Eternity

the “albino orchid.”

I am starting to believe that the red orchid turns white only during a full moon, Nora had written. It has happened to me twice now. There must be some significance. The moon must be at its peak in order for the flower to open its petals and reveal the seeds inside. The seeds can be good or bad—they can yield new plants, or shrivel in the dirt. It wilts almost instantly—usually within one hour of having bloomed. The flower is extremely rare, extremely sensitive. As yet, I have not succeeded in keeping it in bloom.

Em read the passage several times. As she closed the binder, she realized her hands were shaking. It was starting to make sense. If the flower was special, then its seeds must be unique too. The seeds can be good or bad. Just as the red seeds from the Furies’ evil flowers had launched her transformation, the seeds from the albino orchid could counter their effect. When the seeds were bad, they were very bad. And when they were good, they were saviors.

“You were right, Lucy,” she said into the silence.

When the light brings up the albino, Lucy had said.

Good or bad.

Ty wanted those seeds too. They’d make her good, make her human again.

The red orchid turns white only during a full moon, Nora had written.

Em pulled her phone out and clicked over to her mariners’ calendar—the one JD had downloaded to her phone one night when they were hanging out. It listed high and low tides, what time the sun would rise and set, the phases of the moon. A combination of humidity and nerves made the phone slick in her hands. What was the date? She could barely remember.

And when she pulled up today’s date, Em’s heart leaped from her chest. The full moon was tonight. It all made sense: the same night as the play, just as Crow’s vision had predicted. She had one final chance to save herself. And Ty had to be thinking the exact same thing. Those seeds would save her, or, in the wrong hands, condemn her forever.

* * *

The school day had been itchy, like wearing a wool sweater with nothing on underneath. She’d spent half of fourth period shaking in the corner of the girls’ bathroom by the cafeteria, even as everyone bustled around her, psyched to see buds blooming on the trees, looking forward to spring break. She wanted to say good-bye to everyone one last time, but couldn’t stand to even look at them. Just like she couldn’t bring herself to pick up Crow’s insistent calls and texts. Just like she was avoiding seeing JD, and Gabby, and Skylar, who were all going to the play.

And now she was back at home, hiding in her room, trying to stop her whole body from trembling. Because it was tonight.

Do or die.

Her last chance.

“Thank god it’s finally calmed down out there.” Her mom poked her head into Em’s room. “Remember how terrified you used be of thunderstorms?”

Em did remember. The smallest bolt of lightning, the thinnest roll of thunder, would send her shrieking into her parents’ room, into their bed, under their covers. That was before everything else got scary. Even now, a part of her wished she could just run for their bed as she used to, and hide. Instead, she was curled up in her own, pretending to do homework and staring at her laptop at the foot of the bed. Thank god the Winterses had been able to keep living in their home after the fire—if Em were stuck in some bland hotel, she’d probably lose her mind completely.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” asked Mrs. Winters, breaking into Em’s thoughts. They were going to see the school play with the Founts; her parents saw every performance at Ascension, even the ones Em wasn’t in. Weirdos.

“I’m sure,” Em said. “I’m just not feeling all that well. Tell JD I said congrats.” She kept her eyes on her computer screen, afraid to look at her mom. She was scared she might start to cry. She’d been home from school for hours and all she’d done was leaf sadly through last year’s yearbook and rifle through a wooden box filled with special letters and mementos. She wanted to hold everything in her hands—not just the pieces of paper and scraps of tickets, not just the photographs and shards of beach glass, but the feelings that came with them. The hilarity of one of Gabby’s disjointed notes, passed between classes, unfolded in secret. The excitement of her first trip to Portland without her parents. The peacefulness of summer days spent on the sand and in the salty ocean. Would she never feel those things again?

Mrs. Winters nodded, then came into the room and ran her hand once over Em’s head. “Everything will be okay, sweetie,” she said.

Hot tears pricked the backs of Em’s eyes. But will it? She turned and gave her mom a weak smile. “Thanks. I love you.”

Right before her mom left the room, Em spoke up again. “Mom? Also? I wanted to ask you . . . Can you make homemade mac ’n’ cheese tomorrow night?” If she was still here, and still Em, there was nothing she’d want more.

Her mom tilted her head quizzically and then smiled. “Sure, hon, if that’s what you’re craving. We can have a nice family dinner, the three of us.”

“That sounds awesome,” Em said. She kept her game face on until her mom closed the door.

As soon as she was alone again, she pulled out her notebook and started to write. There was one more person she needed to say good-bye to. She scribbled furiously. And when she was done, she folded up the note and left it on top of the coiled, broken piece of string on her windowsill. She’d kept it there, through all this craziness. On the outside, she wrote JD.

The sun had set. It was time to go.

* * *

It was easy to find the house this time. Making her way through the Haunted Woods, with ashen birches violently waving their scraggly fingers in the sky, she had the feeling that she was floating, skimming the ground. She had a mission, and she would not be drawn off course.

The house stood shadowy in the inky-blue twilight, towering up to paint a black silhouette against the sky. Em crept through the clearing, trying to sense whether the Furies were around. She pulled the hood of her black sweatshirt over her head to hide her braid and part of her face; in dark skinny jeans, sneakers, and the sweatshirt, she felt kind of like Drea. Kind of badass.

Crickets whined in the tall weeds around the house, clicking off whenever she got too close.

She peeked into a downstairs window and saw nothing. Nothing moving. ?All dark. She put her toe against the front door and pushed lightly. The door creaked open.

No one was home. Where were they?

The house looked different than it had in the past. Where it had once appeared charred, empty, it was now opulent and decorated. The Furies had been here long enough to transform it. As their power increased, so did their presence. Em’s stomach flipped. Squinting her eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, she saw curved pieces of furniture, a golden chandelier, and a glass case under a tall window. She was drawn to it. Using her flashlight to guide her through the room, she made her way to the cabinet.

There, she saw trinkets that she knew were sick trophies: a ripped piece of one of Sasha’s drawings, Drea’s treasured brooch, and . . .

She inhaled sharply.

Her pen. The pen JD had given her.

Right next to it was a long beaded dangly earring. Just like the one she’d lost on the night of Noah’s party. And next to that, a tiny shred of paper with one word written on it. She practically gagged as her stomach turned over. She recognized that handwriting. JD’s. She knew that note. The word was: Always.

“Get out of my life,” Em whispered. Although she had spoken quietly, the words seemed to echo in the vast black chamber of the room.

Once again, she wondered where the three Furies had gone.

She looked out the window, and at first all she saw was her own pale reflection staring back at her. It was