Page 145 of The Eighth Isle

If Reeva thought it would work, I had no doubt that she could make it happen. “What would it do to Shadow, though?” To force someone to awaken like that, it couldn’t be anything good, could it? “Valentine didn’t push it the last time he was like this.”

“I’m not sure,” Mama Si said, shaking her head. “Have you rested, doll? How are feeling? Are you nauseous, maybe?”

“No, I’m—”fine,I was going to say, but she didn’t let me.

“I’ve been doing some reading yesterday—it seems nausea is one of the main symptoms in the beginning of the pregnancy. And also we should know how far along you are, and if the baby has a heartbeat yet. I want to set up a check-up?—”

“No.”

She didn’t care. “Right here, in the Paradise. I’ll have them bring over the equipment and everything, and Doctor Danielson seems to be the best in the country at the moment, so I’m thinking about flying?—”

“Mama Si—no.”

Again, she just continued. “—him down here next week. Maybe a Monday? Or maybe the weekend is better—what do you think?”

“Stop it,” I told her, and she blinked her eyes like she was surprised to see me there. “Stop it, Mama Si. Don’t you dare fly anyone here on my account. I don’t need a checkup.” I needed Shadow to wake up and to find Valentine right now. That’s what I needed.

“But we need to know how far along you are,” she said, like my words sounded completely ridiculous to her.

“We have much bigger things to deal with right now. I’m fine. I feel fine. We’ll take care of the rest in due time,” I said, and it was so strange to be talking to her like this. So fucking strange to see that hopeless look in her eyes.

I realized I wasn’t the only one who had changed these past few months—she had, too. Mama Si was a completely different person.

“What did you do to her?”

The words left my lips before I could stop myself. It was just something that had always stuck with me about Mama Si, and I could never really make up my mind about it.

She was genuinely surprised. “What did I do towho?”

“The girl who came before me,” I said. “This year’s offering for the ritual. The one who fell in love.”

Mama Si flinched. “Oh.Nadia.” And the way she said that name, with so much hate…

“Did you…did you kill her, Mama Si?” My words were barely a whisper, but she heard.

And she burst out laughing.

It mesmerized me as much as it made me want to close my ears with my hands. That’s because she wasn’t trying to be seductive—if she were, she’d have hypnotized me with that sound alone.

“Oh, Fall Doll, I did something far worse than that,” she told me, making my heart skip a beat. “No, I didn’t kill Nadia. I just took her out there and wiped her mind of memories since theday she came into the Paradise. I wiped away the memory of the waiter she fell in love with, too. She didn’t recognize him at all, and he didn’t recognize her.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.” Was she serious?

“Well, human minds are really easy to manipulate—when they’re not in love. Compulsion only works if your heart belongs to you still, and so my magic would only work on her until she fell for a waiter—awaiter,Fall Doll. After all I did for her.” She shook her head like she was disappointed. “I had to resort to witch potions to wipe her mind—she wasthatdeeply in love with him.”

“But that’s…that’s justcruel.That’s evil.” Maybe even worse than actually killing her.

“Eh, I gave them back,” she said with a wave of her hand, looking away at the other side.

“Gave them back, what?”

“Each other, of course,” she said, and she sounded a little pissed off about it, too. “After you were chosen, I found them and I arranged a meeting, planned a beautiful night for them to fall in love again.” She shrugged. “They’re getting married in September.”

Her every word rang true.

I bit my tongue to keep from smiling.

“That’s awfully generous of you.” I was being sarcastic, but…

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