Beautiful Redemption (35 page)

Caster Catfight

I
opened the front door, and the air inside the house seemed to move. No—it was moving. Hundreds of butterflies fluttered through the air while others rested on the delicate antique furniture Uncle Macon had spent years collecting.

Butterflies.

What was I doing to Ravenwood?

A tiny green butterfly with streaks of gold across its wings landed on the bottom of the banister.

“Macon?” Gramma’s voice called from the second floor. “Is that you?”

“No, Gramma. It’s me. Lena.”

She swept down the stairs in a high-neck white blouse, her
hair gathered neatly in a bun and her lace-up boots peeking out from under her long skirt. Against the perfectly restored flying staircase, she looked like a Southern belle right out of an old movie.

She glanced at the butterflies flitting around the room and gave me a hug. “I’m so glad to see you’re in a good mood.”

Gramma knew Ravenwood’s interior constantly changed to mirror my moods. To her, a room full of butterflies meant happiness. But for me, it meant something entirely different—something I had been clinging to tightly.

Hope, borne on green and gold wings. Dark and Light, like I had become the night of my Claiming.

I touched the wire Christmas tree star on my charm necklace. I had to focus. Everything had come down to this. Ethan was out there somewhere, and there was a chance we could bring him home. I just had to convince my family to lend their powers to us.

“Gramma, I need your help with something.”

“Of course, sweetheart.”

She wouldn’t be saying that if she knew what I was about to tell her. “What if I told you I found
The Book of Moons
?”

Gramma froze. “Why would you ask me something like that, Lena? Do you know where it is?”

I nodded.

She gathered her skirt, rushing toward the stairs. “We have to tell Macon. The sooner we get that book back to the
Lunae Libri
, the better.”

“We can’t.”

Gramma turned around slowly, her eyes looking right through me. “Start explaining, young lady. And you can start by telling me how you found
The Book of Moons
.”

Ridley stepped out from behind a marble column. “I helped her.”

For one long moment, I held my breath, until it became clear Ravenwood wasn’t about to fall to the ground.

“How did you get in here?” Gramma’s voice was as controlled as Ridley’s, maybe more. She’d been around a long time, and it would take more than my Dark-again cousin to throw her.

“Lena let me in.”

There was a flicker of disappointment in my grandmother’s eyes. “I see you’re wearing your sunglasses again.”

“It was kind of a self-preservation thing.” Ridley bit her lip nervously. “The world’s a dangerous place.”

It was something my grandmother said to us all the time when we were kids—particularly to Ridley. I remembered something else she said, something that might delay the confession of the Abraham story long enough for me to get the Book to Ethan.

“Gramma, do you remember the deal you made with Ridley the first time she went to a party?”

She looked at me blankly. “I’m not sure I do.”

“You told her not to get in a car with anyone who had been drinking.”

“Certainly good advice, but I’m not sure how it relates to this situation.”

“You told Rid that if she called and said her ride was drinking, you would send someone to pick her up, no questions asked.” I saw a hint of recognition pass across her face. “You said she wouldn’t get in trouble, no matter where she was or what she did.”

Ridley leaned against the column awkwardly. “Yeah. It was like a Get Out of Jail Free card. I definitely needed one of those recently.”

“Is this conversation going to explain why you two are in possession of the most dangerous book in the Caster or Mortal world?” Gramma looked skeptically from my cousin to me.

“I’m calling to tell you my ride has been drinking,” I blurted out.

“Pardon me?”

“I need you to trust me and do something without asking any questions. Something for Ethan.”

“Lena, Ethan is—”

I held up my hand. “Don’t say it. We both know people can communicate from the other side. Ethan sent me a message. And I need your help.”

“She’s telling the truth. At least she thinks she is, for what it’s worth.” Reece was standing in the darkened doorway to the dining room. I hadn’t even seen her, but she had obviously seen me. It only took a Sybil one look at your face to read it,
and Reece was among the best. Finally, it was working to my advantage.

“Even if you are telling the truth, you are asking for more than just a little faith. And no matter how much I love you, I can’t help you use—”

“We aren’t trying to use
The Book of Moons
.” I wondered if she would believe me. “We’re trying to send it to Ethan.”

The room was silent, and I waited for her to say something. “What would lead you to believe that’s possible?”

I explained the messages Ethan had been leaving in the crosswords, but I left out the part about how we actually got our hands on
The Book of Moons
, invoking the “my ride is drunk” clause. I wouldn’t get away with it forever. Eventually, Gramma would insist on an explanation. But I didn’t need forever—just tonight. After we sent the Book to Ethan, Gramma could interrogate me all she wanted.

Besides, Uncle M already had first dibs on the grounding.

She listened carefully, sipping from a black porcelain teacup that appeared in her hand, compliments of Kitchen. She didn’t offer a single word, and she didn’t look away from me as I spoke.

Finally, the cup found its way back into the saucer, and I knew she had made a decision. My grandmother drew a deep breath. “If Ethan needs our assistance, we have no choice but to give it to him. After what he sacrificed for us all, it’s the least we can do.”

“Gramma!” Reece threw up her hands. “Listen to yourself!”

“How can she, when you’re yelling?” Ridley snapped.

Reece ignored her. “You’re really going to send the most powerful book in the Caster universe into the Otherworld, with no way of knowing who’ll be on the other end?”

Rid shrugged. “At least you won’t be there.”

Reece looked like she wanted to stab Ridley with garden shears of her own.

“Ethan will be there,” I argued.

Gramma hesitated, a new thought shaking her resolve. “It’s not as if we are shipping a package, Lena. What if the Book doesn’t end up where we intend?”

Reece looked satisfied. Ridley looked like now she was the one thinking about garden shears.

“Amma’s going to call the Greats.”

Gramma finished her tea, and the cup vanished. “Well, if Amarie is involved, I’m sure she has a plan. I’ll get my coat.”

“Wait.” I looked over at Reece. “We need everyone to come. Amma says we won’t have enough power unless we do this together.”

Reece looked at Uncle Macon, who had sidled into the room at the first sign of the Caster family fighting. “Are you going to let her do this?”

He chose his words carefully. “On the one hand, I think this is a very bad idea.”

“There.” Reece smiled.

“What?” Losing my uncle’s support was the one thing I had been afraid of when Amma sent me for reinforcements.

“Let him finish, girls.” Gramma raised her voice.

“But,” Uncle M continued, “we owe Ethan a debt we will never be able to properly repay. I watched him give his life for us, and I don’t take that lightly.”

I exhaled.
Thank goodness.

“Uncle Macon—” Reece started.

He silenced her with a gesture. “This isn’t up for discussion. If it weren’t for Ethan, you could be powerless right now—or worse. The Order was broken, and we were only beginning to see the effects. Things were headed in a very grave direction indeed. I promise you that.”

“I don’t know why we’re still talking about it, then.” Gramma gathered her skirt and ascended the stairs. “I’ll get Del, Barclay, and Ryan.”

Ridley swallowed hard at the sound of her mother’s name. Aunt Del was always heartsick when Ridley disappeared, and she had no idea her daughter was back. Or that she had returned as a Dark Caster.

I remembered how happy Aunt Del looked when Ridley lost her powers last summer. Being a Mortal was better than being Dark, especially in this family.

Reece turned to face her sister. “You shouldn’t be here. Haven’t you put everyone through enough pain?”

Ridley stiffened. “I thought you deserved a little more, Sis. Wouldn’t want to leave you hanging. I mean, seeing how
you’ve always been there for me.” She said it sarcastically, but I could hear the pain. Ridley only pretended she didn’t have a heart.

I heard voices, and Aunt Del appeared at the top of the staircase. Uncle Barclay’s arm was wrapped tightly around her. I wasn’t sure if she’d overheard us or if Gramma told her about Ridley. But I could tell by the way Aunt Del was wringing her hands that she already knew the truth.

Uncle Barclay led her down the stairs, his tall frame looming over her. His salt-and-pepper hair was combed neatly, and for once he looked like he belonged in the same era as the rest of us. Ryan trailed behind them, her long blond hair swinging in a ponytail.

When Ryan and Ridley were standing in the same room, it was impossible to ignore how much they resembled each other. In the last six months, Ryan had come to look more like a teenager than a little girl, even though she was only twelve.

Aunt Del smiled at Rid weakly. “I’m glad you’re all right. I was so worried.”

Ridley bit her lip and teetered on her stacked heels. “I’m sorry, you know. I couldn’t exactly call.”

“Abraham had Rid locked up.” I blurted it out before I could stop myself. Ridley was guilty of lots of things, but it was hard to watch them judge her for something that was out of her control.

Aunt Del’s face crumpled—everyone’s did, except for
Reece’s. She positioned herself protectively between her mother and her Dark sister.

“Is that true?” Uncle Barclay sounded genuinely concerned.

Ridley twisted a pink strand between her fingers nervously. “Yeah. He was a real prince.” She Kelted to me desperately.
Don’t tell them, Cuz. Not now.
“I’m fine,” Ridley went on, waving off her father’s concern. “Let’s worry about Ethan. No one wants to hear about me and the Big Bad Wolf.”

Ryan stepped closer to Ridley tentatively. “I do,” she said quietly.

Rid didn’t respond. Instead, she held out her empty hand.

I waited for a mouse or a lollipop to appear in her palm, some cheap trick to distract her sister from what she was now. But her hand stayed empty.

Ryan smiled and reached out her own hand, closing it around Ridley’s.

I heard Aunt Del’s breath catch, or maybe it was mine.

“If Lena trusts you, so do I,” Ryan said. She looked at Reece. “Sisters should trust each other.”

Reece didn’t move, but I didn’t need to be a Sybil to read her face.

Tiny cracks were already forming in the tough exterior Reece worked so hard to maintain. They were hard to see, but they were there. The beginning of something—tears, forgiveness, regret—I couldn’t be sure.

It reminded me of something Marian told Ethan before everything happened. It was one of her famous quotes, by a
guy named Leonard Cohen: “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”

That’s what I thought of when I saw Reece’s face.

The light was finally getting in.

“Lena, are you all right?” Uncle Barclay glanced at the ceiling. The crystal chandelier was swinging dangerously above us.

I took a deep breath, and it stopped immediately.
Get control of yourself.

“I’m fine,” I lied.

I composed the words in my head, even if I wouldn’t let my pen write them.

bent

like the branches of a tree

broken

like the pieces of my heart

cracked

like the seventeenth moon

shattered

like the glass in the window

the day we met

I closed my eyes, trying to silence the words that wouldn’t stop coming.

No.

I ignored them, forcing them out of my mind. I wasn’t Kelting
them to Uncle Macon, and I wasn’t writing a word until Ethan came back.

Not a single word.

“Amarie is expecting us. We should go.” Uncle Macon slipped on his black cashmere coat. “She is not a woman who appreciates being kept waiting.”

Boo lumbered behind him, his thick fur blending seamlessly into the darkness of the room.

Ridley opened the door, fleeing as fast as she could. She unwrapped a red lollipop before she even made it down the steps of the veranda. She hesitated for a second near the flower bed before pocketing the wrapper.

Maybe people could change—even the ones who made the wrong choices, if they tried hard enough to make them right. I wasn’t sure, but I hoped so. I had made enough bad choices myself in the last year.

I walked toward the only one that had been right.

The only one that mattered.

Ethan.

I’m coming.

CHAPTER 29