Page 37 of The Eighth Isle

“Like I said, I was very hurt by the whole thing, but an apology sure feels good,” she said, like I hadn’t spoken at all. “And since we’re all going to die anyway, I could help you if I so choose.”

Don’t speak, don’t speak, don’t speak…

I spoke. “You owe me.”

She gasped—and it was all an act. “I do not owe you a single thing!”

“You tricked me! You lied to me and manipulated me and you fucking threw me under the bus—just to gain power for yourself, you old hag!”

This time when she gasped, it felt pretty genuine. With both hands to her chest, she said, “I am not a witch,” she told me. “Therefore, I cannot be a hag. And I might have tricked you and lied to you, but I?—”

“Andmanipulatedme and everyone around me,” I cut her off, and she rolled her eyes.

“Yes—andthat,but I did it for my people. For my Isle.”

“You did it for yourself,” I said, slamming my hand on the table next. “However—I survived, and now you owe me. We’re all going to die, so you might as well repayonefucking debt you have to another person on this earth before you rot in hell for therest of eternity.” The words left my mouth so fast you’d think I rehearsed them and learned them by heart.

“Your claws are so sharp,” Mama Si said, but she was smiling, and she soundedproud.“But it’s socutethat you still think there’s a hell—oranythingat all after death, Fall Doll.”

She was going to be the death of me for real.

I groaned. “For the love of God, just tell me whatway?!”

Laughter. “And ingod, too—oh, my dearest doll!”

I should have been running out of that place by then, and running fast, yet I stayed put until she was done with her theatrics and got herself together again. Until she stopped laughing that awful sound.

“Okay, okay, fine. I will tell you,” she finally said, clearing her throat and straightening in her seat. “Who knew the end of the world would put me in such a great mood!”

“Mama Si,” I warned again, but she just waved me off.

“The way I see it, Fall Doll, there’s only one scenario in which nobody else gets killed by the siren, and you get your Grey—even if it is for a little while. Because let’s face it—you can’t really hide anywhere in the world. She’ll find you on another planet, too.”

“A little while,” I repeated with a nod. I would take a little while. I’d take a day—a fucking hour.

“Just a little while,” Mama Si said, and I couldn’t even begin to understand that she was so excited for the world to end.

She stood up from her chair and came around the desk, head high and steps steady, her eyes cold now, and she didn’t really see anything as she stared at the floor.

“Yes, yes, it could work,” she whispered. “She’d believe it—after all, itisthe truth, isn’t it?”

I shook my head, so impatient the curiosity was going to eat me from the inside out. “What’s the truth?!”

Mama Si shrugged, resting her hip at the edge of the desk as she slowly folded her arms in front of her. “The end.”

I narrowed my brows. “The prophecy.”

“Precisely. We will use the prophecy to lure her out,” said Mama Si.

“Lure her out?” Was she insane? Out ofwhere—the Eighth Isle?

“You’ll never even see your precious Grey if she’s on the Isle, Fall Doll. I’m sure you know this already—it’s impossible to escape her senses. But if she’s not on the Isle, there might be a chance for you,” Mama Si said.

Fear, raw and intense, was already weighing down on my shoulders. “And you think it’ll work?”

“I do, actually,” she said, and she really didn’t look afraid anymore—just excited. “She’ll want to see the reading of the stars, especially if everything you said about it is true. And while she does…” Slowly those pink lips spread into a wicked smile. “You can get your Grey and run away—until she catches you, that is.” And she winked.

“Until she catches me,” I repeated.

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