Page 55 of Mama Si's Paradise

Mama Si then stood up and went to the other side of the room, but I couldn’t look away from that half-moon yet. I couldn’t tear my eyes off the sky, terrified it would fall on us any second and I would miss it. She returned with two glasses of wine, one red and one white, and handed the latter to me.

“I hear you like the taste of this best,” she said with a sorry smile on her beautiful face.

“I do.” If only because it wasn’t as strong as the others. If only because it seemed to put me in a good mood when I got a little tipsy on it during dinner with the girls. So, I held onto the glass and took a little sip.

“The Enchanted,” I said. “What are the Enchanted?”

“That’s me,” Mama Si said without missing a beat. “I am an Enchanted, and so is Assa. So is Mike. So are some of the staff who work in the Paradise, though most are only human.”

Only human.

I turned to look at her to make sure she wasn’t joking—she wasn’t.

Only human. Only an illusion.

“Go on,” I whispered and took a bigger sip of the wine.

“We are the people of the Seven Isles, Fall Doll. We can do magic in various forms. Each kind has its own brand, so to speak, but we’re all connected to this land. We give it and we take from it. We’re basically one.”

“Right. The land that can read your mind and can make pianos sprout out of the ground.”

Should that have soundedfunny? Because it didn’t.

“Exactly,” Mama Si said, like she was genuinely glad that I grasped the fucking concept so quickly.

“Magic.” She’d been telling me that all along. She’d been saying that the Paradise was magical—I’d just had no clue that she’d meant it literally.

“Yes. Such wonderful thing.” She raised her palm toward me just as pink petals began to simply appear right thereover her glove with such ease. Glittery dust floated in the air around it, then disappeared as soon as the petals were whole, wrapped around one another like a real rose. “It has the power to create anything you want, as long as it exists in your mind first.” She closed her fist for a moment, and when she opened it again, the flower was gone. “It canunmakeanything, too, as long as you’ve got the energy it needs.”

“How?” I said, shaking my head, because the more she spoke, the more absurd this whole thing seemed. “How is this possible? How does the world not know?” Why wasn’t everyonetalking about this—how?!

“Don’t be silly, Fall Doll. How would a world full of humans know what to do with magic?” She laughed and laughed, holding her hand to her chest like that really was the silliest thing she’d ever heard in all her life. “No, the world doesn’t know. The worldcan’tknow. The best they would come up with is to try to make us submit to them, and when we refused, they’d open war on the Seven Isles.” She shook her head. “Andthatwould not end well for humanity, I’m afraid.”

“You don’t know that.” Nobody was going to try to get anybody to submit or open war on anything—it was two thousand, twenty-four.

“Oh, but I do,” Mama Si said, her vibrant eyes locked on mine. “These walls have seen some of the most powerful people in the world, doll. These lips have spoken to the most brilliant minds of the last few decades.” She slowly touched the corner of her lips with her fingertips. “I know very well what the world would do if they found out about the Enchanted. That is why we stick to our lands and why keeping our secret is sacredto us.”

It felt like that should have been a threat, but Mama Si’s voice was soft and easy as she said it.

“So, what are you going to do tome,then? Are you gonnawipe my mind or something?” I smiled, shaking my head, because it couldn’t be as bad as she said it was.

I thought for sure she was going to laugh again, but a second passed and Mama Si didn’t move at all. She didn’t laugh. She didn’t smile. She just looked at me like she wassorryfor me again.

My breath caught in my throat. “Are…are you serious?” Shewasgoing to wipe my mind?!

“We really are very strict about keeping ourselves hidden,” Mama Si said, a bit breathless. “I mean, technically speaking, nobody told you, so nobody can be charged with treason.” She took a sip of her drink, her eyes on the floor but she didn’t really see anything, deep in thought. “Technically speaking, it was the Blood Burrow that revealed itself to you. The animals came to you of their own free will, so…”

Her voice trailed off and my heart was beating so fast I could barely hear my own whisper when I said,“So?”

She looked up at me, brows slightly narrowed. “So…I don’t know. I’ve never actually been in such a position before. I don’t know, Fall Doll.” And she sounded even more worried with every word.

I turned to her with my whole body. “Mama Si, I’m not going to tell anyone.” It was a promise, even if I didn’t say it in so many words. If keeping their secret was such a big deal, I’d take it to my grave. I’d never speak a single word about what I’d seen to anyone, ever.

“Oh, Fall Doll. I do believe you, but others don’t know you well enough to trust your word. They’re going to want to make sure that this doesn’t get out of hand,” Mama Si said.

“You…you can’t,” I ended up whispering. “Mama Si, that forest is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my whole life. You can’t just take it away from me.” She couldn’t let the Burrow show me a magical world—arealmagicalworld where pianos sprouted from the ground—then take it all away by erasing my memories of it.

“Oh, doll, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, reaching out to grab my hand. “There isn’t much I can do about it, I’m afraid. These are the rules?—”

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