I opened Mom’s top drawer and pulled out a thick leather-clad book. Thumping it onto the desk, I tapped the cover. “It’ll give us some time to figure out what Simon and Valefar meant about saving you. They both said there was a chance, and that it was right under our noses. All we need to do is find out what it is.”
He sank into the chair across from me and peered over the stacks of paper. “And that’s going to help?”
“Simon’s brother Charles started this. From the dates, I’d bet it wasn’t long after you got re-trapped in the box and Simon was killed. It categorizes and lists every Otherworlder he ever crossed paths with.” I opened the book to a random page. “All the Darkers since have added to it. It’s like an Otherworlder encyclopedia.”
“You think something in there will tell us where to look?”
We were running on time fumes. In less than six hours, Lukas would be pulled back into the box, and I would lose him forever. This was my last chance to save him. “If there’s something out there that’s got the power to help you, it’ll be in here.”
…
I slammed the book closed with a heated snap. All night and we still had nothing. I wasn’t a pessimist by any definition, but I was seriously starting to doubt we’d find what we were looking for in time.
On the couch across the room, Lukas had his nose buried in a book. Every once in awhile, I’d glance over and catch him watching me with an odd smile on his face. He meant what he’d said about going back in the box. He didn’t want to—he’d miss me—but he was at peace with it. He felt he deserved it because of what he’d been planning to do to his father.
“We’ve only got a few hours left,” I said, voice low. If someone else had said it in a similar situation, I would’ve been tempted to slug them. Stating the obvious was a serious pet peeve. But I felt compelled to say something—and that was all I could come up with. I slammed my hand down on the desk and kicked at the chair.
Lukas stood and came to the edge of the desk. “Jessie, you did all you could.”
“I guess no matter how hard I tried, this was inevitable.”
“What was?”
“My family is cursed.”
“Not anymore. Didn’t you say Valefar lifted it?”
“That’s not what I mean. In love. We’re cursed in love.”
“Why would you say that?”
I shrugged. “Simon loved your mother. They had to die to be together. Grandpa lost Grandma not long after Mom was born—even
His lip twitched.
I wouldn’t say it. The “L” word. The worst four letters strung together to make the most evil word in all history. The best thing about Lukas, though? I didn’t think I
“If it hadn’t been for the box, I would have never met you.” Leaning across the desk, he cupped the side of my face and smiled. “I know this is hard for you to understand, but being here, the time we’ve had together… Knowing that the perfect someone for me
“How can you even say that?”
I was leaning forward now, so our faces, our lips, were just a fraction of an inch apart.
“I would have been nothing more than dust and bones long before you came into the world—yet I wasn’t. I got to find you.” His lips brushed mine once and he pulled away. “I got to
I couldn’t stomach the acceptance in his eyes, so I looked away. Scanning the room for something else to focus on, my gaze found yesterday’s mail. A bill from Citibank, an ad from the local food store—and peeking out from the bottom, something that looked like a postcard.
Sliding the flyer and bill to the side, I picked up the small card. It was decorated with a scantily clad bimbo in a string bikini strolling across the sand. When I flipped it over, the bottom dropped from my stomach.
The postmark said it was mailed two days ago from Cancun, Mexico. Two days ago, Lukas and I had been standing in Paulson’s living room—
“What’s wrong?” Lukas stood.
I wanted to say the postcard was a fake. How hard was it to forge someone’s handwriting? I did it all the time. Or maybe, Paulson had been on vacation and had the hotel he was staying at mail it for him. Maybe they’d forgotten and mailed it late.
But all that aside, Paulson would have mentioned being in Mexico when I’d seen him. He’d been trying for years to get Mom—and me—to go away with him. Strictly on a platonic level, he’d say to Mom, even though we all knew that was crap.
I handed Lukas the postcard. He skimmed it several times before setting it down. “You think it was Meredith?”
“Had to be. When we first met back at the school, she told me she could look like anyone she wanted.”
“But your friend seemed to know you. He mentioned something about the last time he saw you.”
“There are ways around that. Any third-rate psychic could give her that information. Or a demon.”
Lukas didn’t get it. “But why would Meredith help us find the box?”
“Sonofabitch! They played me,” I whispered, falling back into the chair. My head was spinning like the Tilt- a-Whirl at the local fair. “I’m such an idiot!”
“I don’t understand.”
“I knew that summoning ritual had to be performed at Simon’s grave.
“Walked right into what, Jessie? What are you saying?”
“It was a set up. He was the one she was talking about. The one who gave her the spell in 1882.
Chapter Thirty-four
I was still stewing over my own stupidity when the alarm went off. Meredith had called close to six a.m. and instructed me to meet her at eleven with Lukas, the box, and the other Sins. We’d fallen asleep on the couch going through Mom’s book again. And again.
I slipped out of the office and made my way upstairs. We had three hours ’til we needed to meet Meredith. She’d set up shop in the old Morgan House—a bed and breakfast on the edge of town that closed three years ago because of a fire. It was good luck. I knew the layout of the place fairly well. We’d gotten rid of a few ghosts from the fire over the years.
There was still a chance to make this all work. I had Greed, Gluttony, and Sloth plus Lukas—she had Lust, Pride, and Kendra, AKA Envy. There was still a chance to save Kendra and the last two people if we could put the Sins back into the box before the time ran out. And Lukas…well, I still had no idea what to do.
Digging into my closet, I started yanking out supplies. Obviously, the traditional stuff wouldn’t work in this case. Fairy dust, fire, binding spells—I had a feeling those things would only make Meredith giggle with a case of the tickles. But under all that power and insanity, witch or no witch, the bitch was still human. And humans, no matter how powerful, had their frailties.
I pulled out the gift Dad sent for my sixteenth birthday. Shiny and new—still in its antique case. Most girls my age would’ve gone for the potpourri or lavender incense to calm their nerves—but not me. The smell of new
