“Alessia is risking her life as much as the rest of us,” Ranger X said. “She gets a vote equal to everyone else.”
“It’s all right,” I said quietly. “Iamnew here. I don’t expect to gain your trust immediately. The only thing I can tell you is this: I belong here. I belong with you all. I barely know this world, but I can say with certainty that I will eventually come to love The Isle as much as you.”
I paused, surveying a captive audience of intense men, then continued.
“I am choosing to be here, alive or dead, because there is no place else in the world I belong.” I expected a feeling of loneliness to wash over me at that admission, but instead I only felt relief. “You don’t have to take my ideas or use them, but please, just listen before you make your decisions. If we are to die here in the coming hours, I’ll be lifeless next to you.”
There was a long, heavy pause in the air. Then, slowly, the Ranger who had questioned me bowed his head in a long, reverent motion. The rest of the Rangers followed suit, until the air was rife with attentive silence. Their nodwasn’t one of blind loyalty, but an agreement to listen, which was all I’d asked of them.
“Thank you.” I turned to X. “If you got all twenty of your portal writers together, could they create a pretty big-ass portal?”
A half-smile from Ranger X. “I’d say so, yes.”
“If the wards are down, there’s no stopping portals from being open, since the problem lies incrossingthe wards?”
“In theory.” Ranger X shifted uneasily. “I’ll run it by my tech team to get their opinion, but what you’re saying makes sense.”
“I propose this plan.” I scanned the eyes of everyone watching me. “Silas will Phase the two of us to the perimeter of The Isle. There, we’ll destroy the original salt crystals that power the wards—and presumably the curse.”
Everyone waited silently for me to continue.
“Meanwhile, you all will gather every single person on this island, along with any cooperative creatures, into a central place. The second the wards have collapsed, the writers can get a portal to the mainland up and going—to MAGIC, Inc., or wherever is safe. You usher as many people through as you can in the hour between us breaking the wards and the island becoming uninhabitable.”
“It’ll be tight,” Ranger X said. “Even if things go perfectly, we’ll be cutting it close. Portals aren’t a free for all: we have to send people through in waves—four at atime is the maximum we can do. There will be lines and chaos.”
“This is themosttime we’ll ever have,” I said. “The curse will only keep closing in on the island, and we’ll have less and less time. Even if we keep patching things, we’ll eventually all be backed into a corner like sardines. If we’re going to try this, the time to try it is now.”
“How’re you gonna break the salt crystals?” another Ranger asked. “You justknowhow to collapse an ancient magical system that’s been protecting us for centuries?”
“Do you know how Silas sets up the wards?” I asked. “How he manages and repairs them?”
A quick shake of the Ranger’s head.
“Then you don’t need to know how he breaks them,” I said. “You’ll have to trust we can get it done.”
“I don’t like it,” a third Ranger voiced. “It’s too risky, and there are too many wildcard variables.”
“Anyone is free to disagree,” I said. “I’m crossing my fingers that one of you has a better idea.”
The extended silence grew more somber by the second. The time to speak was now, but nobody could find their voice.
“What will happen to the island?” another Ranger asked. “We just leave it behind to fall to the curse?”
“I admit I’m not an expert in curses,” I said, glancing at Silas for backup. “But from my understanding, without a power source, the curse will weaken as it travels until iteventually withers away. Like a hurricane. It might crash to shore as a Cat 5, but it won’t maintain that level of destruction as it winds its way inland.”
“That’s correct,” Silas said. “Hopefully much of the island will be salvageable once all is said and done. I’ll set up as many backup wards as I can to stave off the curse before we break the crystals. We can rebuildthings.It’s the people we’re most concerned about—the lives we’re not willing to risk. No, we do not want to abandon our island. But we will always choose the people on it first.”
“What do you think?” Ranger X finally asked Silas. “Can you break the wards?”
“Wecan.” Silas inclined his head toward me. “I will follow Alessia’s lead, wherever she goes. I trust her with my life.”
Tension drew Ranger X’s forehead together. I could see the worry biting at him, the weight of this decision heavy in a physical way on his shoulders. I hated this for him, but it was in these desperate times that exposed the reasons that Ranger X had been appointed to his role. It was because the islanders trusted him to have their best interests at heart, not only in times of good but in times of evil.
“You break the crystals and destroy the curse.” Ranger X inclined his head toward me and Silas. “We’ll take care of the rest.”
“Thank you,” Silas said quietly. “It is the right choice, X.”
“You’ve got a Comm?” Ranger X asked Silas.
