Page 70

Penny

THEY’RE BACK IN THE EMPTY FOOTBALL FIELD ACROSS THE VEIL. Penny is still pressing the ward to the Shadow’s chest, but she’s shaking. She feels tears rolling down her cheeks.

“That’s it,” Penny says. “All of this death so some selfish old man can be rich.”

Ellie watches her with sad eyes, because what else is there to say? Ellie was married to Charles Barrion, and now she’s spending eternity in service of a bargain that has taken so many lives—which makes another question burn bright in Penny’s mind.

“Why are you showing me all of this now ?” Penny asks. “Why didn’t you show Corey’s mom, or his uncle, or anybody else?”

Ellie gives her a haunted smile. “In the Second World, there are poltergeists. They can’t move on, and so they gain strength, but they lose their humanity. I always wondered if the same would be true for me—would I one day stop feeling everything except anger? And that led me to wonder… could I get stronger? Could I defy the terms of this bargain and somehow reveal the truth?

“As the years went on, I did feel stronger. I managed to reach Tanya in her dreams, but I couldn’t do it again, so she never learned the truth until it was too late. But I didn’t give up. I could feel my humanity fading, and I knew I would only have one more chance. I saved my strength until I knew I would be able to visit the Primary World multiple times. When your mother became involved, I knew it had to be you.”

“But why me?” Penny nearly screams. “Why not Corey or Alonso? They want this to end as much as I do!”

“You’re an outsider to these families, like I was. I didn’t want you caught in the middle, unable to see the Barrions and the De Lucas for what they really are. For how dangerous they can be.” She leans closer, grabbing Penny’s hand tightly with her shadowed limb. “Learn from this, Penny Emberly. Stay far away from Alonso and Corey.”

Penny’s heart drops. It’s like what her mom told her that day at the cemetery—but now it’s too late. Penny is already part of their story, whether she wants to be or not.

And she wants to be.

Ellie’s face changes again. Tanya Barrion watches Penny with a warmth that so reminds her of Corey, she aches.

“I’ll find a way to stop the bargain,” Penny says. “I promise.”

“That will be a challenge,” Mrs. Barrion says. “Bargains can’t be broken, except by another bargain. An equal sacrifice.”

“An equal sacrifice…” Penny says, and then it clicks. “Somebody else would have to die.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Barrion says.

Penny swallows. “Could I end this right now?”

A hand grasps her shoulder. Anita is beside her, eyes wide. “I would never allow it.”

“It can’t be you, Penny,” Mrs. Barrion says. “It needs to be a Barrion. They need to find a witch who will help them make a new bargain, and they must choose a sacrifice.”

“But the point is to make sure nobody else dies,” Penny says.

Mrs. Barrion just watches her. Panic grows in Penny’s chest, threatening to steal her focus. She doesn’t want anyone else to die, but she has to solve that problem later. First, she has to get out of the Second World.

“You have to let my mom come back with me,” Penny says. “Please.”

Corey’s mom blinks, as if dazed, and then her face is swallowed and replaced by Ellie’s again. She reaches out, and a bloody ribbon appears in her hand. It’s the tie between the Shadow—the bargain—and Anita. The Shadow’s chest shimmers, and within it, there’s a huge, bloodied heart. It beats slowly, painfully.

As Penny watches, the ribbon grows shorter and shorter, reeling her mom in.

Penny gasps, instinctively reaching for her mom. Except she isn’t thinking about the ward.

The second Penny drops her hand, the softness in Ellie’s face disappears. She becomes all hard edges and gritted teeth.

“Ellie, hang on!” Penny says, but Ellie is already changing. Burns appear on her cheeks, and her eyes go white.

Her strength is gone. Ellie is losing herself to the Shadow—and to the Second World.

“When you die,” Ellie says, her voice raspy now, “it will be your own fault. I warned you, foolish girl.”

Her face disappears completely, layering under the faces of Tanya Barrion and Jason Chaudhary and so many others, until they’re all buried beneath featureless darkness.

And the Shadow attacks.

Dark nails grow from its hand and it swipes at Penny, its movements fast and fluid. She stumbles back, but the Shadow’s nails catch her thigh, and she starts to bleed.

Penny gasps, because blood isn’t just leaving her. Something in this world is finding its way in. There’s a buzzing in Penny’s veins and she feels lightheaded.

“Run, Mom!” Penny manages to say as she scrambles backward.

“I can’t.” Anita’s voice is soft. Distant.

The Shadow has forgotten Anita for now. Instead, it’s fixated on Penny. It pursues her, climbing the steps as Penny runs up and up and up. The bleachers stretch farther and farther, and Penny can always see the top, but she never reaches it.

They could keep going like this forever.

Something glints in the corner of Penny’s eye. There’s the bloody ribbon, connecting the Shadow to Penny’s mom far below.

Penny stops, and the Shadow stops, too, flexing its claws.

She feints to the right. The Shadow follows Penny’s movement, lashing out—and its nails catch the ribbon, cutting it down the middle as Penny dodges.

The Shadow lets out a deep reverberation that sounds almost like a scream. Anita sucks in a breath, the sound echoing throughout the football stadium.

She’s free , Penny thinks, but the celebration is short-lived. They won’t be safe until they’re out of the Second World. She leaps down the bleachers and grabs her mom’s arm, and then they’re running toward the horizon.

They seem to run forever. They’re passing through a twisted Idlewood, all the buildings mere shells, full of shadows. Ghosts.

“Penny,” her mom says, looking behind them.

A few of the ghosts have broken off. They’re pursuing Penny and Anita, limbs elongating as they reach for them. Penny glimpses their eyes—pure white like Ellie’s.

Poltergeists.

Penny holds out the vial of honey, and the poltergeists fall behind. Even from a distance, their strange eyes are bright. Hungry.

They keep running, Penny’s leg throbbing the entire time, her blood floating into the sky. Just when Penny is convinced that they’ll never reach the horizon, they do. It glitters with dust and diamonds and fog, and there’s no seeing beyond it, but it’s where Penny’s lifeline leads.

They have to jump.

No , whispers a voice that sounds like a hundred voices. Not that easy.

The Shadow is suddenly right behind them. It reaches for her, ensnaring Penny’s ankles. She begins to fall and in that second, she has one choice. Her mom is already turning around, her mouth open in a half scream, ready to fight the Shadow to save her daughter.

But Penny has come too far to lose her mom. All of this can’t be for nothing.

Penny reaches out and pushes Anita with both hands, sending her over the glittering edge of the Second World.

The Shadow lets out an inaudible cry, sucking up all the noise around them. The edges of Penny’s mind go fuzzy, but she’s conscious enough to recognize that the Shadow is distracted. She kicks out, and the Shadow’s grip loosens enough that Penny can throw herself over the edge.

The blue light disappears. The Shadow reaches for Penny and her mom, spindly arms growing faster than they’re falling. They’re so close to the Veil, so close to making it out alive—

And then the Shadow grabs Anita, and before Penny can do anything, the scene disappears before her eyes.