Page 40

Penny

PENNY DOESN’T THINK. SHE JUST OPENS HER MOUTH TO SCREAM.

The Shadow is faster than her. In a blink, its not-arm reaches for her. She feels nothing as its not-hand closes around her neck. Then her throat is constricted, and she’s gasping for air. She squeezes her eyes shut, hoping that when she opens them, the Shadow will be gone.

Instead, when she opens her eyes, she’s somewhere else entirely. She doesn’t know where until she looks out the window and sees the De Luca home across the street.

Penny is inside Meredith House.

Penny has never been inside Corey’s house, and for a moment, she stares at the elaborate front room. Most homes would have their living room here, but the Barrions have a library. The floor is pale, gleaming wood, and the bookshelves are painted peacock blue. There’s art on mismatched pedestals, and worn armchairs, and more books than would fit inside Penny’s entire house.

Penny isn’t alone. There’s a man. He’s sitting at a desk, writing something in a notebook.

Penny recognizes him from the photograph: It’s a young Charles Barrion.

Penny backs up against the wall, but he doesn’t react. Can he see her? He only looks up when there’s an agitated knock at the door.

“Come in,” he calls, but the door has already swung open, and Giovanni De Luca storms inside.

“Close it behind you,” Charles says.

Giovanni stops in his tracks. Each of his limbs is vibrating, like he’s about to throw himself across the room and tear Charles into pieces. Instead, he turns around and slams the door shut.

“Thank you,” Charles says, entirely unruffled.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Giovanni growls.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“My wife is pregnant. Do you know what your visit did to her? She was a wreck when I got home.”

“All I wanted was to speak to you,” Charles says.

“And when she told you I wasn’t home, you threatened her.”

“I told her that it would be in her best interest to let me see you as soon as possible. You can’t blame me for thinking she was hiding you away. I know you’d rather avoid me.”

In response, Giovanni spits on the library floor.

Charles doesn’t seem bothered. He leans forward, steepling his fingers and staring at Giovanni intently. “I need your help.”

Giovanni seems caught off-guard. For a second, he forgets to look angry. “Has hell frozen over?”

“I’m not too proud to ask for it, even after everything we’ve been through.”

Giovanni’s frown deepens, but he doesn’t leave. There’s an uncertainty in his eyes. Almost a curiosity. “What kind of help?”

Charles’s smile fades. “With the company.”

“Barrion Heating and Cooling?” Giovanni laughs. “Sorry, Chuck, I don’t have a college degree.”

“The company is failing, Gio. We just closed the worst year in our financial history, and if we have another one like this, I’ll be forced to shut it down.”

“Tough,” Giovanni says, and he turns to leave.

“You’ll want to hear me out,” Charles says.

Giovanni laughs. “I’m confused, Chuck. Why do you think I’d ever agree to help you?”

“Because of our shared history,” Charles says, and it’s clear he’s not talking about the two of them. Their shared history is a person.

Giovanni glances at the framed photograph of Ellie Barrion above the fireplace. “What about her?”

“Your wife didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“You see, I had a hunch,” Charles says. “It’s odd that Ellie would’ve agreed to marry me so suddenly. I’d wanted her for years, so why did she choose that moment to say yes?”

Giovanni looks suddenly stricken.

“The way your relationship ended was so abrupt, it was like…” Charles pauses thoughtfully. “Like death. Like something significant between you had disappeared.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“A love spell.”

Charles’s words echo in the empty library.

“That’s what you used, wasn’t it?” Charles says. “Ellie never truly loved you at all.”

“You’re wrong,” Giovanni says, his voice cracking.

“Not according to your wife.” Charles smiles. “You don’t think she was so distraught over my visit, do you? She was upset because I guessed the truth, and she couldn’t hide it. I’m surprised you told her.”

“She deserved to know,” Giovanni says. “I’m not that man anymore. I’ve grown up.”

Charles smiles again. “But Ellie doesn’t know.”

Giovanni’s green eyes are wide. Then he’s laughing, hysterically, bent over and resting his hands on his knees, tears coming out of his eyes.

“Of course,” Giovanni says. “Of course . You’re blackmailing me.”

“I’m asking you to use your magic to help my company. We need everyone to gain confidence in us again.”

“You mean help you lie. Change the numbers people see in your financials. Make it so that people want to invest in Barrion Heating and Cooling.”

Charles raises his hands as if to say Yes, good job, you’ve got it.

“And if I don’t?” Giovanni says, even though it’s clear he already knows what will happen. He just wants Charles to say it out loud.

“I will share with Ellie that her entire youth was ruined by a selfish witch’s love spell,” Charles says.

“She’s with you now,” Giovanni says. “She won’t care.”

“Oh really?”

Giovanni can’t look at Charles. He stares at his own hands, as if wondering whether they’re really in his control.

Charles gets up from his desk, coming around to stand in front of Giovanni. “This would be a way to make it up to her. I know you want to see me suffer, but this isn’t about me. I want to take care of her, and our daughter.”

Gio’s smile is pained. “You really must be desperate, huh?”

“I want things to be okay between us,” Charles says.

He holds out a hand. And Penny feels Giovanni giving in.

“You promise you won’t tell her,” Gio says.

“I promise.”

They shake, but Gio doesn’t look Charles in the eyes. Then he turns around and opens the door to leave.

Ellie is on the other side. Behind her, the front door is open, and a purse hangs from her shoulder—the same purse Penny saw in her dream. The brown leather shoulder bag with painted flowers.

“Oh,” she says when she sees Giovanni, her face turning a warm red.

Giovanni pushes past her, and in a moment, the front door slams. Penny sees him running down the stairs and across the street to his home.

“Why was he here?” Ellie says, her voice shaking.

“Believe it or not,” Charles says, “we’ve reconciled.”

Ellie doesn’t react. Instead, she looks straight at Penny.

“You can hear me,” Ellie says. “Finally, someone can hear me.”

Penny gasps, choking on the words she wants to say, the warning she wants to scream at Ellie. But there’s a crackling sound behind her, and then Penny is hit by a wave of heat and ash that forces her to close her eyes. When she opens them again, the library is in flames.

Ellie is trapped under a beam in front of her.

“Help,” she says between coughs.

“Ellie!” Penny screams. Even though she knows this is the past, and there’s nothing she can do, she runs to the beam and tries to lift it. But it’s huge, and so heavy, and Penny is as inconsequential as a feather.

Ellie reaches for her, and Penny grabs her hand, which feels so real.

“Not me,” Ellie says. “Help them .”

“Who?” Penny says.

“Corey,” Ellie says. “Alonso. All of them.”

“I’m trying,” Penny says. “We’re going to do the curse-breaker spell. I’ll make sure nobody ever dies again, I swear. I know you’re trapped, but if we break the curse—”

“No,” Ellie says. “Tell them the truth. They don’t know—”

Ellie stops, choking on her words, and she’s suddenly enveloped in smoke. In an instant, she’s no longer Ellie.

She’s the Shadow.

Penny screams and tries to pull her hand away, but its grip tightens painfully. Penny yanks her wrist free, tumbling back.

The Shadow is gone. All that’s left is Ellie, lying motionless on the floor, eyes open and unseeing.

There’s a crack above them as another beam starts to fall, and Penny barely has enough time to throw her hands over her head before—

Penny gasps for breath, sitting up. There’s no fire. No body. Just some old holiday lights, and empty boxes, and the noise of a party downstairs.

She’s back in the old pharmacy.

She must’ve fainted. She looks all around her for the Shadow, but it’s gone. She’s alone.

“Penny?” someone calls from downstairs. It’s Alonso’s voice. “Penny, are you here?”

Penny presses a hand to her chest. Her heart is beating entirely too fast. She’s on the verge of a panic attack.

Then she sees the bruise on her wrist. As if another person had gripped it so tightly, it nearly fractured her bones.

The Shadow touched her. It hurt her.

If the Shadow really is made up of all the spirits killed by this curse, that would include Ellie Barrion. Was it really the Shadow who was visiting Penny? Or was Ellie communicating with her somehow?

Is that why Penny had to watch Ellie die?

That’s not all Ellie showed her. If what Penny saw was real, then Charles blackmailed Giovanni into using his magic to help Barrion Heating & Cooling make more money. And Ellie’s relationship with Giovanni was never real in the first place.

A love spell, blackmail—all this proves that Giovanni had even more reasons to do what he did. He forced a woman to love him against her will, and when she didn’t anymore, he…

He got married. He moved on. Why would Giovanni curse the Barrions years after he and Ellie broke up? Was it because of the blackmail?

“Penny!” Alonso calls again.

Penny curls her bruised hand into a fist, letting it throb. Her head is spinning with a million questions, but first, she needs to find Dylan and make sure she’s okay.

Then Penny will deal with Alonso.