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ahead, making it difficult to see clearly, but yeah, there it was: the island. Not hidden. Not spewing its odd-looking mirage of lights that made it nearly invisible.
    Jesus , the island was right there. Was it welcoming her back where it intended to finish her off once and for all?
    What if it knows I killed Shane?
    Liv whooshed out a breath and smoothed her hands over the top of her head and down her ponytail. The Shane piece of this was something she’d not thought of. Not even once.
    Doesn’t matter now, Liv. You’re here. She was just thankful she wasn’t going to have to jump from the damned plane. Yes, Cherie, upon Liv’s request, had arranged for a skydiving instructor to be on board. It was amazing what money could buy, including a two-hour private lesson by a man that had been paid not to question Liv’s sanity for planning to actually jump alone her first time. But the way Liv saw it, the dire situation called for dire measures.
    “Take us down,” Liv said to the pilot. “But once I’m off the plane, you need to get back in the air and as far away as possible. Understand?”
    The pilot gave her an odd look.
    “It’s not safe here for you,” she clarified.
    “Why?”
    “Let’s just say that the people who live here don’t like strangers.” And there was a distinct possibility that they’d kill her on sight.
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    “Oh shit.” The moment Liv stepped off the plane, she knew something was wrong. Yes, the entire island was the poster child for wrong, but this time the island looked…different. The trees were dead—brown, dried-out skeletons without leaves or needles—the ground lacked any vegetation or moisture, and the snowcapped mountain at the center was nothing but rocks. No more snow.
    It looked like someone had dropped an A-bomb on the place and obliterated all signs of life.
    As the plane soared overhead, she watched it fade into the sunset along with the last rays of sunlight. A hard shiver swept over her body, making her wish she’d worn something other than a blue T-shirt and cargo shorts. A suit of armor would’ve been nice. She’d never been so afraid. Because, as if the island weren’t scary enough, now it screamed death, too.
    It’s like the world’s worst resort decided to team up with hell to create a magical getaway. Even the smell in the air was wrong—a foul musk mixed with sour seawater.
    She turned on her new sat phone—compliments of Cherie, who was like a damned magic genie—and then dug out the flashlight from her backpack. Liv had brought as many supplies as she could carry—tons of fresh bottled water, a small blanket, and snacks from the plane. She threw on the pack and started for Roen’s house, which was a huge two-story modern mansion perched on a hill not too far from that creepy mountain at the center of the island.
    She flipped on the flashlight and started walking into the desiccated forest. Suddenly, the air filled with familiar howls and cries.
    Oh God. The maids. The sound put a permanent chill in her bones, but her fear of this island was far greater than anything else. It had abilities that defied reason—the power to influence people, the ability to think and produce that strange healing water. It could control the environment around it and kill people who were thousands of miles away. Roen had once tried to explain how she did her tricks, but none of that mattered. The facts were the facts: This place was alive and psychotic.
    Liv’s footsteps made loud crunching sounds as she made her way through what was once a dense forest of pine trees. Half had fallen to the ground as if blown over by a storm, forcing her to climb over trunks as thick as four feet or crawl under the ones that leaned together. All the while, her head and heart said the same thing: This place is dead. Everything is dead.
    What the hell had happened?
    As crazy as it sounded, she believed the island fed off of Roen’s people. It was an assumption, but given her