Chapter 27

Twenty-Seven

I looked up at the ceiling, my body still a bit numb from all that fucking. The skin around my wrists was a bit red, too, even though those ties were no longer on me.

We'd stopped.

Finally, after another two orgasms, we'd stopped having sex.

"Something feels… off ." That feeling in my chest, all under my skin—it hadn't been natural, had it? I'd felt it even in my sleep, and I'd woken up blind to everything else but Grey. But sex.

And I'd wanted more and more and more…

"She spiked our coffees," said Grey from my side, and I turned to look at his face. His eyes were half closed as he played with my hair.

" What ?" Because I thought he said…

"Mama Si put something in our coffees. Possibly some powerful magical aphrodisiac. The stuff of succubi," he told me.

My mouth opened and closed, and I turned back to the ceiling. "She can do that?!"

"She's a succubi. She knows how to manipulate lust even better than people's minds," Grey said with a chuckle. "It's fine. It was harmless." He pulled up my head to kiss me. "I just might ask where we can get more. The way you reacted to it, baby…" He let his voice trail off and kissed me again, smiling. "Fuck, you're out of this world."

I stifled a smile. "Well, I wasn't feeling like myself," I muttered. "No, no, I was—just more…turned on. Very, very turned on." And now that the initial shock had passed—yep, Grey was right. We should definitely ask where we could get more because I wanted to do that again.

I wanted to do that to infinity.

"Are you sore?" Grey asked me, and my mind went to my ass, to when his cock had been so deliciously deep inside me.

I flushed bright scarlet. Fuck, he had felt incredible. "Nope." I just felt tired. And happy. And satisfied.

For now.

"There are bruises all over your back, just so you know. I bit you a lot. Couldn't help it," he said.

"I hope they stay." Just until I saw them, at least, because I tended to heal really fast since I'd become an Enchanted.

Well, since I'd been with Grey. Since I'd… become pregnant.

"What is it?" Grey whispered, probably hearing the beat my heart just skipped.

"Everything," I said. "What time is it? Is she back yet?" It was still daylight outside, and the clock on the nightstand said it was still only two p.m. I must have only slept for a couple hours before that arousal awoke me.

"I don't think so. She'll call for us when she comes back," Grey said. "And we're safe from the sirens—they're not anywhere near us right now."

"You can tell?" Because I couldn't, not unless they were close enough that I felt their magic.

"I can always tell," Grey said, and that was a relief.

"But why , though?" I turned to him. "How have they not found us yet—how is this possible? They're sirens." And with all that magic that they'd killed Syra with at their disposal?

Grey looked away from me for a second, and that alone confirmed what he felt: he was suspicious, too.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Mamayka's spell must be stronger than we realized. She has a lot of magic—a lot more than I knew."

"But enough to keep the sirens away for over a day?" My heart fell. "I'm not complaining, obviously, but I just wonder." Because it made so little sense. The sirens were looking for us, were they not? And the Burrow should have been one of the first places they searched.

So, where were they?

"I wonder, too," Grey said after a moment. "And I'm even more concerned about Valentine, to be honest."

"Oh, I'm plenty concerned about Valentine." A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "Do you think it was foolish to let him out there?"

Grey didn't need to think about it. "No, it wasn't. I believe that he does care about you. He'll have your best interest at heart no matter what he does. I don't believe his twisted mind and ideas, but if there's a way to hide you from the sirens, he'll find it. I think you did well to let him go."

I nodded. "And Reeva might help us, too. Not just to hide me, but to actually set me free from whatever Syra did." Didn't that sound like a dream…

Grey reached out his hand and touched my cheek. "She might."

"And…if it doesn't work?" I asked next because my mind kept racing and it didn't plan to stop.

"Then we'll leave the Burrow and we'll hide out there," he said without missing a beat.

"Out there—in the human world?"

He nodded. "We'll go to China, to this piece of land that is the farthest from any ocean. We'll live there. Sirens—at least normally—don't stay away from the sea for long periods of time. There's a good chance they'll never find us."

A good chance, he said. "Except they have people who can find us for them."

"And I'll kill whoever comes close if Storm doesn't get them first."

"So, what—we just live on a mountain or something, isolated from the rest of the world? All alone? And with…with the baby ?!" I sat up straighter, now flushed for a whole different reason, and Grey sat up with me.

"Calm down, baby," he said, but I couldn't.

"That's no way to live, Grey. Constantly afraid—and only until they find us because they will." He knew it, too. That's why he said nothing, just closed his eyes. "Only if the end of the world doesn't happen first!"

"We don't know for sure that it will," he said, but his heart wasn't into it.

"We don't know for sure that it won't, either," I insisted. "The witches saw the stars— I saw them, Grey. I saw the drawing and the translation—it's the same constellation as before with just a slight difference in the name. It meant the end of the world as they knew it then. Why wouldn't it mean the same now?"

Grey put his arms around me and pulled me to his lap, kissing my shoulder for a moment as we both processed. As I tried to calm down my racing heart and put my thoughts in order.

"All I know is we won't get anywhere if we panic. If we rush. Let's take it one step at a time, can we? Let's wait for Mama Si to return, and then for Valentine. Then we'll know what to do next," he finally said.

It wasn't like I had a choice in the matter. Alone, I couldn't do shit, so I nodded, and I let him hold me until Marissa knocked on the door and announced that food would be served downstairs if we wanted to eat.

We did—all that energy spent all day in bed had left me drained, and my stomach was growling. So, we showered and we got dressed, and we went downstairs to that same room where we'd eaten with Mama Si.

Unfortunately for me, I was too freaked out to even taste the delicious food Claus had made me. All I could really focus on was praying.

Reeva Lorein smiled at me like I was the sun she was seeing rising for the first time.

My gut clenched uncomfortably as I held her eyes and tried to return that genuine smile. I had no idea if I managed, but she came closer anyway, put her hands on my shoulders, analyzed my body, then pulled me into a hug.

"My, my, young one," she whispered. "Congratulations on your pregnancy. Witches' Wing could not be more thrilled!"

"Thank you, Reeva," I whispered when she let go and stepped back, then bowed her head deeply to Grey.

"Master Evernight, congratulations to you, too."

"Thank you, Lorein. We appreciate you coming here today."

"Of course," she said, turning back toward Mama Si, who stood proudly by the pillar of the dining room we were still in, wearing her mauve dress and those bright pink lips, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Mamayka was kind enough to tell me what the sirens have been holding back from us. Oh, what wonderful news she gave me."

Fuck, it was so hard to breathe right now, and I was already regretting eating half the plate of food I'd been served. Because regardless of everything, Mama Si had lied to Reeva, just like she said she would, and Reeva was glowing again.

Gone was the woman who'd lost all hope, with red eyes and messy hair and no regard for the future. Reeva was back to the woman she had been when I first met her in the Evernight castle at the party. Her skin was glowing, her eyes sparkling with excitement and joy, her black dress clean and pressed, and the black witch hat that she was holding in her hands now looked brand new and polished, too. She no longer looked like she'd given up, but she was buzzing with energy. Buzzing with magic—I could feel it around her like an aura.

"Yes, it is true," Grey said because he must have known that I couldn't bring myself to speak at all.

"And Reeva here has decided to help us figure it all out, too," said Mama Si and she slowly came closer, then laced her arm around Reeva's.

"Of course, I will," said Reeva, her eyes on me. "Of course—if there's a way to save the Isles, I will do anything in my power to help, young one. Anything at all."

"There is," Grey said before I could make myself speak. "There's always a way for everything. I assume you've come to stay." He nodded behind her, at the two large brown suitcases that had been rolling themselves when she first came out here to find us still eating.

"Oh, yes!" Reeva said, laughing heartily—God, she was in such a good mood. Completely different from the woman she had been that day when I went to ask for her help.

She'd helped me—and now I was lying to her face.

"Yes, I will. I've brought with me all that I might need to figure out exactly what was done to Autumn here. Mamayka explained to me what happened, and I must say, I am truly sorry that you had to go through that, young one." She came closer and took my hand in hers and squeezed, her skin warm. Her eyes honest.

I was going to be sick.

"Thank you," I forced myself to say again.

"But we're lucky to have you," Reeva continued. "And we're going to learn more about what was done to you. Don't you worry about a thing." With another squeeze of my hand, she let go and stepped back.

"Do you think it's possible to undo it—whatever it is?" Grey said, putting his arm around my shoulders like he knew I needed the support.

"Hard to say, but most magics can be taken back. You saw it yourself even with the spell of the curse. It was unraveled layer by layer—but until we understand exactly what Syra did, it will be impossible to say for sure."

"When can we do that?" I asked with barely any voice, avoiding Mama Si's eyes at all costs because I couldn't stand that smug smile on her lips.

"Hopefully by midnight," said Reeva, turning to Mama Si. "Assuming I have a working space and Mamayka's help, I think I can prepare everything for a very thorough test by midnight."

"Of course, my dear friend," said Mama Si, and her polite voice was so fake there was no way Reeva didn't notice. "You'll have all the space and all the help you need."

"Good, then. It is settled. Tonight at midnight," Grey said, squeezing my shoulder.

"Tonight at midnight," I repeated.

And despite the lies and the situation we were in, a tiny bit of hope sparked to life inside me.

Midnight took forever to arrive, but when it did, I was terrified.

I slept again—restless sleep, tossing and turning while Grey kept his hands on me to give me comfort, to let me know that he was right there on the bed with me. Mama Si had indeed spiked our coffees this morning— Did you enjoy my gift? she asked before she took Reeva to where they were going to prepare for midnight.

And when my cheeks turned bright pink, she winked and said, you're welcome, Fall Doll.

Grey let me sleep until after eleven p.m., and I was thankful for it. I didn't want to be up and thinking about what was coming for all those hours. I would rather be half asleep and not really aware of what was going on in the real world.

But in the time it took me to get dressed and follow Assa to wherever Mama Si and Reeva were, I became so scared my hands were shaking. Grey walked beside me, his arm never moving from around my shoulders, telling me that it was okay, that we were going to be just fine. He knew I was afraid, and he was nervous, too—I could tell by his rigid muscles, but at least he wasn't thinking about running away from here on all fours.

He probably wasn't thinking about what if they're tricking me instead, and they're going to do something else to me? What if Mama Si is lying to me—again, which would be no surprise—and Reeva is working with the sirens to get to me? It really wouldn't come as a shock—she said it herself, she'd do anything for a chance to save the Seven Isles, and if the sirens promised her to lay low if she handed me over to them…

Bile rose up my throat.

Assa took us down too many sets of stairs—I didn't even bother to count. By the looks of it, we were in a basement somewhere, no windows in the walls but plenty of fancy lamps and thick carpets and engraved doors around the narrow corridor.

She led us to the very end, completely at ease, and Grey didn't seem bothered, either. What if they hurt me ? a voice in my head insisted, and… what if they hurt the baby ?

Part of me had yet to believe that I was pregnant. Really—it made no sense. Me, Fall Hayes, about to become a mother?

There's just no way in hell.

"Grey," I whispered when Assa finally reached the double doors at the end of the corridor and pushed them both open before she turned to us.

"Baby, if you want to go back, we will. Right now," he said, stepping in front of me. I closed my eyes and shook my head, so fucking confused. "But I want you to know that I'll be there for everything. I'm not leaving your side. If anything happens?—"

"Let me guess, you'll carry me away with your big strong wings," I said, hoping a joke might lighten this weight on my shoulders. Hoping it would improve my mood.

"Exactly. And I'll kill all of them in the process," he simply said.

"You're so comfortable with the idea of killing," I said, shaking my head. "Not okay, Mister Evernight."

But all that did was make him grin widely. "I am comfortable with killing the whole world if it tries to harm you, baby. It's okay if that's not okay." He leaned in to kiss me.

"Impossible," I muttered because he was. Yet somehow, going in that room didn't feel like such a terrible thing anymore. "But fine—I'll go. I'm still scared shitless, but I'll go."

"Don't be," Grey said, kissing my nose, too, before he let me go and took my hand in his. "Let's just see what they have there first, okay?"

Since I was feeling a bit better already—must have been that Grey magic—we did.

Mama Si and Reeva Lorein looked like real-life dolls from the doorway, and for a moment there, I thought they might be statues. They were sitting in the middle of the room, legs crossed, eyes closed, chins up and hands over their knees, and neither was moving a single inch. I couldn't even tell if they were breathing, but there was something in between them—a big, clear crystal the size of a basketball hovering in the air just a few inches off the ground.

The room itself was pretty simple—oval with a fireplace taking up most of the left wall. The fireplace was shaped like a flower that was spitting fire from the flowerbed, but strangely no heat came off those bright red flames dancing on a big log. Dancing—but they didn't look like they were even burning it. The log hadn't even blackened around the edges.

A big table a few feet away was full of books and scrolls, and at the edge were glass dishes with colorful liquids in them as well. Liquid that glowed neon blue and green and pink. Reeva's suitcases were both open and on the floor near the table, and they, too, were full of those books, and pieces of paper, and strange looking objects I couldn't even identify, some made of wood, most made of metal.

"They will be with you in a second. Please, go on in," Assa said in her politest voice.

We both stepped through the threshold, but I wasn't afraid anymore. Assa closed the door behind us, and she remained outside.

At the same time, Mama Si and Reeva opened their eyes, but they seemed to be lost in their heads still because neither blinked nor hinted that she could tell we were there. Neither moved yet, just continued to stare ahead.

"What…what are they doing?" I whispered, and my voice echoed in the almost empty room.

"I don't know," Grey said, and just as the words left his lips, the women drew in sharp breaths like they hadn't tasted air in years.

I jumped back, slamming against Grey's chest, the scream stuck in my throat.

"Oh, wow. That was quite something," Reeva said, rubbing her chest with both hands. "You're much stronger than I thought you would be, Mamayka."

And Mama Si smiled. "It's only because my Fall Doll was chosen in the ritual this year," she said, then turned to us with her brows raised like she hadn't even realized we were here until now. "Oh, you made it!"

When she stood up, I realized she was wearing pants. Yoga pants, pink and shimmery, that revealed every line of her toned legs perfectly, and a hoody with a zipper in the front.

A hoodie. On Mama Si.

And her hair, too—it wasn't as curly as always. Her curls were tamer, like…like they'd relaxed. Like she had taken a step back from the woman she usually was during the day. And I'll be damned, but the look suited her perfectly. It made her look ten years younger, too.

"Hello, hello," Reeva sang as she stood up to greet us, too. "Welcome—and please excuse the mess."

"It's fine," I said. "What are you guys doing—and what's that?" I pointed at the crystal that was still hovering over the floor between them.

"That's just a fortuneteller—an old thing." Reeva raised her hand toward it.

I had been surrounded by magic and dragons and sirens for months now, but it still got to me to see magic, actual magic being performed in front of me. I stared as the crystal flew over to Reeva as if it were a conscious being and it had heard her call. It stopped over the palm of her hand without making a single sound, now a simple ball made of glass. "Good thing I had it among my old things, left to me by my predecessor. We didn't really use these anymore—they refused to work until lately."

Yes—until Valentine unraveled the spell of the curse and awakened Syra.

"Have you rested, Fall Doll? You look well," Mama Si said, coming closer to me, looking me over.

"I have, yes. You look…different." Absolutely breathtaking, but like a completely different person.

She grinned. "I can still pull off yoga pants, can't I?" And she turned to the sides as she posed.

"Absolutely."

"You can pull off anything, Mamayka. Ennaris was generous with you," Reeva said, laughing as she waved her off.

"And plastic surgery is really something. Humans have turned it into an art," Mama Si said with a wink, pushing her hair back dramatically.

"I'll take your word for it," Reeva told her, then turned to me. "We have some good news, young one. I was able to put together a spell from ones my ancestors created in their time. Mind you, I'm still not powerful enough to create my own from scratch, but hopefully I'll see that day if we do this right!"

"Of course, you will," Mama Si told her, and she lied so effortlessly it was actually fascinating to watch.

For me, it was like a stab to the gut to see the hopeful look on Reeva's face, that genuine smile, and I was so close to just telling her the truth, just spitting it out: It's not true. This is not going to save the Seven Isles!

"I will, I will," Reeva said, nodding a million times. "Better to keep a positive attitude, of course. But like I said, the spell is ready and by all my calculations, it should work with the supply of magic Mamayka can give us."

"That's great news," Grey said, kissing the side of my head as if to reassure me. "And I assume Fall will be safe through the spell?"

"She will," Reeva said. "The spell is only designed to read her signatures. Her energy and her magic—nothing else. The first step is to find out more about what is in her. She'll be perfectly safe, I promise you."

I swallowed hard but the lump in my throat remained. Either way, I raised my chin. "Let's get started then."

So, we did.

Ten minutes later, Grey had pushed the table and the suitcases against the walls, and I was standing five feet in front of the fireplace shaped like a flower, inside a circle with a lot of Faeish symbols that Reeva had drawn on the wooden floor with white chalk. She sat on my right, cross-legged and with her eyes shut tightly, while Mama Si sat at my left.

"If you need more magic supply—" Grey said from right behind me, just outside the last chalk line, but Mama Si cut him off.

"That won't be necessary, Master Evernight. I got this." She looked up at me and winked.

The crystal was gone, back in one of the suitcases that Reeva had brought with, and now she only had a notebook in front of her, open, full of those symbols scribbled in black ink. I was surprised she could even read with so many words written over others, some even crossed over completely.

"Will it hurt?" I wondered, just so I could prepare myself for it, and Reeva opened her eyes for a moment, a bit surprised.

"I don't know, young one. I would hope not."

I nodded. "It's fine. Just make it work."

"I'll try my best," she solemnly said, then closed her eyes again.

Mama Si closed hers, too, releasing a long breath as she prepared, and I turned back to look at Grey one more time. The sight of his face calmed me down like a charm, and I needed all the calm I could get right now. I was terrified, but not just because we might not find exactly what was inside me, but that we would.

That we'd find it and we confirmed that it couldn't be hidden or undone, that it was going to kill me slowly. Or worse—that it was going to hurt the baby.

Then Reeva began to whisper under her breath.

Magic rose from the chalk symbols around me, and I felt it clearly. There was no heat coming from that fireplace, but plenty of it came from the magic. The higher it rose around me, the more intense it became, until it went all the way over my head and closed me in a circle.

A loud sigh escaped me when it settled over my skin like an invisible fabric wrapping around my shoulders.

"Reeva," I thought I said, but my voice could have been only in my head. My eyes were closing, and I couldn't keep them open at all, and then my feet were no longer touching the floor. I tried to panic, and a part of me did, but the thoughts in my head were…blurry. Very hazy. And my limbs were so light that gravity no longer had a hold on me—that's why I was floating.

My shoulders had been so tired. I'd been carrying so much on them lately—sadness, fear, regret, helplessness, and the load was a little lighter here in this place, wherever Reeva had taken me.

Little by little, everything faded away, but there was no darkness in my mind. There was only light, bright light that didn't really let me see anything, and I was glad for it. I didn't want to remember. I just wanted to float into nothingness for a while.

That's exactly what I did, but it didn't last long. Eventually, thoughts came back to me, memories of the past few days—mostly of Syra's face, the horror that she was in the seconds before her death. I could almost feel her hand around my neck, that ice-cold magic that had wrapped around me…

The same kind that was on me now.

The heat was gone and its place was Syra— all Syra, her magical energy that I knew well, that was so different, so much more powerful than everybody else's. It was there in that bright place with me, and it wasn't painful, but it was still uncomfortable. I still felt it slithering all around me like a living being, and it radiated pure power. Not heat, no—just power, and it buzzed on my skin, pricked me a little bit.

Don't be good, the voices in my head echoed, and they didn't stop for a long time.

Then, it started to hurt everywhere at once.

It came from the inside, that pain, and whatever was causing it gained more power by the second. I gritted my teeth, felt the pain of my fingernails sinking into my palms, and I felt my muscles clenching tightly, too. It wasn't so much that I wanted to scream, but it was steady, each wave a bit more intense, until my whole body was shaking. Until I was beginning to think that there was no end to it, that it was going to keep coming forever.

I had no idea how long I was in that state, in that place that only existed inside my mind, but I was pulled out of it violently, like someone had grabbed me by the hair and was dragging me across asphalt. My body was on fire like the sun was burning inside it, and my skin felt like it had a million little tears all over.

Then my eyes opened and I saw light.

I saw Grey's face looking down at me, eyes dark, concerned as he told me to breathe, told me that I was okay, that it was over. I'd collapsed, I guessed, because he was holding me in his arms half-seated.

Cold air went down my throat and I focused only on Grey until my heartbeat calmed down and I was able to think clearly. I was able to remember exactly where I was.

I sat up with a jolt, the blood in my veins already rushing again. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Mama Si kneeling in front of Reeva, whose eyes had rolled in her skull and her lips were parted and her hands were fisted so tightly they'd turned white.

"Follow my voice, Reeva," Mama Si was telling her, touching her face gently with shaking hands. "Follow my voice. Come back to me."

"What…what is going on?" I managed to whisper, and Grey pushed me to sit up all the way so I could see the women better. So I could see that Mama Si's nose was bleeding, her hair was all over the place, and she looked absolutely exhausted.

"Nothing, nothing, all went well. She's just caught up in the spell," she said, tapping Reeva's cheeks lightly. "Reeva, follow my voice. Keep pushing through. Come back to us, okay? Come back."

Mama Si sounded concerned.

Pushing myself up to my knees, I asked Grey, "How long was I out?"

"About ten minutes," he said, pushing my hair away from my face. "How do you feel? Does it hurt still?"

I shook my head. "No, I feel…I feel fine." I was fully aware of my body now and I had no pain anywhere, but my skin still felt the aftermath of that layer of magic that had been on me.

"Reeva, come on!" Mama Si urged, her voice turning up a notch, and I grabbed Grey's hand.

"What the hell did I do?!" Was that me—had I done that to Reeva?

"Nothing—she's okay. Her heartbeat is steady. She's just lost in the spell," Grey told me, and when I tried to get closer to Reeva, he helped me.

"Reeva, can you hear me?" I said, reaching out my hand to touch hers—ice-cold. Her skin was ice-cold.

"Just push through. Keep pushing through," Mama Si said, holding her face still, her eyes closed, the heat of her magic, so relaxing and peaceful, spreading in the air about us.

" Push through, push through, follow my voice ," she chanted, and by the time Reeva finally reacted, I was about ready to burst into tears.

But she woke up.

Drawing in a deep, loud breath, her eyes rolled back in place, and she blinked and blinked until she could see what was around her, holding onto Mama Si's arm.

I fell back on my ass with a sigh, eyes closed as I reminded myself that it was okay. Reeva was responding—she was awake and she was okay. Whatever had made her like that, it was normal. It wasn't me. She was going to be just fine.

I just wished that those ugly voices in my head would stop whispering in my ear that everything was my goddamn fault.