Violet shook her head. “We have to get the curse off you first.”

“There isn’t time!” I exclaimed, fully aware of the outcome on which I was insisting. How we spent the next few minutes might determine whether Henry or I would die, and there wasn’t a chance that I was going to choose my life over his.

“McKenna,” Trey said softly. “We have to at least try.”

“Try what?” I snapped. “I don’t even know if the curse is still on me. Maybe I beat it by not dying on the roof.”

But the more I thought about the fact that the prediction had been issued and not fulfilled, the more it seemed possible that I wasn’t in the clear yet. Violet confirmed my fear when she narrowed her eyes at me as if she was angry. In an emotionless voice, she said, “You didn’t beat it. It’s still on you.”

“How do you know?” Trey challenged her.

“There are still nine more days before the new moon,” she said in my direction. “Something changes about people who’ve gotten their prediction. I can’t explain it. It’s like normal people have this electrical charge around them, barely noticeable unless you’re trying to detect it. And people who are going to die soon don’t.”

I remembered back to holiday break, when we’d met Kirsten at the bookstore in Chicago, and she’d been able to tell that Mischa was doomed because she didn’t have an aura. Maybe Violet had a touch of the same awareness Kirsten did, or even a version of the same abilities I had. Whatever the source of her sense may have been, I didn’t doubt that she was right.

“If we don’t find a way to end this thing right now, before anyone finds out what happened to my dad, then we won’t. Not ever. You’ll die, and those things will find their way back to Mischa,” Violet said, sounding absolutely convinced. She had raised an arm to point at Mischa, who looked at her in confusion as if she had no idea what Violet was talking about.

My phone was still on the living room floor on the other side of Henry, on top of a dark, black pool of blood, which had saturated the rug. When I picked it up, I noticed that the battery had less than 20 percent of power remaining; Before I even placed my earbud in my ear I knew I wouldn’t hear anything other than static, but I was hoping with all my heart that Jennie would reply and tell me what to do.

Then we heard a car approaching outside. All of us raised our heads and our eyes shot toward the front windows, but the heavy brocade curtains were mostly drawn, and the sheer panels hanging underneath them made it difficult to see what kind of vehicle was pulling into the driveway.

“Who is that?” Trey asked Violet. “Did you call someone?”

With her brow wrinkled as if she was going to cry, Violet began, “It could only be—”