But her relief doesn’t last long. Her eyes trail over the room, taking in the bed, the ladder, the rug, before finally landing on the painting. For one moment I wonder if this might be okay, if she’s going to be so overwhelmed by the beautiful house that she’ll forget about the fact that I’m not supposed to be here, but then she clenches her jaw and whirls on me, sending my hope scattering.

“You promised.” Her voice is so hard, so betrayed sounding, it sends a shiver down my spine.

Mason is next to me, so close his arm is brushing mine. “It’s my fault,” he says, but my mom’s eyes never leave mine.

“Mom, I know, but the aunts told me about these letters and—”

She cuts me off. “I told you that I needed to keep this chapter in my life closed, and you completely disregarded that.” My mom’s face is angry, but it’s her hurt that is really stabbing me in the chest. She feels like I’ve betrayed her. Have I betrayed her?

No. This is my story too.

I swallow hard. “Mom, I…” I don’t know how to finish it. How do I get her to understand how important this place is to me?

She wraps her arms around herself tightly, her gaze firm on mine. “What are you even doing here?”

“We were exploring. It was my idea,” Mason says quickly. “I’m really sorry, Ms. Haverford, I wanted to stargaze on the roof—” She turns her blazing gaze on Mason and he quickly closes his mouth.

She turns back to me. “Willow, we’re leaving.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you back at the hotel,” I say quickly.

“No, I mean we’re leaving Salem. Phoebe booked us a flight for tomorrow morning.”

My heart sinks faster than I thought possible. Mason and I exchange a look. He looks resolved, like he knew all along that this is what would happen. But I can’t accept that. “Tomorrow? But what about the house?”

She shakes her head. “I got an offer an hour ago. I went to the theater to wait for you to get out so I could tell you the news, but there wasn’t a movie playing.” She looks around the room now, her eyes pausing on the mermaid.

Panic is building in my body, setting my chest on fire. I can’t leave tomorrow. Not before finishing the story. I can’t go back to my regular life, the one where I’m trying desperately to find somewhere that I belong. Here in Salem I’m grounded, steady. I’m not going to give that up easily.

Resolve makes me brave. “We need to talk about this. All of this.” I spin, gesturing to the room. “I know about the curse.”