“We all been hexed,” said Pop. “And we deserved it. Well, everybody did except Marina here. It was our fault, Sinclair. It was our fault we all wound up hexed and cursed and low-down. We didn’t act right, and we got to own up to it.”

“But I lost everything,” said Sinclair. “The stuff he made me do . . . I ain’t ever gonna be what I was. I’ll never be that again.”

“You’re cured,” said Bobby Felix. “The hex is gone. What part of that don’t you understand? Leave me be. Just leave me be.”

“Cured? Is that what you say? Well, I reject that cure,” said Sinclair. “I keep this hex, and I hold on to it for dear life. I’m going down to the depths, Bobby Felix, and you’re coming with me.”

“But Sinclair . . . ,” said Pop.

Sinclair cast a mean eye on Pop, shutting him right up. “Davey Boy, you better thank your dear stars that I don’t drag you under neither, seeing as how this is your fault too.”

Sinclair grabbed Bobby Felix by the ankle and yanked him into the water. He fought and struggled and splashed, but there was nothing he could do against Sinclair, against the monster that he had become. Bobby Felix’s last shouts were choked out by the water, and a few bubbles gurgled to the surface. We watched and waited, but neither of them came back up.

“Sinclair won’t kill him, will he, Pop?” I said.

“I doubt it,” said Pop. “Sick as he was, Sinclair ain’t no killer. Never has been. He’ll probably just complain at him for a few months. Maybe make him live off bugs for a while.”

“Hope you’re right,” I said.

“Yeah,” said Pop. “Me too.”

Up above us a handful of stars fell in long glittering streaks across the sky. Pop bent down and faced me eye to eye.

“I’m sorry, Buddy,” he said. “I’m sorry for what I put you and your mom through. I’m sorry for my arrogance.”

“I forgive you, Pop,” I said, and hugged him.

And in that moment I felt all the hope of love that I’d always had for my pop, the warmth and closeness from him that I’d dreamed of, that I’d wanted for my whole life.

18

BACK IN MARINA’S PLACE, THE chef and the pianist had come back, and a few of the Baudelaire Quatro refugees were coming out of hiding. I hoped they found the poor man’s head, wherever it was. I hoped maybe he could get his floating Parsnit house back. I saw Tally milling around not too far from Marina, like she wanted to ask her about something. I figured it was about getting cured of her hex, and I didn’t want to interfere. But I still had a question or two for ol’ Tally, so I thought I’d go ahead and ask her.

“Hey Tally,” I said. “Whatcha got in your pocket?”

She grinned at me, her spider fangs clacking together. In her hand she held Boss Authority’s Red Bride card.