“I know what you mean,” I reply. “It feels like it all happened a really long time ago, but also like it’s happening right as you read it.”

“Exactly.”

“Uh-oh.” Mr. Yardley, the librarian, has spotted us and is headed our way, looking disapproving. “We aren’t supposed to have food in the library.”

Fina glances at the cookie, then stuffs the rest of it in her mouth. She holds up her hands innocently. “What ’ood?” she asks through her mouthful of chocolate.

I laugh so hard I almost spit out the rest of my own cookie.

“The library is a place for reading, not eating,” Mr. Yardley says in a disapproving voice, just as the bell rings.

“Sorry, Mr. Yardley,” I say. I try to sound serious about it. The last thing I need is to be banned from the library. We gather our things to go.

“What do you have now?” I ask.

“Math,” she says. “What about you?”

“Science,” I say.

She makes a gagging motion. “Blurg!”

“Anyway, that was really fun.”

“Same time tomorrow?” says Fina hopefully. “Except maybe we can go to the cafeteria and eat first?”

“Definitely.”

Fina waves goodbye and sets off. I start walking in the opposite direction, feeling lighter than I have since before Gram died.

12

It’s funny how much different school is when you have a friend. Wednesday goes by really fast. And I don’t mind it that much when I hear Edie and the Graces (both of her minions are named Grace, if you can believe it) whispering my name and laughing as I pass them in the hall.

Fina and I eat lunch together before heading back to the library, just like we planned. We talk about our families. I tell her about how Mom always wants everything to be perfect, like one of her architectural drawings, and about how I’ve been really lonely since Gram died. I learn that Fina’s mom got a job teaching history at Hampstead College, which is why they moved. Her dad is a professor, too, but he’s on something called sabbatical.

“It just means he has a lot of free time on his hands,” Fina says with a roll of her eyes. “So he’s been the one doing all the cooking and cleaning. He’s really bad at cleaning, but Mom and I don’t want to hurt his feelings. Yesterday, he put bleach in the laundry instead of detergent. He turned all of Mom’s shirts white!”

Part of me is dying to tell her about the journal. I need someone to talk to about the new entry and who wrote it. Also, is the woman in white that Ivy sees in the forest a witch? Or is she someone else, or just a dream like Gran said? And how do I decide what to write next?