I land with a hard thud.

There are muffled shouts. Laughter. Voices I can't quite understand. My senses are muted. Dulled. I wonder if I'm the one in the coma—or turned into a tree. I blink my eyes open, relieved to find that my limbs are still flesh and bone, not branches.

The glowing forms drift around me, then fade back into the matrix, which dissolves into twilight threaded with indigo and rose. Tyler's charm rests cool on my chest, catching the light.

"Rosalie?"

It's Liam talking. But the emptiness inside me craves Tyler and the other phantoms. I ache to return to them. To be with them.

"You did it. His breathing is strong."

It's Liam speaking. I did it, he said. I healed Evan?

Liam leans over me, brow creased, gaze haunted. A faint smile breaks out on his face when our eyes meet. "I thought…" he says, "…it looked like we'd…lost you."

My eyes are dry marbles, my lips a parched slit. I'm covered in piles of flower petals and buds, unable to move. "What's all this?" I whisper.

"Vitalia blooms. For strength," Liam says. "You could have residual symptoms for up to an hour, but you should be back to yourself soon."

Color blooms around me as grainy images begin to take shape. Clusters of bushes glistening with gemlike fruits climb the bricks. A creeping vine sprays plumes of silvery petals that float like clouds. The underground river of energy rises through my reawakening body, its sweet warmth pulsing in comforting waves.

I'm in the Garden. And Evan is alive.

"Rosalie," says a higher voice. "Look at us!"

Two figures twirl around me. Evan and Aurora. Dancing.

"Come," she says. "Dance with us."

I squint and wonder if there is enough air in my throat to make words happen. To ask what's going on.

"You healed us. It's impossible, but you did it. You did this!"

"Aurora?" My jaw is a creaking hinge, my words little more than a hoarse croak.

She pulls me to my feet, my legs rubber, my sight fractured into shards of color. Everything is too bright. Too loud.

Then Evan lifts me in a hug, his grip tight. Strong. "Thank you, Rosalie," he says. "Thank you for not giving up."

I let my friends spin me around. Hug me. Hold me. Until my legs buckle, and I drop like falling silk.

I lay back on the grass as Liam, Aurora, and Evan whoop and chase each other around the fountain. Evan is rail-thin, legs and arms like sticks. But his skin is clear of lesions, and he's moving freely, flushed and radiant. Aurora is graceful, beautiful. It warms me to see Liam, for once, lost in the moment.

"You should rest," Liam says at last, settling beside me in the grass. "Miracles are exhausting."

"Yes," I say. Or I think I say. It's hard to know. "Rest."

He covers me with flowers and branches, then returns to be with Evan. I smile. The glowing figures shimmer into view, pulsing and throbbing. Waiting for something. This is where Tyler lives now, I realize. He's found his way home, after all.

Liam is the guardian of a graveyard where he will never rest—because his soul can never rest. The cruelty of the curse has so many layers. I've healed Evan and Aurora. Now I have to find a way to uncurse Liam.

Laughing, Evan drags his arm across the fountain's surface, dredging up a massive spray that drenches his brother. It's a joyous thing to watch and I'd love nothing more than to join them. Celebrate with them. But my body is weighted with lead.

"Your muscles are still weak," Liam scolds Evan. "You're going to wear yourself out." Though his voice is stern, the gleam in his eyes is unmistakable. "We have a long trip home and I'll be damned if I'm going to carry you out of here."

Exhausted, Evan and Aurora eventually fall into a happy, sleepy tangle of arms and legs.

Liam lies down beside me again and stares up at the night sky, an arc of glittering stars. "Once these two are home, word is going to spread about you. The Council is due to visit for their triannual inspection. They'll be asked to make a Determination," he says, "to decide if you are one of the People."

"What are you talking about?" I sputter. "What is it with this Council and its ridiculous rules?"

"The rules are to keep us safe. Hidden. Because of our past persecution, we're forbidden to use proprietary magic to assist an Outsider," Liam says. "Though my father was a great ally to the People, neither he nor Evan are one of us. The Council will most likely forgive you because even though she is cursed, Aurora is of the Hand, but they'll throw the book at me—because I helped you."

I prop myself up on my elbows. "You knew this all along?"

He shrugs. "Evan is my brother. I had to help him."

"We saved a dying boy who you've been helping one way or another your whole life. Why would they heap more punishment on you? Haven't you been through enough? It doesn't make sense."

"Little things, like creating plants that glow for an Outsider boy, they overlook, considering I've spent most of my life under a curse. But this…"

"What will they do to you?"

He shifts position to look down at me, eyes piercing in the dim light. "Other than banish me from land forever? Not much. I suppose this is Randy's endgame. Easier to get me banned by the Council than do me in himself."

He turns away and I look over at him, his profile dark against the star-dusted sky. "Why was Randy able to convince the Council to curse your family in the first place? Didn't they already know you were an Outsider's son?"

He nods. "Of course, the Council knew about Lila and Charles. But because our family's so old, they put her on probation, forbidding her to see Charles. Even though Aurora and I are half-born, the Council determined our powers weren't diluted by Outsider blood. They accepted us into The Hand. Which also enabled them to have full control over us."

I let out a shaky breath, my limbs twitching as my strength returns. "But you were just a child. What could you have possibly done to deserve such a heartless punishment?"

Liam shakes his head and laughs bitterly. "Just existing as the byproducts of a love Randy could never have? He bided his time, waiting. Watching. He knew that Lila and Charles wouldn't remain apart—couldn't. He laid the trap, and they were caught together in the Garden, where my mother thought they were safe. Lila was tried and cursed. We were thrown into the bargain. Thus, you have the O'Donnell Edict, drafted and ratified in our honor, which codifies that no good people of the Hand may date, marry, or otherwise romantically consort with the officially cursed."

I squeeze my eyes closed. Of all the horrors and menace of this haunted island, this has to be the worst. "That is so unfair. Are you telling me you can never...you know...be with anyone? Ever?"

I'm shocked when Liam actually blushes. "There's what's called the Siren's Clause. Because—well, people find us, my mother, Aurora...me, to be—er—hard to resist, like I said. It's not our fault, I swear. But let's just say the Council looks the other way when I—when Landsider girls and I—uh…"

I let out a laugh to hide how it guts me to know my intense attraction to him might be false. "So it is true about you! You really are the island Lothario, breaking all those Landsider hearts. And the nightberries? Is that what you give all the girls afterward so they leave happy and slightly confused? And you just get a little slap on the wrist?"

Liam doesn't smile, his face pinched. "Once they leave the island, they just forget me. I don't drug anyone! But I'm a human boy. I—they realized I have...ugh!" he says, throwing his head back, his face red. "Can we please not talk about this anymore?"

"Fine. So, why did Brody get away with going after Aurora if she's under the same curse?" I know I'm poking at a raw nerve, but I can't take any more of the Sphinx treatment—even the blushing one. I have to know.

Liam's jaws are clenched, his cheeks still pink, eyes cold as an ice storm. "There's always a loophole for Randy's sons. But not for the likes of me."

"It's inhuman," I say, my throat tight with rage. "What would happen to you? I mean—if we decided to be together anyway?"

Liam's voice drops to a whisper, his whole body deflating. "We can't, Rosalie. Don't you get it? You're not technically a Landsider girl. You're one of us. The O'Donnell Edictputs us both in danger if the Determination is made. Randy would use it against us both in a heartbeat."

I swipe at my angry tears and lower my head so he can't see me. "The Determination. You mean if the Council recognizes I'm of the Hand, then I'm violating the O'Donnell Edict? But it's not just your decision. Besides, how would Randy even know if we're together?"

"Randy knows how we feel about each other. At least, I suspect he does. He's going to be watching us like a hawk."

"C'mon. That's insane," I counter, relishing his admission: How we feel about each other.

"It's possible the Council will celebrate us as heroes for healing Aurora. And let you slide for healing Evan, because you didn't realize your heritage or understand its implications. It depends on what serves their agenda best. Rules can be stretched and bent to meet their purpose. But if they determine that you did know about your heritage and the Edict," he stops, then meets my gaze with a look that's sharp enough to slice through my heart. "The sentence handed down will be death. Yours, not mine. Do you really want to kiss me that badly?"

"They'll kill me? For kissing you?"

Liam's eyes are as glazed and gray as the ocean in winter. "It's the law, Rosalie."

This can't be true. Kill me for kissing a boy? Because I'm one of the so-called People of the Hand and he's under some ridiculous curse?

My dad wouldn't let that happen. Mom would swoop in with the freaking National Guard. And what about Liam? In his eyes, am I really worth risking anything for?

I want to scream. To kick someone. To break rules and ask permission later. But looking at Liam's face, I realize there's no arguing over it. The Sphinx can't be budged. Truth is, maybe he really is terrified for me. And of his feelings for me.

The end result is the same. No matter how much I want him, unless we break that curse or find some loophole, we can't risk being together.