It was still unclear to all of us what exactly Isolde felt close to breaking through. The witches didn’t discuss anything important with the vampires, confirming my suspicion that they just saw us as slaves. Pawns in whatever game they were playing. I didn’t bother asking. It wasn’t like there was anyone I could ask now anyway, now that Mona and Tiarni were gone. I wasn’t on speaking terms with any of the other witches.
I spent as much time with my siblings as I could to take my mind off of the witch’s absence. There had been such a huge gap since I last saw them that we never ran out of things to talk about. And I appreciated the time to get to know my siblings better.
I still grilled them now and then about what they’d done to Matteo. But deep down, I knew that they hadn’t done it to hurt me. They had acted out of panic, thinking they were protecting me.
I felt the urge to seek out Matteo and Saira, but it was an impossible task. For one thing, my siblings told me that I was bound to this island now and wasn’t allowed to leave for more than seven days without permission—thanks to their initiating me while I was drunk. I’d asked what would happen after seven days, but they refused to tell me. I wondered if they even knew themselves.
In any case, I decided that it was wise not to risk it, and Helina had made me promise that I wouldn’t.
We continued to attend the rituals every night along with all the other vampires and witches on the island. It seemed that for some reason Isolde had decided to start sacrificing more than one human at a time. I assumed she thought it would make the ritual more powerful and bring her closer to whatever it was she was trying to achieve.
In any case, Isolde announced one morning at breakfast that they were running low on humans. Since Rhys was away and Efren still locked himself in the spell room all day to mourn over his sister, Isolde did something out of the ordinary.
After everybody else had left the hall, while my siblings and I had stayed back to finish our discussion, she approached us.
She cleared her throat. “I could use your help,” she said.
“For what?” Erik asked.
“I think you three will be as good as any in helping me stock up on humans. I’d like you to come with me.”
Erik stared from me to Helina.
“Yes,” I said immediately. “We’ll help.”
This was perfect to take my mind off things and I’d been curious to know where they got these humans ever since I arrived on this island.
“Obviously, you are sworn to secrecy.”
“Of course,” Erik said, following my lead.
I was still surprised Isolde had asked us. I supposed that she knew we were all bound to this island and at their mercy, so it wasn’t like there was much we could do with this knowledge. And now that her regular companions were gone, we were as good as any.
“I’m planning to leave tonight,” she said. “Meet me in the courtyard after the ritual.”
“Is there anything we need to bring with us?” Helina asked.
The witch stared at her. “Just your obedience.”
Chapter 19: Mona
We returned to the castle early the next morning. As we arrived back in Rhys’ bedroom, he closed the door and turned to face me.
“It’s time for me to give you your magic back. I think you’re ready.”
I stared at him, my heartbeat quickening. “A-are you sure?”
He smiled and nodded.
“You’ve changed, Mona. I can sense when your mind is on other things, and now it’s not. I am your world now.”
I couldn’t argue with his statement.
I sat down cross-legged in the center of the living room and he held out his palms. I closed my eyes as a flash of light hit me in the chest, and my whole body began tingling as my powers returned to me.
My knees wobbled as I stood up. I gripped the back of an armchair.
I looked at him nervously. “And now what?”
His eyes bored into mine.
“It’s time to do what I’ve been preparing you for. We’ll leave in an hour.”
* * *
Rhys vanished us from his apartment. Once the wind stopped whirling around us, my feet hit solid ground. I opened my eyes. We were standing on a black pebble beach. A freezing wind blew against us. I drew my cloak closer.
“Where are we?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer my question and instead led me toward the foot of a cliff. There was a heap of boulders at its foot. We began climbing over the boulders and soon the entrance of a cave came into view.
Rhys climbed up into the entrance and hauled me up after him. He gripped my arm, pulling me closer to him as we walked further into the cave. It was so dark now that we’d left the light of the moon, I was surprised that Rhys had a clue where he was even going. I stumbled over rocks even as he was supporting me.