Page 28

Perched anxiously on the edge of my bed, I waited with bated breath, my paranoia ramping up with every tiny sound from the hallway beyond my bedroom door. Genie, Nathan, and I were taking some monumental risks to fight Reid’s curse. If anyone found out that Genie wasn’t here, even though she’d been seen entering, she’d be in huge trouble. Frankly, she’d already been through more than enough without me roping her into potential career suicide. But it was too late to change the plan now. By this point, if everything had gone well, Genie and Nathan would already have played their parts.

I went over the plan in my head. First, the schmoozing with Victoria to try and crack her for some intel, then straight to the antidote once Nathan had gotten enough to work with. Nathan had promised to secretly release the pixies and Gren and take them somewhere I’d hopefully be headed soon, in case anything went awry. I’d protested at first, not knowing if it was a good idea to take an enormous monster like Gren out of his enclosure. But then my lovely, green-furred Purge had whined and pounded his talons against the glass, letting me know that he wanted to help. I’d sensed his willingness to cooperate, resulting in my eventual acceptance. Still, if Victoria found out about that, there would be heads on pikes before dawn.

So, where are they? I knew all of that would take some time, but anxiety reigned supreme. The clock showed that two hours had passed since Genie had snuck out of here, shrouded by her Invisibility spell. Since Victoria hadn’t come bursting in, demanding answers, I clung to the hope that they hadn’t been caught. It sucked being the one whose job was to stay put.

It sucked even more because, with all this time to kill, my moral compass had decided to behave very indecisively, spinning toward all four corners. By helping Reid, were we paving the way for these witch hunters to come back at us magicals with a vengeance? Or would he stick to the price he’d paid for my assistance? I didn’t know him well enough to be sure. Heck, I didn’t know him at all, not really. But just as I had a sixth sense about monsters and their emotions, I had a similar feeling about Reid. His sincerity and desperation had shone through everything else, and I could only hope it didn’t come back to bite us in the ass.

A faint knock came at the door and my head shot up, my heart leaping into my throat. I approached the door, putting my ear close to the surface. “Who is it?”

“The Grim Reaper,” a familiar voice hissed back. “Who do you think?”

I opened the door, relief flooding over me, and I smelled an odd, burning-popcorn scent as my invisible best friend slipped by me. A green flare of light pulsed in the center of the room and began to travel upward, unraveling the Invisibility spell around Genie from toes to top. I hurried to close the door, eager to hear what she had to say. I’d pleaded with her to keep me up to date before she left, but she’d rattled off an argument about keeping paper trails to a minimum, and my phone had been agonizingly silent since.

“Oof, that burns.” Genie heaved out a breath, looking a little too pale for comfort. Guilt twisted in my stomach. She was really going out on a limb to help me here, even though she hadn’t properly recovered from, you know, dying and being brought back to life, and then getting a bad cold from her dead body being left out in the rain. She must’ve noticed me observing her with a remorseful expression, because she pulled me into a hug. “I’m fine, Pers. You know me. Tough as old boots.”

“I just wish we could’ve waited a few more days, until you were better,” I murmured into her shoulder.

She chuckled. “What are you trying to say? You think I look like crap? My ego already took a knock today, after meeting that hex-y potions woman. But I’ll have you know I’m in top form, so don’t you worry about me.” She pulled away and fixed me with an intent gaze. “The sooner we finish this, the better. Then we can forget about Reid, the witch hunters, Veritas, all of it, and leave this episode behind us. So, runner number three, are you ready to receive the baton?”

I straightened up and remembered why we were here. “Does that mean everything went smoothly?” Nathan hadn’t given much away when we’d conjured up our plan of action. He’d only said that he needed to pay two people a visit to get the answers we were looking for: Victoria and a woman called Ariana.

“Smooth-ish.” Genie dipped into her pocket and pulled out a bronze ball with slivers of glass cut into the polished surface. Through it, I saw a vibrant liquid of pillar-box red contained within. “Seems like Nathan has a bit of underdog charm when it comes to the ladies. Who knew?”

I arched an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter. I thought I had a rival, but she turned out to be pretty cool. She wants to interrogate me for Atlantean hex secrets.” Genie nodded to the bronze ball as I took it from her. “That, which you now hold in your hands, is the key to fixing this contagious mess—bought with Nathan’s charms and jaw-dropping acting prowess. That man can lie, let me tell you! I’m still not sure whether to be horrified or impressed.”

“This is the antidote?” I stared at the metal ball with awe. It looked so small and unassuming. How could it possibly reverse such a potent spell?

Though she be but little, she is fierce, as my friend Shakespeare once said. I reminded myself that a tiny pebble could burst a tire, and one mosquito could down entire populations.

Genie smiled. “You have to give it to Reid and tell him to hold it tight. Oh, that’s an important point—don’t grip it too tight or you’ll end up getting spiked instead.” She gestured back toward the door. “Should we get this show on the road, then?”

I steeled myself, trying to think of how my mom would act in my position. She’d faced worse without showing fear, and now I had to do the same. “It’s time.”

* * *

Making sure to be seen at various intervals by passing hunters and students, Genie and I walked into the Institute’s orchards, pretending that we were just going on a stroll to get my friend some fresh air. Once we were safely ensconced in the darkness, and we felt certain there were no prying eyes, Genie gripped my arms tight and wrapped us both in the Invisibility spell. I could tell she was pushing her limits by spreading it to me, but she didn’t say so. She wouldn’t have to hold it long, not if everything went according to plan. We just needed to get outside the Institute’s perimeter without anyone seeing us. We couldn’t have anyone telling tales to Victoria about me leaving without permission. Going to the marketplace had only been allowed because I’d had Nathan with me. If Victoria heard about this, she’d send a squad of hunters after me, and I couldn’t allow that to happen. Not when we’d already come so far in fixing this. All I had to do was get this bronze ball into Reid’s hands and it would, hopefully, be over. No harm done.

“Are you okay?” Genie whispered, as the searing sting of the Invisibility spell set in. I’d forgotten how painful this thing was. My skin felt like it was melting, agony pinballing through my body.

“Fine,” I lied.

“Just keep the pace quick.” Her breath hitched, and I saw her grit her teeth. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold this.”

With that, we rushed out of the orchard as fast as our legs would carry us, her arm linked so tightly with mine that I thought she might cut off the blood supply. Together, we bolted through the back gate and carried on across the open fields until we reached the cliff path. Even then, she didn’t let up, hauling me along until we were firmly out of view of the Institute’s interdimensional bubble. I glanced back, making sure that I couldn’t see the ruins of the castle anymore, and stubbornly brought us both to a halt. If Genie carried on like this, she’d wind up back in the Infirmary, and I didn’t want anyone getting hurt because of this mission.

“That’s far enough,” I urged.

With a wheezing gasp, she let go of me and dispensed with the Invisibility, the magic sloughing away from our bodies in a fizzling, upward cascade of green-tinged energy. Once it had evaporated, Genie bent double, coughing violently. Startled, I put my hand between her shoulder blades and rubbed in circles, trying not to get too panicked by the sight of her current fragility.

True to form, she waved me away. “I’m okay, I just got a spark caught in my throat or something.” She straightened to her full height, but the sheen of sweat on her pale forehead told me another story: she wasn’t well at all. “You keep going. I’ll chalk-door to Nathan.”

“Did he manage to get the secret weapons?” I asked furtively, meaning Gren and the pixies.

Genie wiped her brow and took out her phone. “He got there five minutes ago. Everyone is in place and behaving.”

“Then you should get to him. I’ll take the traditional route, in case Reid sees me with backup and takes off. I don’t know why he would, but… this is still all very confusing.” I gave a nervous laugh and took out my own phone, sending a message to the man himself: I have the cure. Meet me at the abandoned fishery in fifteen minutes. It seemed like the safest place for our exchange, since it was out of the way. The hunters had cleared out of there a few days ago after coming up empty. Plus, there were crusty, crumbling old boathouses and storage huts around the fishery where Nathan, Genie, and the monsters could hide.

Genie reached out for a parting hug. “You’ve got this, Pers. This is how you save the day again, as always. There probably won’t be accolades this time, but that’s the mark of a true heroine. Saving lives in secret. The caped crusader, shrouded in mystery.” She gave me a firm squeeze. “Just remember, you don’t need to be afraid of this guy. You’re the one doing him a huge favor. Just make sure he doesn’t get riled up and turn all misty on you, and we should be good. No need to use the monsters at all.”

“Thanks. I needed to hear that.” I hugged her back, and then it was time for us to go our separate ways. I wished I could’ve kept her at my side, but I needed to make this walk alone. We couldn’t risk Reid knowing I had my friends waiting in the wings to unleash hell if he tried anything funny.

She turned and crouched, drawing out a chalk-door. “And remember, shout or call, and we’ll come running.”

“I will,” I promised, though I prayed it wouldn’t come to that.

A few moments later, she disappeared through the doorway, leaving me alone on the cliff path to meet my former kidnapper at the very place where he’d tried to intimidate me. In retrospect, I could’ve gone for somewhere less traumatic, but the text had been sent. As if responding to my thoughts, my phone pinged.

I’ll be there, his message read.

“Come on, Persie. It’s not hard. Just put one foot in front of the other,” I told myself as I began to walk. On the horizon to my right, the sun was making its slow descent into darkness, splintering the sky with fragments of fuchsia and vermilion cut with a bronzed orange and a subtle swell of midnight purple. I would’ve preferred to do this in broad daylight, but there were far scarier things than the darkness. A horde of untreated Fear Deargs, for one.