Page 135 of The Eighth Isle

I was suddenly disgusted and jumped to my feet, a new wave of energy rushing through my blood. Grey stood up with me and wrapped his hand around mine when I stepped back.

“That’s not going to happen. If there’s a way to get this magic out of me, I want it gone right now.”

Reeva stood up, too, nodding. “I believe that is the right thing to do, too.”

“But all that power!” said Mama Si. “Come on—you don’t want to give up all that power. Your son would bea god. If he’s taught how to harness it since the beginning, if?—”

“Enough,” Grey said, and his magic fell over our shoulders like a heavy blanket, not painful, just intense. “That’s enough, Mamayka. You heard Fall. It’s not going to happen.”

Mama Si looked like she was going to burst into tears any minute. “But?—”

“No, Mamayka,no!” Reeva said, turning to her, shaking her shoulders. “That is dangerous stuff to mess with. Siren magic is unlike anything else the world knows. It’s the magic of Ennaris itself—to meddle with it is foolish. It would only backfire.”

Mama Si closed her eyes and lowered her head with a deep sigh. “Fine. Fine.Fine.”

“We will try it, young one,” Reeva said. “I don’t know if it can be done, but we will certainly try it.”

“How?” Grey said.

“The one way witches know how to pull out magic from something,” she said, shaking her head with a shrug. “I’m afraid I don’t know other options.”

“But it could work,” I insisted becausethatwas something worth fighting for. Worth hoping for. Not just to hide this magic—but to take it out of me completely.

“Withouthurting Fall,” Grey insisted, and Reeva nodded.

“Like I said—we will try. Tomorrow night, once I’ve rested and prepared and called for a few of my sisters. I will need assistance for this.”

“Is it going to hurt the baby?” I wondered, leaning against Grey’s shoulder.

For a moment, Reeva only shook her head, staring at the floor, thinking. “I have so much to read first, but it shouldn’t. It shouldn’t hurt anyone if it’s done right. We will need a transferring link, a strong one, something that will act like abridge for the magic—oh, and a vessel! An object in which we will store said magic.”

My eyes closed. “A transferring link.” Wasn’t that what Valentine had been?

Wasn’t that what he and Shadow had done that day for Syra?Ruit,Syra had called him.

“Yes, like a body that is able to convert the magic harmlessly from one subject to another—orobject. It works on objects, too. But with this kind of magic, I’m not sure exactly what we’ll need,” Reeva said, pacing in front of the fireplace, head down and hands on her hips as she thought out loud. “Which is why I have to call for my sisters—we will have to create a very big and very sturdy storage for it. We will have to make sure we can control it before we pull it out.”

“What about a Ruit?”

Reeva stopped pacing and looked at me. “A Ruit?” she said, and I nodded. “You mean a Ruitdragon?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Well, yes, technically speaking,” she said in wonder. “Ruits were made to connect and transfer magic, but they’re a very rare species, and we’d have to speak to Dragons’ Den?—”

“Shadow,” I cut her off. “Shadow is a Ruit. Syra used him and Valentine to put her magic in me—and it worked.” I looked up at Grey. “We have to find Valentine.”

“By the stars,” Reeva said, lips stretching into a slow smile. “That would be…that would actually work! If we manage to put together the spell, all we’d need is to create a heavy-duty storage vessel—it would absolutely work. I don’t see why it wouldn’t!”

Music to my ears.

“Yes, yes, whatever,” said Mama Si with a wave of her hand, like she was irritated. Like she was disappointed that I wouldn’t leave that magic inside me.

I almost laughed at the audacity of her—but this was Mama Si, very typical. I wouldn’t take it seriously.

“I’ll call for Storm,” Grey said with a nod. “He’ll bring Valentine back.”

My heart skipped a beat—Storm was with Valentine. I’d forgotten that they were together. I’d forgotten that Storm could simply grab him by the arms and fly him here right now.

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