Page 10

Corey

BEFORE COREY’S MOM DIED, HIS DAD GAVE HIM SOME ADVICE.

“The hardest thing to control is ourselves,” James said. “But if you learn to deny yourself the things you want, you’ll always end up exactly where you want to be.”

After his mom died, Corey interpreted that in a different way: If he could keep everyone around him at a distance—if he could learn to control his life like he was a character in a video game, with set outcomes from every action he took—that would keep people safe. It would keep them alive. And the first step was to ensure nobody ever found out about the curse.

So why does telling the truth feel less like a mistake and more like a confession?

In the parking lot under the dim lights, Corey’s lungs expand. It’s as if he hasn’t breathed in years. But when he sees Penny’s face, the relief disappears. Because she’s staring at Corey like he just admitted to discovering alien life.

“That makes no sense,” she says, her voice small.

“I know.” Corey’s mind runs through a dozen ways he could begin this story. “My family… we’re…”

How will you explain this? She’ll think you’re insane.

Keep quiet. It’s easier.

You’ll be safe that way.

But this isn’t about Corey. It’s about Mrs. Emberly—and Penny.

“My family is cursed.”

The words ring out, more sure and confident than Corey expected. There’s a long moment of excruciating silence, and Corey can’t look at her.

“Cursed,” she repeats. “You mean, like… you’re sick?”

Corey shakes his head. “I mean if any of us falls in love with someone, that person is going to die.”

Penny takes one step closer to him, then two. “I’m sorry, but you’re saying my mom is going to die because your aunt is in love with her?”

“I know how it sounds. But the curse killed my mom, and my uncle Jason, and my grandmother, and a lot of other people.”

“But your mom, she—she got hit by a train.”

“Dying from the curse always looks like an accident. The dock at Elkie Lake broke while your mom was standing on it, but that wasn’t a coincidence.”

Penny wraps her arms around herself. She starts to pace, and then she stops and turns on him in a sudden rush of motion. “If that’s true—if your family knew, then why didn’t you do anything to stop this? Why didn’t your aunt stay away?”

At first, Corey can’t formulate a response—because it almost sounds like she believes him. He was expecting her to be afraid, to brush him off, maybe even laugh at his expense. But she skipped that part.

Then Penny’s words sink in, and Corey’s brief shock turns to bitterness. He takes a step closer to her. “You seriously think it’s that easy? My aunt never wanted this to happen. None of us did. If you want to blame anyone, blame the De Lucas.”

“The De Lucas? Why?”

“Why do you think?” Corey snaps.

Penny’s eyes narrow. “They’re witches?”

Corey was expecting her to say a lot of things, but not that. “You believe the rumors?”

Penny shakes her head. “N-no, I… I don’t know. But they’re…?”

“True?” Corey crosses his arms. “Completely.”

Penny looks frantic. Words pour from her mouth. “My mom was acting weird this morning. She seemed paranoid, and she kept touching that necklace… it was as if she was being watched. And I thought someone was watching me, too. I could’ve sworn that I saw someone in the woods last night, and then today at the hospital there was some sort of… I don’t know. A figure.” She turns back to Corey, her face drawn with horror. “Was it the De Lucas?”

“What did they look like?”

Penny’s brow furrows. “I couldn’t see them. They were standing in shadow.”

Immediately, Corey flashes back to the car ride with Dylan. The Shadow standing in the middle of the road.

“That wasn’t the De Lucas. That was the curse.”

“The curse? How is that possible?”

“Because it takes human form—or something like human form—right before someone dies. It’s like a fucked-up premonition. Everyone who has lost a loved one to the curse can see it.”

The blood drains from Penny’s face. “Then I wasn’t imagining it.”

“Your mom was right about us, and she was right about the De Lucas,” Corey says. “You should stay far away.”

Penny’s face contorts. She’s holding back tears, and Corey has to look away from her.

“And the necklace?” Penny asks with a shaking voice. “Why should I keep it on her?”

“Because it’s a ward. It will keep her safe from the curse for a while.”

“So she’ll wake up?”

Corey swallows. “I don’t think so.”

Slowly, Penny lowers herself into a crouch, digging her hands into her curls and rocking back and forth.

“Oh my god,” she says. “What do we do?”

Corey looks up at the hospital, eyes landing on the fifth floor. Then he kneels down in front of Penny and puts a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Penny looks up, and the full force of her eyes almost knocks him back. Corey gets the strange urge to run away, to pretend this never happened.

“There has to be some way to fix this,” Penny says. “What about Dylan? Didn’t you save her?”

Of course Penny would ask about Dylan. But Corey’s girlfriend isn’t in any danger; that was always the point.

The first time Corey was ever asked to a dance was in sixth grade. Technically, it was a mixer where nobody dressed up, and they played music in a lit-up gymnasium with chaperones standing at six-foot intervals around the perimeter. But for a bunch of middle schoolers, it was the equivalent of prom.

The invitation came out of nowhere. One second, Corey was eating lunch, and the next, Hannah Hartley walked right up to his table and asked him to be her date. Corey’s friends gasped and whooped, but Hannah stood there and watched him. Because Corey was supposed to answer.

So he said no.

Hannah barely made it ten steps away before she started crying. Corey’s friends had gone quiet, and so had everyone else in the cafeteria. But the second Hannah asked him to be her date, all Corey could see was his mom’s face. What if Corey had fun? What if he liked Hannah? It would kill her.

After that, it kept happening. People would send Corey notes, confess their crushes, and ask him if he was straight or not. When Corey determined that he was straight, he became terrified of girls, and he would barely go to parties even though he was always invited. Eventually, he couldn’t live like that anymore. He couldn’t just think about protecting others; he had to create some semblance of a normal life for himself.

Then, in eighth grade, Corey started hanging out with Dylan Mayberry. She was hot, and she was mean. He hated the way she judged people, the way she worked to make everyone else feel small or stupid. She was exactly the type of person Corey would never love.

So he asked her to the movies.

“Dylan is alive because I don’t love her,” Corey says mechanically.

“You don’t…” Penny’s face falls. “Then that’s it? You’ve given up?”

The words hit Corey like an aggressive linebacker. “Given up?” He leans closer, until they’re inches apart. He shouldn’t be angry; he knows better than anyone what Penny is going through. But the words come pouring out. “I haven’t given up . I’ve spent every day learning to live with this curse. I’m not a witch, Penny! I can’t snap my fingers and make the world a different place.”

“Then what about Alonso? Couldn’t he—”

Corey’s bitter laugh cuts her off. “Is that a joke? The De Lucas wanted this!”

“But—”

Corey never hears the rest of her words. He’s already getting into his car, leaving her kneeling on the pavement.

As Corey drives home, the look on Penny’s face stays with him: tangled hair, eyes shining with tears, and a jaw set in determination that will hopefully disappear. He gets a sick feeling in his stomach. He shouldn’t have told her. He had this delusion she would be upset, and then understand her mom’s accident was inevitable. Corey wasn’t expecting her to want to find a solution. To fight it.

Penny Emberly is more than a wallflower after all.

Corey pulls into the driveway at Meredith House and puts the Audi in park. Then he lays his head down on the steering wheel and closes his eyes. Everyone at home knows about Mrs. Emberly now. Being inside that house is like being at a funeral.

There’s the sound of an engine, and taillights flash in Corey’s rearview mirror. A rusty blue Shelby pulls into the driveway across the street.

Perfect timing.

Corey unbuckles his seat belt and walks toward the De Luca house. He stops before their dirt driveway. The Shelby’s door opens, and Alonso steps out, wearing one of his ugly robes over a tank top. He looks like a goth Hugh Hefner.

“Hey!” Corey shouts.

Alonso grins. His black eye gives off a sick gleam in the light emanating from Meredith House. “Come to say sorry for being an asswipe?”

“No.”

“Then what? You pissed that I won?”

Corey nods toward the dilapidated house. “Go tell your family that Anita Emberly is on her deathbed.”

For a split second, Alonso drops the tough-guy scowl, and his face goes blank. Dark satisfaction sends a chill through Corey.

“Anita Emberly,” Alonso repeats. “Penny’s mom?”

Someone laughs, and the sound is bitter and sad. It takes Corey a second to realize it’s coming from himself.

“All I want,” Corey says, “is to pretend I’ve never heard of you or your fucking family. Stay out of our sight.”

For once, Alonso doesn’t have a comeback. As Corey walks back to Meredith House, he hears Alonso’s footsteps retreat. The screen door of the De Luca home slams shut behind him, and in the quiet July night, it sounds like a thunderclap.