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“That was why I did not chase you off. Why I gave you a chance.”
“His family had this island before the company bought—”
“Stole,” it snarls, Madison’s lips curling. “His family took care of me. They had been coming here so long that I was part of them, and they were part of me, and those people stole it from them when they could not say no.”
I remember what Nate said about the sale of the island paying for his grandmother’s cancer treatments when she was young.
The entity continues, “The boy’s mother would still come, sneaking over to visit me, drawn back by her blood to this place. Then she would bring him, and she showed him how to care for me, how to talk to me and let me sleep in peace.”
“Then he brought us, and you took that as a sign that we would be acceptable guardians. When we were not—when we began to build—you thought we’d tricked him. Then I made my oath and I changed the building plans, and Nate kept coming, kept visiting, and you knew all was well.”
“All was well. Until they came. He caught them—that man andwoman. He saw them doing their evil. He ran. He ran tome.But I was sleeping, and I could not wake in time to save him. They hit him with his own shovel. Killed him. Oh, they were horrified… for a heartbeat. Then they cut off his hand. Desecrated his corpse and stuffed his body into the crevice.”
“I’m—”
“The boydied!” the thing snarls at me. “He wasmine.My guardian. The last of my family. The last of myblood.And you let those people on this island to kill him. That requires a price.”
Grief washes over me in a wave that pulls me under for a moment, the world going dark before I rise, gasping, my lungs burning. I want to channel that grief and pain into rage, but it’s as if every ounce of energy I have is gone. Sapped by the realization that this isn’t about fairness or justice in any sense I understand. It’s her justice.Her,because that is what I felt before and I feel now, as hard as I try to think of this as a “thing.”
She is a spirit. She is the island. And I have wronged her and paid a price through Jayla. If I could fight for Jayla, I would. If I could offer myself instead, I would. But it’s too late—for her and Sadie and Garrett. They all paid a price for Nate’s death, which the spirit blames me for.
“You can rest now,” I say, fighting for calm. “It’s over, and you can rest.”
“It is not over. I’m not done. The price is not paid.”
My head whips up.
Madison’s lips move, the spirit speaking through her. “This girl.”
My brain stutters. Long heartbeats pass as it struggles to comprehend. Then it does, and I lunge forward, grabbing for Madison, but the spirit yanks her back and something smacks me to the floor.
“This is the final piece of the price,” it says. “Your child for mine.”
“No,” says a hoarse voice, before I can form words. Kit pushes up from the floor and wobbles toward us. “No.”
He pauses midstep, something pulling his gaze toward the window. The grief that passes over his face steals my breath, and I start torise, but he’s swung his attention resolutely back to us as he continues our way.
“It is the price,” the entity says. “The girl—”
“Laney’s child for yours,” Kit says. “I understand that. But if you kill Madison, Laney will never stay. She’ll leave and not look back. She’ll leave you to anyone who wants you.”
“Then I will kill every human who comes after her. Innocent or guilty. Grown or child. I will slaughter them the way I killed the others. Dead but not dead. Left to rot in their husks.”
“Laney won’t care.”
“She will. She will hate me, but she will care.”
“Not if you kill her daughter. Anyone but her daughter.”
I go still, my gaze rising to his, but he’s moving toward Madison, looking only at the thing in her, talking only to it.
“I did this,” he says, his voice low.
“No!” I say. “You…”
I keep talking, keep arguing, but Kit drowns me out. “I bought the island. I gave it to her. A bribe so she’d see what life with me would be like. All her dreams come true.” His mouth twists. “I tried to trap her with this island, but it wasn’t enough, and I left her with a dream she couldn’t afford. The only way she could keep that dream alive was to let others come here. I gave her no choice.”
“He didn’t trap me,” I say. “I had a choice. I always had a choice.”
