Page 46 of The Eighth Isle

Finally, his magic let go of my boat, and he stepped back.

“Where is she?”

“Away.” I turned around and pushed the boat forward.

“Then I’m coming with you!” he called, and Shadow was already leading the way, flying ahead, barely a dot against the blue of the sky.

I didn’t turn to acknowledge Valentine. I didn’t try to stop him or waste energy by attacking him, energy I could use when I got to the Eighth Isle. I just kept my eyes on the horizon and my hands in tight fists, and the image of Grey’s face in the center of my mind.

The Eighth Islehad become even bigger than the last time I saw it before I passed out in the water. Syra had pulled all of it out from underwater, and it was massive—a jungle with a large structure rising over the tips of the dense trees, so thick you could see nothing but them, and the four towers of the building they surrounded.

I slowed the boat as I got closer, afraid someone would come out of those trees to try to stop me, afraid they’d catch me by surprise, or that magic—a shield like the one that used to be around the Whispering Woods—would shred me to pieces before I managed to even call for Grey.

Neither happened.

The tip of my boat stopped against the dirt upon which were the trees, their roots slipping out of the soil and some of them extending all the way toward the water, like they hadn’t made their place quite yet. Like there were too many of them, and the ones at the edge were going to tip over and fall in the sea soon, but for now, they were solid. The roots helped me climb on the muddy ground within seconds, and then I was officially on the Eighth Isle.

I stopped and held my breath for a moment, my focus on my ears.

No sign of a big source of magic anywhere near me that I could feel. No sound of footsteps or anything else other than birds—and Shadow’s wings as he flew around the trees, searching.

Then Valentine jumped and landed behind me without effort. “She’s not here,” he said, and I finally tipped my head toward him.

He looked surprised—shocked at his own statement, his eyes on Shadow as he flew higher and higher up amongst the thick branches and large leaves.

Shadow, I could trust. Shadow, I could count on.

“Don’t try to stop me, Valentine.”

I ran.

Eleven

My eyes refusedto blink as I took in the structure in front of me, and my head kept shaking, and my mouth kept opening, but I still had no words to say. No thoughts to think. All I could do was just…take it in.

There was an arched bridge made of stone in front of me, with gorgeous carved railings on either side and pillars every several feet shaped into faceless sirens.

Below the bridge was a small river, maybe not even twenty feet wide, the water in it not blue but turquoise—just like that pool had been inside the tomb mountain.

But none of it came even close to the building on the other side.

It was a castle, so much different from the one in the Woods. This one wasgothic, made of dark stone with a million different creatures engraved on every wall and every corner, with doorways without doors at least fifty feet tall, and four towers in the middle that made it looked like a large crown atop the green land.

At the back of it, standing almost as tall as the towers, was the Great White, his scales white, turquoise ink all over him, and his eyes closed.

He was as still as the rocks, head bowed, those large talons wrapped around the rooftops of the outer towers—and the wings. Huge white wings spread to the sides as if they wanted to hug the building but couldn’t quite wrap around all of it.

My brain malfunctioned when I began to notice the people standing on the other side of the bridge, near the many doorways behind which was nothing but darkness.

Except…they weren’t people at all. They looked like it from afar—all male, all with two legs and two arms and a head over their shoulders, but the skin on them was…different. Like plastic. And the hair on them was like thick strings of wire, and their eyes seemed to not be blinking at all, and?—

“Golems.”

I brought my hands to my chest before my heart flew right out of my ribcage.

Valentine was standing behind me, watching the castle and the dragon and the strange men in silence all this time, and I had completely forgotten.

“What?” I whispered, so afraid to make a sound, even though Syra was not here.

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