‘It did come back,’ Bethan whimpered. ‘And the only thing different is the potion. And I saw that stupid recipe, and I thought maybe, the Rennigans did something.’

Ally rubbed Bethan’s shoulder.

‘Elnora makes mine,’ she finally said. ‘She makes it and gives it to me. She told me to put some in my bag before I left.’

Bethan left her mother’s arms and raced back up the stairs. In her room, she found her bag by the wardrobe; she unzipped it, pulling out some of Kellan’s hair products before she found the tea leaves in a tin box.

She pulled off the lid, her hand stinging from the burns. She sniffed the leaves.

Elderberries. And she knew straight away. She heaved.

Her mother had followed her up the stairs. She said something to her, but her dad’s car speeding up the gravel driveway drowned out her voice. Heavy footsteps pounded up the narrow staircase, and Kellan practically fell through the door.

‘Kell,’ she called out.

‘Don’t drink that!’

She didn’t know how he knew, but they both came to the same conclusion.

Kellan and her father told them everything. She didn’t remember how it happened so quickly, but she sobbed into Kellan’s chest.

Her sister hadn’t died from a freak accident.

But was murdered.

Murdered like Lenovik.

‘They’ve been giving me a different potion. But I don’t understand why.’

Kellan stroked her hair. ‘We’ll find out.’

Her parents’ faces were white as the snow on the Etruscans; they silently left the room, her hear mother’s sobs masking her own.

Kellan’s strong arm lifted and carried her. He settled her down on the bed and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

She brought his thumbs underneath her eyes, wiping the tears away, and she felt just as useless as she did when Lenovik died.

She could’ve had her magic back.

And they were involved. They had to be. There was no other explanation.

‘Elnora,’ she said, ‘do you think she knows?’

Kellan nodded slowly. ‘She’s been so insistent that you drink that tea.’

Her heart sank lower.

‘In two days, we’re going to Rennigan House. Do we confront them?’

Kellan shook his head. ‘We can’t. It will be too dangerous if we do it in their own home. We’ll just pretend like nothing is wrong.’

‘I don’t think I can do that,’ she cried. ‘What about Circe and Agatha?’

‘We wait until the grimoire is found,’ he murmured. ‘We don’t know what the Rennigans are capable of.’

Bethan couldn’t help but agree.

chapter twenty-seven

chapter twenty-seven

bethan kore

they sat hand-in-hand on the train back to malia; Bethan had warned her parents and told them not to say anything to anyone yet.