Silas took my hand, and the familiar whiz of Phasing propelled us through time and space until I felt a rocking motion beneath my feet. The illusion of sky meeting the water’s surface had me off balance; it was hard to tell where the sky ended and the lake began. It was a brilliant swatch of blue in every direction.
We’d Phased onto a small rowboat. The Isle was in the distance behind us. I could see the cliffside where we’d been standing and surveying this very spot, a pinprick in the distance. In the opposite direction was nothing but miles and miles of blue water.
“Funny,” I said. “I never expected the Great Lakes to look so tropical.”
“That’s an illusion.” Silas sat, and I followed suit. He began rowing straight at the wall of blue. “It’s meant to look like paradise continues onward forever and ever, but it doesn’t. It comes to an end.”
“As does every good thing,” I muttered.
Silas gave a wry smile. “You’ll see what I mean soon enough. Hold on tight.”
I wasn’t sure why I needed to hold on, but I did as he suggested, and a second later I felt like I’d been popped out of a toaster. As if my body had been propelled forward and my stomach had been left behind.
I gripped the sides of the boat and let my insides settle. Once I managed to look up, there was no island in sight. No sparkling blue waters. No magic anywhere in sight.
Surrounding us now were dark blue waters that looked frigid and dangerous. The breeze was nippy and impersonal, and the sun hid behind a thick wall of gray clouds. I could see a boat in the distance, which made me do a double take.
“Are those humans?” I asked. “On that boat?”
Silas gave a faint smile. “Yes. It’s why we took an old rowboat. No technology to get picked up on, just in case we’re spotted. Welcome to the real world.”
“The real world sucks,” I said. “I prefer the enchanted one.”
“You and me both.”
We sat, rocking in the waves as Silas stopped rowing, breathing in time with one another. My heart beat a distracting pitter patter in my chest.
“Once we start, there is no stopping this,” Silas warned. “We don’t know how fast things will move once we break the first crystal.”
“Do you think this is the right decision?”
Silas tilted that beautiful face toward the nonexistent sunshine. “I think it’s the only one.”
“How will I know what to do once we reach the wards?” I asked. “I have the dagger, but I don’t know how to access the magic within it.”
“You’ve usedyourmagic before,” Silas said. “How did you know what to do?”
“Intuition.”
“Intuition andbelief,” Silas corrected. “That’s the only thing that will work from here on out.”
“Silas, if I’m not successful, I want you to Phase back to the island and help evacuate everyone else. Leave me behind if necessary.” I expelled a breath, attempting to get across how deadly serious I was. “I’d rather you save as many people as possible if I…if I’m in trouble.”
Silas’s eyes darkened, like he was absorbing the clouds around us. The sky grew murky and uneasy. The water turned an inky black.
Silas reached for me, rocking the boat as he pressed a hard, forceful kiss to my lips. When we parted, he frowned.
“That’s not an option.” Silas glanced down. “I’m afraid it’s time.”
I stood beside this man with a heavy heart. I gripped the dagger in one hand and Silas’s fingers with the other. The gems on my dagger seemed duller now that we’d left the confines of The Isle’s magic, as did the ones on my ring. Like they’d lost part of their spirit when they left the bounds of the court to which they belonged. Just like me.
“If you need a break and can’t communicate, squeeze my arm, and I’ll take you back to the surface,” Silas said. “However, once you break the first crystal, there is no stopping. If it’s as I suspect, and the other six crystals are all tied to the curse, we will need to move from one to the next until we’ve destroyed all seven.”
“I understand.” I closed my eyes, exhaled. “I’m ready.”
Then the tremor started behind my belly button, except this time when we emerged on the other end of the Phase, my ears were filled with the sound of silence.
My feet were on sand, and it took me a moment to fling my arms wide and get my balance. Silas was no longer next to me. The second I looked up, I saw why.
