“The next one will bring us over the halfway point.” My breath huffed out of me like a steam train. My body trembled. I felt cold and hot, wired and drained. There was no stopping now. “What’s happening on the island?”
“Comms have gone down.” Silas shook his head. “Who the hell knows.”
I glanced at the dark expression on his face. We knew that breaking the crystals was having an effect of some sort on the island—we could see it. Lagoon-blue water mixed with dirty-black lake water in a tangle as the magic and mortal worlds united.
I glanced into the distance away from The Isle. “What happens if a human gets too close to The Isle before you guys can put up new wards?”
“I don’t think we have to worry about being discovered by humans,” Silas said. “If a mortal wanders into our waters, the curse will kill them before they get far.”
I reached for his hand, squeezed it. “Let’s finish what we started.”
We continued, unlocking each crystal with the dagger, until we faced the final one. I met Silas’s gaze as I turned the dagger one final time, forever releasing the wards that had protected this island for millennia. Nobody knew what would happen next, least of all me.
Silas bowed his head, I yanked the dagger to the right, and with one final click… the curse went free.
With all power sources to the curse destroyed, the evil magic was no longer bound by the magical rules set by the Spellbinders. Wicked and wild, reckless and without remorse, the water around us turned black as the curse leeched out of its carefully curated boundaries.
“Silas,” I murmured weakly, before the water captured me and pulled me under.
Chapter 18
“You did it.” Ahand stroked my forehead. “The ancient wards have collapsed.”
I blinked my eyes open. My lungs felt soggy. My skin felt like poisoned claws had dragged down my arms and legs and stomach and back. My mouth was dry and tasted like I’d gargled with pennies.
“The portals?” I gasped.
“They’re open.” Silas never once removed his hand from my forehead. “They’re bringing people through now. Your theory worked. The minute the wards collapsed, we were able to cross the perimeter again.”
I struggled to sit up.
“Breathe,” he said. “Take a few breaths, or you’ll pass out again.”
I tried to get my lungs to inflate, but it felt like trying to blow up a balloon with someone sitting on it. After the dizzy spell drifted away, I hauled myself to my feet. I could see my face reflected in the deep shade of Silas’s eyes, like the shadows in a forest.
“The curse?”
Silas’s gaze darted behind me. I turned, gathering my bearings. To my surprise, we were no longer on the rowboat. We were back on the island, high, high up in a familiar nook. We’d been to this space before. The little cave on the side of the volcano.
As I glanced at the land before me, a new wave of dizziness shook me to my core. This time it had nothing to do with a fear of heights. This time, it was all to do with the pit in my stomach.
The land before us lay in tatters. Not all of it, but the edges of it. The exterior perimeter of the island lay in blackened ruins, like someone had set a poisoned fire to it. The darkness was crawling inward, slowly but surely. Silas had set up a few last-minute wards that seemed to be slowing the curse’s progression, but it wasn’t enough to stop it completely.
I sucked in a breath, so sharp it felt like needles were poking my lungs. No creature—human or otherwise—could survive this wreckage.
“What have we done?” I murmured. “The island will be destroyed.”
Silas’s huge hand rested on my shoulder. “You’ve already saved many. The portals have brought over a hundred islanders to safety on the mainland already—with more passing through by the second.”
“How quickly is the curse spreading?” I asked. “Is it showing signs of slowing?”
“It’s losing steam. But it was a strong curse, and it’s still moving. We’re moving people through the portal as fast as possible, but I don’t know if it will be fast enough.”
“What can we do to help? Should we set up more wards closer to the portal as a last resort?”
“There’s no time.” Silas squinted at the skies, listening acutely, watching for something I couldn’t see. “They’re coming for us.”
I had never seen Silas so tense. His face was steel armor, his body a weapon. His voice hard as rock. There was nothing soft about this man.
