Page 68 of A Touch Enchanted

I fell back on the mattress. “There’s a very good chance I might be losing my mind.”

“At least you still have your looks.”

I grabbed my pillow and whacked him with it.

“Hey!” He crossed his arms over his head as I hit him with the pillow again. “I’m half-asleep, I can’t be held responsible for the things I say.”

“You’ve been sleeping for eighteen hours.”

Both Donovan and I had passed out the moment our heads hit the pillow. After we got everyone out of the cave, Wes and Audrey put out the fire that blazed through the dead zone. It didn’t burn the grass that Finn and Thora had brought back to life, but the entire surrounding woods were blackened and charred. Several animals gave us an earful about their lost homes.

The curse didn’t bother us on the way back to town. Either because there wasn’t anything we could do about the gate now, or because it was pointless to attack when we had Wes, Audrey, and Kenna with us. The three of them were stronger than anything the curse could throw at us for now. Though there was no telling how much longer that would last.

Now that the Gate of Dawn had been lowered, we had our expiration date. We only had two moon cycles to kill Nirah. Without a willing host, the curse would die with him. I didn’t want to think about the punishment he must’ve been enduring for telling us that. As much as I hated the monster he carried, I pitied the man he used to be.

“Eighteen hours?” Donovan rubbed his stomach. “No wonder I’m so hungry.”

“Believe it or not, I still haven’t gone grocery shopping.” I threw my legs over the side of my bed and prepared to stand up. “We’ll have to go out for breakfast.”

He grabbed my hips and pulled me fully back onto the bed. “Later. There’s something else I’d like to eat first.”

He kissed his way down my body, and I forgot about the gates, the curse, and the ticking clock that hung over our heads. Within minutes, he had me pulling on the ends of his hair as I came against his mouth. Then he settled between my legs and made slow, sweet love to me. A validation of everything we meant to each other and everything we’d survived.

If I’d been asked, honestly, if I thought we had a chance of beating the curse a few weeks ago, I would’ve had reservations. But when my magic wrapped around Donovan’s, when we brought out the best we could be in each other, I believed we’d triumph.

We had everything that made the fight worth winning.

After we showered and got dressed, we headed down to the Vela Café for pancakes. People gave us funny looks as we fed each other and laughed at dumb jokes and stories from our childhood. The town as a whole seemed on edge. Though not having tourists here in the summer made everything feel a bit strange and empty.

“Do you think the vibe around here is going to get worse?” I asked.

“Yeah. We gave the mayor too much credit. He isn’t helping matters, but we should’ve known something more sinister was going on.” Donovan gestured at the people in the diner who were now looking at us with open hostility, like we didn’t belong in their space. “People we’ve known our whole lives wouldn’t turn on us like this.”

My thoughts drifted back to everything Nirah had shared with us against the curse’s wishes by the Well of Rebirth. There had always been a balance to life on the island. We had hard times, but it was mostly good.

If the curse continued to poison the residents, how long would it be before that balance tipped out of our favor for good? Even if we managed to kill Nirah, would the damage done to the well be irrevocable? The way people in town were acting might’ve been provoked by the curse, but their fear, their anger, and their despair were still real. It still fueled the darkness to take more than it should’ve ever been given.

Tired of the suspicious looks we kept getting in town, but not ready to go back home yet, I led Donovan down to the deserted beach. Sensing our approaching footsteps, the crocodiles lumbered onto the shore, careful to keep their long tails in the water. We dodged them easily enough, but that explained why no one had been down here to clean up the beach.

We stood on the pier and watched the waves roll in. Under our feet, hundreds of eels circled in the water, waiting for one of us to fall in. We wouldn’t be giving them the satisfaction today. The sound of a motor caught our attention.

Through the misty veil that hung over the water, a ferry appeared. We waved to Hank Wilder. As he approached the pier, he killed the engine. “I was supposed to start bringing tourists back to the island today, though God knows why when the beach is still in this condition.”

The thought of bringing tourists into this oncoming shitstorm made me shudder, though I shouldn’t have been glad to see the ferry empty.

“What happened?” I had to ask, even when I already knew the answer.

“Every time I go through that mist, I just end up coming out of it right back where I started. I’ve been around this whole island twice. There’s no way out.”

We were trapped. Once we’d seen that grate at the bottom of the river, we’d understood this was inevitable. But hearing that Hank had tried, and failed, to find a way out really made it sink in. We had no way off this island.

The sunlight would be the next to go.

Once again, faint pulses from my dream pounded against my skull like a drum. And though I couldn’t recall all the details, I was certain of one thing: the only way to beat the dark was with light. With fire.

With Kenna.