It was my 9thattempt when I felt it. The weakness creeping into my muscles, the doubt seeping into my brain. We’d Phased in and out over and over again, and I could tell it was wearing on Silas too, both physically and mentally.
He looked tired and exhausted, though he tried not to let it show. He was patient and kind, but I could see the hope slipping from his gaze.
“I don’t know what to believe in,” I said. “The card you gave me said tobelieve, and I thought I did that. It’s not working.”
“It did work.” Silas considered. “But you’ve gotten new information since then. Maybe that’s the difference.”
“New information?”
“You’ve always felt at home on this island,” Silas said. “But now you know you belong here as Fae. You belong to this court—the one that created these crystals. You must believe you’re worthy of wielding true Fae magic. You need to be confident in your bloodline, accepting of the great power inside of you.”
I stood, my legs barely able to hold the weight of the rest of my skeleton upright.
“Again,” I gasped.
Silas gave a pained nod. This time, he kissed the top of my head as he tucked me against his body, and we Phased. Still locked in an embrace, he transported us tothe bottom of thousands and thousands and thousands of gallons of water, and then he turned back and held it all up for me.
This time I knelt, and I rested the dagger across my knees like a sacrifice instead of a weapon. I faced the magically encased sphere with a new reverence, realizing this had been touched by my alleged ancestors. I rested my hands on it. I let my ring click-clack against the surface of the globe, as if likeness might sense likeness.
“You have served for centuries to protect this island and your people,” I whispered, as if the strands of magic could understand. “You’ve done your job. I am here now, a true Fae; I will take over these duties. The only way to save The Court of Isles now is to let go so I can help rebuild what’s been lost.”
I waited, thinking I should feel ridiculous, and yet I didn’t feel ridiculous at all. I’d run out of every other sensical option. I was desperate. Exhausted. I wanted this not for myself, but for the others, and maybe that was the difference. After all, that was the very reason the Fae Queen had set these wards in the first place: to keep her lands and people safe.
“We’re going to have to go,” Silas said. “The spell’s breaking, and I can’t hold it any longer.”
A dazzling light shone through the sphere. Silas leaned into his spell, straining with all his might to keep the water away. Blinding white light reflected off his irisesas shock and awe settled on his face. The crystal ball looked calmer, the ribbons of magic inside slowing as if I’d spoken a secret password in an ancient tongue.
The glass sphere lit up, the whole thing glowing, as a slit opened in the center.
“The dagger,” Silas rasped. “The dagger, Alessia!”
I scrambled to my feet, pulled the dagger from my lap, and lined the tip up with the opening. I inserted it, sliding the blade into the crevice. It was a perfect fit.
I locked eyes with Silas, knowing this might very well be the beginning of the end.
He gave a nod. I turned the dagger, a lethal key.
A faint click sounded. Then without warning, the glass globe shattered into a million pieces. Silas lunged for me as magic whipped around me—evil magic. Curse magic. Magic woven like strands of a witch’s hair and tipped by poison.
The evil curse licked at my body, leaving my skin stinging and my throat hoarse. I must have been screaming from the intensity of it all, but I couldn’t register sensation. I was overwhelmed with crushing fear and excruciating pain.
A tug, warm hands on me, and then we were back on the boat.
I looked at Silas, who looked horrified as he studied me. I was bleeding from head to toe and exhausted. I looked like a terror, I was certain of it.
I pulled myself to my feet, my jaw set as I faced Silas.
“Again.”
Chapter 17
“This is killing you.”
I slapped a weary hand over my head, dragged at my hair. I felt like a siren—wet, vacant, weary. Bloody gouges ran down my arms. The skin on my legs felt raw, ripped to shreds from evil magic and stinging with lake water. Silas healed me after every crystal I destroyed, and it still wasn’t enough to keep up with my wounds.
We’d managed to destroy three of seven crystals so far. Every time I broke a crystal, the magic snapped off like a rubber band, and I was always its first target.
Silas tried to shield me from the curse with his sphere of magic, but his power was split in holding up the water and protecting me. Silas was able to hold off the worst of it, but not all of it.
