Page 154 of The Eighth Isle

Then Grey spread his wings and unleashed his own magic, too, a shield that stopped that heat abruptly—and the others came out of the woods, too.

I hadn’t seen them, hadn’t felt them at all save for Mama Si’s magic because she’d wanted to let me know that they were here. So much magic was in the air so suddenly that my breath caught in my throat, air refusing to go down for a moment as I watched the disaster unfold right in front of my eyes: Grey and Mama Si, Assa and the three witch sisters standing in front of us by the lake’s edge, arms raised and magic unleashed at the four sirens.

Meanwhile the sirens werelaughing,as surprised as they were to see the others had joined. Laughing, because even though they were outnumbered, they knew it wouldn’t be a bother to kill all of us. Every single one. It would only taketime,and that’s all we hoped for. That was our plan—to gain a little time so that we could get this magic out of me and then Reeva could hide it until she hopefully learned how to use it.

“Help me up, Sunshine,” said Valentine through gritted teeth, holding onto the tree roots around that rock to get himself on his feet. “And just what exactly were you thinking, coming here?! You can’t win against them—they’re too strong!” he continued when I pulled him up. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes, his facetransformedalready, back to the way it always was. “I’m going to get you out of here—now.”

“No, Valentine, we?—”

“Move, Autumn!”

Reeva’s face came before my eyes as she suddenly came out of the tree line, and I could have sworn she wasinvisibleup until that second. Valentine instantly raised his hand toward her, probably on instinct, and my heart jumped.

I grabbed his arm again and brought it down. “Don’t!”

Reeva fell on her knees right behind that rock, half hidden from the sirens and the others who were still fighting, rising in the air and slamming against the ground, so much magic leaking from them it should have been impossible to breathe by now.

“What is this?” Valentine said, turning to Reeva, who had put down that box with the green crystal in the front—the storage vessel where Syra’s magic would remain until the witches learned how to make it into a weapon orsomethingto get the sirens to stand down.

“Listen to me, Valentine. Reeva can do a spell that will transfer Syra’s magic into that box. All we need is you and Shadow to be our transfer link, okay?”

Valentine looked like I’d slapped him in the face. “Sunshine, no,” he told me. “That’s dangerous. That’s impossible—that box can’t contain what’s inside you.”

“It can, Master Valentine. I’ve made this myself with the best of my magic—and we need to hurry if we want to make it,” Reevasaid, still on her knees. “Get down here. If we can do this out of their sight, they won’t know until it’s too late.”

“Sunshine, this is?—”

I fell to my knees and pulled him down by the hands. It was easy because he was barely standing already.

“Sit down and do with me and Reeva what you did with Syra, Valentine,” I demanded. “We don’t have much time!”

The fight was already getting out of hand. The sirens were all standing, while Mama Si was struggling to make it to her feet, one of the witches was knocked out cold, and Grey was bleeding in several places.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Valentine said. “That box?—”

“This is the best we have. We either do this, or they will kill me. They will take this magic out of me one way or the other—do you understand?!” I grabbed his face in my hands. “Just do what I say for once in your life, will you?!”

By some miracle, Valentine didn’t argue. He looked positively shocked for a moment, his eyes wide as he looked at me, saw my desperation reflected in my face.

And he said, “Okay. Let’s do it.”

“The chanting requires ninety-two seconds,” said Reeva, pushing the box between us. “I need you to hold hands and keep them together inside the box. This stone will pull out the magic and store it if you can really act as a conductor, Master Valentine.”

“Shadow can,” Valentine said, never breaking eye contact with me as I grabbed his hand, held it tightly in mine, and rested it in that box. “Sunshine, are you sure about this?”

I shook my head. “I need this magic out of me. I need…Ineedto protect my baby.” Because as long as that magic was in me, the sirens would never stop.

Valentine closed his eyes just as something slammed against the ground near the lake, and my heart tripped all over itself, thinking it was Grey. Instead, it was Fessa, who fell so hard she made a hole in the ground two feet deep.

“This is it. Focus—and do not move out of my reach for any reason,” Reeva urged and turned to me. “Remember to let go, young one.Let go.”

With her hands on both our wrists, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and began to chant.

As she did, I looked at Grey, who was still fighting, bloody and dirty, his wings half spread on his back. He must have heard me calling for him in my mind because he turned to me for just one second, just to see me, and he smiled.

A small smile, but it was a breath of fresh air through all that fucking magic that was trying to suffocate me.

We’re going to be okay.

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