He didn’t raise his head off his pillow, but reached back and patted my arm. “Yes?” His voice betrayed his exhaustion, and I felt bad for keeping him up. Not bad enough to sate my curiosity, though.

“What were the exact words the old woman told you when she cursed you?”

I could practically hear his eyes roll. “You’re asking me this now?”

I nodded. “I wanted to earlier, but your tongue distracted me. I feel like it could really help narrow down our research. Luther and I have just been going in circles for weeks on end, but if we knew the exact words, it might help us know what we’re looking for.”

“You’re not going to break the spell, Savannah,” he muttered.

I scooted away from Luther and wrapped my arm around Felix’s back. “Please. Just let me try. I have to do something.”

Felix sighed. “She said a lot of things, but if I remember correctly,” he scrunched up his face, “the last thing she said was ‘You will forever share a lifeforce, each of you keeping the other alive.’ Happy now? Can I sleep?”

“Yes.” I pressed a kiss to his back, rolling over between them. Eventually his breathing evened out, and so did Luther’s. I stayed awake for most of the night, watching the moonlight cross from one side of the room to the other. Only one thought circled around and around in my mind.

How could a person keep a house alive?

16. Theo

To me, the most terrifying idea in the entire world was being sober. Being sober in general was horrible. Being sober while being trapped in a cursed house with only my thoughts was downright horrifying.

Unfortunately, it was looking more and more like a reality. When I first arrived in the house, I had stretched my stash of weed as far as it would go, desperate to cling to the smallest of highs. I tore through my backpack when it ran out, sobbing as I tossed empty prescription bottle after empty bottle, knowing I had gone through my supply of pills before I had even entered the house. There had to be bleach or some other kind of household cleaner somewhere in the house. Huffing it would probably kill me, but at least I’d die high.

I soon decided against it, not knowing how said cleaner would kill me. There were pleasant deaths and not so pleasant deaths, and I didn’t want to go out begging for mercy.

I knew Felix and Luther thought I was going through withdrawal when I spent days in the bathroom, throwing up and shaking. But it was less a detox of my body, and more of a detox of my mind–knowing I was going to have to return to sobriety. The thought made me physically ill.