Page 155 of The Eighth Isle

And then it began.

When Syra did this to me on the Eighth Isle, it hadn’t hurt. I’d felt the magic, all its intensity, but it hadn’t hurt nearly as much as it did now. It was like something was inside me, under my skin, and it was pulling at my gut, at my backbone, trying to take it out of me.

Now I couldn’t breathe for real.

My body was frozen in place, eyes wide open as I looked at Valentine and at Shadow sitting on his shoulder, tail wrapped around his neck like always. Shadow was grunting like he was in pain, too, and Valentine looked the same, though he made no sound. His eyes were bloodshot and his fangs extended again, and he looked like he was fucking choking as he held onto my hand.

Reeva kept on chanting.

Let go,she’d told me.Remember tolet go.

Did she mean this pull that was threatening to unravel me completely? Did she mean this magic that was coming from my right arm, right from Valentine’s skin, and it was trying to break me into a million pieces?

Because I was trying. I was fucking trying to let go, but it felt like I was giving up. It felt like I was letting my whole life fall apart with that magic, and…

Isn’t that what I always do?I wondered. Just fall, fall, and fall some more. I’d been falling since I remembered, and now I had to do it for somethinggood, at least. Now I had to fall to be set free.

A scream tore from my throat involuntarily, and it took all my willpower to give up control, to not try to hold back that magic that was picking me apart.

Then Valentine’s eyes rolled in his skull and Shadow roared so loud the sound matched my scream. Reeva’s voice grew louder and louder as she chanted even faster, and wind rose around us like a damn tornado, playing with my hair, almost knocking us both down.

It hurt.

My God, it hurt so much and my nose was bleeding and I still couldn’t breathe.

All I could do was move my eyes—to Mama Si who was still on her feet but barely, and the witch that fought beside her, and Grey who was trying to keep two sirens from coming closer—while Fessa was…

Still on the ground.

Still crawling out of that hole she’d made, and…

Her eyes were on me while she smiled.

Something’s wrong.

Loud roars filled the air all of a sudden, and they weren’t coming from Shadow at all. Reeva kept going, and my eyes turned to the sky when two large shadows fell over us—dragons.

Two dragons were flying toward us, one green and one red—both ones I recognized. Both I’d seen before—in Mount Agva.

The exiled dragons Storm had been stuck on that mountain with when I went to get him.

My God, he’d brought them here. He’d brought both dragons here, and though I saw Storm nowhere, I knew he was close, too, waiting to grab me.

Meanwhile the two dragons were already spitting fire at the ground, at the edge of the lake. At the sirens.

Something’s wrong.

Why was Fessa on the ground still?

Why was Fessa smiling?

Fire everywhere, and for a moment I thought it had gotten Grey and Mama Si and the witches, too. The heat of it fell on my face. I was trying so hard to breathe, pull free from the grip of Reeva’s magic, and from Valentine whose eyes were completely white, rolled in his skull as he and Shadow both shook in place—but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move. I was completely paralyzed as the pain consumed me little by little.

Grey and the others were okay, though. They’d known the fire was coming, so they’d protected themselves—and so had Raxae, but not the other sisters. They were on the ground, naked, but the dragon fire had only burned their dresses. That’s it. It had only knocked them out for a moment, and they were coming to already.

But they weren’t really in a rush. Not like one would be when large dragons flew in circles over them and came lower again and spit their raw fire once more.

Stop!I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs.Stop-stop-STOP!

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