“When did you put up the temporary wards that you showed me?”
“Six months ago. I’ve had to repair them a few times since, but within the last few weeks, I’ve been patching them almost daily.”
“If the curse has been around for hundreds of years, then what triggered it to suddenly explode in power?”
“We don’t know for sure, but I think it’s linked to a resurgence in a specific kind of power.” Silas looked at me, waited a beat. “Your kind of power.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ve spent countless years searching for you. It wasn’t until eight months ago that I got a lead to your whereabouts.” Silas expelled a breath. “I found a source that confirmed you existed.”
“Who is this source?” I asked. “Can I speak to them? Maybe they know more about my history.”
Silas clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Three days after I spoke to this source, he turned up dead.”
“Someone else got to him,” I figured. “Then killed him.”
“Yes,” Silas confirmed. “Within a week, the curse grew strong enough to start ringing alarm bells. The Rangers became aware of it. We began working to break it, had no luck, and that’s when I finally set up temporary wards to buy us more time.”
“I’ve seen the temporary wards,” I said. “But I’ve heard mention of other wards. The permanent, original wards. Why aren’t they protecting the island from the curse?”
“That’s one of the questions we’ve been asking,” Silas said. “The most likely scenario is that traces of this curse have been present for so long that the original wards have adapted to it. They no longer view it as foreign magic, and therefore they don’t fight against it like they should.”
“Sort of like how some bodies have trouble fighting off bad cells,” I said. “They don’t see them as foreign.”
“Yes.”
“I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around why someone would have set a curse hundreds of years ago, then ramped it up only after learning about my existence. How could they possiblyknowthat I would end up here before I was even born, possibly hundreds of years ago?”
“There are prophecies,” Silas said vaguely.
“The card you gave me?”
“Yes,” Silas said. “If you have the sort of magic I think you do, then it is directly linked to this island. You have always been destined to end up on these lands. I can only imagine that whoever set the curse ages ago was familiar with the prophecy and was laying the foundation for your arrival. Setting the stage, so that when you did emerge, they’d be prepared to destroy you.”
“How do we break this curse?” I asked, more desperate now. “You keep saying I’ve got all this magic, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to be using it. It’s a lot of pressure without a lot of information.”
“I don’t know how,” Silas said. “That’s why you’re here.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but Silas rested a hand on mine.
“Please, Alessia.” His skin was warm against mine. “I know there’s a ticking clock on this, but you deserve a moment to breathe and rest. We can discuss more details tomorrow morning, once we’re back home. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to help anyone else. You need to rest tonight.”
“One more question,” I said, and before Silas could argue, I said, “Talk to me about ticks. Why has nobody heard of one before?”
“Those bugs are a decidedly human thing.” Silas looked out over the land—his lands. Lands dotted with magic,sparkling with life, surrounded by endless blue water. “Most people who are born here never leave this place.”
“Why would they?” I felt breathless witnessing the beauty of it, and I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to leave.
Or maybe it was the way my leg rubbed against Silas’s as we sat on the cusp of the mountain, just inches away from the heavens. The way his arm brushed against mine, the way my heart felt like it was thumping so loud he could hear it.
“Can you hear it?” I asked.
“What?” Silas didn’t look my way.
“My heart,” I said. “I don’t know if Hunters have super hearing or whatever.”
The side of his mouth quirked upward. “We’re not vampires, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
