Page 30 of The Eighth Isle

“Thank you,” I said, though I really didn’t see how she could.

“So, what’s the plan?” Reeva asked, and I flinched before I could help it.

“I don’t know yet.” And unfortunately for me, there was one other person I had to go talk to before I convinced myself that I’d doneeverythingI could do to help Grey. Before going to him on my own—to my death.

“Join me for breakfast, then, Autumn. And when you know your plan, share it with me,” she said, waving for the stairs.

My stomach twisted and turned, and my instinct was to tell herno,that I couldn’t eat, that I’d just throw all of it back out again, but I couldn’t. She’d been nice enough to bring me here, had respected me enough to show me this place, to show me the stars and the prophecy of her ancestors. A prophecy that had come true.

A prophecy that had returned.

So, I said yes, and I followed Reeva out of the Nella Lexis, all the way back to her house. She had no servants, nobody to bring her food, but instead used her magic to produce a bigger table right there on the porch where we could eat. She claimed that it was her own privilege to feed herself only the best from her land and hens, so she was going to cook us breakfast while I waited and stared at the ocean.

I did.

And while I waited, I cried in silence, if only to cleanse away all those bad feelings, all that desperation. All that fear. It didn’t work, not nearly as well as I hoped it would, but I managed to put some food in me, at least.

In the end, I thanked Reeva, and Amika was right there by the gates to show me to the boat again, all around the witch hat and through the small forest on the other side.

I left Witches’ Wing with my heart twice as heavy, yet my hope had still somehow survived.

What a curious thing she is, hope,I thought. Because even though the end of this whole magical world was literally written in the stars, I wasn’t going to stop until I was with Grey again.

There wasnothing in the world quite like Mama Si and her Paradise.

Maybe it was because I’d been basicallymadeby her. Maybe it was because that’s where it all began for me. She was the reason I was where I was today—on a boat that sailed by magic, without me moving a single inch—something I’d found so awe-inspiring just months ago. She was the reason I’d been thrust into this magical world, why I’d become a prisoner of the Evernights, why I’d met Grey.

I guess she had meant what she said to me that day we first met:I’m going to give you the opportunity to change your life today, Fall Doll. An opportunity that will change the whole world to your eyes.

My life had changed so drastically, and I did see the world differently as well. I saw so much more of what was there and felt all of it on a much deeper level.

All thanks to Mama Si.

Tears in my eyes as I approached the Blood Burrow and I saw the smile on her face in my mind’s eye, though she was still too far away. Too far away, and I hadn’t told a single soul that I was coming to see her, yet she was there with Assa on that rocky beach, waiting for me because she knew I’d be here. She always knew.

For the life of me I couldn’t decide whether I regretted meeting her. Whether I hated her or was thankful for her.

If it wasn’t for her, I’d be out there living my life—but what kind of a life?

One without the Isles.

One without Grey.

But I’d never know the pain of missing him if I never had him in the first place, would I?

Something told me that I would, though. That Idid.Even before, when I was just surviving. When I was running all the damn time without direction—just running from myself. Even then I’d felt it.

Or, at least, I’d felt that I wasn’t in the right place.

Right now, I knew for a fact that I was in thewrongplace, though. The Blood Burrow, Mama Si’s Isle—and I’d come to ask her for help.

The idea alone seemed ridiculous—how could I even assume that she’d care enough to hear me out, let alonehelpme? She cared about nobody but herself. Her Isle and her people—that’s all that concerned her, and that’s exactly what had convinced me to force myself to come here today.

She thought I washersstill, didn’t she? She thought I was her doll, and I’d take it if it meant she’d help me. I’d take it if it meant I wouldn’t be completely alone when I went for Grey.

My God, what a fucking disaster,I thought to myself when my boat was close enough to the shore that I could see every line of her face with clarity. Every curl of her blonde hair, tighter around her face, looser around the back, like always.

I could see every color she wore, too—the dark red of her dress and the rich pink that painted her lips, a galaxy hidden away in her eyes, so big andsparklyand filled with excitement you’d think she was looking at the love of her life as she took me in.

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