“I . . .” When our eyes meet, warmth envelops me. I look to my dad, his face creased in concern. They are everything to me. They make me so . . . “Nothing. I’ve got it.” I almost knock Maggie over on my way to the herb cabinet. Searching the various jars and bottles, I finally find it: gardenia oil.
For joy.
A few drops, and the cauldron bubbles with glee. I pour more of my magic into it until it stabilizes. Then comes the dried hemlock.
“Isn’t that . . . poisonous?” Kat asks.
I give her a flat look. “No comment on the bear heart, but this concerns you?”
Gwen smirks. “Bear heart won’t kill us.”
“Neither will this—it’s a way to mark our family. It has certain powers for us. For you. Now shh—I need to concentrate.” Putting both hands over the potion, I pick out each ingredient, weaving together the magic and place and family, making it permanent.
“Good, good,” Nana whispers. “I see what you’re doing.”
I nod, relieved to have her input. “Now the payment.”
I cut a tuft from the bottom of the Hemlock braid, the hair of every generation giving its power. Then I come over to Nana and clip a lock of her silver hair. She takes my hand. “You can do this. I believe you can do this.”
I kiss her forehead. “I needed to hear that.”
After her lock, I offer my own. Then comes the bigger stuff—the painful stuff. I’m not sure which to offer first, so I close my eyes and let my hand come down on something at random.
Pliers.
I let out a slow breath, the thought of pain making my heart pound. I run my tongue along my teeth. Which can I live without? How hard will I have to pull? Settling on a top right tooth—not too far back or front, hopefully concealable—I clamp the pliers down. The metallic taste makes my mouth water when it should be dry. My hands shake, and it sounds as if I’m not the only one who has stopped breathing.
I hear myself scream, and a shot of pain radiates through my cheek. The tooth, its long root white against the blood, sits between the pliers’ tongs. My head spins, and before I know it, Gwen has me by the shoulders.
“Steady.” She holds out some cloth. “Put it in your mouth. You’re drooling blood.”
“Oh.”
Well, that hurt. It was probably good to start there. Maybe the rest won’t be so bad. I put the tooth into the mixture, bracing myself for the next act.
“More?” Kat says when I put the pliers to my fingernail.
I nod. “I’m asking a lot—I must give a lot.”
A fingernail.
A toenail.
A chunk of flesh.
By the time I run the knife over my hand, I’m in so much pain it hardly registers. I let the blood flow into the concoction, waiting for the liquid to settle. I don’t know why, but I know it has to settle before I stop the flow. It’s like the bubbling cries for more payment, more pain, more sorrow.
And then, in an instant, it stops simmering. I pull my hand away, dizzy and tired, and the battle hasn’t even started.
Breathing in the magic, I fill up only to pour it into the spell. It needs more. More. I’m terrified by how much it needs. This will take time, which I don’t have. Lightning flashes so brightly I can see it through the green velvet curtains. The screams are on top of us, and the house moans back as the wind pushes at it.
I can feel him near; his greedy, evil wanting swirls overhead. He has broken through the outer barriers, and he stands before our house of ivy, fighting his way in. I don’t have to look to know.
“Everyone!” I cry. “I need your help to finish this off.”
Their hands encircle the pot, and they pour their magic into my spell. We weave and weave the elements together, use our magic to knit them until they cannot separate. Little by little, the potion shrinks and forms. Into what, I’m not sure, except that they are round, about the size of an Olympic medal.
The color changes to a sandy brown, with flecks of black. As I peer down at the two circles, I try not to laugh. I hold them out for Gwen and Kat, who eye them warily.
“A cookie?” Gwen asks.
I smile. “Nothing says home like a chocolate-chip cookie, right?”
Kat grabs hers. “Guess we should be happy it doesn’t look like bear heart.”
“True.” Gwen takes a bite. “Huh, it actually tastes like home.”
Kat nods in agreement. “Except I don’t feel any different.”
“Me eith—” Gwen falls from her chair and Kat follows. Their eyes don’t close, and when I put my finger to Gwen’s neck, I can’t find a pulse.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
FORTY-SIX
“No. No, no, no.” I pat Gwen’s cheek, my head flooding with all the things I could have done wrong. They are totally limp, not breathing, and I can’t see anymore because my eyes are filled with tears. They can’t be dead. Please don’t be dead. “Gwen, sweetie, I can’t do this without you or Kat. I can’t live without you guys.”
Prudence kneels next to Kat. “They shouldn’t have died. The spell may not have worked, but you paid more than enough. This could not be the consequence.”
I’m still crying. I did this to them—I should have never been so reckless. “What do we do?”
Prudence gives me a sad look. “All we can do is wait.”
“Wait? For what? For him to bust the door down?” I lay down next to Gwen, hugging her. I can’t look into her dead eyes, so I close them. This can’t be happening, but I can’t hear her heart.
They both look dead.
Dead.
“This can’t be right,” Prudence says again. Her disbelief is surprising, what with her initial assumption that I was crazy to even try. “Your composition was well conceived, and we poured everything into it.”
“I must have missed something,” I whisper.
“I don’t think so.” She puts her hand on Kat’s stomach, presses as if it’ll wake her up.
“But we are missing something now, perhaps,” Nana croaks, and then goes into a coughing fit.
I force myself to look at Gwen again, searching my mind for anything that might fix this. We can’t raise the dead—or rather, the sacrifice is too heinous to even consider it. And there isn’t time anyway. I can feel his magic pressing in all around us, hungry and excited for the pain he’ll soon inflict.
“I’m so sorry, Gwen.” I take her hand, trying to pretend that she’s still here. “I don’t know what to do. I just wanted to give you magic. I never thought . . .”
I gasp when I feel it. Magic is leaving my body, being drained like when Levi sucked it out of me. I jump up, scared that he found a way to Curse me, but the feeling disappears as quickly as it came. I search the room for the threat, but I see nothing. No Shadows.
“Josephine?” Tessa says, as if I’m on the doorstep to insanity. “Are you okay?”
“I thought I felt—”
Gwen’s finger twitches.
I put my hand over my mouth. Of course! Rushing back to her, I grasp her hand and push my magic into her. If I feel bad without magic for even a few minutes, how awful would it be for a body to suddenly need it and not know what to do? They’re empty. New.
Her hand tightens around mine, and I let out a joyful squeak. “Pru, take Kat’s hand and give her some magic.”
Her eyebrow raises. “What?”
“They’re not dead! They’re empty.”
“Ohhh.” She grabs Kat’s hand and gets to work. “C’mon, sweetheart, time to wake up.”
Gwen moans. Her eyes flutter open and fix on mine. “Did I die? I have a feeling I died.”
“You did.” I can barely breathe as I look at her, a strange and unreal recognition rushing through me. My blood . . . it’s in her now. I can feel her power. She is definitely a witch, and more than that, she is a Hemlock. Not just in name, but in blood
.
She’s my sister.
Gwen pulls herself up, rubbing her eyes. “And now I’m back?”
“I think you were . . . reborn.”
Kat groans as she comes to, and I feel it again. Sisterhood. True, perfect sisterhood. “You said we wouldn’t die, liar.”
“I didn’t know!”
“Whoa.” Kat puts her hand to her head. “Is this magic? That tingling in the air?”
“Yeah. Can you breathe it in? Hold it inside you?” I’m terrified waiting for their answer. What if I made them like Levi? What if they have to feed off us for magic? That would be worse than death, to have turned them into monsters.
They both close their eyes, and after a few deep breaths they smile.
“That’s . . . fantastic,” Gwen says. “I feel like I can conquer the world if I wanted to.”
I let out a relieved sigh. They’re real witches. There are more Hemlocks in the world, and having four in one room makes me realize why the Blacks want us gone. We are powerful, and we can stop this. I tackle them both into a hug, relishing in all the family surrounding me.
“We don’t do that whole world-domination thing, Gwen.” Maggie bounces over to us. “But maybe we should tell you the rules after we kick the shit out of that Shadow.”
“Margaret!” Tessa says.
She rolls her eyes. “C’mon, Mom, I know you want to. And now it’s six on one! We just have to go out and get him.”
“No,” I say, the happy moment already gone. “We’re not going out there—he has the advantage.”
Maggie tilts her head. “Huh?”
“He has a massive amount of magic. Hundreds of times what we can store.” I stand, pacing the room as I think. “If we leave our property, we only have what we can hold. That’s not enough. We have to do this on our turf. Here, on this land. We have an infinite well of magic if we stay here. All he has is what he’s stolen.”
“He won’t get any more from me. I refuse to take it in,” Nana says, her voice so weak it hurts my soul.
I offer a sad smile. “Strong to the bitter end, aren’t you?”
“Of course, dear. I will do what I can.”
Prudence makes a disapproving face. “But take down the barrier? Let him on this land? He would taint it with all that perverse magic.”
“No, he can use up his magic trying to get it down. It’ll give us a little time to—”
A deafening crack shudders through the house, and we cover our heads as the jars and bottles rattle against the cabinet doors. Once everything is still, I rush to the window.
At the gate stands an older version of Levi, his eyes as wild as his smile. And yet his suit is crisp, as if he’s here to talk realty. Which, in a sick way, he kind of is.
When his eyes find me, my entire body goes cold under his cruel gaze. I can’t help but feel terror—Jeff is so much worse than I expected. A million times worse than Levi. I’m not even sure one could call him by his human name—he is that Consumed by the darkness. I recognize the feeling immediately—it’s exactly what I felt when I cleansed my dad.
He wants to take everything I have.
He will enjoy slowly destroying me.
He puts his finger to the gate’s latch, and even though no one uninvited can enter, it opens.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
FORTY-SEVEN
“Looks like our planning session is over.” I head for Nana’s desk, where the lion-jaw dagger sits on its stand. I pick it up, the bone smooth and cool against my sweaty palm. It’s not much, but I’m taking anything that may even remotely help. “Where are the charms?”
“Here.” Tessa holds up an arm’s length of necklaces. “Three for each of us.”
“I wish I had time to discuss my plan in detail,” I say as Tessa passes around our meager protection.
“Kill him before he kills us?” Maggie asks.
I shake my head, my need for vengeance suddenly broiling. “No, I want him alive . . . and in pain. Basically, we need to restrain him. Then you guys need to form a pentagram around him and tap into the spell I cast to make it stronger.”
Kat frowns. “Do Gwen and I know how to do that?”
“You’ll know,” all the Crafts say at the same time. Tessa places the last of the charms over Kat’s head. “It’s intrinsic. You will feel Jo’s energy and power—all you have to do is match it.”
Kat and Gwen nod.
Taking a deep breath, I look out the window again. He’s standing inside the gate, smiling as if he knows what we’re planning, as if it’s futile, as if he’s already won. Ugh, so that’s where Levi got all that ego. Before I head for the door, I whisper in Nana’s ear, “Take it all the second you can.”
Her eyes go wide. “Okay.”
I turn to my family, my friends, their eyes set with determination. My hand automatically goes to Mom’s pendant, and I hold my head up high. No matter what happens, she would be proud of me for doing all I can. She would have expected nothing less. “For Carmina.”
“For Carmina,” everyone says.
And Stacia. I don’t say it out loud, but I ache for Levi’s mother. I’m grateful for what she tried to do for us. She deserves to be remembered and avenged as well.
I head for the door, footsteps clomping behind me like a death march. As I unlock the dead bolt, the house of ivy’s black door seems more fitting than ever. Its creaking sounds more like a growl today, like it, too, despises the suffocating darkness this monster brought with him.
Everything is drenched in shadow, and not because it’s almost night. His aura has transformed our entire yard—the grass, the trees, the ivy, and even the house—into inky gloom. We spread out, surrounding him without a word. He doesn’t move, all the time his eyes trained on me.
But then he startles, his gaze flicking between Gwen and Kat. His laugh is quiet, but the insanity still comes through. “Josephine, you sweetheart. You didn’t have to make me more treats.”
I bristle at his voice, too gentle to be anything but deadly.
“You wish,” Gwen says. Her magic is surprisingly powerful already, and her anger makes the air sizzle with electricity.
He takes a step toward me, and my fingers tighten around the dagger. His eyes are beyond wild, as if I’m looking into the depths of magic itself. “You are the spitting image of your mother, you know. Except you might be prettier.”
Prudence’s anger flares. “Why you—”
I hold up my hand. His eyes scare the hell out of me, but I force myself to look right into them. I will not give him the pleasure of seeing my fear.
“So quiet.” He smirks. “You don’t strike me as the silent type.”
“You don’t deserve words.” My voice is flat, and my palms are full of magic. I point the dagger at him and release everything I have.
My lightning is red as it crackles through the shadows, magnified in strength and purity by the lion jaw. He holds out his hands, and a barrier blocks my spell. His grin is clearly unhinged, and I can tell he enjoys this though he struggles to fight it off. I breathe in more magic, letting it flow and flow. Maybe he can fight me off, but he has to use up magic to do it. That’s just as good a result.
Gwen and Kat stay at my side, obviously shell-shocked, but I can tell they’re trying to help with my spell. It could be so much stronger, but I’m proud they’re doing as well as they are, being witches for a whole five minutes or so.
Thankfully, Prudence picks up on my diversionary tactic and comes at him from behind. She grabs both of his arms, and his eyes go wide. My spell is inches from his face when he holds out a hand to Tessa, and she screams in agony. All her fingernail beds run bloody as he catches her nails midair.
Prudence cracks at her sister’s pain, and he uses the moment to get her by the neck with Tessa’s bloody nails. “Nice try.”
I drop the spell, my mind
blanking as I watch the nails dig into Pru’s pale skin. He won’t hesitate to kill her; this I know for sure. Her eyes plead with me, and her lips mouth something I can’t quite catch. Something that starts with a B.
She tries again.
Braid!
I hold out my dagger, telling the magic to cut Pru’s hair. It frees itself from her, writhing in the air. It springs for his neck, wrapping around like a noose. I let it squeeze hard, hard enough that the nails fall from Pru’s skin. He drops to his knees, and her impossibly long hair coils around his arms and torso, binding him in place.
Phase one complete. I can hardly believe . . .
He laughs, the sound strangled and disturbing. I try to go on with the next spell, but he seems too happy about being bound. That can’t be good.
The air grows cold, so cold that I can see my breath.
His image blurs, the shadows around him flaring and pulsing as they leave his body. My fear becomes a crippling force that leaves me numb with panic. A black Shadow man—the same as when we freed my dad—forms next to Prudence. It smiles at her, and its wanting pours out everywhere.
“Eenie.” He points to Gwen. “Meenie.” To Kat. “Miney.” To me. “Moe.” The shadow turns to face Maggie, whose hands are frozen by her side. He pounces, and she’s too far out of reach for me to stab the shadow and take the Curse instead.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
FORTY-EIGHT
Tessa screams as she runs for Maggie, her horror overcoming the pain of lost fingernails. For a moment I’m back under the willow, watching Nana come to my rescue. Except Tessa isn’t fast enough, and none of us can stop it. Even if we could, it still wouldn’t help. He’ll have another magic well to use when we were finally chipping away at his enormous store of power.
In a last-ditch effort, I chuck the dagger at the shadow. It sticks in the grass, barely missing. Maggie tries to make a barrier with a handful of orchid petals, but it only provides a second’s worth of defense.
House of Ivy & Sorrow Page 23
