When we reached the last flight of stairs in the stairwell, which opened into the sunroom (as I had suspected it would), I whispered, “Trey,” at the top. He paused and seemed to understand that I was suggesting we wait for a moment. “We should be careful,” I whispered. “There could be more weapons in the house.”

Trey nodded. We tiptoed the rest of the way down the stairs and slowly crossed the sunroom. Both of us lingered cautiously in the doorway of the kitchen, listening for signs of movement elsewhere in the house before daring to take a step into the parlor. But then we heard not one voice, but two. Violet was tending to Henry, and upon hearing him beg her for help, I dashed out from where Trey and I were lurking to see how badly he was hurt.

“Just call an ambulance,” he told Violet.

“I can’t yet,” Violet told him. She was kneeling on the floor beside where he sat upright, propped up against the sofa. The white towel she was pressing against his left shoulder was crimson with blood, and his pallor was grayish. I was genuinely shocked that she was caring for him and trying to calm him down even after having seen her father’s body outside. She must have assumed that either Trey or I had pushed him off the roof. Her face was tearstained, and her voice kept cracking, but she remained focused on keeping Henry calm. “As soon as we call for help, there won’t be anything more we can do to save McKenna. Do you understand that?”

“Save me?” I asked in surprise. “It’s over. Jennie took the spirits away.”

Violet barely paid any attention to me as I approached and crouched alongside her. I’d never seen someone injured as badly as Henry appeared to be. Even though I didn’t know anything about gunshots other than that he’d already be dead if the bullet had gotten anywhere near his heart, he still looked very bad—bad enough to lead me to believe he was dying.

“It’s cold in here,” Henry mumbled. “Why’s it so cold?”

It was cold in there; the enormous house must be difficult to heat, with its high ceilings and tall windows. But I had a feeling Henry was cold for a reason other than the chilly draft in the living room, and Trey confirmed my fear.

“He’s in shock.” Trey stood at a safe distance behind me. “He’s going to need medical assistance soon, or his organs will start to fail.”

Mischa was sitting on the couch where we’d left her after opening the jar, staring at Henry with an expressionless face and blank eyes. I wondered if her soul had made its way back into her body, because she didn’t seem to be fully… there. But Henry’s situation seemed more urgent, so I switched my attention back to him.

“Just call an ambulance,” I insisted. My pulse was still racing from the ordeal on the roof, scattering my thoughts, and without confirmation from Jennie, I could really only assume that the curse had been broken. But we were going to lose Henry if we didn’t get help for him. I still had nine days remaining before the new moon to save myself if the curse hadn’t been completely broken; Henry might have been down to minutes. “We have to do something,” I said.