Page 45 of The Eighth Isle

And the way Valentine looked at me now, you’d think this was all news to him. You’d think he wasn’t there himself. You’d think I was telling him about something about which he had no idea.

“I’m sorry, Sunshine,” he finally said, and it was like a million spiders crawling all over my skin.

“Save your sorry. I have no use for it. Nobody does.” And as soon as I found Grey, I’d cry or scream or kick and thrash, or maybe do nothing at all but close my eyes and breathe—but I’d make my peace with it.

“It can’t be it,” Valentine said. “Thiscan’t be it.”

Panic laced his words, and I wanted to tell him to keep it to himself again, but then I thought I saw something, merely a shape in the water as the sun continued to climb in the sky. A shape, but it was enough to make my heart just about explode.

I held my breath and waited, unblinking eyes on the colors that became more and more vibrant, and I thought I recognized her face. I thought I recognized the broad-brimmed hat she had on with the dry red flowers decorating the side. I thought I recognized the black dress and the gloves attached to it—and that smile.

Yes, that smile.

Mama Si was standing alone in a boat with her hands folded in front of her, and she was smiling at me.

Done.

I could have sworn I heard her voice pop in my head, though it could have been my imagination. And a breeze carrying the distinctive scent of roses that followed her every step came toward me, blowing lightly against my face, filling my nostrils.

Valentine and Shadow and the entire Whispering Woods disappeared when she became clear enough to make out perfectly, though her boat stopped about thirty feet out in the water.

Mama Si said nothing. All she did was give me a nod.

Then, her boat turned east, and she sailed away from me, merging into the blue of the ocean once more.

“Talk to me,” Valentine was saying, but my eyes were already on the three boats painted black, half in the water, just to my right. Ready for me.

Done.It was done.

“Whatever it is you’re trying to do, talk to me. Tell me about it,” Valentine insisted, while I raised my hand and focused my attention on the first boat, pushing it off the rocks and into the water.

Mama Si had been smiling.

Mama Si had nodded—which meant her plan had actually worked. And since Reeva wasn’t with her, that could mean that she was with Syra in Witches’ Wing to read the stars.

Syra was gone, off the Eighth Isle.

And Grey would be there waiting for me.

No time to waste.

“Look at me!” Valentine was in front of me before I could climb in the boat. “Where are you going, Sunshine?!”

Such a simple answer. “I’m going to Grey.”

I walked around him and stepped onto the boat, not really feeling any of my limbs. I was completely numb, but I didn’t mind. The clock was ticking, and I needed to be on my way. I needed to get to the Eighth Isle.

Reeva told me to sail west from this very beach yesterday and follow my sense of my magic. She was sure it would lead me right to it, and that’s exactly what I planned to do—if only Valentine would leave me alone.

“Stop!” he called, and when my magic pushed the boat forward on the water, he pulled it back with his, stopping me in place. “I can’t let you go, Sunshine. It’s too dangerous. She’ll kill you.”

“You have two seconds,” I said, and I meant it. My magic was already slipping out of my skin, aiming at him, and I didn’t even need to think about what to do to him—it knew. It knew how to infiltrate his body and twist him into unusual angles until he was folded in two right there on the rocks.

Shadow was flying in circles over our heads, roaring that screeching sound that frustrated me even more than Valentine’s face, his wide eyes as he came closer.

“She’ll kill you. She won’t let you speak. She won’t let you?—”

“She’s not there, Valentine. Let me go, or I will hurt you,” I warned him for one last time.

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