Page 7

Corey

COREY BLOWS ON THE WHISTLE. “TIME’S UP! BLUE TEAM WINS!”

The kids erupt with cheers and angry screams, but nobody cries today, which is progress. Corey adjusts his baseball cap, squinting against the bright green and blue of the hot summer day.

“I was about to do a score!” says Milo Park, clutching the kid-size football to his chest.

“That’s ‘make a touchdown,’ Milo.”

“Don’t be a sore loser,” says Jenny Toneppi, sticking out her tongue. Milo’s face grows red, but before he can say anything, Corey blows once on his whistle, making Jenny jump.

“What’s the most important quality in a winner?” Corey asks.

Jenny blushes. “Humblility.”

“I think you mean humility . But hey, apart from that, you did a good job this week. You’re a quarterback in the making.”

Jenny forgets her embarrassment and gasps. “Really?” Then she takes off like a shot, heading for someone behind Corey. “Did you hear that, Dad? I’m a quarterback in the making!”

Mr. Toneppi claps Corey on the shoulder as Jenny clings to his legs. “You’re doing a great job with these kids.”

Corey smiles. Beside him, the players sort their mesh jerseys into piles divided by color. “They’re good kids to begin with. Makes it easy.”

“We’re all hoping you’ll coach the high school team one day,” Mr. Toneppi says. “Not that you’ll have much time once you and your cousin take over your family’s company.”

Corey works to keep the smile on his face. Those comments shouldn’t bother him. He’s always known he would stay in Idlewood and work at his family’s company, but it’s annoying when other people point that out. They always say it like it’s a secret, as if Corey confided in them, when everyone in Idlewood already knows it.

Anybody else would be more than happy in Corey’s situation. He already has a high-paying job lined up after college, as a vice president at Barrion Heating instead, it stands on its own blurred limbs. It’s the shape of a human being, but it has no face.

And yet Corey feels it staring right at him.

Oh no. No, no, no—

“Hello?” Dylan’s voice breaks through his panic. “Are you listening?”

Corey can’t answer her. He’s already pulling out his phone and sending a text to the family chat.

Saw the Shadow. Coming home.

There’s a flurry of reactions and responses, but Corey can’t look at them. He nods at the road, where the Shadow has disappeared.

“I need to go,” he says. “There’s a family emergency.”

Dylan doesn’t move.

“Dylan, I need to go now .”

For a second, Corey is convinced she’s going to kick him out of her truck. But she pulls onto the road, not bothering to check if another car is coming.

Corey never uses the front door. After Dylan drops him off, he runs to the back door, which is closer to the detached garage. His family is probably gathered in the dining room, or in the kitchen.

But when he gets inside, there’s nobody around.

“Hello?” he calls.

No answer.

Corey runs through the house, past the dining room, the family room littered with books and magazines and PlayStation controllers, and the spotless formal living room. All empty.

“Dad?” he calls.

“In here,” comes his father’s voice.

When Corey reaches the library, he loses all momentum.

Corey’s dad stands in the middle of the room, his hands on his hips. Aunt Helen sits on the clean white love seat, her face buried in her hands, while Warren watches the scene with an impassive expression. Sofía sits at the desk with her hands pressed to her mouth. All her gala-planning binders are splayed in front of her, forgotten. Only Corey’s grandfather and Julian are missing.

The only person making a sound is Aunt Helen. She’s sobbing.

Corey doesn’t remember what Aunt Helen was like before Uncle Jason died, but Warren says she was a different woman. She had sharp eyes and a quick wit, and she laughed all the time. She worked long hours as the general counsel at Barrion Heating & Cooling. But after the curse took her husband’s life, she quit her job. From then on, she barely left the house.

Lately, Helen has been coming back to herself. There’s been more color in her cheeks, and she’s spending time in town. Corey hadn’t wondered if there was a reason for that, but now it’s obvious: She’s in love again. And it’s all gone wrong.

Sofía notices Corey first, and she stands. “You saw the Shadow?”

“Yeah. Near Main Street.”

“Me too,” Sofía says. “In the bottom of the pool. It was staring up at me, like…”

“Like nothing,” James says. “Don’t think of it as sentient—it’s an omen.”

And that’s true, as far as they know. Every time the curse strikes, the Shadow appears to those who have lost or are about to lose a loved one. Corey hasn’t seen it in years. Ten years, to be precise. Right before his mom died.

Corey takes a tentative step toward Aunt Helen. “Who is it?”

“Your aunt needs a moment, Corey,” his dad says, an edge to his voice.

Corey’s hands become fists, but he doesn’t respond. He knows better than to talk back to his dad in front of the entire family.

On the left-hand wall, a picture hangs above the mantel. It’s a studio portrait of Corey and his parents. His dad is younger, his hair fully blond and his smile bigger than it’s been in years. Corey sits in the middle, mid-laugh. And then there is Corey’s mother, Tanya Otou-Barrion. Her sleek braids are over her shoulders and her brown skin is glowing. Around her neck hangs the ward—an unassuming necklace that has become their family’s most treasured possession.

The ward only came into their family twenty years ago—a result of decades of desperation. A curse can only be broken by the witch who created it, so the Barrions’ single chance at saving their loved ones died with Giovanni De Luca. But that didn’t stop Corey’s family from looking for ways to protect their own. Finally, after meeting Corey’s mom, James managed to track down a powerful witch coven that agreed to help them. But the only help they could give was in the form of a ward—a magical amulet that would hold off the curse’s dark magic for as long as possible. Because of it, Corey’s mom lived for ten years after she and James fell in love. Without it, she would’ve been dead in months.

In the end, the ward still couldn’t save her or anybody else. Sometimes it caused even more pain, because who got to wear it? For how long? Corey’s parents kept the ward while Sofía’s husband and Uncle Jason died. Nobody will ever say it to his face, but Corey knows Sofía and Helen resent Corey’s dad for that.

“Did you use the ward?” Corey asks.

Aunt Helen looks at him, her eyes hollow. “Of course we did.”

“Then they should be fine, right?” Corey says, looking to his dad. “It keeps people safe for years.”

A new voice joins them. “Only if it’s worn all day, every day. Magic has demands that must be met. You know that, Corey.”

Corey straightens up as Grandpa Charles walks into the room, his cane tapping solidly against the floor. Julian is behind him, his eyes bloodshot and his mouth set in a thin line.

“So here we find ourselves again,” Charles Barrion says, looking from James to Helen. “I thought we learned our lesson.”

A muscle in Julian’s jaw tenses, and Corey moves to stand beside him. He knows better than to touch his cousin, who doesn’t do well with unexpected physical contact, but proximity will help. Sure enough, Julian glances at Corey, and his shoulders droop slightly as if in relief.

But it’s short-lived.

“So,” Grandpa Charles says, turning back to Aunt Helen, “who is she, darling?”

“She?” Corey looks at his dad. James gives a single nod. Corey runs through Helen’s friends in his head, wondering who it could be, but she doesn’t have many people in her life. None of the Barrions do. Intergenerational trauma will do that to people.

A strangled noise comes from Aunt Helen’s throat. “I stayed with her. I put the necklace back on, I called the ambulance, we went to the hospital, and… and I just wanted…”

Julian shifts, like a tree in sixty-mile winds, and the force of his words is explosive.

“That’s the problem, isn’t it, Mom? You wanted something you couldn’t have.” His face twists into a sneer. “Dad is dead because of you. But that wasn’t enough of a lesson, was it?”

Each word is an arrow that meets its mark. And Aunt Helen crumples.

Corey gapes at Julian, even as some distant, bitter part of himself nods along in agreement. Aunt Helen knew what would happen by getting close to someone, and she could’ve stopped it. She could’ve continued living her life in Meredith House, keeping the world at a distance. When they were young, Julian and Corey promised each other they would never let the curse kill anyone. They would never fall in love. And here was Aunt Helen, who had done it twice. Two people dead because of her selfishness.

But this isn’t some evil, vengeful stranger. This is Corey’s aunt, and she doesn’t deserve Corey’s anger. There’s no way she wanted any of this to happen.

Julian seems to realize this at the same time, because at the sight of his mom crying, his anger turns to shame. “Mom, I’m sorry—”

“Enough!”

The word reverberates throughout the room, leaving silence in its wake. Grandpa Charles is staring daggers at Julian, his pale face red with anger.

“Is this what your mother needs to hear right now?” Grandpa Charles says. “You would do well to follow Corey’s lead. He knows when his voice is not welcome.”

Corey bites his lip to keep from reacting. This is how his grandfather talks. It isn’t personal. And there’s no point arguing with him, especially now, when the curse has reappeared.

The whites of Julian’s eyes are practically glowing. His hands tremble, and he once again pulls his arms behind his back. “S-sorry, sir.”

Their grandpa’s face settles into a tense smile. “Since you’re so emotional, why don’t you take some time alone?”

Julian flinches. “But—”

“Corey will fill you in once you’ve collected yourself.”

Corey hears the double meaning as clearly as if Grandpa Charles had said it out loud: You can’t handle this. But Corey can.

Except that’s not true. Corey is just better at faking it.

Julian takes a long moment to leave. He meets Corey’s eyes, and there’s a mix of regret and devastation in his gaze. Then he walks out.

Corey wants to run after him, to say that he feels Julian’s embarrassment as if it’s his own. But that will make it worse. So Corey sits next to Aunt Helen and wraps an arm around her shoulders as her words are lost to sobs. He wants to burn the whole world down, much like Giovanni De Luca’s curse set fire to Meredith House years ago, killing Ellie Barrion.

Grandpa Charles looks out the window. Across the street, the De Luca house looms, hungry and dark. Is he thinking of Corey’s grandmother? Does he miss her more when the curse returns, or is it a constant ache?

Corey will never know that pain. He can promise himself that much.

“Aunt Helen,” Corey says, “you have to tell us who it is.”