BooksBarbecue
Back Spells for Lost Things
Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Prologue
  5. – 1 – Willow
  6. – 2 – Mason
  7. – 3 – Willow
  8. – 4 – Mason
  9. – 5 – Willow
  10. – 6 – Mason
  11. – 7 – Willow
  12. – 8 – Mason
  13. – 9 – Willow
  14. – 10 – Mason
  15. – 11 – Willow
  16. – 12 – Mason
  17. – 13 – Willow
  18. – 14 – Mason
  19. – 15 – Willow
  20. – 16 – Mason
  21. – 17 – Willow
  22. – 18 – Mason
  23. – 19 – Willow
  24. – 20 – Mason
  25. – 21 – Willow
  26. – 22 – Mason
  27. – 23 – Willow
  28. – 24 – Mason
  29. – 25 – Willow
  30. – 26 – Mason
  31. – 27 – Willow
  32. – 28 – Mason
  33. – 29 – Willow
  34. – 30 – Mason
  35. – 31 – Willow
  36. – 32 – Mason
  37. – 33 – Willow
  38. – 34 – Mason
  39. Acknowledgments
  40. More from the Author
  41. About the Author
  42. ALSO BY JENNA EVANS WELCH

Dear Mr. Gonzalez,

I recently found a wallet belonging to a woman named Naomi Greer. It had no contact information besides a card with your facility’s name on it. Is Naomi a current employee or resident, and if not, do you know how I can reach her?

Sincerely,

James Baker

The fake name seems like a little much, but if my mom is there, I obviously can’t use my own name. Also, if Mr. Gonzalez tries to search the name, he’ll be met with about a thousand James Bakers. The form asks for an e-mail address and phone number, so I enter my new number, then pause at the e-mail. “Starboy333” doesn’t sound like a name someone like James Baker would have, so I quickly set up a new e-mail account, JBaker81, then hit send.

There. A long shot, but at least I tried.

It takes me several hours to fall asleep because my mind is turning over every detail of Night Sky House. My mom loved moving around; she could have ended up in Florida somehow, even though as far as I know, she has no ties to it. But if she’s there, why hasn’t Emma told me? She said that trust is our main goal, didn’t she? And what if that letter has nothing to do with my mom and ended up in there randomly? What if Emma has a brother or a cousin or someone else who lives there? It’s not like addiction is a rare problem. Before long, my brain works itself into a knot and I force myself to think about something different.

My thoughts land on the situation with Willow, which is a whole other knot to untangle. I can’t figure out what is going on with her. She is clearly sneaking around the house the same as I was, and her mom’s behavior at the willow tree was beyond bizarre. Also, what was that old book she was carrying around?

And even though she doesn’t know anything about the mermaid painting, I still think she’s a sign. The part that stresses me out is that when my mom saw signs, they always led her to take some type of action. True, those actions were oftentimes unpredictable, like the time we moved out of an apartment in the middle of the night because she found an empty bird’s nest on the walkway. She said it meant it was time for us to leave the nest too. And yes, I’m aware that we might have moved out in the middle of the night for other reasons—such as avoiding the landlord, who I’m sure we owed money to—but at least her signs gave her direction. Am I supposed to be doing something? I do know that I want to spend more time with her, but is that enough?