The Skye Trilogy: Isle of Skye, Isle of Night, and Isle of Dawn. * Bonus: Scrumptious Skye Confections Cookbook*

by Shannon Barczak

  Everyone gasped, but I still hadn’t moved. There was no way I was going to let anything happen to her. I racked my brain to think of a solution. There had to be something we could do for her.

  “Well, I think we can help with that.” Winifred said as she knelt down. I saw her start to chant, and I let out a prayer to anyone that was listening.

  “NO!” Patcoena and Sidra both yelled at the same time. Willa immediately started screaming and thrashing around on the floor. My fists clenched and my body tightened.

  “You mustn’t Winifred.” Sidra said. “Any more power, even that of a healing nature, just magnifies her pain.”

  “What are we to do?” Cecily sobbed. Cormac put his arm around her and together they quietly cried in agony.

  Patcoena looked at me, and it was then I sprang into action. Her screams had become more intense, and I knew that I had to do something. When she started raking her nails up and down her face, I could feel the animal clawing to get out inside of me. I pushed everyone out of the way to grab Willa’s hands that had blood smeared on them, but for once, I couldn’t care less about the intoxicating smell. The only thing I cared about was getting her out of here.

  “Mathias, you’re the only one that can help her.” Patcoena said. “You must take her away from here. Somewhere where there is no magic. I’m afraid your island has too many powerful enchantments.”

  “Why on earth is Mathias the only one that can help her?” Winifred demanded. “We’re her family. We’re the ones that have the necessary resources to bring her back to health.”

  “Only Willa’s true mate has that power.” Summer said gently

  I heard Winifred’s sharp intake of breath, but I ignored it. The second I put my arms around Willa; her screams died down to a whimper. Her tears and blood streamed down her face.

  “Why is she hurting herself?” I wondered aloud

  “She was trying to release the elements and the power from her body.” Sidra answered sadly

  Cecily and Cormac cried even harder. Winifred looked like she was also going to have a breakdown. I saw Sidra go over to her and put her arm around her. The two grandmothers had never looked less like queens. They looked heartbroken at the sight of their granddaughter who was lying on the floor covered in dirt and blood.

  I don’t know if it was because their defenses were down but even I could feel the magic that started emanating from them. Willa started to scream and thrash more in my arms, and I barely had enough time to get out of the way of her fire.

  This time though, it wasn’t coming from her hands it was pouring out of her mouth. A blast of air erupted in the room, and we were all flung back. I watched as Willa jumped up and landed in the corner. She looked like a wild animal in a cage.

  That was enough for me to lose control and I slammed Patcoena so hard against the wall that I could hear his teeth rattle in his mouth. “What the fuck happened to her?” I roared

  “I didn’t know,” he answered helplessly. I dropped him to the floor the second I could feel my fangs descending in my mouth. A red haze began to cloud my eyes before my vision became even sharper.

  The animal was loose. I didn’t even try to contain him. I was aware of the scared shouts as everyone took in my appearance. I walked over to Sidra and grabbed her by the neck.

  “Open the portal.” I ordered

  “Where?” she asked

  I was keenly aware that I didn’t trust a single person in this room right now. I racked my brain until finally I thought of a place where I could take Willa. I leaned down and whispered my demand. Sidra nodded weakly, and I released her so she could do what she had to do.

  I turned to Willa and stalked over her to her as swiftly as possible. I knelt down and nuzzled her face with mine. When she didn’t fight me, I felt a small measure of relief. I gathered her up in my arms and said softly. “Willa, you have to trust me, I’m going to take away the pain.”

  I turned and saw that Sidra had indeed opened the portal. I stopped right before I stepped into the waving air and turned to address everyone.

  “We are leaving. Do not try to follow us. We will come back when Willa is well.”

  “Mathias...” Cecily cried. “Please be in touch. I will go crazy not knowing.”

  I looked at Winifred. “I will be in contact with you soon. There are decisions we need to make immediately.”

  “I understand,” she said. “I agree.”

  I had nodded once before I sprinted through the space in front of me. I breathed in the clean, crisp air and shut my eyes. When I opened them, Willa was staring at me. Her eyes were darting back and forth across my face. I leaned my forehead against hers before I jumped up in the sky and flew with her trembling body against mine.

  Chapter One

  Five days earlier…

  “Did he seriously just mouth the words I love you?” I asked in disbelief

  “Willa now isn’t the time…” Patcoena started to say

  “Oh, believe me now is the time.” I said. “I cannot believe that just happened. I also can’t believe the prick did that to me right when the portal was closing, and I couldn’t respond.”

  “Willa, I realize that this is a tremendous moment for you but can we focus…”

  “It’s a tremendous moment?” I asked. “It’s not just a tremendous moment; it is a huge fucking moment.”

  Patcoena sighed and looked away. I knew that getting worked up over Mathias, and his last second declaration of I love you was in the grand scheme of things somewhat silly, but I couldn’t help feeling an amazing amount of happiness and irritation all at the same time. I had just poured out my heart to him before I stepped through the portal, and that’s his send off to me.

  I realized that for him to even think, let alone utter, those words were pretty monumental but still maybe a little whisper in my ear before I left to wander into dangerous parts unknown would’ve been a better decision.

  “It’s just so unreal, because he was standing right in front of me a few seconds earlier. He totally could’ve said that to me then. Do you think he mouthed that to me because he thinks I’m never coming back?”

  “I don’t know Willa.” Patcoena said warily

  “Well, I have news for him,” I said. “Not only am I coming back but if I have to tie him up and torture him by singing bad 80’s music until he says it out loud again I will.”

  “That sounds like a grand plan.” Patcoena replied

  “Yeah,” I snorted. “Everybody Wang Chong tonight is all I got to say.”

  “Willa, we just stepped through a portal to a whole another realm,” Patcoena asked. “Can we get back to our mission here?”

  “Right, sorry,” I said before I stopped abruptly. The Fire realm was not something that I could have ever imagined in my wildest dreams. No wonder my father had such a hard time trying to explain it to me.

  A barren landscape of black and gray ash spread out before as far as the eye could see. There were no signs of life or vegetation anywhere. In the distance, I spied black, rolling mountains. It looked like a dry, remote desert covered in sooty charcoal sand. At first I thought there were some reddish orange trees that dotted the hillside, but, the more I looked, the more I could see that it wasn’t trees or flowers, but honest to goodness lava flowing down the sides.

  “Umm, this may sound like a stupid question but are those active volcanoes?” I asked

  “Yes, of course.” Patcoena answered

  “Did you not think that maybe that might have been something you could’ve disclosed?”

  “It’s called the Fire realm for a reason Willa,” Patcoena said, almost amused. “What did you think would be here?”

  “Not live volcanoes that shoot out massive amounts of hot molten lava.” I said. “Call me crazy but the thought that I would have to dodge freaking lava didn’t enter my mind.”

  “I think it’s quite beautiful in a stark and simplistic way.”

  “Yeah, it’s fabulous.” I scoffed. �
��As a matter of fact I’m thinking of building a summer home here.”

  Patcoena shook his head and kept walking. I followed leisurely while my mind tried to take everything in around me. A year ago I was happily running my bakery, Yummy Yuma, in my hometown of Yuma, Arizona. I had a small, but great circle of friends, parents that adored me, and a normal existence. My life changed almost seven months ago when on the night of parent’s anniversary they had come home in a panic.

  Our enemies had discovered them, enemies that I had never known we even had. The Rau were evil vampires that hunted and craved our rich magical blood. Centuries before it had been Gypsies that placed a curse on a vicious beast that had been terrorizing the Clan of Skye’s village. Instead of turning the beast into a harmless human the curse had backfired, and with that, the vampire had been created. Their goal in life was simple, to find Gypsies and kill or kidnap us so they could feast on the distinctive fluid that flowed through our veins.

  My mother was a Gypsy princess, and my father was a Fae prince. They had run away together many years ago because their love was pretty much taboo. Only Fae could have children with one another, so any mingling of our races was frowned upon by both the Fae and the Gypsies. I am the only known child conceived of both races. I inherited not only my mother’s Caster powers but my father’s Fae powers as well.

  I also just found out that long ago there had been a prophecy told of my existence. I was not just a powerful hybrid, but I was also destined to be the fabled Fae Sanctity or as I like to call myself, a weapon of mass destruction. Patcoena and his wife Summer had hatched a plan with the former King of the Fae, my great grandfather Cormagglia, to ensure that the Fae Lords of each realm did not try to overthrow his daughter, my father’s mother, Sidra.

  King Cormagglia had traveled to each realm within Fairlia and in a particular place had unleashed his powerful magic of the element that originated there. Summer, a sightseer, had foreseen that one or all of the Fae Lords would eventually try to make a power grab. I am the only one that can absorb the King’s power, and I am also the only one who can help destroy the enemies of my grandmother.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite sure which Lord was evil and which was too scared to go against this powerful mastermind. My money was on either Lord Machall of the Fire realm or Lord Fonn of the Air realm.

  A week before a witch vampire named Sabine broke down the protective barriers for our island. Instead of sitting waiting patiently, I charged into the fight with my guns blazing. I was not just a weapon of mass destruction to the Fae, but I was also a Rau killing machine. My purple freaky flames and my poisonous blood could kill any vampire.

  I essentially had saved the island and the residents by killing over five hundred Rau that Sabine had brought in to kill or capture any Gypsies while she kidnapped me so she could take my powers from my body for herself and this Fae Lord. I had used not only my deadly flames, but my amazing ability to control the elements as well.

  My blood was deadly to all but one vampire. My mate, my Guardian, and the biggest pain in the ass, Mathias was the only vampire that was unsusceptible to my toxic blood. I had never tested out my freaky flames on him but somehow I suspected he was immune to its flaming wrath.

  Until very recently we all thought Mathias to be a Guardian of the Solas. A human that was made into a vampire unwillingly and clung to their humanity turned into these powerful vampires. They have been our protectors on the Isle of Skye for centuries. In return for our rich blood, they served as our bodyguards. I had figured out a while ago when we came back from a mission to rescue my aunt and cousin from the Rau that Mathias was not just a Guardian of Solas.

  He was also part Rau. Mathias’s eyes that glowed red from time to time tipped me off initially, but it wasn’t until we found Patcoena that we also realized he was part Gypsy and Fae as well. Apparently, Mathias’s grandparents had both been descended from our clan. After a horrible childhood, Mathias had come home the night before his wedding to find his scumbag brother and father, who had turned Rau, had also killed his beloved sister.

  Mathias’s father had turned him so that he could use Mathias’s wealth and money making skills to keep him comfortable for his unnaturally long life. Patcoena had seen Mathias’s anger and poured part of his soul into Mathias so he wouldn’t become Rau completely because Mathias had been destined to be my watcher.

  The thing that sucked the most was, after months of dancing around each other, Mathias and I had finally succumbed to our feelings for one another. We were true mates in every sense of the word. Not only could we speak to each other with our minds but we had formed an intense connection, both emotionally and physically.

  To be honest, the Rau and these wussy Fae Lords were starting to irritate the piss out of me. Instead of basking in my newfound love and energetic sex life I had to absorb some great power which could either kill me or turn me into a nutcase. Apparently if I survived all of that, I then had to fight and kill who was ever trying to destroy not only the Fae but the Gypsies as well.

  Yay for me, I thought sarcastically. I suppose it was just another day in my new fucked up normal life.

  “So, I’m gathering from your purposeful stride that you know where we’re going here?” I asked

  “Not exactly,” Patcoena answered

  “What do you mean not exactly?” I asked. “Not exactly as in you’re not sure but have a general idea or not exactly as in you have no clue of the location of this cave?”

  “The King did not tell me or anyone else the exact location.” Patcoena answered uneasily

  I stopped and grabbed his arm. “Do you mean to tell me that you have no idea as to where we have to travel to in any part of the realms to find this great power that I am supposed to absorb into my body?”

  “I have every confidence that when we are close to its origins that the fire will call out to you.” Patcoena said. “You already have an extraordinary amount of control over the elements. I fully believe that when we are approaching the area near to where the King placed his source of magical energy, you will naturally gravitate towards it on your own.”

  “But that could take forever!” I yelled. “I have no idea how big these realms are, but I’m pretty sure that it takes more than a day to go from one end to the other.”

  “That’s why I have procured us a guide to help us on this quest.” Patcoena said

  “You didn’t say anything about a guide Patty boy.” I said suspiciously. “It was supposed to be just you and me.”

  “Unfortunately, I only just realized the scope of what this may entail.”

  “Mathias is going to flip his freaking lid.” I muttered. “Do you have any idea what he is going to do when he finds out that there is a guide going with us on this power nature walk?”

  “I’m confident Mathias is going to be more than fine with my choice of guides,” he said. “Well, with one of them.”

  “There are two guides?” I asked. “Listen, old man, you have one minute to explain all of this before I bail and leave you here all alone.”

  “I know that you have no reason to trust me Willa but there are a few things that I have kept from you for your own protection.”

  “Forty, thirty-nine, thirty-eight…”

  “I’m not sure where we need to look, but Summer had a vision the night before we left, of the two guides that will help us find our way,” he answered. “You may not fully trust me Willa but I am confident you trust one of these two men with your life.”

  “Who is it?” I asked shortly

  “He will be here very soon.”

  I let out a long, shaky breath. I wanted to trust Patcoena, but the fact was I didn’t know him well enough nor was I going to put my life or the lives of everyone I love in his hands. I decided to be on guard from this moment forward.

  “You’re walking a fine line right now.” I said seriously

  “I realize that,” he said. “The last thing I ever want to do is to make you feel uncomfortable
or uneasy in my presence but trust me when I say this is imperative to our quest.”

  “I thought you said only you and I were to go on this mission.” I reminded him. “You specifically said that this was something only we could do. Christ, Summer, showed me what would’ve happened if Mathias had come with us. She said that Lord Fonn and the Rau would’ve killed him or was that vision false?”

  “No, that was real,” he said. “Like I said, this vision had hit her hard right before we left to go to Mathias’s island. I didn’t want to concern Mathias with the change of plans because his fate would’ve been the same with or without these two guides.”

  “So are we to meet these two mystery men somewhere specific or are we just wandering around waiting for them to find us?”

  “On the other side of the volcano to the east of us is the meeting place.” Patcoena said pointing to a large black and orange land mass

  “Great and how are we getting over the spouting volcano?” I asked

  “I was hoping you could teleport us there of course,” he answered innocently. “I would do it but you’re younger.”

  “Sure,” I said. “Why don’t we teleport off into the unknown on the other side of freaking volcano that has hot liquid squirting everywhere? Sounds like a great idea.”

  “Willa, need I remind you that you are the most powerful being on the planet?” he asked. “Surely, a little lava doesn’t frighten you?”

  “I’m sorry; did you just ask me if a little lava frightens me?” I asked in disbelief. “Do I get cell service here? I feel like calling in to a radio station so I could get millions of people’s opinions on whether or not volcanic lava should freak me out. You know, like those crappy morning radio shows, where someone calls in and says ‘OH I think my husband’s cheating on me. I found some texts and lipstick on his underwear, but I’m not sure. What does everyone think?’ and then all kinds of random, angry and slightly amused people call in to tell her what an idiot she is and girl power and don’t worry you’ll survive and all that crap. Yeah, that’s what I need to do.”