Chapter 22

I jumpedoff the rocks and into the woods again, my senses not even close to what they were before, but still very much capable of leading me in the right direction—toward Valentine.

He was here. He'd fallen against the trees just here. The tomb had two entrances on either side of the mountain, and Valentine had landed very close to the second. Despite the weakness of my body, I didn't slow down. Just the idea that I would be seeing Fall again sent me soaring forward—until something slammed against my back.

I fell forward, rolling on the ground a few times before I hit a tree with my side. The beast that was coming for me with two rows of teeth on each jaw was right there.

Instinct moved me to the side, and it bit the tree instead of my face, but more were coming.

They must have been getting really desperate to get so close to the edge of the mountain. They came at me from all sides at once, five of them—mutated beasts that weren't wolves nor tigers nor anything I'd ever come across before. They had dark fur that grew in patches, red or green eyes, and each had talons and sharp teeth in heaps, in strange places and in different sizes.

One bit me on the arm as I tried to move away from the other, and even though I still had those two ribs to fight with, they didn't serve me much when there were so many of them.

And the bigger problem was, more would be coming. They'd sense my weakness, smell my blood, and they'd come for me despite how close to the tomb we were.

I couldn't get to Valentine, not like this. The only way to survive was to get up on those rocks, as far up as I could, and the beasts would retreat. No matter how wounded I was, they never came up the mountain.

Cursing under my breath, I began to climb branches as well as I could and to jump until I was close enough to the rocks to touch them. Their claws were everywhere, and one bit me on the calf, but the pain hardly registered. I instead focused all my strength on kicking back to get it to let go, and when it did, I jumped for one last time.

I jumped high and I thought I would make it. I thought I'd get up on that rock and call to Valentine, tell him to come closer, help him up here with me before those beasts tore him apart, too.

Except another one of them got more courageous than I'd ever seen before, and it jumped with me. It bit my ankle and pulled me to the side hard, and there was no way I could keep my balance. This pain I felt all the way to my bones. It blinded me, rendered me deaf for a long moment, and turned my body completely numb so that when I slammed against the rocks, I didn't feel it. So that when I rolled and rolled, and some rocks groaned as they, too, rolled down and fell onto the floor of the forest, I didn't feel it.

My body was twisted at a weird angle, hips on the side while my chest was against the rocks, but I couldn't really tell if it hurt. Or maybe, where it hurt. It took me a long time to be able to see my surroundings when I blinked and realized that half those rocks that had broken with my fall had landed on top of me, too, burying me underneath. My energy was gone, and the world around me was getting darker by the moment. I couldn't raise my head up no matter how strong my resolve.

But just before my eyes closed and my mind shut down for good, I saw a silhouette climbing up the rocks in a rush, as well as the footsteps of what I'd come to know as those beasts. The larger ones, the ones who'd finally gotten me.

Valentine had already reached the tomb mountain.

I saw him, saw his profile as he straightened up and dusted off his jacket, looking around himself in disgust at what I assumed were those animals that I could barely hear growling from the edge of the mountain.

He'd see me. Valentine would see me in no time, and he'd help me get out of the rubble—I was sure of it. Despite everything, I knew he hadn't had anything personal with me or Fall that morning—he'd just wanted to end up here.

But Valentine wasn't looking my way at all. Instead, he turned to the mountain, to the mouth of the cave that was the second entrance to the tomb and looked up at it with his lips slightly parted. I had no voice to call his name with, no way of moving to let him know I was there.

So, when he disappeared behind the rocks, I was terrified. The dragon that guarded Syra's body was in there, and if Valentine made too much noise, he'd awaken.

If he did, he'd kill Valentine. He'd kill all of us.

But even knowing that didn't make a difference. My body was too far gone. The fear and panic could no longer get to me.

I passed out.

My eyes openedand the view in front of me didn't change. The same darkness, the same smell of deadness in the air. Deadness, dried blood and rot.

I jerked up and pieces of rock fell from my body. I'd been half buried underneath them, and I hardly felt my legs. The wounds from the bites of those beasts were still raw, though I didn't think they were bleeding anymore.

And I needed to find Valentine before he awakened the dragon and doomed us both.

The beasts that had chased me up the mountain had retreated behind the large trees. I could hardly make out their red eyes as they followed me, but I didn't bother to make sure they wouldn't attack. If they did, there wasn't much I could do about it, so I focused on my legs, on putting one foot in front of the other as fast as I could.

Fuck, it hurt. Everything hurt and the more I moved, the more the numbness faded to leave way for the pain. But the narrow tunnel that led into the tomb was dark and water trickled in thin streams on its floor, and if I wasn't careful, I could slip. If I slipped, I wouldn't be able to get up again.

So, I ignored the pain and held onto the sharp edges of the stone surrounding me, and I made my way into the tomb within a couple of minutes.

The vastness of the inside of that mountain took me off guard all over again, just as it had that first time. It was open, the ceiling as high as the mountain top, the ground uneven and full of sharp edges. Water everywhere, thin streams coming from the turquoise pool at the heart of it, the bright glow of which illuminated every inch of the tomb.

On the other side of the turquoise pool rose a big black rock about ten feet wide, atop which lay Syra, her body perfectly still, her skin almost grey. To look at her you'd be sure she was only a corpse—but she wasn't. She was still alive.

And the white dragon that was probably taller than this mountain when he stood up on his hind legs had wrapped his talons and neck and tail all around that black rock as he slept, breathing once a minute. Whatever magic the sirens had put on him, it worked wonders. He must have been here since the very beginning, and his scales hadn't cracked the way those of old dragons did. They hadn't lost their color, either—his were a bright white, and his horns, his barbs and claws were intact, too. He was perfectly preserved.

Across from them, on this side of the pool, was Valentine, watching the guardian and Syra with his mouth wide open.

It was so strange to see him there—a dark figure against the bright turquoise light of the pool. I moved forward in a rush and stepped into a puddle of water, and in the absolute silence of the cave, the sound echoed all the way to the top of the mountain.

Valentine turned.

It was obvious to see that he hadn't expected me to be here. The shock in his eyes was perfectly visible, and he didn't bother to try to hide it.

I raised my finger to my lips to tell him to keep his mouth shut because if that dragon woke up…

Except Valentine didn't fucking care.

"I'll be damned," he said in a hushed whisper, forcing me to move faster.

"Keep it down," I hissed, my attention on the dragon behind him, still asleep.

But he laughed.

Valentine laughed as I approached him, and not because he was amused or entertained. The sound of it was bitter and so much louder than my footfall on that puddle.

"I'll be damned, brother. You're alive." He shook his head, still smiling in disbelief. "This place has either made me insane already, or you're still alive."

"I am, but I won't be for much longer if that wakes up—and neither will you." I pointed my finger at the dragon, expecting it to move any second now.

Valentine wasn't bothered in the least. He just looked at me like that still, like I was the most fascinating, horrendous thing he'd ever come across.

"Oh, but it's already too late," Valentine said.

"No, it isn't," I said, and had I been any stronger, I'd have grabbed him and flown out of here in a blink of an eye by now. As it was, the best I could do was reach out my hand toward him. "Valentine, let's get out of here. We'll talk outside."

"Talk?" he said, and again, he laughed. Again, that sound echoed all over the cave, shaking its walls. "Why would I want to talk to you, Grey? You're already as good as dead. I'm not going to even bother with you."

This goddamn prick.

"Valentine, you have no idea?—"

The ground groaning like a wild beast cut me off.

Valentine smiled. "Like I said, too late."

The dragon guardian opened his eyes.

They were the exact same color as the water of that pool, and they, too, emitted a bit of light. His black pupils were slit, and a low growl came from deep within his throat as he slowly raised his head, then put his talons over the rock where Syra lay, caging her body between them.

"Valentine!" I shouted, reaching out to grab his arm to pull him back, but he jerked me away.

"She was right," he told me as the dragon stretched his thick neck and moved his tail up to the ceiling, then pushed himself farther up still, taking in his surroundings. Taking in us.

"I can't believe she was right!" shouted Valentine.

I shook my head at my brother. He had always been the odd one. I always thought he was cunning, sneaky, a disaster waiting to happen, but this was beyond anything I could have imagined.

He was smiling while I moved closer to the entrance, trying to get away from that dragon as if I had any hopes of escaping here alive.

"Who?!" What the hell was he talking about—and why wasn't he running to the entrance yet?

But Valentine had other plans, apparently. He pulled something out of the chest pocket of his jacket slowly, like he had all the time in the world. The dragon was still sniffing around, still stretching his limbs, still rising, and I had another minute.

Just another minute to convince him to join me outside, but…

"Your mother," Valentine said.

Then he raised whatever had been in his pocket—a small bottle made out of a deep green glass and a metal lid. He flipped it open with his thumb then threw it back, drinking its contents as he held my eyes.

"Genevieve was absolutely, one-hundred percent right."

"About wha?—"

The dragon roared.

He roared and he moved so fast it should have been impossible for a creature his size. His long neck stretched and stretched down that rock and over the surface of the pool, jaws wide open, one of his teeth the size of my entire fucking body, and he roared.

It was a moment's decision.

Logic said that I should have been by the entrance now, running down the tunnel to get out, but in those moments, I wasn't thinking straight. In those moments, I shot forward instead, and again, I tried to grab Valentine by the arm. If he was insane enough not to fear that dragon, it didn't matter. He would learn to be wary of it if we survived this. Just as soon as we made it out.

Because we had to. We had to make it out. Valentine knew how to get out of the Eighth Isle. That's why he'd wanted to get banished—he knew. And he was my only chance at getting back to Fall, so that won over the logical part of me fairly quickly.

Unfortunately for me, I overestimated my speed, and before I reached Valentine, the dragon did. He was so massive that one slow movement and he was right there, the barbs of his chin touching the surface of the pool's water, those large jaws opening as he came for Valentine, who refused to move a single inch.

I'd never jumped faster in my life, and I landed right behind him, ready to grab him and haul him away on my shoulder if needed.

Then my brother spoke.

"Tara een yoris verdinis."

The entire Isle held its breath as his voice, as those words spread out through the cave. As they reached the dragon, whose jaws were barely five feet away.

And he moved again.

This time, he retreated. This time, the white dragon moved back on top of that black rock near Syra's body, roaring so loudly that dust and small rocks fell off the cave's ceiling because the strength of it shook the very foundation of the Isle.

Then he sat down.

He settled his head near the rock just like before.

He blew smoke out of his large nostrils, and with that deep growl that I felt in my bones, he closed his eyes again.

I'd moved back without realizing it, shaking my head, my mouth open but I couldn't figure out what the hell I wanted to say first.

"I feel it," Valentine whispered to himself, looking down at his hand—at that small green bottle still in it.

"Valentine," I said, no longer bothering to keep my voice down. "What…what have you done?"

Why in the world would he know how to order a dragon that size? A dragon who is the guardian of Syra?

How?!

When he looked at me, it was like he'd forgotten I was even there. "I did what others should have done, long, long before me." Putting away that small bottle in his pocket again, he raised his hands toward the ceiling of the cave. "And I am just getting started."

The magic that came out of his hands was twice as powerful as mine had been the first day I came here and tried to break out. Valentine's dark eyes glistened, and a small smile played on his lips, his boyish face now changed. Matured. It had only been a few weeks since I'd seen him, but Valentine had already changed so much.

And I had no clue what the hell he was trying to do here, but I was sure it wasn't anything good.

That was all I needed to know to get me to move toward him again. If I could knock him out, I could take him to my cave and I could force him to tell me everything.

And I genuinely thought I'd be able to do that with ease because I kept forgetting the state I was in. I kept forgetting how little of me was left on this Isle, and how much the curse had sucked out of me already.It had taken my energy and my magic. I was barely running.

Then the magic exploded all around Valentine, and it hit me square in the face and chest when I was still too far away to touch him. It hit me hard and threw me in the air, and I landed against the wall on my side, then dropped to the floor on my front. I had no hopes that I'd be able to even talk to him, ask a question, say a single word, but I did think that I'd be able to make it to my feet again just as soon as the pain in my body faded away somewhat.

I was wrong.

The pain faded away, but my body became perfectly paralyzed as more and more magic made the air around me heavy. My eyes were closed, and I couldn't open them. My lips were sealed, and I couldn't force Valentine to tell me what he'd done. I couldn't force him to tell me about Fall—had he hurt her? Was she okay?

Had anyone laid their fucking hands on her?!

My mind gave up on me with the image of her terrified face at the center of it.

I had never felt more worthless in my entire existence.