The view spirals back up, out of the ground. Back up to the four of us, sitting around the half-dug hole, holding hands. Up to the headstone and Genevieve’s faded figure, staring down at us.
Reece screamed. The last door slammed shut.
I tried to open my eyes, but I was dizzy. Del had been right, I felt like I was going to be sick. I tried to get my bearings, but my eyes wouldn’t focus. I felt Reece drop my hand, backing away from me, trying to get far away from Genevieve and her terrifying golden gaze.
Are you okay?
I think so.
Lena’s head was between her knees.
“Is everyone all right?” Aunt Del asked, her voice even and unshaken. Aunt Del didn’t seem so confused or clumsy anymore. If I had to see all that every time I looked at something, I’d pass out, or go crazy.
“I can’t believe that’s what you see,” I said, looking at Del, my eyes finally beginning to refocus.
“The gift of Palimpsestry is a great honor, and a greater burden.”
“The Book, it’s down there,” I said.
“That it is, but it appears it belongs to this woman,” Del said, gesturing toward Genevieve’s apparition, “who the two of you don’t seem particularly surprised to see.”
“We saw her before,” Lena admitted.
“Well, then, she chose to reveal herself to you. Seeing the dead is not one of the gifts of a Caster, even a Natural, and certainly not within the realm of Mortal talents. One can only see the dead if the dead so will it.”
I was scared. Not standing on the steps of Ravenwood scared, or having Ridley freeze the life out of me scared. This was something else. It was closer to the fear I felt when I awoke from the dreams, and the thought of losing Lena. It was a paralyzing fear. The kind you feel when you realize the powerful ghost of a cursed Dark Caster is staring down at you, in the middle of the night, watching you dig up her grave to steal a book from on top of her coffin. What was I thinking? What were we doing coming out here, digging up a grave under a full moon?
You were trying to right a wrong. There was a voice in my head, but it wasn’t Lena’s.
I turned to Lena. She was pale. Reece and Aunt Del were both staring at what was left of Genevieve.
They could hear her, too. I looked up at the glowing golden eyes as she continued to fade in and out.
She seemed to sense what we were here for.
Take it.
I looked at Genevieve, unsure. She closed her eyes and nodded ever so slightly.
“She wants us to take the Book,” Lena said. I guessed I wasn’t losing my mind.
“How do we know we can trust her?” She was a Dark Caster after all. With the same golden eyes as Ridley.
Lena looked back at me, with a glint of excitement. “We don’t.”
There was only one thing to do.
Dig.
The Book looked exactly as it had in the vision, cracked black leather, embossed with a tiny crescent moon. It smelled like desperation and it felt heavy, not just physically, but psychically. This was a Dark book; I knew it just from the seconds I managed to hold it, before it singed the skin off my fingertips. It felt like the Book was stealing a little bit of my breath each time I inhaled.
I reached my arm out of the hole, holding it above my head. Lena took it from my hand and I climbed back out. I wanted to get out of there, as quickly as possible. It wasn’t lost on me that I was standing on Genevieve’s casket.
Aunt Del gasped. “Great Mother, I never thought I would see it. The Book of Moons. Be careful. That book is as old as time, maybe older. Macon will never believe we—”
“He’s never going to know.” Lena brushed the dirt from the cover gently.
“Okay now, you’ve seriously lost it. If you think for one minute we’re not goin’ to tell Uncle Macon—”
Reece crossed her arms like an irritated babysitter.
Lena held the Book up higher, right in front of Reece’s face. “About what?” Lena was staring at Reece the same way Reece had stared into Ridley’s eyes at the Gathering, intently, with purpose. Reece’s expression changed—she looked confused, almost disoriented. She stared at the Book, but it was like she couldn’t see it.
“What is there to tell, Reece?”
Reece squeezed her eyes shut, as if she was trying to shake off a bad dream. She opened her mouth to say something, then shut it abruptly. A hint of a smile twitched across Lena’s face, as she turned slowly toward her aunt. “Aunt Del?”
Aunt Del looked as confused as Reece, which was how she looked most of the time, anyway, but something was different. And she didn’t answer Lena, either.
Lena turned slightly and dropped the Book on top of my bag. As she did, I saw green sparks in her eyes, and the curling motion of her hair as it caught the moonlight, the Casting breeze. It was almost as if I could see the magic churning around her in the darkness. I didn’t understand what was happening, but the three of them seemed to be locked in a dark, wordless conversation I couldn’t hear or understand.