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Then she got in the car and backed out of the driveway. Just like that… our son was gone.

Tears stung my eyes. That couldn’t be it, could it?

Lucas wrapped his arms around me and whispered, “We did the right thing.”

“I know, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” I replied bitterly.

“We’ll see him again,” Lucas said with a sniffle. He was sad, but I was pissed.

“We have to,” I insisted harshly. “I won’t let that be the last time we see our son. We’ve said goodbye for now, but it isn’t forever.”

“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “I know it feels like a bad thing right now, but we’re saving our son. I’m willing to take on all this pain for him so he can live, because I love him, and that’s what parents do. If I have to take on that pain for you, too, I’ll do it in a heartbeat. No matter what it takes, I’ll do anything to save our son and get him back, even if it kills me.”

It was an admiral stance to take, but one I couldn’t accept. I couldn’t lose my husband, too.

Lucas’s phone went off then, and he sighed heavily. “What now?”

He pulled out his phone, and I saw that it was his alarm for his weekly therapy session. He silenced the alarm and slipped it back in his pocket like it was nothing, then wrapped his arms around me again.

I shuddered under his touch. “You should go to your session.”

Lucas shook his head. “We don’t have the time. I mean, I saw Dr. Mack last night after I left the police station, and she said she was keeping her clinic operations going to help people who needed counseling through this time. She more or less said she hoped to see me at my session today, but I wasn’t counting on it. There’s too much work that needs to be done.”

“Lucas, we just gave our son away,” I insisted. “We can take one hour to process this. If there’s any time you need a therapist, it’s right now.”

Lucas pulled away from me, searching my eyes for answers. “Do you want to come with me?”

He’d misinterpreted that I was speaking about myself. Truth was, we both needed to give each other permission to process this, because we sure as hell weren’t getting anything done in the state we were in now. I loved Lucas and wanted him close to me, but at the same time, I needed to be completely alone now that we’d sent Marcus away. Last night, everyone was looking to me for answers I couldn’t give, and now, my son was gone. I just needed a moment to pull myself together.

“No. I think you should go alone,” I said.

“Nad, it’s a waste of time?—”

“Lucas, I need you to understand.” I grabbed him by the shirt desperately. If there was ever a time I needed him to hear me, it was now. “We both need to be in the right headspace to face this, because we can’t afford a mistake. I have lost my parents and my grandmother, everyone I ever loved before I knew you. You’re my family now—you and Marcus. We’ve already lost one son, and I won’t lose another family member. You talk to Dr. Mack and do whatever you have to do to get into the right frame of mind, because I won’t let you face the priestesses with the intent to die. You promise that you’ll stay alive, because I didn’t go through all of this just to lose you both. We will both be holding our son by the end of this, or so help me Goddess, I will hunt you down in the afterlife and drag you back here myself!”

Lucas trembled beneath my touch. I must’ve really scared him, but he composed himself and spoke gently. “All right. We’ll take one hour, and then we’ll reconvene and get back to work.”

Lucas left the house under my insistence. I was grateful to be alone so I could break down in private, but the seclusion didn’t give me the reprieve I’d hoped for. There were no sounds of my son’s coos coming from the next room, and that silence came with the appalling thought that I’d just said goodbye to my son for the last time. I said we’d get him back, but who knew if that were true? Lucas and I could promise each other to do everything in our power to make this right… but no one knew if our power was enough anymore.

I cried hot, angry tears until I couldn’t cry them any longer. I thought this time was different because Lucas and I were sending our son away willingly, as a means to protect him, but the loss was devastating all the same.

I went to the bedroom and sagged into the mattress beside Marcus’s bassinet. His swaddle from that morning was draped over the corner. I lifted it to my nose and inhaled the sweet scent of my child. I already missed him so much. I’d witnessed torture beyond what most people could ever comprehend, and none of that was as excruciating as this.

I gazed into the bassinet, and my eyes locked on one of Marcus’s pacifiers that had been left behind. That was my complete undoing.

“Gah!” An angry scream erupted from my lungs. I flung Marcus’s swaddle across the room and kicked his bassinet so hard it fell over. His pacifier bounced and rolled under the bed. Isa had been watching me curiously, and she jumped at my sudden outburst.

I couldn’t torture myself like this. I’d been here a million times before, and I had enough experience to know that wallowing in this sorrow wouldn’t get me anywhere. I could stew in this sadness and anger, or I could let it drive me.

I was Nadine Fucking Taylor. I wasn’t the kind of girl to just sit around and take this. No matter how bad it got, I kept on forging ahead. I’d been through hell and back, and I could do it again.

This time was different, because the person I loved was still alive to fight for. If we couldn’t find a weapon strong enough to defeat the priestesses for good this time, then my son wouldn’t have a family to come back to. I knew what it was like to lose your parents, and I wasn’t letting my son live through that. I’d been faced with death more times than I could count, and I wouldn’t allow two bitter old ladies with a thirst for power to do me in. I was going to find the Curse Breaker Wand and defeat the priestesses, if not for the coven, then for my son, because we would see him again. When he came back to the coven, he’d come back to safety, and nothing and no one would ever threaten his life again.

Isa followed me into the kitchen. I sat at the dining room table and began arranging my mother’s photographs in chronological order. To anyone else, they probably seemed like everyday pictures. There were photos of me as a child playing with my mom on the playground, and others of us traveling. To me, they meant everything because these photos and memories were all that was left of her life.

Isa jumped onto the table, and I stroked her fur. “I wish you remembered more from your past life. We’re out of time.”

I was glad Isa was here, but all she could provide was emotional support. She couldn’t tell us where to find more clues—or if there even were any. Even an intelligent cat like Isa couldn’t recall past life experiences. Everything my mom knew and remembered remained with a piece of her soul in the afterlife, and despite all our efforts, we couldn’t contact her.

Isa purred under my touch, then pawed lightly at the corner of one of the water-damaged photographs. I picked it up. I must’ve been only four years old in this picture, because my mom was carrying me on her hip. I had my face scrunched up in a funny way and my hand over my eyes to block out the sun, while my mom smiled brightly in front of a red carousel. I remembered that day, because I’d fallen down and skinned my knee on the driveway. To cheer me up, my parents took me to a carnival and bought me ice cream. It was one of my earliest memories.

It’d been so long ago that the memory was fading right along with the picture. My mother’s smile was only half visible, due to the other half of the photo being ruined. I flipped the picture over, but there wasn’t anything on the back.

“There’s got to be more to it,” I muttered.

The front door opened, and I recognized the sound of Chloe’s and Talia’s footsteps coming down the hall. The soft pad of their cats’ paws followed them.

“Do you really think it will work?” Talia asked Chloe in a hushed whisper.

“It has to,” Chloe replied. “We’re out of options.”

I turned as they entered the dining room. The girls stripped off their coats and purses and hung them over the backs of the chairs.

“What has to work?” I asked.

“This.” Chloe slapped a black draw-string bag onto the table in front of me. It made a thunking sound, like there were several heavy objects inside.

Talia pulled a leather-bound journal from under her arm and flipped it open to a marked page. “We found this hidden in the basement. It’s one of Priestess Lilian’s grimoires. There’s a spell inside that can help.”

She pointed to the top of the page, which read Thoughtography Potion . My brow furrowed as I opened the bag to find two crystals inside—a purple amethyst point and a rose quartz stone—along with various herbs.

I looked up at my friends standing on either side of me. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s a thoughtography spell!” Talia exclaimed. “We can use it to restore the ink on the photographs and see what’s beneath the water damage.”

“I know how thoughtography works,” I said. “I took a thoughtography class for my Cast diversity credit my second semester. But none of us have the power of thoughtography.”

“That’s what the crystals are for,” Chloe stated proudly.

I withdrew the crystals from the bag, and I noticed they both pulsed with magic. “Where did you get these?”

Chloe waved her hand. “Not important.”

They must’ve been out all night trying to find these ingredients for the spell, which meant procuring these items couldn’t have been easy. Something told me the girls had stolen them from somewhere, but I didn’t ask where.

“What’s important right now is doing this spell and finding out what else your mom left behind,” Chloe said.

“How are we possibly going to do this?” I asked. “None of us have any access to our magic.”

“You’re a Curse Breaker. You’ve got access to magic right here.” Chloe reached for my fingers and curled them around the crystals in my palm. “We’ve got the magic we need, and all you have to do is manipulate it to create the spell. You’ve used Alchemy crystals to brew potions a million times. You can do this one.”

I looked down at the spellbook. “How does it work?”

Talia plopped into the chair beside me. “This spell combines thoughtography magic with alchemy to briefly provide the person who drinks the potion with the powers of thoughtography. This rose quartz crystal is infused with thoughtography magic, and you can use the Alchemy magic in the other crystal to transform the power and make it your own. You took a thoughtography class. You know the technique.”

My heart lifted in the hope that we could actually pull this off. We didn’t actually know if these photographs contained any clues from my mother, but we’d be foolish not to try. “I’ll do my best,” I told them.

Chloe was already in the kitchen placing a cauldron on the stove. “Let’s get to work.”

The three of us gathered around the burner and began mixing the ingredients. Our cats jumped onto the counter to join us. Talia poured water into the cauldron, while Chloe sprinkled in the herbs. The cauldron began to bubble as I stirred it all together. In my other hand, I clutched the Alchemy and thoughtography crystals tightly. Magic began to swirl up my arm as I commanded the crystal energy to transfer into the potion. My knees nearly buckled in relief as the magic filled me up, because it’d been weeks since I’d been able to access magic properly. It felt so invigorating.

Dark blue magic sparked from my fingers and funneled into the mixture. The potion began to glow with tiny pinpricks of light, as if a thousand tiny stars were being lit inside the liquid.

Poof!

The potion gave off a purple puff of smoke, making the three of us jump. The crystals in my hand grew cold, and I knew I’d used up all the energy inside of them. I set them aside.

“We did it,” Talia said as she peered into the cauldron.

I leaned over to see the potion had turned black and inky. “Looks… tasty.”

Chloe turned off the burner, then pulled a cup from the cupboard. “Bottoms up, girl.”

I ladled the potion into the cup, though there wasn’t much there. It was only enough for one of us, and since I was the one who’d taken a thoughtography class and knew the technique, it was all mine.

“Cheers,” I said as I lifted the glass.

I threw my head back and drank the potion. It was thick going down, but it had a slight citrus taste that wasn’t all terrible. As the potion settled in my stomach, I could feel the magic tingling up my body, all the way from my toes to my head. As soon as it came, I could already feel it fading.

“We have to move quickly,” I instructed.

We hurried over to the table, and I sat next to the pile of photographs I’d left lying there. I laid the first damaged photo flat in front of me—the one of my mom holding me in front of the carousel. I closed my eyes, trying to recall everything Professor Clarke had taught me years ago. I set the intention to see into the past and bring forth what was lost. I pressed my hand to the photo paper, and as the magic tingled down my fingers, the ink began to form into clear images. The half of my mother’s face that had been water damaged became clear again, and her smile was as bright as I always remembered it. The smudge of the carousel horses was gone, and the picture appeared as if it had never been damaged in the first place.

“Any clues?” Chloe asked as she leaned closer.

I shook my head. “No, it’s just me and my mom—wait.”

I caught sight of something in the background. It was a green street sign that was barely legible behind the poles of the carousel. “There might be something here…”

I squinted my eyes, but I couldn’t read the tiny letters. Talia hurried over to the cupboard and returned with a glass that I used to magnify the words.

“Chamber Street,” I read off. My heart surged in excitement, because I knew we were finally on to something.

“There’s a Chamber Street on the other side of town,” Chloe said thoughtfully.

“You think it’s a clue?” Talia wondered. “It could be a coincidence.”

I reached for another damaged photo. “After my mom’s message in my birthday cards, I don’t believe anything here is a coincidence.”

“Does that mean she left the Curse Breaker Wand somewhere on Chamber Street?” Talia asked.

I shook my head. “It can’t be. She said she took the Wand out of Octavia Falls. But it’s got to be leading us there for a reason. There has to be more to it.”

I pressed my hand to the next photograph, one of me holding a kitten in our living room when I was a kid. The damaged ink formed a clear picture at my command. In the background, I noticed the scattered bits of a wooden number puzzle that I recalled from my childhood. All of the numbers were flipped over, except for a prominent red seven.

“It’s an address!” I realized. “My mom is leading us to an address. We have to hurry up, because the magic’s fading.”

Chloe shoved photographs at me, and I quickly worked the magic to restore them. Talia arranged the fresh photos, sorting them into a pile that contained any numbers or letters, and a pile that didn’t.

I held my breath as I felt the magic fade from me completely the moment I restored the last two photographs. In the last one, my mother was pushing me on a swing. My hair was blown back, and my features were frozen into a permanent smile. Behind me, my mother held up three fingers. It was such a strange gesture; I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before.

“I’ve got a three,” I said. “What else did you find, Tal?”

She laid out the picture of the carousel and the kitten, along with a photo of my dad and me standing in front of one of his collector cars. We stood blocking most of the license plate, but the last number peeked out from behind my leg.

“I found an eight in this photo,” Talia said. “Which gives us seven, eight, and three.”

Chloe stared down at the photos. “Nadine was right. It’s an address. But how do we know which order the numbers go in?”

“I’m not sure.” Talia tapped her chin. “We could start knocking on doors and try all combinations.”

As my eyes roamed over the photos, the answer became immediately clear. “It goes in chronological order. I look roughly the same age in all these photographs, but I’m not. I remember this carnival picture was taken at the end of the summer, but this photo of me with the cat was earlier that year in January, right after Christmas.”

I picked up the photo of me standing beside my father, searching for clues as to when that took place. The image with the car and the one with the swing could’ve both been taken in the summer, but I didn’t know which came first. Then I noticed I was wearing different sneakers in each photograph.

I pointed to the photo with my father. “I remember getting these shoes right before I started school, because I was so excited that they lit up. I wore them all the time. The photo with my dad must come after the swing photo, because I’m not wearing these shoes on the swing. I must’ve not had them yet. No one else would know these little details, but this message is for me , so it has to go in the order I remember.”

I arranged the photographs, revealing the clues in order: 738 Chamber Street.

Chloe grabbed her coat. “Looks like we have a lead! Let’s go.”

We hurried to Chloe’s car, and she floored the gas. Talia hadn’t buckled in yet and fell across the back seat. “Goddess, Chloe, slow down.”

Chloe shrugged. “My husband is the sheriff. I’m not going to get a speeding ticket .”

Talia straightened herself up. “Just try not to kill us, okay? Your grandmother’s trying hard enough.”

“You’re safe with me,” Chloe promised. “And if my grandma wants to show her face around here, I’ll kick her ass—Oaken Wands or not.”

A few minutes later, we pulled up in front of an old Victorian house at 738 Chamber Street. The lawn was overgrown, and there was no vehicle in the driveway. I wasn’t sure anyone lived here.

Talia eyed the house warily as we stepped out of the car. “Are we sure this is the right place?”

Chloe didn’t miss a beat as she started up the walkway. “I guess we’re going to find out.”

“What are you going to do, just knock on the door?” Talia hissed as she followed.

“It’s only polite to check if someone’s home first,” Chloe said.

The street appeared eerily quiet as we approached the house. We climbed the stairs to a large wraparound porch. Instead of a turret, the house had a gazebo attached to the corner of the porch. Inside the gazebo sat a small table surrounded by metal chairs with intricate floral designs. I knocked on the door, but no answer came.

I turned to Chloe. “Think your husband will let you off on breaking and entering charges, too?”

“He’s going to have to, because we have to find out what clue your mom left behind here.” Chloe leaned down to inspect the door handle. “You know how to pick locks, right?”

Before I could answer, the door swung open. Chloe jumped back, straightening her spine. An elderly woman stood in front of us, and though I’d never seen her before, she appeared to recognize me.

She held her chin high, almost regally, as her gaze traveled over me. “I’ve been waiting for you for quite some time. Your mother didn’t believe you’d come.”

“You… knew my mom?” I asked warily.

The woman nodded. “Yes. I knew Faith for a brief time. You’re Nadine, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” I said. “These are my friends Chloe and Talia.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” she replied. “Please, come in.”

She opened the door wider, revealing a dark, ominous hallway beyond. The hair on the back of my neck stood, but while my body was screaming danger, my mind was totally at ease. I’d interpreted my mother’s message correctly, and I knew I’d ended up at the right place.

I went to take a step forward, but Chloe shoved her arm in front of me. “Hang on, Nadine.”

Chloe sniffed the woman—actually sniffed her, like a dog. “This is a trick. You’re a fae!”

“I knew something about this felt off,” Talia agreed. She scratched her arms, like she too felt her hair standing upright.

The old woman took a step back, as if to reassure us she wasn’t dangerous. Before our eyes, insect-like wings appeared to grow out of her back. At the same time, she pulled the collar of her shirt over her shoulder to reveal an eye tattoo identical to Talia’s.

“It’s true,” the woman said. “I am fae, but I’m also a Seer. I mean you no harm.”

I didn’t have to question it. I could feel the truth of her statement in my bones. My mother wouldn’t have led me here if it was going to get me hurt. “I believe her. We’ve encountered part fae, part witch allies before. Most of the coven’s magic is gone, but our protection spell around town hasn’t failed yet. She wouldn’t have been able to make it into Octavia Falls if she were our enemy.”

“If Nadine trusts you, then so do I,” Chloe said. “But I’m still not falling for any fae tricks. We aren’t coming inside.”

“I understand,” the woman replied kindly. “We can talk out here.”

The four of us gathered around the table in the gazebo. I knew fae maneuvered with grace, but this woman appeared very frail and moved slowly. She coughed a few times as she settled into her chair.

“How did you know my mom?” I asked once we were all seated.

“I was a fae professor who taught Enchanting at Arcanea University—Professor Calliope is my name,” she said. “I’ve lived most of my life in Malovia, but I spent some years on and off studying in Octavia Falls to learn more of my witch heritage. I met your mother during one of my sabbaticals here in the states.”

“You said you were a professor,” Chloe pointed out. “Not anymore?”

Calliope sighed. “I’m afraid things aren’t as they used to be in Malovia. The fae queen has been missing for a while now. No one knows where she is. The rival monarch is going to win the war, so I came to say goodbye. I had hoped to move to the Malovian countryside with my daughter after my retirement, to live out the rest of my days. I only have so many now.”

“What do you mean?” Chloe asked.

“A terrible illness, I’m afraid. There is no cure,” Calliope replied. “I am living on borrowed time. I wish to spend the rest of my life with my daughter, but I had to come here first. There’s still work to be done.”

“What kind of work?” Talia asked.

Although my best friend had asked the question, Calliope’s eyes fell on me. “Work with the Demigod Guardians, of course.”

A sharp inhale passed my lips. “You’re Professor Wykoff’s contact, aren’t you?”

Calliope nodded. “Yes. I sent her and your son off in a portal this morning.”

I was stunned, but Chloe spoke up before I could. “What are the Demigod Guardians?”

“They’re a group of people whose mission is to protect demigods. Professor Wykoff told me about them,” I explained, before turning back to Calliope. “If you wanted to help us, why didn’t you contact us?”

Calliope cocked an eyebrow. “Would you have trusted me?”

Not a bit. This woman was a fae, and while I liked to believe the best in people—and I knew we had allies throughout all supernatural societies—I’d have never handed my son off to a faerie who approached me. Professor Wykoff had warned us of people who would use our son’s demigod power for their own, much like the priestesses had done in forging the Master Wand. I wouldn’t have let a stranger get close enough to touch my son, let alone a fae known for their trickery.

“No, I wouldn’t have,” I told her honestly. “The only reason I’m trusting you now is because my mother left me a message. She wanted me to come find you.”

“I trusted she would do as I told her,” Calliope said with a fond smile. “I knew it would only work if you came to me yourself. You wouldn’t trust me otherwise. You and your son are the reason I came back to Octavia Falls now. I don’t have much time left, and you are one of the few visions I’ve had that has yet to be fulfilled.”

“What vision?” I asked. “What did you tell my mom to do?”

“While I was in Octavia Falls last time, I performed readings part-time. Your mother came to me to ask me about her future,” Calliope explained. “She had found an object of great power, though she never shared with me what it was. She wanted to know what to do with it. When I looked into the future, I saw that this object would one day end up in your hands some time after your mother had passed.”

“So, she knew she was going to die?” I asked.

“We all die eventually,” Calliope pointed out. “Your mother did not know she would die young. I’m sure she assumed this would all happen after she died of old age. I told your mother to hang on to the object, that one day, her daughter would need it, but that it had to be passed down at the right time. To ensure you’d find it, I instructed her to leave clues behind that only you could decipher. I told her which clues to use and where to place them. I gave her this address so that one day, you could find me.”

This had to be what my mom’s last thought meant. The coven’s in danger. Stay safe, Nadine. I love you. I’d never been able to figure out what danger she knew of, but if Calliope had told her I’d pursue the Curse Breaker Wand after her death, she must’ve known something bad was coming and that I’d be involved.

“Why couldn’t she just tell me this?” I wondered. “Why leave all these puzzles for me to solve?”

“In my visions, I could see that there were other people looking for this object. Knowing what I know now, I can only assume that refers to the Miriamic priestesses. I knew that if your mother handed it down to you too soon, the object would end up in the wrong hands,” Calliope said. “However, the vision I had so long ago is coming true now. Your time has come. You are free to pursue the object she kept for you.”

My eyebrows pinched together. “I don’t understand what good this vision is if I don’t know where to find it.”

“My dear, it’s as I said. Your mother kept this object with her at all times. Keep it in your stash , I told her. Your daughter will come for it when you’re dead .”

I gasped. It was the answer we’d been looking for all this time. “Her stash? I can access that even though she’s dead?”

I couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to me. The thought of the Curse Breaker Wand being in her stash even after her death seemed so outside of the realm of possibility that I hadn’t considered it.

Calliope wore a light smile. “Your mother asked the same question. Just trust me , I said. This is what you need to do. ”

“How do I access it?” I asked desperately. It wasn’t something my friends and I had ever done before.

“I can’t say for sure,” Calliope answered. “Usually, if a person dies with items in their stash, those things are forever lost. But I know from my visions that in this case, that is what needs to be done. I can’t say for sure if your mother followed those instructions to her dying day, but that is what I told her. My fae identity was discovered, and I was chased out of Octavia Falls soon after. I never spoke to her again.”

I stood quickly, ready to follow this clue through to the end. “Thank you very much, Professor Calliope. I don’t know how I’m going to get into my mom’s stash, but I’ll find a way.”

“My grandmother ordered the Executors to perform stash searches,” Chloe said. “I bet there’s a spell for it in the grimoire we found in her house.”

“We have to tell the guys,” Talia added urgently.

“We can’t thank you enough,” I told Professor Calliope. “If there’s anything we can do to return the favor, please let us know.”

Calliope grabbed my wrist, and desperation filled her eyes. “You see this through to the end, Nadine. I told you, I didn’t come back here for you. Demigods are being born in supernatural societies from all across the world, and my visions led me here. My work here with the Demigod Guardians is to confirm the presence of a demigod child, so that we may protect him. I am not here to interfere; it’s not his time yet. There are other young demigods like your son, and one day, they all will be important to the future of the world. The Demigod Guardians will do what we can to protect him in the meantime. There’s nothing you need to do now, except defeat the priestesses so your son has a coven to grow up in. We’ll reach out when the time is right.”

A shiver traveled down my spine. The last thing I wanted was some cryptic prophecy about my son, but she didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. Talia had similar visions earlier this year at our baby shower. There was no denying that Marcus was destined for great things. As much as that scared me, it was more terrifying to think he may never get a chance to fulfill his destiny if I failed. He wouldn’t be raised under the priestesses’ tyranny.

It was time to finish this once and for all.