I held my breath for a moment, waiting for him to specify that stress being caused by me. But instead, he said, “Please don’t mention to her that we spoke.”

CHAPTER 3

AFTER CLEARING THE TABLE, I boiled eggs that I’d have to peel in the morning for Mrs. Robinson and placed them in the fridge. As I climbed the stairs to my bedroom on the second floor to be ready when Trey called, my thoughts were racing. A little half brother or sister? Butterflies swirled around my stomach at the thought of having a tiny sibling around. Of course, my mom might have been upset by the news, but I was getting the sense that her relationship with Glenn was more serious than she was letting on, so perhaps she might not have minded too much if Dad were to have another kid.

And then darkness crept into my thoughts: If Violet’s spirits were able to jeopardize my mom’s safety and lure poor Stephani deMilo out onto thin ice, what chance did a defenseless infant stand against them? Caring about another person only made me more vulnerable. Just when I thought that breaking the curse couldn’t seem less possible, the stakes were unfairly raised on me again.

I stepped into my bedroom, wondering how I might explain any of this to Trey, when I noticed the top drawer of my nightstand had been left open by an inch. I dashed around the foot of my bed to peer inside. My fears were confirmed: the candles, candle holders, salt, and lighter were gone. Rhonda must have thrown them out, and the realization made my heart beat wildly. This would not have been a big deal except that the sun had set. There was nowhere within walking distance where I could buy replacements for any of those items before I had to perform the protection spell again in the morning.

Panicking, I texted Kirsten to ask if she might be able to light the candles in Chicago on my behalf in the morning. Even if she agreed, that still would have been a disruption in the routine, which was troubling. But I had to try.

She hadn’t texted back yet when my phone rang at seven thirty with Trey’s call. Although I really hadn’t wanted to upset Trey with news about Violet or the curse while he was stuck at Northern Reserve, I now felt compelled to at least make him aware that it wasn’t over—if only for his own safety.

“Hey,” Trey said once the operator at Northern Reserve had patched through his call to my cell phone. As always, even under the most awful circumstances, the sound of his voice sent a thrill through me. Connecting with him, hearing his breath on the other end of the phone, knowing just for a few minutes exactly where he was and what he was doing, calmed my nerves even as my pulse quickened. It wasn’t as if contact with Trey made me forget about the danger that Mischa was in, that we were all in. Rather, he reset my belief that one day the nightmare that Violet had unleashed upon us would end. Deep in my bones, I felt that Trey and I belonged together. Knowing that he was mine and I was his reaffirmed my belief that there was order in the world; despite all of the chaos we had yet to conquer, our bond was real, and nothing could tear us apart.