“You aren’t alone,” she reminded me. “We’re together, always.”I headed back inside with an icy feeling lining my stomach despite Jennie’s reassurance that she would show the evil spirits a fake prediction for my death. It intensified when I noticed that Mischa and Violet were anxiously awaiting my return. With numb fingertips, I pulled Mrs. Robinson’s gris-gris out of my shirt to remind myself that it was still there, hanging around my neck.

“Okay. This is the plan,” I said, folding my hands on the table and trying my hardest to prevent them from trembling. “Mischa’s going to predict my death so that I can take Amanda’s place in line, and then we’re going to figure out how to break the curse.”

Both Henry and Violet looked at me in abject horror.

“No. Absolutely not,” Henry stated emphatically.

“Just…” I cut myself off. It seemed like a bad idea to explain the logic, and better for Mischa—and the spirits who’d be conducting their evil through her—to fully believe that what we were doing was real. “This is the only way to save Amanda. You guys have to trust me.”

“McKenna, no! That’s insane!” Henry insisted. “What about your mom? You can’t do this to her. It’s… selfish.”

I glared at him and gave a small shake of my head, trying my best to convey that he should just trust me. Reminding me about how much my mom had already lost wasn’t making me feel any more confident about my proposal. Under the table, I reached for his hand and squeezed it. “It’s the only way.”

Henry’s mouth twisted into an angry frown. He slid his hand out from my grasp, got up from the table, and shook his head furiously. “I won’t watch this.” He balled his hands into fists at his sides, and then pointed a finger at Mischa. “If you do this to her, you’re a monster,” he said, before marching out of the kitchen into the living room.

Mischa looked like she was about to start crying again, but then whispered, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I said, trying my best to sound convincing. It wouldn’t have been fair to make Mischa feel like she was being selfish when all she really wanted was to save her sister.

Anticipating that we’d be playing the game that afternoon in one way or another, she’d brought a deck of tarot cards with her. As she began shuffling, I chewed my lower lip and felt my fingers turn increasingly cold with fear. When I’d first thought of this idea, it hadn’t occurred to me that if something went wrong, I could expect to die at any second—even as soon as on the drive home from Violet’s house. Before I ever saw Mom again. Before I had a chance to find out if Rhonda was having a boy or a girl.

But it was too late to rescind my offer. I had to have faith that Jennie would protect me, and that Amanda’s condition would improve. After all, what I was offering wasn’t all that heroic. Mischa had lived with the knowledge of her own impending death from September until January. What I was subjecting myself to wasn’t any worse than what she’d already endured, but I was still scared.