Page 11

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Jacob stood in the middle of Hollow Books, watching as Yvette paced.

“I just don’t know what she meant,” Yvette said in frustration. “Marylin said that when we found the broom, we’d be able to reverse the curse. Well, I have the broom and I have the book. What exactly am I supposed to do now?”

That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? He didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t even been there when Marylin had given her that tip. He’d been tied to a bed, staring down evil.

Yvette opened the book, placed it in the middle of the floor, and then laid the broom on top of it.

Nothing happened.

“Let’s try something else,” Jacob said.

Yvette whirled around to look at him. “Like what?”

“If we want to reverse the curse on Keating Hollow, maybe we need to go to the heart of Keating Hollow to do it.”

“The river?” she asked.

He smiled softly at her. “No, love. To the Townsends. Text your sisters. Have them meet us at your dad’s house.”

Yvette didn’t say anything at first, but then she slowly nodded and said, “Yeah, okay. It couldn’t hurt, right?”

Jacob could think of a thousand things that could go wrong when trying to reverse a curse, but he kept those thoughts to himself. That was the last thing that Yvette needed to worry about. Besides, something deep in his soul told him that he was on the right track.

Once the text was sent, Jacob loaded his wife up in the car and hurried through town to the Townsend homestead.

The minute they pulled to a stop in the driveway, his two favorite people came running out of the house.

“Daddy!” Toby cried as he ran to his father and nearly knocked him down. “I thought you were never coming back.”

Jacob chuckled. “We were just here this morning, little bud. Remember that?”

“It was too long ago.” The little boy buried his face in Jacob’s thigh and held on tight.

“He’s upset because Grandma Clair wouldn’t let him have a third cookie,” Skye said with an air of superiority. “He cried for a half hour after she said no.”

Jacob looked over the heads of his kids at Yvette, who was smiling down at them with limitless love in her eyes. Her complete devotion to their kids was one of the things he loved most about her. And even though Skye wasn’t Yvette’s biological daughter, she’d always treated her as if she were, and she was a far more stable presence in his daughter’s life than Skye’s biological mother had ever been. Of course, they’d adopted Toby, so the same could be said for him, though they didn’t know his biological parents.

Whatever happened with the curse, he knew they’d find a way to survive it. If all they had was each other, it was enough.

Yvette’s sisters started to arrive. And just like the last time the siblings tried to reverse the curse, Jacob, Clay, and Hunter got to work on making sure the pentagram and salt circle were ready for the Townsend sisters.

Then, holding on to both of his kids’ hands, Jacob took a few steps back, giving the witches room to do their work.

Yvette placed the book and the broom in the middle of the pentagram, and together with her sisters, she called on the goddess of spirit to reverse the curse. Magic lit up the property, swirling around like some sort of magical tornado. Yvette was illuminated with magic, looking more beautiful and ethereal than ever.

Jacob was in awe of her. The way she was in command of her magic, her pure determination to save not only her family’s businesses, but the town, too. Her loyalty and dedication were unmatched.

Suddenly the magic stopped swirling. The book that was in the middle of the circle flipped open, and then the image of Kariann hovered over the book. Her dark curls were more unruly than ever. Her face was contorted in anger as her lips moved, but no sound came from her.

All five Townsend sisters stared at the image as if they were transfixed. Jacob wondered if they were caught in some sort of trance and was just about to do something, anything , to snap them out of it when the magic picked up again. This time when it stopped, Kariann was now holding the broom. She seemed to try to throw it down, but the handle appeared to be fused to her hand.

The apparition of Kariann jerked and swayed, appearing to try to get free, but nothing worked.

Finally, Yvette looked at her and said, “Reverse the curse. Free Keating Hollow from these unnatural binds. Release the curse, and we’ll all be free.”

The magic engulfed Kariann in a big ball of light and then shot right into the book. It slammed itself closed with a loud boom, the pillar candles that were flickering away at the Townsend sisters’ feet snuffed out, and all the magic that had been filling the air vanished.

Yvette stepped forward, picked up the book, and smiled. “It’s done. The curse should be gone.” She turned the book so that Jacob could see the cover. The broom was back, and the witch that was holding it was none other than Kariann.

“Is that witch trapped in this book?” Abby asked.

“It looks like it,” Yvette said. Then she pulled her four sisters into a hug, and Jacob could feel the love pouring off her. “Thanks,” she whispered to them. “Never underestimate the power of the Townsend sisters.”

Jacob’s phone buzzed.

It was a text from Drew. You better get down here. There’s been a development.

“Yvette?” Jacob called. “We need to go.”

“Not yet, I?—”

He shook his head. “It’s Drew.”

Yvette clamped her mouth shut, nodded once, stopped to talk to Clair, and then met him at the SUV.

They were both silent on the way to the station. As far as Jacob was concerned, he didn’t really want to know the bad news. But when they turned onto Main Street, it was immediately clear that the spell was broken, and Yvette let out a loud whoop.

“It worked, Jacob. It really worked!” Her eyes were glistening with happy tears. “I hope this means the family businesses will stop blowing up, too.”

“You can say that again.” He opened the door to the sheriff’s office for Yvette and followed her in.

Drew stood up from his desk and immediately waved at them to join him.

“What’s wrong?” Jacob asked. “Did Kariann spell someone or get free?”

“That’s…” Drew shook his head. “I’m not really sure what happened, but she said you two could help explain it.”

Jacob shared a glance with Yvette, both of them skeptical.

But the minute they arrived at Kariann’s—no, Marylin’s—cell, Jacob understood the problem.

“She’s gone,” Yvette said.

“Right,” Drew said with a nod. “The woman you brought me is gone, and now I have this completely different one, wearing different clothes. Someone needs to explain to me what happened.”

Yvette grinned at him. “Kariann has been exorcised from Marylin’s body, right Marylin?”

The strawberry blonde nodded as she matched Yvette’s grin. “If you did it right, she’s exactly where she should be, trapped in the pages of her book.”

“Her book?” Jacob asked. “I thought you wrote it.”

Marylin’s expression turned cold when she said, “I did. But my sister cursed it out of jealousy. Shortly after it came out, anyone who read the spell aloud ended up cursed. I spent three years hunting down those books and doing my best to destroy them and help the victims reverse the curse. Ever since I learned about the curse, I’ve been calling it her book. She took all the joy out of it for me. I got to the point where I never wanted to see that thing again. I did my best to destroy all the copies I could get my hands on, but in the end, I kept one. Just one, to remind myself that sometimes dreams do come true. Even if they were sabotaged by my own sister.”

Jacob felt sick. He couldn’t imagine having a sibling who’d do such a thing. He thought of Yvette and her sisters and how they all had each other’s backs, no matter the circumstances, and he felt so lucky to be a part of their family.

Yvette gave her a sympathetic look, and Jacob was sure she was thinking about her own sisters, too. Then she frowned and said, “There’s a lot I don’t understand. Like how did you two come to share the same body? And how did that book end up in my store?”

Marylin leaned forward in her cell and said, “Kariann came to live with me about a year ago. She was broke and on the verge of homelessness. Or at least she said she was. I’m not so sure, but either way, I couldn’t just let her sleep on the streets.”

“As any sibling would do,” Yvette said.

The confined witch nodded. “Yeah, but she kept taking herbs from the garden, working on potions, and trying to invent new spells. One day a potion went terribly wrong, and she actually died. But as her soul was leaving her body, she managed to attach to me, and ever since then we’ve been fighting for dominance over this body.” She waved a hand, indicating herself.

“Anyway,” she continued, “that’s how we ended up living together in both the house and my body.”

“Okay, that explains the possession,” Yvette said. “But what about the book?”

“That’s easy. Kariann took it to your bookstore about a week ago and put it on a children’s book endcap, hoping it would be picked up sooner or later,” Marylin explained. “I tried to stop her, but she was too strong. Mostly I spent my days doing what she wanted. Always, except that one day she was trying out spells and knocked herself out. It was the strangest thing. I knew she was still there, but she was unresponsive. That’s when I came up with a plan; if the curse was ever activated again, when it was reversed, Kariann was going right into the book, and I’d never have to deal with her again. So I spelled the book just in case.”

“That kind of sounds like you wanted her to unleash that curse on someone,” Drew said from behind them. “That way you’d have a chance to get rid of her.”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Marylin asked amicably as if the sheriff hadn’t just accused her of wanting a destruction curse unleashed on the world. “But no. The curse is too dangerous. In fact, Kariann even knew that I’d spelled it. I hoped it would stop her from messing with it, because a curse like that, no one is ever going to let it go. They will find out who is responsible, and they’ll come knocking. Just like Yvette and Jacob did. Though, I do admit you came sooner than I expected. Well done.” She mimed tipping a hat to them.

“Okay, so how did the book end up at Lincoln Townsend’s house after the spell was cast?” Jacob asked.

“Magic. The book stays attached to the curse, so you must have called it or tried to reverse it,” she said simply.

“And you’re just innocent in all this?” Drew asked skeptically.

“Yes,” Marylin said confidently. Then she bit her lower lip and said, “Well, except for the spell I cast that banished Kariann to the pages of the book. I bet that’s not legal.”

“It’s not,” Drew said, “but under the circumstances, we’ll just let the MTF decide how to handle it.”

Marylin gave him a grateful smile. “I think that’s the best possible solution. They had no love for my sister.”

Jacob knew that meant she wasn’t going to serve any time since Marylin was instrumental in bringing down someone they already had an eye on. He figured the agency would be happy to do what they could to keep her out of trouble.

“Excuse me,” a male voice called from the waiting room. “Is Sheriff Baker in?”

“That’s my cue,” Drew said and left. A moment later, he returned with an agent from the Magical Task Force and said, “The agent wants to speak with Marylin privately.”

“Sure,” Yvette said as she joined Jacob.

He took her hand in his and started to lead her out of the holding area. But then he stopped and asked, “What happens to the book now that Kariann is trapped in it?”

Marylin gave them a cheeky grin and said, “I think it will look perfect on my bookshelf. Don’t you agree?”

Jacob chuckled while Yvette worriedly bit down on her bottom lip. “What if someone takes it again?” she asked.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have it under lock and key. Sort of like the Hope Diamond. It won’t be an issue ever again. I promise,” Marylin said. “Trust me.”

Jacob met the witch’s gaze and just knew that there would be no safer place for Kariann than under Marylin’s watchful eye. He kissed Yvette’s temple and said, “I think we’re done here.”

She nodded. “Yes, we are. Let’s get the kids and go home.”

“I can’t think of anything better.” Jacob thanked Drew on his way out and then tucked his wife into the car. It had been the longest of days, and he wanted nothing more than to be home with his family, pretending none of this had ever happened.