Page 127 of The Evernight Court

I swallowed hard.Damn it, Fall.“Talking,” I muttered.

“Right,” Grey said with a sneaky grin.

I rolled my eyes. “All I’m saying is that I turn invisible to much more powerful Enchanted when I’m trying really hard to disappear or to not be seen.” I hadn’t even done it consciously at all. It had come naturally, which made sense. The book Valentine had written for me said that magic responded to our wants and needs and the emotions that drove us, first and foremost.

“I didn’t hear you at all when you first landed here. I thought Storm was alone,” Grey finally said. “Valentine had no clue, either.”

“Yes—and I was right there behind that rock, watching you.”

Grey sighed, putting his arm over my shoulders. “That’s not unheard of. There are Enchanted out there who can keep their energy shielded perfectly well so that they’re basically invisible to most people’s senses,” he said. “What concerns me is Sedelis. Sirens are incredibly hard to fool.”

As if on cue, my eyes moved up to the raised rock behind the pool, the one the Great White had basically wrapped himself around. Someone was lying up there, but all I saw was strings of light hair on the side.

Ice cold chills washed over me. “Is that her?”

Grey nodded. “Do you want to see?”

Fuck, yeah, I wanted to see, but… “Is he going to wake up?”

“Not if we keep quiet.”

Grey wrapped his arms around my waist, and his wings moved slowly this time. You could barely tell they were beating by sound alone. It took him a moment to get us high enough so that I could see the top of that rock clearly, and when I did, I tightened my arms around his neck, suddenlyterrified.

Syra looked both dead and alive.

Not only that, but she could be the most beautiful creature I had ever seen in my whole life. Her ivory skin looked almost completely white, both radiant and dead at the same time, and she was naked. She wore legs instead of a fishtail, her breasts on full display, her hair, a light golden blonde, falling off the edge of the rock, so long it probably reached the back of her knees when she stood up straight.

Every line of her face was perfection, and you could tell exactly how striking she would be when she opened her eyes.

It wasSyra—the same Syra I’d seen in the Storyteller, and she hadn’t changed one bit.

“Put me down,” I whispered against Grey’s neck when I turned my head the other way.

A bad feeling had settled in my gut even before my boots touched the ground again. Grey must have noticed because he took my hand in his and said, “Let’s talk outside.”

I eagerly followed.

Something’s wrong.

My gut said it. My entire being said it—something did not feel right here, and it wasn’t the fact that the body of the sirenthat had ruined Ennaris wasright there,possibly a couple hundred feet away.

“Talk to me, Fall,” Grey said. He stepped in front of me, taking away the view of the woods ahead, of those red eyes that hadn’t disappeared but hadn’t come closer, either.

“I…I don’t know,” I whispered. “Valentine’s not here.” He was not under those rocks as he should have been—a lotof rocks had fallen on him.

“He’s probably gone,” Grey said, looking out at the darkness—except those words…they didn’t settle right with me.

“How?” I wondered. “How could he have gotten off this Isle already?” And with those animals out there? Shadow was a dragon, too, but he was no Storm. He wouldn’t be able to carry Valentine or keep those things off him for long. And Valentinecouldn’t keep them away with his magic forever, either.

“I don’t know,” Grey admitted reluctantly.

“He hasn’t,” I said, looking behind me at the mountain one more time. “He hasn’t gone anywhere, Grey. I think he’s still here. Think about it—why else would Sedelis talk to him about the Great White?” I flinched, shaking my head. “Something feels off. Something isn’t right.”

“But there’s nothinghere. No source of magic, no people, no nothing. This is all there is to the Eighth Isle.” He spread his arms to the sides to show me.

“What about the dragon?” I asked. “The Great White—what about him?”

But Grey shook his head. “He was made to stay inside that mountain for the rest of eternity and guard Syra’s body. He cannot be bribed or chased away or fought—the size of him alone makes him invincible. If he were to wake up, nothing could stop him—no man and no dragon. Valentine couldn’t control him if he tried.”

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