“You had me hexed, Pop?” I said.

I couldn’t believe it. There wasn’t any way. My pop would never do that to me. He would never.

“I did, Buddy,” said Pop. “I had your blood hexed so maybe Boss Authority would let you alone. Hexed blood is a mighty dangerous thing.”

I was mad now, I was durn furious.

“Let me get this straight,” I said. “You’re telling me the reason my life’s been so terrible these past five years is you, my own daddy? You’re the reason I couldn’t make a friend, why I couldn’t so much as kick a ball without twisting an ankle? Why I nearly burned Mom’s bakery down on accident, almost killing the both of us? It’s your fault my whole life has been one durn miserable disaster after another?”

“Buddy,” said Tally. “It’s okay. If he made the hex, he can break it. Right?” She turned to Marina. “That’s how a hex works. It’s no problem for the person who made it to break it.”

“I got it right here,” said Pop. He pulled a piece of dried vine looped in a knot that hung from a string around his neck. “This here’s the hex. All I got to do is snap this vine in half and you’re free, Buddy boy, with half the luckiest blood on earth and half good-witch magic to you. Heck, your blood is more valuable to Bobby Felix—more powerful that is—even than mine. So I ain’t gonna snap this vine. No sir. That hex is what’s kept you alive this long. I’m sorry it has been a trial on you, I really am. But there was no other choice, Buddy. There was no other way of keeping you safe.”

I couldn’t believe it. This whole time, years and years, I thought Mom had wrecked my life. I thought Mom had run out on Pop, that she’d been jealous and mean. But it had been Pop’s fault all along. Everything bad was his fault. He had hexed me, he’d made our home unsafe, he’d . . . he’d bet my own blood against Boss Authority. Pop had risked my life, not just his, and he hadn’t even asked me, it hadn’t even occurred to him that he’d lose. How could my own daddy be so reckless, how could he risk my life like that, and the lives of all his friends, without hardly a thought, without a single worry in his mind?

“Did Mom know?” I asked.

“Of course your mom knew,” he said. “And she was durn furious at me for it. Said her magic was more than enough to protect you, if I’d just trust her. But I had to take care of it myself, you understand? I had to make absolutely sure you were spoiled for Boss Authority. I begged her not to tell you, and I guess she kept her word.” He shook his head. “That’s just like Samantha Annie. She was probably up all hours of the night trying to break that hex on you, I wouldn’t doubt it. I bet she never let up trying, even if it was useless.”