“I knew Alastair better than most,” she countered. “He simply didn’t realize it. I had to lead him — and hard — to me when I learned of the festival. I figured it was my only chance to get back what was mine.”
“And what is that? What do you think he owed you?”
“Everything he took.” Thalia was blasé as she shifted her eyes to the east. There were footsteps approaching and for a second I was excited at the prospect. Then I was filled with dread.
“Whoever that is doesn’t need to be involved in this,” I warned, my voice low. “We can just pretend things are fine and once they’re gone we’ll start pulling hair or whatever it is you want to do.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Thalia’s eyes flashed with impatience when the bushes gave way to allow entrance to yet another witch. I almost gasped when I saw who it was, but in hindsight, it made sense. Well ... sort of.
“You didn’t have to leave me behind,” Luster complained, her sunny hair glinting in the peek-a-boo lighting. “I said I was going with you. I had to go to the bathroom first. You know how those lines are ... at least if you want a decent Porta-Potty.”
I swallowed hard as I glanced between faces. ”You’re working this together.” There was no reason for me to be so surprised, and yet I couldn’t shake the doubt creeping in. This wasn’t right. How could this possibly have happened? “I knew there were two of you, but I didn’t see this coming.”
“I wouldn’t get too upset about it,” Thalia said dryly. “You weren’t meant to figure it out. There’s a reason we are the way we are.”
“Yeah.” Luster looked more amused than bothered to find me with Thalia. “You weren’t supposed to find out. We put on a good show in public so people don’t realize we’re a team. It’s always been this way with us.”
“Always?” I cocked an eyebrow. “How long have you been doing stuff like this?”
“For a bit,” Thalia replied, raising her chin. “I need my necklace back. You can’t keep it. Besides, where you’re going, you won’t need it.”
She sounded sure of herself. And, honestly, I wasn’t as comfortable taking two of them on as I had been when it was only Thalia. Still, there was no reason to panic. I had to stretch out this interaction until I came up with a plan.
“I think I’m going to hang on to it for now, but I am curious about why you want it so badly,” I admitted, my eyes traveling to the necklace Luster wore around her neck. It was a match to Thalia’s, except it was a sun. The charms almost looked as if they fit together, like one of those old “best friends forever” necklaces young girls got when they were in middle school. “I’m curious about a lot of things.”
“I’m sure you are.” Thalia’s voice was laden with contempt. “But we’re not here to bond. This isn’t some Scooby-Doo moment.”
“I’m not giving you the necklace.” I was firm. “As for the Scooby-Doo moment, why not play the game? You’re going to kill me, right? That’s the only play you have. Why not at least tell me why I’m dying before you carry out the deed?”
“That seems fair,” Luster said pragmatically. “It’s not as if we don’t have time. The ritual isn’t until tonight. She’s the last thing we have to take care of.”
And there it was again. Ritual. It was the second time I’d heard it today. “What ritual are you planning?”
“It’s none of your concern,” Thalia snapped. “You don’t need information. You’re not part of this. If you’d stayed away and minded your own business you wouldn’t be dying today. This is on you, and there’s a lesson in there about poking into things you ought not poke into.”
“Fair enough, but I still want to know.” I kept my eyes on both of them in case one tried to move on me. I expected Thalia to be the one to attack, but I’d underestimated Luster before and I wasn’t keen on the idea of doing it again. “Luster will tell me. She wants to share the information.”
The blonde perked up when I singled her out. “I do think it’s only fair, Thalia. Besides, I kind of want to see her face.” Luster’s cutesy grin evaporated into an evil grimace. “What is it you want to know?”
“Well, for starters, why kill Alastair?”
“Money,” Luster replied without missing a beat. “He had it and we wanted it.”
That was simple enough. “And Salma?”
“An accident,” Luster hedged, shifting from one foot to the other. She looked genuinely uncomfortable. “We didn’t want to have to do it. We didn’t even know her. We didn’t have a choice. We were going after Alastair — he was supposed to die on the beach to make things easier — but she came back after they finished arguing. We thought she’d left, but she returned.”
“We had a choice to make,” Thalia volunteered, giving in and joining the conversation. “We could’ve tried to take them both out on the beach, but there was every chance one of them would get away under those conditions ... and we couldn’t risk that. Besides, we didn’t want Alastair to see us coming.”
“So you took out Salma first.”
Thalia nodded. “It was quick, but then we second-guessed ourselves. We didn’t want it to look like a professional hit.”
“Thalia made me go back and stab her another six times even though we were well on our way to leaving.” Luster jutted out her lower lip into a pout. “She thought it was better if the cops believed it was a crime of passion.”
“That was good,” I offered. “We did wonder about that at the start. The problem is, Salma wasn’t seeing anyone and fights over internet gigs don’t generally push friends to murder. Still, it was a nice attempt.”
“It was great,” Thalia countered. “You didn’t have any idea it was us until right now. Don’t pretend otherwise.”
I wanted to argue the point, but she wasn’t wrong. “I didn’t suspect you,” I admitted. “I had no reason to believe it was you. I still don’t understand why you went after Alastair. I mean ... money is great and all, but is it really worth murdering?”
“I guess that depends on your point of view,” Thalia countered darkly. “From my point of view, it was definitely worth it ... especially after what he did.”
“Are you talking about stealing the Skyclad Festival money? I know he promised to pay you guys, but ... how much could he have possibly absconded with? How much did he promise you in return for the publicity and your presence?”
“Twenty-grand each, but that’s neither here nor there,” Thalia fired back. “He owed us, but it was a debt that could never be repaid.”
“I don’t understand. You’ll have to spell it out for me.”
“And why would we want to do that?” Thalia sneered. “You’ve been nothing but a pain in our behinds since the start. You and your stupid boyfriend. Oh, and the cupid ... and the demon ... and those filthy sirens. There’s a reason they were supposed to be kept on the other side of the island. Why did you invite them to this side?”
I drew my eyebrows together, flummoxed. She seemed to know a lot about an island she was visiting for the very first time. How was that possible? There was something very important that I was missing here.
“You’re from Moonstone Bay, aren’t you?” I asked finally, going for it. “You’re familiar with the political climate and inner workings of the island. The only way that’s possible is if you spent a great deal of time here.”
Instead of congratulating me, Thalia made an incredulous face. “It took you long enough. Did you really think all of this was over some stupid festival? The festival was simply a way for us to get close to him. I mean ... really.”
Something about the way she talked made me grit my teeth. “How did you cross the boundaries at Cooper’s Hollow without the sirens knowing?”
If Thalia was surprised at the sudden shift in topic she didn’t show it. “It wasn’t difficult. All I had to do was mask our scents and cast an invisibility spell. I’ve done it before. In fact, I’ve done it on their land before.”
“When?”
“When Cornwall had to die, of course. You didn’t think I was going to put up with the way he treated us forever, did you?”
I worked my jaw, the possibilities she was spinning too numerous to absorb. “You’re Alastair’s mother. I ... don’t remember hearing your name, but you’re her.”
“How is that possible?” Thalia asked with a blank face. “I’m obviously younger than him.”
I thought of Bronwen. “It’s a glamour. You’re hiding your age with a glamour spell ... and you came after Alastair because he stole your inheritance. Obviously it was an inheritance you thought you deserved, because you killed your husband to get it.”
I took a moment to let the rest of it fill my mind. “What a bitter disappointment it must’ve been for you,” I continued. “You went through the trouble to learn the magic you needed to hide yourself, risked your life by crossing the sirens’ land, and managed to kill your husband without anyone finding out. And then you didn’t inherit.”
Thalia scowled. “I probably should’ve expected that, but I didn’t. I knew he was cruel, but to be that cruel? Had I known, I would’ve arranged for Alastair and his father to have an accident together. But at that time I was still trying to mold him into a decent human being. What a waste of time that turned out to be.”
I couldn’t help but agree with her. “I was told you were essentially banished back to the mainland and had to get a job.”
She nodded. “That’s true. When you go from living in the lap of luxury to trying to make a small amount of money stretch for the rest of your life, it’s not easy. I had to get work as a party planner, if you can believe that. I mean ... what a loathsome job.”
“I know a lot of people who like parties,” I offered. “It doesn’t sound so bad.”
She ignored me. Now that she’d told me most of her story she obviously had every intention of telling me the rest. “It was mindless work. It gave me plenty of time to plan, though, and perfect my craft. Do you know that Alastair never once bothered to visit me? Not once. We’re talking decades upon decades, and all the while he was dithering away the money his father left him. He didn’t even have a family to support. He wasted it all on boats and watches. He spent it on unnecessary home improvements and one-of-a-kind furniture he never even sat in. He basically flushed it down the toilet.”
Now that she’d brought it up, I had another question. “Shouldn’t you be dead … or at least in a home or something?”
Thalia made a mocking face. “That was going to be my line to you.”
“I’m serious. You’re ... old. Alastair was in his late sixties, which would put you in your eighties. I guess maybe dead was a little harsh, but you certainly shouldn’t be strong enough to run around this island killing people. I know a little something about glamour spells. You’re still you underneath, so ... how are you doing it?”
“Who says it’s a glamour spell?” Thalia shot back. “That was your theory, not mine.”
“But ... .” Slowly, I shifted my gaze to Luster, who was watching me with overt glee ... and something akin to pity.
“She’s still trying to figure it out,” Luster noted. “She hasn’t put that final piece together.”
“She hasn’t,” Thalia agreed. “We’ve gone this far — even though I didn’t want to — so I guess we might as well go the rest of the way. Because this is your show, I’ll expect you to kill her. She’ll put up a fight and it’s too hot to sweat. That’s one thing I always hated about this island. It’s hot year-round.”
“Yeah.” Luster rubbed her hands together and focused on me. The order to kill me obviously didn’t bother her, and part of me couldn’t help but wonder if she was more dangerous than Thalia. There was something deranged about Luster ... and the cracks in her facade were starting to widen. “So, here’s the thing: Nobody is using a spell to make themselves appear younger. We actually are younger.”
“We?”
“Thalia and me.” She flicked her finger between herself and the other woman. “Don’t you understand yet? We’re both Annie Herne.”
My stomach clenched at the admission. I remembered something from a book I’d read in May’s library not long after arriving. What stuck with me was the only explanation for what was happening.
“You split your soul,” I rasped, my heart rate picking up a notch. “The only way to cheat death is to damage your soul. That’s what wraiths do to carry on long after they should’ve passed. I know that from the reapers I’ve met. This, this is something else. It’s a different spell. It requires an elixir.”
“Very good.” Luster grinned as she did a little dance. She was enjoying herself. “The elixir is made from the blood of a loved one you’ve murdered with a ceremonial athame. It was always a plan for me, er, us. Now we’re an us but I still think as a me sometimes.”
I looked at them even harder. “Annie Herne split her soul when she hit the mainland. She was obsessed with paying back her son and needed time to do it.”
“Oh, this wasn’t just because we wanted to pay back Alastair,” Thalia reassured me. “Nobody wants to die. We were already making plans for this before Cornwall’s death. This was always the endgame. Make no mistake about it. Where things got mucked up was Cornwall’s will. We thought we would get everything ... and instead he left it to that little weasel.”
“Even then we had hope that Alastair would do the right thing,” Luster volunteered. “We thought he would offer to give us a sizeable amount of the money. But he didn’t, and from that moment he was lost to us.”
“He never really had a chance,” I mused, clenching and unclenching my fists as things finally coalesced. “People complained he was a soulless jerk, but with a father like Cornwall and a mother like you he never really had a chance to be a better man.”
“Perhaps. It hardly matters now.” Thalia beamed at me. “We thought we’d missed our chance at the money when we realized Alastair had burned through it all. That was worth it alone to kill him. But when we realized what he was doing with the festival ... we saw a different chance.”
“It wasn’t nearly as much money, but we’re not Alastair,” Luster added. “We know the proper people to invest with. We can turn that fifty-million into a hundred-million.”
“And live forever,” Thalia enthused.
Standing there, together, they looked like opposite sides of a coin. One side was dark, the other light. That was probably by design, I realized. They were forever joined and forever annoyed with one another. That part probably wasn’t planned, but it was simply a component of their new reality.
“Which of you took the shot at Galen?” I really wanted to know.
“Actually, that was neither of us. We did give one of those idiot warlocks a little push when we realized he had a gun on him,” Thalia replied. “I was right there, almost next to you, when the gun went off. We thought you would stop looking for us if you were mourning him. We didn’t expect that idiot to miss.”
I caused him to miss, I realized. I heard the whispers because Luster and Thalia were excited. They couldn’t shutter because they were essentially sharing the same brain. That was a detriment to them, but one they clearly didn’t recognize.
“So, this is the end game for you guys?” I blew out a sigh. “You’ve gotten everything you want.”
“We have,” Thalia agreed. “Now, when we end you, we’ll finish things. Then we’ll host a special ritual this evening, steal as much magic as we can from the other witches — and I don’t think it will be much because there’s very little real magic on that beach — and then we’ll be on our way the next day. Nobody will be able to stop us, and I doubt your sheriff will even try because he’ll be so distraught over losing you.”
“It really is the best outcome,” Luster agreed, shifting closer to me. “I want you to know I really wish we didn’t have to kill you. Although ... you know what? I really don’t like you. It’s more that I wish we didn’t have to devastate that handsome boyfriend of yours. I would li
ke to give him a whirl, but it wouldn’t be smart to stay behind, so we’ll be leaving despite how handsome he is.”
My stomach clutched at the words, and I found I wanted to do her great bodily harm. Instead, I fingered the moon charm in my pocket and ran the story through my head again. I knew these women were joined together. They shared the same soul, which was fragmented. They’d been separated into two people. What would happen if they were forced to join together again as one? Would that be enough to end them?
We were about to find out. It was the best move I had, perhaps the only one. “I have just one more question.”
“Fine.” Thalia linked her fingers in front of her and waited. “This will be the last bit of stalling we’ll allow.”
“Okay.” I forced a bright smile. “Did it hurt when you separated yourself?”
“Yes.” Thalia opted for honesty. “It hurt a great deal. We almost didn’t survive. Shredding a soul is a painful process.” She wrinkled her nose. “Is that really your final question?”
“Well, technically it has two parts.”
“I figured. What’s the second part?”
“Will it hurt if I shove you two back together again?”
Thalia snorted. “How do you plan to do that?”
“That’s not possible,” Luster added.
“Let’s see.” I lashed out with my magic, slamming a bolt of energy into Thalia’s chest. She was caught off guard, and knocked end over end as she flew to the other side of the bushes. I could no longer see her, but it didn’t matter. Luster was my biggest worry.
My left hand glowed green as I grabbed her shoulder and she cried out, stunned beyond measure. I heard her calling out to Thalia in her mind ... but there was no answer. I must’ve hurt Thalia more than I realized.
What do I do?
How do I respond?
It hurts.
Do something.
Where are you?
Why have you abandoned me now?
I funneled more energy into the magic, burning her in the process. She cried out, tried to wriggle away, but it was already too late. With my right hand, I lifted the moon charm I’d found on the bush and shoved it toward the sun counterpart. I had no idea if this was going to work, but I had to try.
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