Chapter 28

Twenty-Eight

"It's hard to explain," Reeva said, wiping her forehead with a napkin. She sat on the floor, back resting against the wall near the fireplace, and Mama Si and I sat with her.

Meanwhile Grey was restlessly pacing in front of us.

"What exactly did you feel?" said Mama Si because I didn't know what question to even ask. "And drink your tea, Reeva."

The witch brought the white cup that Mama Si had produced out of thin air with her magic to her lips and took a slow sip. She was still pale, so pale, her skin sweaty, her eyes wide open, barely blinking as she stared ahead but saw nothing.

So hard not to feel guilty.

"I felt…cold," Reeva started. "And wet." She flinched. "A lot of magic. It's like…it's like…" She turned her head toward me, then leaned over a bit until she saw all of me sitting on Mama Si's other side. "It's like she's a siren."

These words she whispered, and I felt them all the way in my bones.

A miracle I didn't throw up when my stomach began to twist and turn.

"What do you mean, a siren ?" Mama Si and Grey asked at the same time.

Reeva closed her eyes with a sigh and rested back against the wall for a moment. "I don't know. It's the magic—it's the same kind of magic. The magic of a siren, inside her. It's like she's become it."

I said nothing—couldn't if I tried. I just let them talk.

"Syra truly unloaded herself in Fall—and in the full sense of the word. It's not a spell, not a stream or a source or a boost—it's Syra," Reeva said, and Mama Si shook her head.

"As a whole?"

Reeva pressed her lips. "Precisely."

"But that's impossible" Mama Si said. "We can give our magic, small parts of it or just to charge the other's—yes, I understand that." I did, too—that's what Genevieve had done with me when I gave her my blood. "But to actually put all of one's magic into another body? Impossible. "

By the end, her voice was high-pitched.

And she was right, but only halfway. Syra had put her magic in me. The siren sisters had felt it. After Syra turned to ashes right before our eyes, they'd felt her in me. It's how they'd known that she did something to me. It's why they'd turned on me the way they had.

Except…

"I felt it, Mamayka," Reeva told her. "I felt it. Her own energy— all of what makes a siren is inside her."

"But you can't just take a siren's power," Grey said. "Sedelis tried it the moment Syra woke up when we were still in the tomb mountain."

I looked up at him but for once, Grey's face didn't calm me down. On the contrary. He, too, looked so concerned that it freaked me out even more.

"No, you certainly cannot take a siren's power—but it can be willingly given," Reeva told me. "That's what Syra did. She gave it to you with her own will."

"But she doesn't feel it," Grey said.

"And I don't feel it on her, either," said Mama Si. "There has to be another explanation!"

A second of silence lasted a lifetime.

I swallowed hard. "The baby." I didn't feel it, and nobody else felt it on me because Syra had put her magic in my baby.

Another moment, just as heavy and long.

"Yes," Reeva finally whispered, moving away from the wall. "Yes, that's it. She charged her magic into your womb."

Her eyes were wide and glistening, and Mama Si was the same as they both looked at me with a new light now. Grey squatted behind me and put his hands on my shoulders.

I was lost in Syra's eyes, the way they bled, and her words… take care of him, she said.

As if she had any fucking right.

"I see it," Reeva continued. "I see how the end can be avoided." Her eyes scrolled down to my stomach. "We have to take that magic out of you, young one. Now, before it's too late."

Every other thought in my head came to a halt. "Can it be done? Can you take it out of me?" Because if she could, then my life might not be over yet.

If she could, maybe there was a happy ending to this, after all.

"I think so. I think?—"

"Wait, wait, just hold on a moment," Mama Si cut her off, raising her hand. "Hold on. Let's give this a bit of thought."

"Give what a bit of though?" said Reeva. "I felt it clearly. It's in there—it's in her!"

"Yes, yes, I don't mean that. I mean, Syra was stronger than all the other siren sisters because she ate Hansil's heart. It baffled me since the beginning that they were able to kill her, but…" She turned to the witch, eyes sparkling, a half-smile on her face. "Reeva, she willingly sacrificed herself by giving Fall Doll here her magic. The same magic she could have used against the sisters and killed them. Or at least fight—she chose not to. She chose to give it to my godson instead."

My eyes squeezed shut and I tried to focus on breathing. Don't be good, don't be good, don't be good…

"It's very possible. Probable," Grey said. "She wanted our baby for herself since the beginning, and I think this is how she planned to do it. But the sirens came and she didn't have the magic to also kill all of them…"

"So, she chose to make sure that she would… live on, in a way. In a different body," Reeva whispered.

"In his body—my godson's," Mama Si repeated, and it was easy to hear the smile in her voice.

"No," I whispered because it couldn't be. I wouldn't allow it.

"And we can use that, can't we?" Mama Si said, and all eyes moved to her. "Think about it—the sirens can destroy the Seven Isles, but what if there's someone who can stop them, someone who can wield Syra's power?" And she turned to me again. "Your son. If you keep the magic, he will be born and grow strong and?—"

" No! "

I was suddenly disgusted and jumped to my feet, a new wave of energy rushing through my blood. Grey stood up with me and wrapped his hand around mine when I stepped back.

"That's not going to happen. If there's a way to get this magic out of me, I want it gone right now."

Reeva stood up, too, nodding. "I believe that is the right thing to do, too."

"But all that power!" said Mama Si. "Come on—you don't want to give up all that power. Your son would be a god . If he's taught how to harness it since the beginning, if?—"

"Enough," Grey said, and his magic fell over our shoulders like a heavy blanket, not painful, just intense. "That's enough, Mamayka. You heard Fall. It's not going to happen."

Mama Si looked like she was going to burst into tears any minute. "But?—"

"No, Mamayka, no !" Reeva said, turning to her, shaking her shoulders. "That is dangerous stuff to mess with. Siren magic is unlike anything else the world knows. It's the magic of Ennaris itself—to meddle with it is foolish. It would only backfire."

Mama Si closed her eyes and lowered her head with a deep sigh. "Fine. Fine. Fine. "

"We will try it, young one," Reeva said. "I don't know if it can be done, but we will certainly try it."

"How?" Grey said.

"The one way witches know how to pull out magic from something," she said, shaking her head with a shrug. "I'm afraid I don't know other options."

"But it could work," I insisted because that was something worth fighting for. Worth hoping for. Not just to hide this magic—but to take it out of me completely.

" Without hurting Fall," Grey insisted, and Reeva nodded.

"Like I said—we will try. Tomorrow night, once I've rested and prepared and called for a few of my sisters. I will need assistance for this."

"Is it going to hurt the baby?" I wondered, leaning against Grey's shoulder.

For a moment, Reeva only shook her head, staring at the floor, thinking. "I have so much to read first, but it shouldn't. It shouldn't hurt anyone if it's done right. We will need a transferring link, a strong one, something that will act like a bridge for the magic—oh, and a vessel! An object in which we will store said magic."

My eyes closed. "A transferring link." Wasn't that what Valentine had been?

Wasn't that what he and Shadow had done that day for Syra? Ruit, Syra had called him.

"Yes, like a body that is able to convert the magic harmlessly from one subject to another—or object . It works on objects, too. But with this kind of magic, I'm not sure exactly what we'll need," Reeva said, pacing in front of the fireplace, head down and hands on her hips as she thought out loud. "Which is why I have to call for my sisters—we will have to create a very big and very sturdy storage for it. We will have to make sure we can control it before we pull it out."

"What about a Ruit?"

Reeva stopped pacing and looked at me. "A Ruit?" she said, and I nodded. "You mean a Ruit dragon ?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Well, yes, technically speaking," she said in wonder. "Ruits were made to connect and transfer magic, but they're a very rare species, and we'd have to speak to Dragons' Den?—"

"Shadow," I cut her off. "Shadow is a Ruit. Syra used him and Valentine to put her magic in me—and it worked." I looked up at Grey. "We have to find Valentine."

"By the stars," Reeva said, lips stretching into a slow smile. "That would be…that would actually work! If we manage to put together the spell, all we'd need is to create a heavy-duty storage vessel—it would absolutely work. I don't see why it wouldn't!"

Music to my ears.

"Yes, yes, whatever," said Mama Si with a wave of her hand, like she was irritated. Like she was disappointed that I wouldn't leave that magic inside me.

I almost laughed at the audacity of her—but this was Mama Si, very typical. I wouldn't take it seriously.

"I'll call for Storm," Grey said with a nod. "He'll bring Valentine back."

My heart skipped a beat—Storm was with Valentine. I'd forgotten that they were together. I'd forgotten that Storm could simply grab him by the arms and fly him here right now.

"Do it," I told him. "Do it right now."

Grey nodded. "Of course, my queen. We'll see the end of this by tomorrow."

Mama Si and Reeva had already started to talk about space and her sisters and spells, and I turned to Grey, holding onto his shirt, hopeful and terrified at the same time. "It's the right thing to do, right?"

"Yes," he said without missing a beat, grabbing my face in his hand. "Of course, it is—but baby, I will need to make sure that you'll be safe first."

"I will be okay, Grey. You heard Reeva."

"I will check that spell myself," he told me. "And if there's any chance that you or our baby will be hurt?—"

"We won't! " I insisted, but he wouldn't hear it.

"If there's any chance at all, we will find another way."

"Grey," I warned him, but he shook his head, then brought his forehead to mine.

"It's non-negotiable. We'll find another way—whichever way makes sure that not a hair on your head will be harmed. Do you understand?"

I knew that if I argued now, it would get me nowhere. We had never really fought, Grey and I, and not just because we hadn't been together for long, but because we understood each other. He never pushed me, always knew when to stop—and so did I. I just knew.

So, I sighed and rose on my tiptoes to kiss his lips. "I understand."

But one way or the other, if there was even the smallest chance, I was going to set myself free of Syra's magic. She would be gone—away from this world in body and soul and magic—once and for all.

"Something's wrong."

The words rang in my ears as if someone beat a dong right next to me. For a good long moment, I wasn't able to even make sense of them.

Or maybe I was, but I just didn't want to.

Something wrong, something wrong, something wrong— there was always something wrong!

"He's coming," I whispered, standing on the rooftop of the Paradise, that same place where Valentine and I had talked last time. That same place from where we could see the woods that surrounded the mansion, the ocean, the sky, and the silhouettes of three Isles ahead—Dragons' Den and Witches' Wing, and in the middle, the Whispering Woods. We saw it because the rising sun revealed everything to our eyes.

We saw it because Storm was a big dragon, a really big dragon, as black as the night, so it was easy to spot him against the blue of the sky. The sunlight at his side made him look like he was bathing in fire, especially when his roar reached us, and it shook me to my core.

I didn't know Storm, not nearly as well as I knew Shadow, but that roar…

"He's coming, isn't he?"

"He's…" Grey paused, like he didn't want to say what was on his mind. Like he didn't want to admit to himself what he already knew—because he knew Storm. They were connected in a way that nobody could really understand. He said he sometimes even knew what Storm was thinking, and Storm always knew what went on in Grey's mind. That's how he'd heard earlier today, when Grey had come here and had released his magic to search for Storm, wherever he was in the Isles, and called him back.

Together with Valentine.

And now…

"He's alone, Fall."

Storm came back alone. Without Valentine. Without Shadow.

Just…Storm.

"Why?" I asked, because I didn't want to admit it, either. "Why—is he sailing back here? Did Valentine get a boat? Why is he alone?!"

Grey turned to look at me, and in his eyes, I saw the answer just fine—or, at least, what he suspected.

What I suspected.

"Let's wait for him to get here first, okay?" Grey finally said.

So, we did.

I sat on the ledge at the very corner, looking out at the rising sun that was growing bigger and brighter, even though it made little stars burst in my vision. I couldn't look away at all.

Behind me, Grey was with Storm—who'd come back alone.

Bloody. With a tear on his left wing. With two talons of his left foot missing. And the edge of his tail was bleeding, too.

God, I didn't want to know. I refused to even think about it right now while Grey tended to his wounds and they caught up— but without a single word. They understood each other just with looks and growls from Storm, and I was thankful for it.

But just a few minutes later, Storm flew off the rooftop and went straight for the woods at the back of the mansion, probably to sleep, and Grey came toward me.

He sat with me on the ledge, took my hand between his and brought it to his lap.

"He attacked him," he said, and there went my heart again, shaking and breaking, exploding.

"How?"

Grey shook his head. "Not sure, but with a lot of magic. They were in a town in the Whispering Woods, and Valentine went to speak to some people in this house near a woods, and Storm was waiting outside, hiding in the trees. Then he felt Valentine and he attacked him and ran with those same people he'd been talking to," he explained. "Storm was searching for him, trailing Shadow's scent when I called for him, and he came back."

The first words that wanted to come out of my mouth were, he wouldn't. Valentine would never. He was going to find ways to hide the magic inside me from the sirens so that I could live. He would never attack Storm. He would never run away.

He would never betray me!

But my own body wouldn't let me speak those words out loud because the truth was, he would.

Valentine had been playing games and switching sides since I knew him, and I could never be too sure what his truth was. What he really believed in. What he was loyal to, if anything. I had a feeling, one that insisted that I could trust Valentine, that the talk we'd had on this very ledge was true. He'd saved me from his brothers, and from Syra—he'd saved me!

But…he'd gotten Grey banished first. And he'd helped Syra put whatever magic she'd put in me before he turned on her. And the most important thing—why would Storm lie? Dragons couldn't lie, could they? They were animals.

"Fall," Grey said, inviting my eyes to his. The look in his broke my heart, too. "We'll figure it out without him."

My body was heavy, so I leaned on his shoulder, and he immediately grabbed me and put me on his lap where it was comfortable. Where I could let go completely, knowing he had me. Where I could rest—or try to.

"You believe it?" I whispered, hiding my face under his chin, keeping my eyes on the sun still. So many beautiful colors. So much life in them, yet I couldn't bring myself to even appreciate it.

"I saw it," Grey said. "Not Valentine, but I felt his magic. I felt Storm's pain when he attacked him."

My eyes squeezed shut. "What if someone else did it?"

"Who?"

"I don't know—the sirens? Maybe they discovered him and they attacked Storm and-and-and…" My voice trailed off, my heart skipping a beat.

Grey squeezed me tightly to his chest as if he could read my mind. "They're not here, baby. Nobody's coming. I'll feel it if they're close, and Mamayka will know the second they cross her borders in the water."

"But it's strange, though, isn't it? That they haven't found us yet?"

Something's wrong, something's wrong, something's wrong…

"It is, but let's focus on the magic first. Reeva will figure out a way to get it out of you," Grey said, kissing the top of my head. "She will. I know she will."

"This is fucked up, Grey. I've been thinking all day—what kind of a storage can they make? And if it actually works, how will we keep that magic away from the sirens?" Pushing back, I looked up at his face, his skin glowing with the golden light of the sun, his eyes made of fire just now. I touched his cheek gently. "If they get their hands on that magic, it will be over for real. The people will be doomed."

"I know," Grey said, closing his eyes for a moment, bringing my hand in front of his lips so he could kiss my palm. "I know, baby, but the alternative is unacceptable. We'll just make sure to protect that magic at all costs—when it's out of you."

I nodded, tears pricking the back of my eyes. "We'll bury it somewhere. Hide it under a mountain. In the fucking sky."

He smiled. "We'll take it to outer space."

Laughter bubbled out of me and a single tear slipped from my eye. "Yes, I like that. I like that very much."

Grey crushed me to his chest and kissed me deeply until my heart stopped breaking. "We'll figure it out," he whispered against my lips as the last of the sunlight fell on our side. "Whatever it takes, baby. We'll figure this out. You will be free from this, both of you." His hand pressed against my stomach.

"I know," I said, and not just because I believed in Grey, but I believed in me, too. For all my faults and my weaknesses, I tended to keep at it, never quit. No matter how fucked up things got, I could always count on…well, me. This time would be no different.

"Maybe he'll come back," I told Grey. "Maybe he'll realize what he did, and he'll come back by tomorrow. He'll explain himself. He'll make everything right again." Which was typical Valentine.

And if I chose to believe in this, I didn't feel as bad. I wasn't as desperate as a second ago. Maybe it was instinct, or maybe it was my naivety, but that's how I felt.

Grey smiled, even though he didn't believe me for a second. "Maybe."

Reeva was a bit panicked when we gave her and Mama Si the news. Her sisters were here, it seemed, three of them, and while they made preparations downstairs in the basement, she and Mama Si came to eat lunch with us in the dining room.

Even though I didn't eat, couldn't even think about putting food in my mouth, it felt great to spend time with them, to explore their minds, their ideas.

Mama Si still believed that I should keep the magic, that I should even try to use it, that I should give birth to my baby with it and watch him become the most powerful being in the universe. Her eyes sparkled as she talked about it, too, so I knew she'd imagined it, and it made chills run down my back.

Then Grey forbade her from even mentioning that absurd idea again, so we were back to discussing what spell Reeva was going to put together to basically play the role Shadow had played when Syra had given me her magic. I'd have to give it up willingly and push it down whatever transfer link she and her sisters would come up with and hope for the best.

"How will the sirens know?" Mama Si asked as she sipped her white wine. "How will they know that you no longer have that magic?"

"They feel it," I said, tapping my fingers on the tabletop. "Just like they felt it on me that day."

"So, that means they're going to feel it wherever we put it, right?" she asked, and my stomach twisted uncomfortably.

"There are spells," Grey said, looking at Reeva. "Spells that can shield the magic even from sirens. The witches designed the original spell of the curse that shielded everything from Syra's senses."

"That was old, very powerful magic. And we can certainly try again," Reeva said, but she didn't sound sure about it. "How will this stop the end of the Isles from happening, though?"

I closed my eyes, not daring to look at her because I had the feeling she knew that she'd been lied to. She knew that we had no fucking clue what the hell we were doing—because it was very easy to see.

"Why, the sirens, of course. If they can't find the magic, they'll assume it is gone. And if it's gone, they'll have no reason to search for it. No reason to kill for it, destroy for it. They'll just carry on," Mama Si said.

Every inch of my skin rose in goose bumps. My eyes opened because I needed to see Reeva now, needed to see when she burst out laughing and figured out that it was all a lie. I needed to see her take her sisters and leave the Burrow. Get the hell out of here with all her spells and scrolls and crystal fortunetellers before the sirens found us. Before they killed all of us.

The moment lasted an eternity. Reeva held my eyes. She didn't smile and she didn't frown, nor give any indication about what she was thinking, until…

"All right, then." She stood up. "Let's get to work."

She absolutely knew.