I refused to back down. “That’ll be my problem. But it goes in the contract.”
“Is that all?” she huffed.
“One more thing.” Seeing Nick’s sister for who she was inspired my last request. “That contract you have for Leonora Walker Irwin. I want it transferred into my name.”
Lorelei stopped writing. “You want to keep a fulfilled contract?”
“Yes.” I didn’t know if my final demand would ruin the whole thing or not, but I wanted the one thing that caused all of our troubles. Despite how horrible she had been to me, she didn’t hold a candle to the she-devil in front of me.
Nick’s sister looked over all my terms. “You want an awful lot. And it’s a huge risk for me to bet on you when you didn’t really show off all your skills. But since I did get Mummy’s ring back, I’m feeling generous.”
She threw the contract in the air, and it floated for a second before settling in front of me. It unfurled as if being laid on a desk. “Sign here and here with the date. Initial here, here, and here,” she pointed out with her pointy nail.
“I’d like to read over it, if you don’t mind. It is my soul on the line.” Leaning over the parchment, I ran my finger across the page to scrutinize every word.
Lorelei tapped her foot on the ground as she waited with impatience. “Could you hurry up? I’d like to take my brother and leave. I’ll have to get another Brazilian blowout to battle the frizz that the humidity here has caused.”
My finger paused over one passage, and I tapped the page. “What’s this say?”
She groaned and looked over my shoulder. “That’s the section where I am guaranteeing that no one in Honeysuckle Hollow—residents, future generations, visitors, et cetera—will be harmed or approached by me, my family, or our kind again.”
I disagreed with her. “Your handwriting is atrocious. Show me where you wrote that.”
“Right here!” she yelled in my ear. “See? It says, ‘no one in Honeysuckle Hollow…blah blah blah…will be harmed or approached by me, my family, or our kind again.’”
I backed away from the floating parchment. “I don’t believe you. Say it to my face and I’ll sign.”
Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath and held it. After a second, she blew it out and looked at me. Through gritted teeth, she spoke with great clarity, “No one in Honeysuckle Hollow, not the living or the dead, current and future residents, and including any visitors who stumble upon your backwoods town will be harmed or approached by me. My family. Or any of our kind. Forever and ever. Satisfied?”
The red-capped mushrooms that encircled us came alive and glowed in the darkness. A slight tinkling of chimes echoed in the air, and I relaxed for the first time. Pride that didn’t come from me bloomed in my chest.
“Absolutely. Now I’m ready to sign.” I initialed and signed in every spot.
The second the pen left the paper the parchment shook and flew away from me. It curled into itself, and a red circle of wax appeared out of nowhere and sealed the edge. Lorelei’s initials glowed like embers.
Nick’s sister snatched the contract out of the air and shoved it into her purse. “Here. You can have these.” Producing the glowing jar and the sealed rolled parchment, she thrust them at me.
I cradled the fragile bottle with care and handed it to Nick. My fingers wrapped around Aunt Nora’s deal. She’d have to face the consequences for her choices, but at least she wouldn’t lose her soul for them.
Lorelei snapped her fingers. “You belong to me now, so let’s go. You, too, Nicky D.”
My feet didn’t move. “No, I don’t think I will.”
“The moment you signed on that line you forfeited your ability to make choices. Now, do as I say,” she demanded. “It’ll hurt a lot more if you make me use your contract to get you to obey.”
I shrugged. “Go ahead.”
With a spoiled shriek, Lorelei snatched the rolled parchment out of her bag and held it up. “By the terms of this contract, I command that you do as I tell you.”
All three of us waited to see what would happen. When the only thing I felt was the bite of a mosquito, I couldn’t contain my laughter. Nick joined me in ridiculing his sister.
“Why is this not working?” she screamed.
Nick tried to touch the parchment, but she yanked it out of his reach. “Because, dear sister, she already beat you.”
“How?” Lorelei demanded.
A new scent filled the air, and I knew with animal instincts that the demon feared me. No longer at risk, I relished the sweet smell that marked the prey.
“My soul wasn’t mine to offer,” I said. “I already bound it to someone else. You might even say that they own it.”
“That’s not fair,” she whined. “You cheated.”
“No, I came prepared,” I countered. “Call it taking out a little insurance. You’re the one who wanted to use my magic so much that you didn’t do your due diligence to check.”
Nick put his hands together in slow claps. “Well done, sis. Since you guaranteed the terms, they all must be fulfilled by our laws of magic. You executed a contract in which she gets everything she negotiated, and you receive absolutely nothing in return. A completely worthless transaction in the end.”
Lorelei screamed and threw her expensive handbag down on the ground. She flicked her arms out to the side and two glowing knives appeared in each hand.
“I’ll show you who’s worthless. You’ll both die for this, and I will take great pleasure in ending your lives. I don’t lose. I never lose,” she wailed, raising her weapons against us.
“That’s all I needed to hear,” Lucky’s voice called out.
A radiant vertical line appeared right beside her. It grew in size until it tore apart, revealing a sparkling portal.
All my friends surrounded us, staying just outside the circle of mushrooms. Dash positioned himself to the left of
