Page 140 of The Eighth Isle

“Sh-Sh-Shadow?”

There it was, that snickering sound.

Shadow was lying against the wall, trying to get his wings to cooperate as his long tail moved like a snake, and he couldn’t even raise his head or open his eyes.

Before I knew it, I was kneeling and he was in my hands. Blood as black as his scales was all over him, wings torn, his tongue out.

My God, he was breathing so fast, his tiny chest rising and falling rapidly.

“Grey!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, hoping he’d hear me. Praying he’d be here, materialize out of thin air.

“You’ll be okay, Shadow. Just hold on,” I whispered, bringing him to my chest. He was no longer trying to move, but he was screeching, and it fucking terrified me. I wrapped him up in my arms and kissed the top of his head as tears streamed down my cheeks and I didn’t even feel them.

“You’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. Hold on for just a little while longer, okay? Please don’t die, Shadow.Please-please-please…”

I rocked us back and forth, and whispered to him and kissed his head, but Shadow didn’t open his eyes and he didn’t stop breathing like he was going to die soon.

Grey found me like that two minutes later, and Storm was right behind him.

“He’s in pain,” I told Grey when he kneeled in front of me, and Storm landed on the rooftop ledge, making the entire building shake. “He’s hurt, Grey. He’s in pain.” I knew that sound. I knew Shadow—he was hurting, and it killed me because I had no idea what to do.

“Let me see,” Grey said, reaching out his hand, but I moved back.

“No! He’s hurting! He’s wounded, he’s—” I panicked, but Grey grabbed my chin in his hand and brought my face closer to his.

“Baby, I can’t ease his pain if I can’t see him or touch him. Let me look at him.”

Ease his pain,he said. He was going to ease his pain.

My hands shook when I lowered them. Shadow lay on my palms, that sound coming from deep in his throat, and he wasn’t moving a single inch.

“Can you help him?” I asked Grey as he touched his fingertips to Shadow’s chest, searching—probably for wounds. “Can you heal him? You have magic—healhim, Grey.”

“I’ll try,” Grey said, flinching when he pressed his finger to Shadow’s side. “There. He’s messed up pretty badly on the side. My magic’s not very good at healing, but I can close the wound. Don’t move him.”

I didn’t move Shadow a single bit as Grey continued to pour his magic on him, and I felt it radiating in the air, vibrating throughout the small body.

Movement to my side but I couldn’t bring myself to even be afraid. Mama Si and Assa, Reeva and all her sisters were upstairs on the rooftop, surrounding us, talking, but I couldn’t really understand what they were saying.

Sirens,they mentioned.They know.

They’re coming.

“Please, Shadow. Don’t die on me. Just don’t die,” I whispered over and over again.

“Hold on to him and stay down,” Grey said when his magic faded from the air, and Shadow was no longer making that sound, still just as motionless.

But he was onlysleeping.Because he was breathing and his heart was still beating. I felt it below my fingertips when I touched his chest.

He was alive.

“Is he gonna be okay?” I choked out, looking up at Grey, whose wings were spread on his back, and he looked…concerned.

Fuck, he looked murderous.

“I don’t know, baby. But stay down. I’ll be right back.”

At first, I didn’t understand what he was saying—where was he going? Why would I need to stay down?

---