Once again Nadia brushed her hand along his forearm. She had such small hands. “Half the burden is not being believed. Maybe not believing in yourself. But you know the truth, and now we do, too. And you’re strong, Mateo. Strong enough to take this.”

He had to laugh at her then, though he instantly regretted it. “Sorry. I mean, it’s nice for you to say that. But you don’t actually know me. So you don’t have any idea whether I’m strong or not.”

“You have to be. Your whole family has to be. Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to bear it at all. That’s probably why your family was cursed in the first place—because you guys could endure what nobody else could.”

All his life, Mateo had heard people speak of his Cabot blood as tainted, sick, even twisted. Never before had anybody said that they might be strong. That he might be.

As she absentmindedly tried to work a tangle out of her long hair, Verlaine said, “So why did somebody curse the Cabots?”

“So they’d know the future and reveal it,” Nadia said slowly. “That way, the witch gets to know what the future holds, and the Cabots are the ones who endure the consequences. Mateo, who do you tell about your dreams?”

“Nobody. I mean, nobody besides you guys, today, and Elizabeth, of course.”

Nadia’s hand instantly went tense, and she pulled back from him, suddenly rigid. “About Elizabeth—”

“What about her?” Was there something magical after her, too? Mateo wasn’t sure he could take it if anything happened to Elizabeth. He’d have to warn her. The next time they talked, he’d be able to tell her all of this—that the visions of the future really were true, that the curse was true, too, but there might be a way for him to deal with it. Being able to say all this to his best friend felt like the greatest relief imaginable.

But then Nadia said, “Have you ever noticed anything odd about her?”

“What do you mean? No. Of course not.” Mateo smiled fondly. “The only unusual thing about Elizabeth is how kind she is. She’s the most understanding person in this entire town.”

“That’s so true,” Verlaine agreed. “Everybody loves Elizabeth.”

He hadn’t even realized they knew each other. Pretty much nobody paid attention to Verlaine, but if anybody would, it would be Elizabeth. She had seen someone on the fringes and reached out, like she always did.

Nadia looked back and forth between them. “I’m guessing neither of you knew that Elizabeth is a witch, too.”

Verlaine laughed out loud, kicking her heels against the chrome bumper in delight. “Oh, my God. She got even cooler. I thought that was impossible.”

Mateo wasn’t as sure how to feel about that. His first impulse was that Nadia had to be wrong—but if this witchcraft stuff was true, and it seemed to be, then she’d know another witch, wouldn’t she? Still, Elizabeth? His best and oldest friend? It seemed unreal to him that he wouldn’t know about such a huge part of her life.