“The Isle has not been without its threats over the years,” Silas said. “We’ve had difficult times to be sure. The Faction attacked the people here not all that long ago. We have had our battles. But this...” He shook his head. “When the wards fail, it will be a total annihilation of the island and everything that lives on it.”
“When. Not if?”
“When.”
“Has anyone tried to break the curse?”
“We’ve had the best people working on that very task. The Ranger Program, Spellbinders, The Mixologist, the Sixth Borough, MAGIC, Inc.” Silas’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “No one’s had any luck.”
“How is that possible?”
“We’re not entirely sure.” A ghost of a smile flitted across Silas’s face. “If we knew, it would already be done. Our best guess is that the magic required to break this curse is a type of magic we don’t have access to. The most we’ve been able to do is put up the temporary wards, but those are only meant to reinforce our defenses, not fix the root of the problem.”
“So if breaking the curse isn’t possible yet, what are the other options to stop it?”
“We’ve been looking into separating the spell from its power source. These gargantuan-level curses are created via Spellbinders. They operate under a specific set of logic and instructions. They’re highly customized and require so much continual energy that they need a power source to function.”
“A power source,” I echoed. “Like a wizard?”
Silas looked at me like I’d suggested Voldemort himself might be behind the curse.
“It’s possible for a magical being to power a curse,” Silas said finally, “but that is not a sustainable solution in the long run for a curse of this size. It would sap the personof magic and energy, and when they withered away, so would the curse.”
“Are you suggesting the curse is attached to a non-living power source?”
“That’s almost certainly the case. Power sources can be any number of things—from particular magically charged artifacts to manufactured generators.”
“If we were able to find this power source and destroy it, would the curse…stop?”
“Sort of.” Silas frowned. “But before we can break the power source, we need to identifyit first. That’s a problem in and of itself. Once we do that, then we need to physically locate the source.Thenaccessit. The source will likely be protected or guarded, either by spells or brute force.”
“Sounds super fun.”
“Let’s say we do all of that,” Silas said. “And we successfully destroy the power source. Some curses would wither away at that point. But a curse of this magnitude likely has clauses written into the spell for when the power source goes out. For example, it might switch to using another generator.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I threw my hands up. “Evil overlords have backup generators for their curses these days?”
“It’s a possibility we must consider,” Silas said. “For the purpose of this conversation, let’s fast forward andpretend we were able to destroy all sources of power—backup and otherwise.”
“Effectively draining the curse of its power and leaving it to die off.”
“Yes. Except that a curse of this size would not just vanish in an instant. There is a lot of pent-up power in a situation like this, and it needs somewhere to go. The dangerous part is that the curse would break free in a last-ditch effort to complete its pre-programmed task.”
“You’re telling me that the curse is going to kill everyone on The Isle if we do nothing,” I said. “And if we break the power source, it might still kill everyone before it dissipates and becomes benign?”
Silas waited a moment. Then, “Yes.”
I was digesting this all like I might a ghost pepper. My eyes were watering, and I wasn’t sure I could choke it all down.
“Silas, if this is all true—thenwhyon earth do you think I can do anything about it?” I asked. “If you’ve tasked the best paranormal people in the world to break this spell, and they’ve made no progress, what do you expect me to do?”
“It’s because—” But Silas stopped at the look on my face. “Alessia?”
I’d frozen as he’d started to speak, because I’d seen it—a glimmer, a whisper of magic dangling before me like a sheer curtain. The temporary wards were close enough totouch. I could see them visibly. If I took just a few steps forward, I had no doubt black veins would creep over my body. The curse would grab ahold of me, and I’d perish quickly.
“You can see the wards?” Silas asked curiously, ignoring my question. “Visually?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “A little bit? Like a rainbow in an oil spill. A glint of something bright against darkness, but it’s elusive, like I can’t quite get a good read on it.”
