Chapter 18

Eighteen

There really was no point going in rounds. Whatever Syra was planning to do with me, it was bad. It was worse than I could probably even imagine, and I'd run from the thought for long enough. For ten days, I'd run from those thoughts and I'd tried to tell myself that Syra wouldn't hurt me or the baby, that she'd have a change of heart by the time I began to notice my stomach growing.

I'd lied to myself because it had been too much to handle, but I couldn't keep doing this any longer. I couldn't sit and wait for her to do whatever the fuck she planned to me and not even try to make it out.

Enough running and lying. Now it was time to act.

I didn't really have any plan in mind, but I knew that Grey and I could never swim or fly off this Isle on our own. We couldn't stop Syra, but maybe if we weren't alone in this, we could do what Mama Si proposed to do when I first went to her for help— distract her.

At first, I thought the best way to do that was by awakening the Great White. He was still perfectly motionless, now part of the castle to me and I couldn't even imagine him on his own. If I woke him up, he'd be disoriented and he'd probably stomp all over this castle when he moved. It could give me and Grey a head start to fly out of here.

But then I remembered how Syra had frozen this dragon with a simple wave of her hand in the tomb mountain. It had taken her but a second to do it, and she hadn't even put in any effort at all.

So, then the only obvious choice I had were the siren sisters—whom I didn't trust at all. Not even a tiny bit, but they were apparently swimming around the Isle, hoping to gather information on Syra. I could work with them, tell them what they wanted to know, even spy on Syra if I had to—and in turn they could help me get out with Grey.

I knew it was a risk, a huge risk, but it was better than whatever Syra was going to do to me. It was better than sitting here on my ass all day, waiting for her to come find me, or waiting to find Grey on the ground again, bleeding.

The sirens were not to be trusted, but unfortunately, they were my only option. So that day, right after lunch, I walked out of the castle the same as always, and I made my way through the woods and to the nearest beach, hoping with all my heart that I'd find a siren nearby, watching.

There was nobody there.

I walked all around the Isle, went to every beach until night fell, and I didn't see a single siren anywhere.

So, I went back the next day.

I woke up early and searched the beaches before breakfast, and I even called out to the sirens a few times, but none of them came forward. None of them even broke the surface of the water, and I couldn't feel their energy or magic close to me at all.

By the time the day ended and night turned the sky a deep grey, I wondered if maybe Valentine had lied to me. I wondered if maybe he'd tricked me just to see what I'd do. I wondered if maybe he and Syra were laughing at me right now, watching me as I searched and searched but found nothing, then returned to that room more frustrated than before.

I wondered.

I couldn't sleep that night, and I couldn't sit still, and I couldn't even read—my mind was too consumed by the look on Syra's face that morning, by her words. It will hurt but not too much.

I didn't care about the pain at all. I cared about what she was going to do to this baby that only ever felt real when Grey was with me. When we were together. When I didn't feel like I was all alone in the universe again.

Maybe that's how I convinced myself to walk out of the room around midnight and wander the empty hallways, looking at the paintings that were now on every wall. Syra had filled every corner and every room with things, brand new and shiny, which was a shame because nobody used them. It was a shame that she'd made all this castle for nothing.

As I wandered barefoot, my mind was focused on when the sun would rise, on when I went out to the beaches again to search for the sirens. This time, I decided, I was going to get in the water and search for them underneath the surface.

God help me, I was going to get underwater with sirens.

The thought made my stomach twist into a million knots. Sedelis had had her fishtail wrapped around my legs the first day I was brought to the Whispering Woods, and I still had very bad dreams about it some nights. I'd sworn to myself that I would never let a siren touch me underwater again—but here we were. There was no telling what they'd even do to me if I found them, but I was still going to try.

And then I heard the noise.

It was barely there, like something small and sharp was tapping on rocks somewhere to my right. I turned but there was nobody there, just the corridor illuminated by the small lamps on the walls.

Silence for a moment, and I held my breath, too, all my attention on my ears…

Then it came again, that same sound, just a bit louder.

I was moving back down the corridor in the direction I came from, sure it was an insect, or maybe a golem, but when I turned the corner and was in the wide hallway again, there was nobody there. Paintings and flowers, lamps and a big square window at the very end, one of the few left without glass—nothing else.

Seconds later, when the tapping filled my ears again, I realized it was coming from outside that window.

Chills rushed down my back as I rose on my tiptoes and went closer to see. Magic was in the air, that much I felt, but it wasn't anything particular, not the energy of someone I knew. Not Grey or Valentine, and definitely not Syra.

I put my hands on the stone ledge and looked out at the Eighth Isle, at the trees and the dark sky, half a moon just coming out of the passing clouds, and…

Claws.

The scream got stuck in my throat and my heart nearly broke right out of me. Claws grabbed me by the arms and pulled me right out of the window, and then I was flying in the night.

My instincts fired up and my magic raged, ready to spill out of my every pore, and for a moment, I couldn't even see what was around me from the fear and the panic. I couldn't see at all, and my magic was a second away from bursting out—but the sound of those wings beating brought everything to a halt.

Not just the sound, but the feeling was so familiar—of the wind blowing against my face and those claws squeezing my arms and that large shape that was right there over my head.

So, I looked up.

Storm's grey underbelly came into view after a few blinks, and the magic in me retreated instantly, moving back under my skin. I was smiling even though Storm was flying fast, so fast I could hardly breathe. So fast and almost soundlessly over the dark castle.

He flew all the way to the other side, to the left of the Great White—and to that clearing with the engraved stone plaque in the middle.

Grey was at the center of it, looking up at us.

It all happened so fast, it was a miracle I didn't scream when Storm suddenly let go of me and we were still about twenty feet off the ground. He let go of me, and my vision blurred from the panic once more, but it only lasted a second before strong arms caught me in the air, then lowered me down to the ground gently.

Grey.

Grey was there with his wings spread and his eyes dark, telling me, "You're okay, baby. Don't scream, you're okay."

Fuck screaming—I grabbed his face and kissed him before I'd filled my lungs with enough air.

"What are you doing here, Grey? What is happening? He grabbed me and-and-and?—"

"You weren't in your room. I came to search for you," Grey said, and my heart fell.

"Shit—I'm sorry! I couldn't sleep and I went out for a walk." Out of all the nights that I'd been right there on that bed, waiting…

"It's okay. Storm found you. We're leaving, baby. We're flying out of here tonight."

"We are?"

Grey let go of me and my bare feet hit the ground. "Syra left and she didn't raise the spell to keep us inside tonight. She'll only be gone a little while, so we have to hurry. Storm will carry you and I'll fly close by, just in case someone follows us. I need to be able to move freely. That okay?" he said in a rush, his grey eyes wide—scared, but also excited.

"Are you kidding me—of course, it is, Grey! Let's go !" I'd jump in the air and grab Storm's talons myself if I had to.

Grey kissed my forehead deeply. "Whatever happens, be careful, Fall. Don't take unnecessary risks. Save yourself."

I shook my head, his words heavy on my shoulders. "Nothing's going to happen. We're going to make it. Let's move."

Grey smiled at me for a second, fingertips sliding down my cheek. "I love you, my queen."

"Tell me that when we're far away from this place." I rose on my tiptoes and kissed his lips again.

"I will."

He stepped back, looking up at Storm as the dragon came closer and closer. My heart hammered in my chest and I was so fucking ready to be carried away in the air again. So ready to be done with this nightmare of a life, and I genuinely thought that we would make it.

Grey had been planning this for days, and Syra wasn't here, and her spell that would have knocked us out if we left the castle wasn't active, and?—

"Oh, no. Please don't tell me I'm interrupting something."

Valentine's voice filled my head and wiped every other thought away.

Storm growled from over our heads and Grey's wings were already spread to the sides when he turned to where that voice came from.

I didn't even want to believe my own eyes, but it was really him. It was Valentine, resting his shoulder against a tree to our right, and Shadow was sitting on a branch over his head, watching curiously, his tail swooshing to the sides.

"Valentine," I said, as if saying his name was going to mean anything to him. As if saying his name was going to make him understand everything that was going on inside me, all my thoughts and my fear and the hope I'd felt just now when Storm was about to grab me…

"No, no, don't mind me. You were saying? Oh, wait—were you already preparing to leave?" He pushed himself off the tree and with his hands in his pockets, he took a step back.

"Get out of my face, boy. I won't say it again," Grey said through gritted teeth, and Valentine raised his brows.

"Or what?"

My God, he looked so at ease. So perfectly relaxed.

He looked… evil.

"Valentine, please," I said because we were so close. Syra wasn't here, and we were so fucking close to leaving I could taste it. If begging him was what it took, I'd do it. So, I moved around Grey's wing and closer to him, and Grey moved with me.

"Oh, you're pleading now? How cute," said Valentine with that cold smile on his face that cut right through me.

"Please, just stand back, okay? We're not going to stay in this place forever. Just stand back and let us go," I told him, but even though I was hoping to get through to him with words, my magic was growing inside me, just as ready to unleash on him as it had been a moment ago.

I'd attacked Valentine with it a few times before, so I knew it worked. I knew he was going to end up folded in half on the ground, and so did he.

Yet he wasn't worried in the least.

"But Syra is not here yet. You can't just leave without her knowing about it, can you?"

"You little piece of shit. I'm going to enjoy killing you," Grey spit, and I raised both hands toward Valentine.

"Step aside and let us go." I said the words separately, slowly, and I was sure he would know that I wasn't kidding around. I'd attack him—fucking hell, I absolutely would, and he could see my hands just fine, probably feel the energy of my magic, but…

"I can't. Syra's still not here. I called for her, and she's usually very fast, but?—"

Grey jumped forward and slammed onto Valentine before he'd finished speaking, taking him down.

I screamed in frustration as they rolled on the ground for a couple of feet, then both released their magic, attacking one another, throwing one another away. And they both stood up at the same time.

"It's a matter of seconds now," said Valentine, stepping away from us slowly, his eyes on Grey, who had his fangs extended and was about to jump again—but I didn't give him the chance.

I released every ounce of magic in my veins onto Valentine because I'd be damned if I let him stop us now. Not when we were so close. Not when we could still make it.

Valentine's eyes opened wide, and he brought his arms in front of his face when he felt my magic coming for him. But three things happened at once.

Storm roared at the top of his lungs.

My magic hit something invisible that must have been wrapped around Valentine's body and disappeared into thin air.

And Grey's wings wrapped around me, just as Syra came out of the shadows on the other side with a smile on her face.

"What do we have here?"

No.

I wanted to scream so badly my entire body shook. I pushed Grey's wings to the sides so I could see her again, and he let me step away for a moment.

Syra was there, really there, wearing a black dress that covered her from her neck down to her feet, and her arms were crossed in front of her as she looked at us.

"Took you long enough," Valentine was saying as he approached her, running his fingers through his messy hair.

"I got held up," Syra said. "They were really trying to run away? Really? " And she started walking toward us as Storm spit fire at the sky in the distance because he didn't dare attack her. Grey would never let him—we all knew she could kill him without breaking a sweat.

"Stay the fuck away from me," I spit because I'd had enough. Enough of submitting and being afraid of her and running from her and being consumed by questions about what she planned to do to me. I'd had enough, and I would rather die right here and now than do this any longer.

"Oh, how ungrateful you are, you little brat. How very ungrateful you are!" Syra said, and she actually sounded surprised. "I gave you everything! Safety and food and warmth and even those books—I gave them to you, and this is how you repay me? You wait for the second I turn my back and you try to run ?"

"That's far enough," said Grey when she was in the middle of that circle, and she actually stopped, shaking her head at him next, like she really was in disbelief.

"And you, too! I've given you time. I haven't forced you in any way, have I?"

Did she really expect a fucking answer? God, she was more delusional than I'd even realized, and she wasn't even done…

"I've been dormant for five hundred years, Hansil. I am still trying to figure this out, make my place in this new world, and I haven't even destroyed a single thing—because of you . I've been good to the other Isles as well. Magic is back, almost the way it used to be—and it's all because of me. Why wouldn't you want to be here with me?! Why ?"

"You're fucking crazy," I spit because it wasn't fair that I had to stand here and listen to this bullshit coming from her. The same woman who'd kept me here against my will.

But Syra only laughed. "Maybe I am, but this is where my patience runs out, lovely. I'm going to make sure you can't leave my side if you wanted."

My skin was already crawling. I knew that things were about to get really bad really quickly for me tonight, but I still couldn't have prepared myself for what happened in the next hour.

Grey was moving, beating his wings, arms spread as he reached for Syra—but he never made it to her. Valentine slammed onto his side and took him to the ground, and then magic, warm and smooth, like honey, wrapped around me and pulled.

I was no longer in control of my body, and for that split second that the panic wiped my mind clean, I realized what it was like to be really, truly helpless.

Then my magic burst out of me all at once.

Syra had pulled me closer to the middle of that circle. Her magic was still wrapped around me tightly, and mine clashed with it hard.

To say she was surprised was an understatement—the strength of my magic pushed her back a step and threw her head to the side as if an invisible hand had slapped her. I knew it was just the surprise. I'd caught her off guard, and that's why she let go of me and I was able to move my limbs again, but I'd take it.

I raised my hands and focused on it once more, hoping she hadn't recovered completely, hoping another blast of my magic, more concentrated this time, would knock her down to the ground and give me enough time to get rid of Valentine, who was still getting in Grey's way.

I hoped in vain.

My magic slammed onto whatever invisible shield Syra had put up around herself, just like she'd done with Valentine. It faded into thin air within seconds, and Syra smiled. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't all bitter, either—she simply raised her hand and fisted it, and then her magic was all around me again.

I screamed, not because of pain, but the frustration took away the view in front of me once more.

"So dramatic," said Syra as her magic pulled and pulled until I was in the middle of the circle and she was barely three feet away from me.

"You're a monster! " I shouted at the top of my voice because it didn't really matter whether I behaved or whether I screamed my guts out at her now—it was over.

Then Grey rose in the air with Valentine in his arms and threw him against the ground. He fell so hard the entire Isle shook, and Grey landed on his chest with both feet, breaking Valentine's ribcage with a loud crack.

Even so, I knew it wasn't enough. Even when Grey launched himself at Syra and Storm was flying over my head, ready to grab me at his command, I knew we wouldn't make it.

" Enough!"

Syra raised her hand toward Grey when he was inches away from her, and he was pushed back. He was thrown against the trees and they broke under his weight, and the forest swallowed him completely.

"Valentine, rise," Syra ordered next.

The ground itself moved, pushed Valentine out of the hole he'd made with his body when Grey slammed him against it. The magic pulled him to his feet, and when it let go, he wobbled to the sides for a bit before he was able to stand on his own.

He was a bloody, dirty mess—but he was alive, eyes red and fangs extended, his shirt ripped.

He was alive still.

"You really think I'm a monster, lovely Fall?" Syra said, ignoring him completely as she slowly stepped closer to me, and that magic was still holding me prisoner. I couldn't move my legs or arms at all, only my face.

"You are," I said, trying to stop the tears from slipping down my cheeks, but it was impossible. I was too afraid, too angry, too disappointed—too everything. "You're worse than your sisters."

"Oh, but you don't know what that word really means, I'm afraid," she told me, and her eyes had darkened so much, barely any blue remained in them. "You have no idea what I can truly become yet." And she brought her hand to my cheek, wiping my tears with the tips of her fingers.

I couldn't move away. She was touching me, and I couldn't even move away.

"I'll take care of them," Valentine said from her side, his voice strained, maybe because his ribs were still bruised.

"You'll do no such thing," said Syra, analyzing every feature of my face as she brought her fingers to her lips, then licked my tears off them. " Salty, " she breathed and winked at me. "I've run all out of patience now, lovely. We're going to do it tonight."

My heart fell all the way to my heels.

"Over my dead body."

Grey was standing right behind her, wings spread, bloody and dirty, madness glistening in his eyes.

"Grey, don't !" I shouted, even though I knew it would be useless. He jumped forward and unleashed his magic on Syra at the same time, and by some miracle, it worked.

Syra must have been too focused on me to notice Grey before he got too close because his magic reached her, and then when he slammed his fists to her chest, too, she couldn't stop it. She tumbled back and fell to the ground, eyes wide and mouth open in surprise.

Her magic let go of me.

Valentine was reaching out to me, and he suddenly looked terrified because he knew.

I didn't need to think at all. I just ran and grabbed his face in my hands, and I unleashed my magic at the same time, while Grey went after Syra, trying to catch her while she was still down.

" No— "

That's as far as Valentine got before my magic slipped under his skin and began to wreak havoc on his body.

"Coward," I whispered, and I let go of him just as he fell to his knees, the veins on his neck protruding, his eyes rolling in his skull.

Meanwhile Storm was spitting fire at the ground somewhere behind me, and Grey watched.

"Grey!" I shouted, running the few feet it took to get to him, and he turned. He raised his hand for mine, and I was about to jump in his arms so he could take us up in the air—but the moment our fingers intertwined, we heard the laughter.

Syra wasn't burning underneath all that fire that had brightened up the night at all, just like I knew. Her laughter rang in my ears and my body locked in place instantly.

The next second, the fire disappeared as if it had never even existed, and Storm roared in pain as he flew to the side, then lost balance and fell on the ground, his wings frozen.

Syra rose to her feet, her dress burned but everything else about her perfectly intact.