Page 122 of The Eighth Isle

I nodded, not concerned with whether she meant it or not—it didn’t matter at all. “Then help me right now. Help me figure out what Syra’s magic is doing to me.”

“Very well,” Mama Si said. “I shall call for Reeva Lorein.”

“You think she’s trustworthy?” Grey asked before I could.

“She likes Fall, and most importantly, she’s given up on life already. She won’t mind risking an early death,” Mama Si said, and her voice was rock solid again—just like normal. The Mama Si I always knew.

It put me at ease, her attitude.

“I don’t want to cost anyone their lives.” Least of all someone like Reeva Lorein, the ruler of the witches, one of the few people who had genuinely liked me and helped me when I needed it.

“That’s inevitable. It’s not your place to worry about other people. They all make their own choices,” Mama Si said, her voice crystal clear. Really,reallyrelieved to hear it. “We won’t be forcing Reeva into anything. A little lying?—”

“No,” I cut her off right away. “No lying.”

Mama Si raised her thin brow at me. “She’s the ruler of the witches, Fall Doll. She knows more about magic than anyone on the Isles.”

“Mamayka is right,” Grey said.

“But Reeva has always been kind to me. I don’t want to manipulate her, trick her into helping me, then cost her her life.” That was wrong—so fucking wrong.

“So, don’t,” Mama Si said, bringing her cup of coffee to her lips slowly. “Letmedo it.”

“That’s the same thing.”

“It really isn’t. And I won’t be lying to her, doll—just telling her what she wants to hear,” she told me, resting her elbows on the table. “In fact, I’ll be telling her a truth, with just a bit of…added spice, if you will.”

“How?” I wondered because if there was anyone who could lie and make it believable, it was Mama Si. I was living proof of how well she could manipulate, and I was curious to know how she thought.

“Well, we do want to save the world and whatnot, right? She wants that, too. All I’ll do is tell her that we knowhowto do it,” she said, then looked down at my stomach. “All I’ll tell her is that the world will be saved if your baby is. If we manage to figure out exactly what was done to you.”

“No.” I really,reallydidn’t want to tell anybody that.

“Yes, Fall Doll,” she calmly said.

“Mama Si, we—”will not lie,I was going to say, but she didn’t want to hear it.

“And what if we can take it out of you?”

I clamped my mouth shut.

Take it out? That magic that was inside me now—she thought we could take it out?

Even Grey looked twice as attentive within a second.

Mama Si smiled like she’d already won. “What if we tell Reeva that if we can figure out how to take back what was done to you, the world will be saved?”

Fuck, that sounded awful, no matter how hopeful it made me. “But it’s still a lie. It’s a fuckinglie.”

“Not entirely,” Mama Si said, completely unfazed. “Who is to say that the sirens can’t be stopped from bringing about the end? Think about it—they only want to kill you because of what Syra did.”

“And if we undo whatever she did to you—not hide like Valentine hopes, butundo…” Grey said from my side, and his voice trailed off.

“Then the sirens will have no reason to come after you, will they?” Mama Si finished.

I shook my head because that did make sense, and Ireally, really,wanted to get there so badly. To not have to hide. To not have to fear being found by the fucking sirens.

“We don’t even know that it’s possible,” I whispered. We had no clue if evenhidingthis magic could be done. Valentine was still out there, searching for this very answer.

---