Page 39

THIRTY-THREE

“—hat!”

Did we just travel to hell? Bandit’s claws dug a little too hard into her shoulders.

The potion had dumped Thorn and Bandit on a street with houses covered in cobwebs, skeletons swinging from their porches, and carved pumpkins and gravestones dotting their front yards.

Then Thorn noticed the streetlights. They were light bulbs, not oil lamps. A woman in jeans walked past. More important, that woman was typing on her cell phone.

“Bandit, I think we’re back.”

But what the fillet is going on? Why does everything look like this?

“I think it’s what they call Halloween,” Thorn said.

So we’re in the right era. But why did that potion dump us on the streets of Thimble Town this time?

Thorn turned around. Behind her was Walls’s town house. Two blanket ghosts guarded the door. And then she spotted him in the window. “Walls,” she murmured.

He had his back to her, and Charlie was with him. He placed an oversized witch hat on her head, and the tip of the hat was kinked.

For Thorn, it was bittersweet. She wanted nothing more than to see him, though knowing he didn’t return her affections made her heart ache.

Raven , Bandit hissed.

Thorn looked over at the next house. The raven was indeed perched on the skull of a skeleton frozen mid-climb out of a coffin.

It wasn’t watching her, though. Its beady eyes were fixed on Walls.

But slowly, it turned its head, and its gaze landed on Thorn.

It took flight and disappeared into the evening sky.

Thorn turned on her heels. She would apologize to Walls later. “First, I’ll deal with Rose.”

Hurry up, witch. Bandit hopped off her, and soon he had disappeared around the corner out of view.

As she tried to catch up, she whipped out her cell phone and turned it on. “Thank goodness there’s still some battery left.”

She opened Snapster and checked Covenstead’s page. There were a couple of photographs of Rose in the cottage. The first one had the caption: Halloween Trouble with our new witch Rose Scarhart!

Thorn dialed Meg.

“Thorn! Is that really you?” Meg practically yelled.

“You hired Rose?”

“You told me to!”

“What? When?”

“In your letter!”

“I only said I was sorry, and that I couldn’t be the Covenstead Witch anymore!”

“The letter clearly stated that you were taking some time to yourself and didn’t want to be contacted, but that I should hire your sister, Rose, to take your place. You even included her phone number!”

Thorn groaned. “Rose replaced my letter.”

“What on earth is going on? Walls and I tried phoning you. He must have called you a billion times. But we couldn’t get through—the line was disconnected. Where have you been? Where are you now?”

In the distance, plumes of pink smoke rose into the sky. They were coming from Thorn’s cottage. Rose was brewing something. “Meg, I’ll call you back.”

Thorn hung up and quickened her pace. She didn’t know where the stamina had come from—it certainly wasn’t her usual—but she maintained her jog through the town center, past Walls’s clinic, and into the park. Her cottage came into view.

It looked like a horde of spiders had vomited on it, and as if it had been built on a very fertile pumpkin patch. But as Thorn sprinted past the smirking pumpkins, her eyes were fixed on the windows. Orange light filled them. Any moment now, a witch’s silhouette could walk past.

But as Thorn got closer, only a cat’s silhouette appeared at the kitchen window.

No one’s here , Bandit said. But prepare yourself for what you’re about to see.

Inside, it looked like a dentist’s nightmare. Skulls filled with candy. Carved pumpkins filled with candy. Plastic cauldrons filled with candy. Just making her way to the couch, Thorn felt her teeth decaying.

Her cauldron was still in the fireplace, and on the ground right in front of it, fitting in perfectly with the Halloween decor, was the pentagram.

“Rose’s raven must have warned her that we were back,” Thorn said, looking around. On the table, there was a single vial of purple liquid. The Never Love Again potion? Had Lily somehow managed to scoop up some of it before fleeing that day while Thorn was busy trying to save Bandit?

Pinned under it was a note. Thorn placed her basket on the table and picked it up.

Dear Thorn,

Please forgive me for what I tried to do to you thirty years ago. I would have given anything to save Mother.

I know you’re still searching for love, but I’m so afraid you might end up like her. I leave you with this single dose of Never Love Again potion, for when heartbreak is too much to bear.

Your sister,

Rose

Bandit hissed.

Footsteps hurried up the porch.

Thorn picked up the ladle and got ready to swing.

The door opened.

Thorn dropped the ladle. “Walls.”

“You’re back,” he said.

She couldn’t quite tell how he felt about that because of his beard and cool-cucumber demeanor. But from the way he didn’t rush forward to hug her, didn’t even say he was glad to see her, she was sure he was no longer in love with her.

“Did Meg tell you I was here?”

“Did you come back for me?” he asked.

“You’re in danger, Walls.”

“Did you use the cosmic cat distribution system to come back?” He sounded angry now. “You shouldn’t have.”

“I didn’t. And I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye.”

“I don’t love you, Thorn.”

Her heart shattered.

“I will never love you.”

Thorn clutched at her chest. It was so painful.

“You didn’t really think I could love someone like you, did you?”

She had to prop herself against the table. The Never Love Again potion was within arm’s reach. Just one sip, and this horrible pain would go away. She picked up the vial and pinched the cap.

“You were never going to find love, Thorn.”

Thorn recapped the vial of Never Love Again and set it back on the table. “Why are you doing this? Why, Rose?”

Walls rolled his eyes. There was a puff of smoke, and when the smoke cleared, Walls was gone. Standing before Thorn was her sister. Rose was taller now, with gray streaks in her hair, and she’d lost the plumpness in her cheeks, but ever the same were her piercing emerald eyes.

“That’s the downside of a regular Shape-Shifting potion,” Rose said. “If someone knows, the potion wears off.”

Bandit hopped off the window and sat at Thorn’s feet, ready to protect her.

“Walls might not love me,” Thorn said, using her feet to gently push Bandit behind her. “But even in turning me down, he would never say those unkind things.”

The raven swooped in through the window and landed on Rose’s shoulder.

Foul fowl , Bandit hissed.

“I summoned a familiar just to help me spy on you,” Rose said.

“I’ve watched you so desperately trying to get a man in this century.

Dates that always ended in disaster. You’re exactly like Mother.

” She sighed. “Drinking this Never Love Again potion will get rid of all your heartbreak. You thought I made it for me, but it’s for you. ”

“I’m not Mother, Rose. And of course it hurts to know Walls doesn’t love me, but his kindness made me see that I could be loved. And that I could love, too. I want to.”

Rose swept her arm across a shelf of potions. Flasks and vials smashed onto the ground. “I hate you, Thorn. We both watched Mother go mad trying to find love, and despite that, you’re still seeking it out? How are you still able to love?”

Rose strode over to Thorn.

Thorn backed away.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to harm you.” Rose chuckled. She picked up the ladle from the floor and stirred the cauldron.

“Rose, if you don’t want to be like Mother, why are you brewing the Forever True Love potion?”

“I’ve dated so many men since coming here. A number of them fell in love with me. But no matter how much I want to care for them, I can’t bring myself to put my heart on the line, so I end up dumping them. I want love, but I can’t love. The Forever True Love potion will solve that problem.”

“You want to drink the Forever True Love potion?”

“It’s so lonely, to crave love and fear heartbreak at the same time. The next time someone falls in love with me, if I could just truly love him back, I’d be happy.”

Thorn wanted to tell Rose what it had taken her so many years to learn, that true love didn’t come from a cauldron. But looking into Rose’s green eyes, she realized that her sister had already turned into Mother. “You can have the cottage. But leave Walls alone.”

Thorn nodded to Bandit and walked toward the door. The cat was unsure, his ears flattened outward, but he followed after his witch. He walked backward to make sure Rose and her raven didn’t try to pull anything.

But Rose didn’t even move to stop them.

As Thorn marched away into the night, Bandit climbed onto her shoulder. He watched the cottage get smaller and smaller with each step she took. Thorn did not slow down. She did not look back.

When they were passing Walls’s clinic, he couldn’t hold his tongue anymore. You forgot your basket.

“I didn’t. It’s backup. In case I can’t warn Walls in time.” She pulled out her cell phone and dialed.

But Walls didn’t answer his phone.

She sprinted. “Please be home, please be home.”

But when she got to his town house, the windows were dark. She rang the doorbell. No one answered. She pounded on the door. No one came.

Witch.

That wasn’t Bandit’s voice. It was smooth and sweet.

Thorn turned to the window. It was shut, but a cream cat with a dark mask was behind the glass. “Noodle!”

You brought an interloper into my territory. Noodle glanced at Bandit. Her voice had turned cloying, like an evil queen who was composed even in her fury because she knew a hundred different ways of exacting vengeance. And I warned you not to break my servant’s heart, didn’t I?

“Walls’s heart isn’t broken,” Thorn said. “I accidentally fed him a potion that made him think he was in love with me. But I gave him the antidote.”

Noodle’s tail twitched slowly. Then why has he spent the last two weeks being absolutely insufferable? Moping around. Demanding extra snuggles. He even ran out of my favorite roast chicken. Twice.

There was a long yowl. And then another cat joined in.

Thorn looked up to see two cats on the roof of the town house. “Pepper! Pumpkin!”

More interlopers. The twisted delight in Noodle’s voice was a little terrifying.

The two stray cats hopped onto the second-floor windowsill, then down to Thorn.

We saw you at the cottage , Pepper said, and followed you.

“Rose didn’t get to you, did she?” Thorn asked, bending down and checking the two cats all over.

Pepper lifted one front paw and thwacked Thorn’s forehead. He got in a few hits before she knew to get away.

Bandit hissed at him. No one is allowed to do that except me!

You fool of a witch! Pepper yelled.

Thorn was taken aback. Pepper had always been so sweet and shy. “Did someone feed you a Grumpy potion?”

The mad scientist did not drink your True Love potion!

“Of course he did. The goblet was empty.”

We followed him into the cottage because we knew that one— Pumpkin glanced at Bandit —wasn’t home. The mad scientist muttered something about lemons being toxic and not wanting Bandit to lick it if the cat came home before you did.

Bandit’s face puckered up. As if I’d drink that sour piss.

Pumpkin continued. The mad scientist poured the lemonade out and washed the goblet.

Thorn thought she was having a stroke. She thought of everything Walls had done from the time he’d asked her out to the time she’d run back to another century: how uncharacteristically flustered he’d been when asking her out.

How he’d taken her on the best first date. And how he’d. Almost. Kissed. Her.

She yowled. “It was all him all along!”

Because of her assumption that it was unrequited love, she had endured all that agony and done all that time travel, when it turned out they were perfectly unnecessary. She could have stayed right here and been kissing Walls for the past two weeks.

“I’ve missed out on one, two”—the realization made her breath catch before she screamed—“five million kisses!”

You are a bloody fool , Noodle purred. Now get off my turf.

“But where’s Walls?” Thorn pulled out her phone. Meg had used her phone to see what the security crystal ball saw at the cottage. Maybe that app was still on this old phone of hers, too.

It was.

In the grainy live video, Thorn saw herself stirring her brew in the cottage. She gasped. “Rose shape-shifted into me.”

Pepper cocked his head. Why on earth would anyone do that?

Thorn watched the video closely. There were bright lights coming in through the window of the house. “That must be a car. Someone’s coming.”

The fake Thorn strode to the window, then back to the cauldron.

The door opened. Thorn felt like she was being boiled alive.

Walls walked in.