I squinted at the amulet, but really there was no point. If it was finished and had done its job, I would’ve felt the presence of the Evil Eye contained … but I couldn’t feel it at all. And the amulet wasn’t nearly finished.

I let out a yell of frustration, but checked myself before throwing my half-finished work on the ground, opting instead to place it in my satchel. And then I ran to my room to get an oil lamp, lighting it with my pen as I hurried back.

I hesitated in approaching the closet as blood seeped out from underneath the door.

I opened the door, slowly, holding my amulet out in front of me … and choked out a gasp. Peggy’s torn body was almost unrecognizable, cold and white and covered in tattered wool, lying in the corner. The ground and everything on it was saturated with sticky, wet blood. And in the middle sat Magnus, his face buried in his knees, his trembling arms wrapped around his legs … completely naked. His body was smudged with blood that wasn’t his, his hair matted with it, his nails caked.

“I killed Peggy, didn’t I,” he said, his voice wet and trembling.

My stomach lurched just at the mention of it. “You’re all right. Just don’t look behind you.”

Words crumbled on my lips as I tried to speak again. I felt frozen, down to my marrow. None of this was supposed to happen. The plan should’ve worked.

“Magnus,” I barely gasped, and he looked up at me. Oh God. I wish he hadn’t.

His eyes were red from tears, but his mouth was smeared red with something more sinister. He coughed, gagged, and suddenly more blood leaked from his mouth, and it was enough to send bile up my throat.

“Kill me,” he gasped back.

I took a step back, shaking my head.

“Please, Andi.”

“I can’t.” Or at least I think I said that. It sounded more like a sob.

“You have to kill me,” he said, shifting to his knees, his hands slipping in the thick blood on the floor. “It’s the only way.”

I couldn’t answer him. All I could do was run.

I leapt down the stairs two at a time. Saba skidded into view at the bottom of them, distressed.

“I have to go,” I told her, even though she could clearly see what I was doing.

She grabbed my arms, leaning down to level our faces, as if to reason with me. I don’t know why something as rational as that broke me, but God, it did.

“I’m not going back there,” I screamed, my entire body leaning forward, every muscle tight with the strain of it, as if it had never let out so much pain and fear at once before.

Maybe it hadn’t.

And it disturbed me enough to put this all behind me.