Page 78 of The Eighth Isle

I didn’t care about the pain at all. I cared about what she was going to do to this baby that only ever feltrealwhen Grey was with me. When we were together. When I didn’t feel like I was all alone in the universe again.

Maybe that’s how I convinced myself to walk out of the room around midnight and wander the empty hallways, looking at the paintings that were now on every wall. Syra had filled every corner and every room with things, brand new and shiny, which was a shame because nobody used them. It was a shame that she’d made all this castle for nothing.

As I wandered barefoot, my mind was focused on when the sun would rise, on when I went out to the beaches again to search for the sirens. This time, I decided, I was going to get in the water and search for them underneath the surface.

God help me, I was going to get underwater with sirens.

The thought made my stomach twist into a million knots. Sedelis had had her fishtail wrapped around my legs the first day I was brought to the Whispering Woods, and I still had very bad dreams about it some nights. I’d sworn to myself that I would never let a siren touch me underwater again—but here we were. There was no telling what they’d even do to me if I found them, but I was still going to try.

And then I heard the noise.

It was barely there, like something small and sharp was tapping on rocks somewhere to my right. I turned but there wasnobody there, just the corridor illuminated by the small lamps on the walls.

Silence for a moment, and I held my breath, too, all my attention on my ears…

Then it came again, that same sound, just a bit louder.

I was moving back down the corridor in the direction I came from, sure it was an insect, or maybe a golem, but when I turned the corner and was in the wide hallway again, there was nobody there. Paintings and flowers, lamps and a big square window at the very end, one of the few left without glass—nothing else.

Seconds later, when the tapping filled my ears again, I realized it was coming from outside that window.

Chills rushed down my back as I rose on my tiptoes and went closer to see. Magic was in the air, that much I felt, but it wasn’t anything particular, not the energy of someone I knew. Not Grey or Valentine, and definitely not Syra.

I put my hands on the stone ledge and looked out at the Eighth Isle, at the trees and the dark sky, half a moon just coming out of the passing clouds, and…

Claws.

The scream got stuck in my throat and my heart nearly broke right out of me. Claws grabbed me by the arms and pulled me right out of the window, and then I was flying in the night.

My instincts fired up and my magic raged, ready to spill out of my every pore, and for a moment, I couldn’t even see what was around me from the fear and the panic. I couldn’t see at all, and my magic was a second away from bursting out—but the sound of those wings beating brought everything to a halt.

Not just the sound, but thefeelingwas so familiar—of the wind blowing against my face and those claws squeezing my arms and that large shape that was right there over my head.

So, I looked up.

Storm’s grey underbelly came into view after a few blinks, and the magic in me retreated instantly, moving back under my skin. I was smiling even though Storm was flying fast, so fast I could hardly breathe. So fast and almost soundlessly over the dark castle.

He flew all the way to the other side, to the left of the Great White—and to that clearing with the engraved stone plaque in the middle.

Grey was at the center of it, looking up at us.

It all happened so fast, it was a miracle I didn’t scream when Storm suddenly let go of me and we were still about twenty feet off the ground. He let go of me, and my vision blurred from the panic once more, but it only lasted a second before strong arms caught me in the air, then lowered me down to the ground gently.

Grey.

Grey was there with his wings spread and his eyes dark, telling me, “You’re okay, baby. Don’t scream, you’re okay.”

Fuck screaming—I grabbed his face and kissed him before I’d filled my lungs with enough air.

“What are you doing here, Grey? What is happening? He grabbed me and-and-and?—”

“You weren’t in your room. I came to search for you,” Grey said, and my heart fell.

“Shit—I’m sorry! I couldn’t sleep and I went out for a walk.” Out of all the nights that I’d been right there on that bed, waiting…

“It’s okay. Storm found you. We’re leaving, baby. We’re flying out of here tonight.”

“We are?”

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