“Who’s that?”
Norton’s soft voice made me look up. There was a flash of red at the back of the theater—copper red. I would have recognized that hair anywhere.
It felt like my heart was going to jump out from my chest and escape out of my open mouth.
No.
No.
NO.
I knew the second Prue spotted me. The determined look on her face as she scanned the stage turned into one of total annoyance.
That is your sister, is it not?
“What did you do?” I whispered.
I believe the true question is, Maggot, what will you do to her? What shall I make you do?
The horrible memory of my hand closing around Nell’s throat flashed through my mind.
I scrambled back onto the stage and bolted for the right wing. My hands shoved aside the black curtain and anyone who stepped in front of me. I fought the rush of prickling through my limbs, slamming my good arm down to my side to keep Alastor from moving it. It struggled against my grip.
All you have to do is make a contract, Maggot, and you both will walk out of here alive.
“I thought…” I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to steady my breathing.
You thought what? That we were friends? That I had forgotten my original purpose? You will make this contract, Maggot, or you will lose her once and for all. Do you not remember that sheet of paper, the one you found in your father’s desk?
Of course he had seen it in my memory. When Prue was at her weakest, my grandmother’s publicist had drafted a press release they could use if she didn’t survive—so they “wouldn’t have to think about it” during the worst moment of their lives.
“Why are you doing this?” I breathed out. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
This time, I felt Alastor’s anger and frustration detonate inside of my head. Because it is the only way! If I do not feed off the energy of this contract, I shall never be strong enough to escape you in time!
I stumbled forward, down the short hall connected to backstage. Alastor’s words were still ringing in my mind as I found Nell applying her stage makeup with a small sponge.
“What’s—”
I shoved through the other kids getting ready around her and hooked my arm through hers.
“Prosp—Ethan!” she hissed as I dragged us out of the room. “Stop—are you listening to me? Hey!”
We passed the greenroom, which, unfortunately, already had crew gathered there. I tried the other doors frantically. Nell gripped my shoulder, forcing me to stop. It was dark back there, but I could still see her wide eyes behind her glasses.
“It’s Prue, she’s here,” I tried to explain. “I saw her! Al brought her here to try to force a contract—”
Nell didn’t react like I thought she would. Instead of the panic I felt, her face seemed to harden into a mask. She glanced back over my shoulder. My eyes went to where her hands were fisting the fabric of her pants. “You…I think…”
She walked a few steps down the hall to the last door, an old dressing room that we’d used for temporary storage. Nell retrieved a silver key from her pocket and shoved it into the lock.
I let her push me inside the dark room. “Nell, what if Prue gets close? What if something happens to her and she—”
Nell shut the door behind us. I heard a click as it was locked again.
“Wait.” My heart was beating so hard I thought it would bruise against my ribs. “What’s going on? Nell?”
“Prosper…I wish…I wish things had been different. I wish it didn’t have to be this way. I just…”
Her voice was quiet, shaking around the edges. I felt against the wall for the light switch. Nell snapped her fingers, but the overhead lights didn’t come on. Instead, a ring of small white candles in a perfect circle flared to life.
There were mirrors everywhere, across both the front and back walls. They caught the candlelight and lit the entire room.
Prosperity. Get out of here. Get us out of here now.
“Nell…” I began, backing up toward the door. She beat me to it, holding it shut with her hand.
“Just go sit over there, in the center,” she said. When I didn’t move, when I tried to pull the door open by force, she threw out a hand and sent me skidding to the back of the room. As I slammed into the ground, all the air blew out of my chest. My vision blanked out for a second as my head hit the title.
“Tell me what’s going on!” I demanded. “Nell!”
There was a sharp knock at the door. She scrambled to get it, letting two figures squeeze through. The door locked again, but she kept her hand there. The metal handle turned bright red-hot under her fingers.
“Prosper!”
Prue dropped the backpack in her hands onto the ground and rushed over to me. I pushed myself up just in time for her to throw her arms around my neck. “You’re okay! We were so worried! What’s going on? Who are these people?”
I pushed her back. “You can’t be here, you have to leave!”
She looked hurt for a second. Then she just looked angry. “Are you kidding me? You’re the one that asked me to come!”
“What…what are you talking about?” I whispered. “I never asked you to come!”
“Then what is this?” Prue reached into the front pouch of her backpack, pulling out my notebook—the one filled with sketches of the school, of the House of Seven Terrors, of me and Nell. Even the little one I did of the wharf.
“I found it wedged into my window,” she said. “I recognized your drawings right away. I thought…you were trying to lead me to you. That you wanted me to rescue you.”
“No!” I said. “You don’t understand what’s going on—Prue, you don’t know what’s inside of me.”
“You mean the malefactor?”
Okay. Apparently she did know what was inside of me.
“Grandmother told me everything—they all did, everything about the curse and the Bellegraves, and what she was trying to do that night.”
“All lies, I’m sure,” I said, pulling out the last sheet of notebook paper. This one didn’t have a drawing on it. It was a message, in the same smeared handwriting: CohMe NohW. BRiNG Yoooous ONlY.
“You thought I wrote this?” I asked. “Seriously? You don’t even think I’m capable of basic English?”
“It was so fortunate that I was home when Prudence rang the bell,” came Uncle Barnabas’s rich voice. “She held up your school picture and asked if I had seen you. I’m glad I could reunite the two of you.”
Nell stood silently at his side, staring hard at the floor.
“You already knew who I was?” Prue asked before turning to look at me. “Prosper? Who is this person? Who’s that girl?”
“It’s okay,” I said, “Prue, that’s Uncle Barnabas. You know, Dad’s brother? That’s his daughter, Nell.”
Prue pulled away from me again, turning around. I scrambled up after her even though my knees felt hollow.