Page 7 of The Eighth Isle

My mind was wiped clean as I took in my surroundings, slowly rising to my feet as the ground shook and groaned some more—but it wasn’t the same as the one I’d fallen against just now, was it? The grey-colored rock was smooth, no sharp edge in sight. And the turquoise pool was nowhere to be seen.

The Great White had disappeared, too, but Syra was there still.

I could hardly believe my eyes as the magic moved around me, turning what had once been a pile of rocks made with the sole purpose of keeping her body hidden away, into a room. A fucking room, big and round and with openings on the walls, perfectly carved windows that showed me the outside.

No darkness anywhere, but a blue sky and a bright yellow sun like I’dneverseen before.

The actual sun was in the sky and I could see it.

My legs threatened to give up on me again as the second wave of magic charged the air, so intense I was having trouble believing my other senses as well. But Syra was in the middle of the room, her arms spread to the sides as she did her magic, her back turned to me, her hair floating around her head like she was underwater. She didn’t move a single inch, but magic spun about her fast, and I could see it as if it had color. I could see the way it was adding details to the room—two doorways behind us, two large chairs, a table, more windows—and it was impossible not to get closer, just to see outside. Just to see…green.

Large green trees. Grass. Healed land, the scent in the air what I imagined heaven would smell like. And beyond…the blue ocean like I never even imagined it could be before. All those times I’d sat in the mirror room and looked at the other Isles,and I’d never quite believed it. I never quite experienced the sky and the sun and the ocean like I was doing right now.

It wasreal.

And Storm was out there, too.

It was a strange connection I had with my dragon. I felt him and he felt me. When the emotions were strong enough, we experienced them in their rawest form, exactly as the other was feeling them.

Right now, Storm was angry, mad, desperate as he took off from where Syra’s magic had thrown him. He was wounded but he hardly felt the pain, and I knew that if he came closer and tried to fight her, she would kill him.Easily.

So, I focused my entire being into ordering him to stand down. I focused on pushing back his anger, on getting his full attention—this wasnothow we got out of here. I needed him to find Fall, wherever she’d ended up on the Isle. Find her at all costs so that when I got out, I could grab her and we could all leave together.

His roar reached my ears a moment later, but he stopped. Storm flew away to the other side of wherever I was, and he would find her. Right now, it was a good thing that she wasn’t here with Syra. The Isle was so much bigger than it had been, so there were plenty of places for her to hide.

I just hoped with every ounce of my will that she stayed hidden until I went for her.

Wait for me, een aeva.

Then…

“Rise, my servants.”

Syra’s voice rang in my ears. The intensity of the magic increased instantly, rising up from the smooth stone floor together with dust that shimmered under the sunlight. Thirty small tornados were spinning around her, and within the minute, that dust grew thicker and darker, and it moved a bitslower, and then it shaped itself into legs and torsos. Arms, hands, heads—and finally, dark clothes to cover the plastic-like skin with no shape and no genitals, and boots to cover toeless feet.

The dust settled to reveal that the faces of these humanoid creatures were empty. My skin crawled at the sight of them. Syra went closer to the first of the thirty and touched what was supposed to be its chin.

“Some eyes to see with, to better serve me—you don’t really need much more, do you?”

Before she finished speaking, a pair of eyes had appeared on all of them, and they looked worse than anything I’d ever seen. Fuckingdisturbing.

And Syra flinched. “No, this won’t do. You look weird. How about a nose and a mouth—definitely eyebrows.” And as she spoke, the magic in the air still heavy, all those features appeared on the faces of these creatures she wasmakingwith such little effort. “And some hair, yes?”

Hair, thick and wiry, grew out of their bald heads in an instant.

“There,” Syra said, happy with how her creatures looked.

Golems.

She just made actual golems.

They were creatures made of the earth and magic, believed to be a myth among witches because the amount of magic required to create a living thing from dust was unimaginable. To alter someone the way the sirens had done to the offspring of Hansil Knight was different—they’d already existed as humans, and they simply turned them to vampires. But this was another level altogether.

The golems moved, bowed their heads deeply to Syra, and she smiled. “Go. Make yourselves familiar with the castle.”

Castle,she said, and the golems all moved at the same time, half of them toward the doorway on the left of those chairs, the other half coming toward me, to the one behind me. Their eyes were dull, dark, lifeless. Their faces looked so strange, even with the mouths and noses. They looked like they shouldn’t be able to move at all, yet they did.

And while I stepped back to give them space, I saw more outside the windows. I saw the castle Syra had talked about—an actual castle right where the tomb mountain had been. The Great White was at its back, frozen solid, with his wings spread to the sides like he meant to shield the structure from the outside world.

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