House of Ivy & Sorrow

TWENTY-EIGHT





“What are you doing here?” we both say at the same time.

“Wait, who is . . .” Maggie starts to ask, but then she seems to pick up on all the shadows. “Holy crap, is that Levi?”

I shoot her a look. “Yeah.”

“You didn’t say he was freaking gorgeous; I was expecting pure evil!”

That cocky smile is right back on Levi’s lips. “I like your friend.”

“Shut up!” I stand, prepared to fight or run if I have to. “I can’t believe you conned an old lady into letting you Curse her. What, did you charm her with a spell?”

“You’re sick.” He opens the fridge and chugs orange juice straight from the jug. I’m so glad I didn’t get anything to drink. “And a total idiot.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Then what is it? You obviously live here.”

He gives me this look, like I couldn’t be more dense. The magic in me boils. It begs me to do awful things, and I have to breathe deep to control it. Levi leans on the counter, his eyes glittering like chocolate diamonds. “Remember when I said witches aren’t exactly blameless in all this?”

A lump forms in my throat. “Oh, no . . .”

Maggie swings her giant braid over her shoulder. “Can we stop being cryptic? It’s really annoying.”

Levi smiles wider. “That old lady she accused me of seducing is, in fact, my grandmother. She’s evil, by the way, so you really shouldn’t be here if you like being alive. This is what you would call a trap, and you idiots walked right into it.”

Maggie snorts. “No way. She’s helping us find Stacia.”

He raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“We’re here to see Stacia.” Maggie stares at Levi way more than I’d like. “We were hoping she’d know more about who is hunting the Hemlocks, since she knew Carmina so well.”

Something is wrong. I can feel it all around me now, closing in like a predator. The Blacks . . . could they really be in on this? Or is he lying? Levi crosses the kitchen and looks out the hall where we entered. “You need to get out of here. Right now.”

“Then can you contact Stacia?” I try to hide how desperate I am. “I need answers. I’ve waited years for answers.”

He looks down at me. “You won’t get any from Stacia.”

“And why’s that?”

Levi’s expression is dark, and the pause before he speaks is longer than normal. “Because she died years ago. From the Curse.”

My eyes go wide, and I shake my head back and forth. She can’t be dead. “You’re lying. You’re just trying to stop me from finding the truth, because then you’ll have nothing to keep you safe.”

He comes over to me, puts his hands on my arms. “I’m not lying. You want answers? Fine. The Blacks are the ones after you and your land—me, the others like me, are pawns in their game. They’ve been snuffing out other, more powerful families for hundreds of years using us. And if you don’t go now you’re dead.”

He’s not lying. It makes too much sense to be anything but the truth. This is the big secret we’ve been missing all these years.

“Why are you doing this?” I pull away from him, pissed because now I have to be grateful he told me.

He leans on the doorframe. “What do you mean?”

I take the opposite side. “You obviously hate me. And now you’re saying you belong to a family that wants me and Nana dead so they can take my land. But you’re ruining your grandmother’s plan.”

He looks at his feet, as if he’s trying to stuff his emotions down, and then back to me. “Maybe I know what it’s like to watch your mother hack up black blood, to be helpless to stop it, to hate the person who did it so much all you think about is revenge.”

“What? Witches can’t have sons!” But I know the agony on his face, hidden well to those who’ve never lost a close family member. “That’s impossible.”

“Not when your father has magic, too.”

I can’t breathe right. So much about this is wrong, and yet it feels true. “Stacia . . . was your mother.”

He doesn’t have to speak for me to know I’m right. It’s all in his eyes. “You need to leave. She’s calling him.”

My blood turns cold. “Him?”

He nods.

Nana was right—witches were involved after all. The betrayal cuts into me. How could the Blacks do this? The Curse goes so much deeper and darker than I could have ever imagined. And still I say, “But what about you?”

His brow pinches, as if he’s completely confused. “Huh?”

“It’s just . . . will she know you told us? Won’t you get in trouble?” I fiddle with my hair. Stupid boy, making me feel compassion for him.

“I’ll be fine, Josephine, but thanks for caring.” He smirks, and I regret giving him a second thought.

“Maybe I should make sure you have a good alibi, just in case.” Before I can think better of it, the magic pools into my hand and overflows. With one flick, Levi is on the floor convulsing from the shock. I smile, enjoying it far too much. “You couldn’t stop us from leaving, could you?”


He’s limp, only his chest moving up and down rapidly. “I hate you.”

“Good.” I motion to Maggie. “Let’s move.”

We run for the door, and once we’re out we don’t look back. I’d teleport right there, but I don’t want to risk them finding the way to our house through magical remnants. We need to get some distance first. I speed away, and Maggie keeps her eyes on the road behind us, silent with terror.

“Do you see anything?” I ask every five minutes.

“No,” she whispers. “Not yet.”

Everything seems worse in the silence—how stupid we were to think that Sylvia would help, how close we came to being Cursed and sucked dry, and how the only reason we’re alive is Levi. Being indebted to him is not my favorite place to be.

By some miracle, we make it all the way back to Dublin without so much as a flicker of threat. Which is probably Levi’s doing, though I try to pretend it isn’t. Once the car is checked back in, we find the closest deserted alley and teleport back to my house.

The apothecary is empty when we arrive. In fact, the entire first floor is dark, save the glow coming from the living room and its glorious TV.

“Nana?” I call, though she can’t possibly be watching television.

“She went to her room,” my dad says. “How did things go?”

“Not as planned,” I say, rushing up the stairs. I hope she’s not writing more letters, because obviously that got us a lot of nothing. I open her door without knocking, and the world crumbles beneath me.

Black blood. On the floor. The sheets. Her quivering lips.