Page 87 of The Eighth Isle

Impossible,yet I was here, choking on air that was so full of magic it refused to go down my throat.

Then the light dimmed and faded away, leaving stars in my vision that took me more than a few tries to blink away. It took me more than a minute to be able to see again—to see five sirens surrounding Syra, attacking her with their magic from all sides, and her attacking them back as she defended herself with ease.

“I’m going to help them,” Grey said. “Stand back, Fall.”

My instinct was to tell himno,to grab his arm and keep him right there by my side. No way was he going close to Syra—she was insane.

But I also knew that this was the best chance we were going to get. I’d been praying for this very thing—for the sirens to comeand at leasttryto stop their sister before it was too late, and now it was happening right in front of my eyes.

So, I swallowed hard and I told Grey,” Please be careful.”

Then I watched him spread his wings and fly closer to the sirens, his hands raised, his magic in the air slamming against Syra, too.

My own magic was firing up inside me, the need to dosomethingtaking my breath away. The smart thing would probably be to stand back and wait—I could do nothing against that siren anyway. And maybe I would have if I hadn’t turned to look for Valentine, only to find that he had fallen to the ground again on his stomach, and he wasn’t moving.

Stay away!said a voice in my head, but I ran forward anyway. Shadow was close to him, jumping and clawing at his hair, trying to get him to wake up, but he still wasn’t moving.

“Valentine,” I said, not bothering to keep it down because they weren’t going to hear me anyway. The sound of their magic as it clashed against one another was enough to render anyone deaf if we stayed here long enough.

“Valentine, wake up!”

He didn’t move still.

I fell on all fours and dragged myself closer until I reached his arm, grabbed him, and began to pull him back. “Help me, Shadow. Help me!” I said, but the dragon was way too small, and he was trying. Whatever Syra had done to him and Valentine, he’d recovered from it, but he still had no strength to pull Valentine up.

Then they began to fall.

A scream built up in me, and maybe I let it out, but I couldn’t even hear it. The sirens began to fall all around Syra, some on the spot like someone had cut the strings on them, and some were thrown back into the air a few feet, then hit the ground violently. I looked for Grey, but he had his wings spread and hewasn’t standing in one place but moving around Syra—who wasenraged. I only caught a glimpse of her face, eyes red, blood coming out her nose and mouth still, her hair floating around her like a million snakes slithering in the air. She was spinning around and slamming her magic onto everyone on all sides, throwing her sisters off,chasingGrey with her hands, trying to catch him, too.

My God, she still hadn’t even fallen to her knees. All that magic, all that light thrown at her, all that energy that had made the air so damn thick again, and she was still standing.

No matter,I told myself, and continued to drag Valentine, but he was so damn heavy. And I could hardly breathe through all that magic, too.

“Valentine!” I called again, shaking his shoulders, but he didn’t even budge. Unconscious still—unconsciousbecause he couldn’t possibly be dead. Not after everything. I still had so much to talk to him about, toscreammy guts out at his face for being so damn stupid and stubborn and just the most frustrating being I’d ever come across in my life. I had so much to tell him, and he couldn’t die yet. Just…not yet.

But I couldn’t carry him away right now, either.

“Goddamn it, you prick. You fucking prick!” I cried, eyes on Syra, on the way she kept throwing her sisters off—and Grey, too. He hit the invisible dome with his back near the trees when Syra’s magic caught him. His skin was torn and blood was coming out of him, but he was wide awake and he was moving. He didn’t even touch the ground at all before he shot for Syra again, wings spread and strong as they took him in the air.

For now, he was okay.

“Cut me,” I told Shadow and tapped my wrist on my outstretched arm. “Cut me right there, Shadow.”

He did.

The tip of his thin tail was like a blade made out of metal, and he moved it so fast I didn’t even see it. I only felt the sting when it cut a horizontal line across my wrist, then saw the blood coming out rapidly.

“Thanks, asshole,” I said through gritted teeth because it hurt like hell. Then I grabbed Valentine’s hair with the other hand and turn his head as far as I could without breaking his neck. I pressed my bleeding wrist to his lips.

“Drink, Valentine. Take my blood.Drink!”

I had to pry his lips open with my fingers because he refused to move still. I had to push his jaw down and basically shove my entire wrist in his mouth. Then I held very still and prayed and hoped that he felt the taste of it and drank. That a drop slipped down his throat by itself, maybe. That he woke up.

Meanwhile, the sirens were still fighting Syra, and so was Grey.

They were losing.

It was easy to see that Syra was wounded. She was tired. She was weaker.

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