by Amy Boyles
I shook off a shiver that raced down my spine. “Let’s get this over with.”
“I hope Flower shows up someplace soon.” Amelia tugged at her wispy-stranded hair. “I just want this over with.”
“I know.” Cordelia set off down the path. “Let’s just hope the Blustery Bluffs aren’t as bad as they used to be.”
That did not sound good. “What do you mean?”
“Last time we were here, Cordelia and I just about got blown off the bluffs,” Amelia explained.
“So they’re pretty windy,” I said, already hating this assignment.
Amelia nodded knowingly. “Definitely.”
I tucked in my shirt and readied for the bluffs.
“Doesn’t something about this whole thing seem strange to you,” I said.
“All of it does, actually,” Cordelia said.
“Why would Flower need us to recite the incantation?” I asked. “Why couldn’t she just do it herself? Why have we been dragged into this whole thing to begin with?”
Cordelia thought about it for a moment. “Maybe it has to do with the sort of magic that the blight possessed. Maybe you have to be human to summon from the book.”
Amelia pulled a bag of nuts from her backpack and popped a few in her mouth. “I bet that’s it. It makes sense that the incantation can only be worked by someone who’s human.”
“Yet they need Flower to call off Erebus,” I pointed out.
“Everything we’ve tried hasn’t worked. We got him back into the book but he jumped back out but now we’ll use Flower to capture him? How?”
Amelia took this one. “Maybe Flower can be coerced into calling off Erebus?”
Cordelia shook her head. “No. If they can send the blight back to where she came from, she’ll vanish and Erebus will disappear. It’s as simple as that.”
“But if Snow couldn’t figure out a way to send the blight back, what makes us think we can?” I pointed out.
“Have you thought that maybe Snow didn’t try?” Amelia said.
I grimaced. “That’s not the sense I got. Not from her journal. In her journal it seemed like Snow tried to send it back but couldn’t.”
Cordelia check her map and then continued walking. “Heck, maybe she asked Forbes for advice and he told her the wrong thing on purpose because he hated her.”
I paused. “Do you think Forbes would do that?”
Cordelia shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it past him. It’s not as if Forbes is the most decent guy on the block.”
“But what would he have to gain?” Amelia said.
“Ah, there’s the real question,” Cordelia posed. “What would Forbes have to gain by not telling Snow the truth?”
I shook my head. “There just wasn’t anything in her journals about that.”
Cordelia opened her palm, and a ball of light appeared there. “What if she didn’t put it down for whatever reason?”
Amelia chewed on some invisible substance as she appeared to ponder that thought. “What if it’s more than that? What if Forbes is responsible for the blight? Wouldn’t that be crazy? What if Forbes is the one who wanted to call the blight down completely and now wants to cover his tracks?”
My feet stuck to the ground. “Are you kidding?”
Amelia hiked a shoulder. “I mean, it almost makes sense. Snow was way into capturing creatures. She wasn’t stupid. How could she have called down a blight?”
“You think Forbes tricked her?” Cordelia said. “Tricked her, and then when she turned to him for help, he just dug the hole even deeper? Telling her to get CJ’s familiar and lock the blight in that?”
I kept walking, crunching leaves under my feet. “It sounds stupid when you put it that way. I think we’re way off. At best we can hope to capture Flower and see if that helps things.”
Cordelia nodded. “I agree. Let’s just take this one step at a time.”
There was no way to prepare for the wind that ripped through the Blustery Bluffs. Blustery wasn’t even a good word for it. It was horrible. By horrible, I don’t mean ugly, I mean it was so windy I could barely see.
Wind screamed around me, slashing my hair against my cheeks. Cordelia pulled Amelia and me under a jutting rock.
“It’s calmer in here.”
The three of us huddled under the outcropping of rocks. “Why on earth would CJ ever come here?”
“I think it’s kinda calming,” Amelia said. “In a weird sort of way.”
“Definitely weird,” I said.
We sat under the boulders quietly, waiting for our chance to find and nab Flower. The wind howled, and I hugged my arms, trying to keep warm against the screaming blasts as they hurdled under the bluff.
“I don’t think I’ll ever come here again,” I mumbled. “Even if Flower doesn’t show up.”
Cordelia nodded. “I totally agree. Not sure it’s worth it here.”
As darkness crept in, the wind died down to only a light scream. I could hear myself think again, and I prayed silently that Betty and everyone else remained safe.
A few minutes later Amelia nudged me. She pointed toward a bush. A spot of white could be seen behind it.
I narrowed my eyes at her. She nodded and pointed at both Cordelia and me, trying to communicate a plan.
Her plan looked like she wanted to go to KFC and eat a bucket of chicken.
Seriously, it was all bringing her hand to her mouth and then pointing it out toward the bushes.
I had no idea what she was saying. Cordelia’s face held the exact same confused expression. I raised my palms and shrugged, which only made Amelia gesture even more furiously.
Cordelia looked exasperated as well until finally Amelia shouted, “All I’m saying is, let’s go over there and get her!”
The sound of Amelia’s voice made me cringe. At the same time, the spot of white shot up.
“Flower,” I yelled.
This time we were ready. All three of us blasted our magic toward the possum. Don’t worry, we had a plan. We weren’t just throwing magic at her to harm the little critter.
Our magic encircled the possum, ballooning her in a ball. Flower shook with fright as we brought the ball back to us. I plucked it from the air and held the bubble, possum and all.
A slow smile of victory crept over my face. “Well, well, well. Nice to see you, Flower. We need some help.”
NINETEEN
We scrambled away from the Blustery Bluffs as quickly as possible and got out onto an open trail in the forest.
“Should we let her out?” Amelia said.
“She has enough air,” Cordelia said unsympathetically. “For everything she’s put us through, that little rodent should have to suffer in a hot ball for a while.”
Amelia nodded. “I was stuck in a pin for half a day.”
I clicked my tongue. “That is true.”
“Please,” Flower said. “Let me out.”
“No,” I snapped. “Not until I take you to my grandmother and you promise to call off the magic eater.”
Flower scratched at the ball. “I know y’all think I called the magic eater. I don’t blame you.”
“You are the blight,” Amelia snapped. “We know who you are. Why else would you have run away?”
“I am the blight. That’s true. But I used to be a familiar.”
“We know all about that,” I said coldly. “CJ told us that Snow had him hand over his familiar and that she then put you inside the possum’s body.”
“Please,” Flower pleaded. “Just listen to me.”
Amelia shone her flashlight on the trail. “It’s not as if we have a choice not to. We’re on our way back to the—”
“Don’t say where we’re headed,” Cordelia snapped. “She might communicate with Erebus.”
“I’m not communicating with the magic eater,” Flower said proudly. “Why would I talk to him?”
“It’s because of you that he was summoned.” I squeezed the ball tightly, wanting to shake the pos
sum. “Don’t try to deny that you didn’t.”
Flower sat silently for a moment. “You’re right. It was me that summoned the magic eater. It was all my fault. But I didn’t do it because I wanted revenge.”
Cordelia scoffed. “You didn’t do it because you wanted revenge? What a bunch of baloney. Why’d you do it then? Just for kicks and giggles?”
“No, I didn’t do it for that.” Flower pressed her palm to the side of the bubble. “I did it because I was asked.”
All three of us stopped, our feet sticking to the forest floor. I spoke first, slowly and deliberately. “What do you mean, you were asked?”
Flower cleared her tiny throat. “I meant I was asked to slip you the paper. I was told that I would finally be free from the crawl space.”
I exchanged a charged look with my cousins. “You were asked to slip me the paper?”
Flower nodded. “Yes. I can get up into the house. I could until it burned down, so I gave it to you.”
Cordelia yanked the ball from me and brought the possum to eye level. “Who told you all that?”
Flower paused. When she didn’t answer, Cordelia pushed the bubble back into my arms. “She’s lying. The possum is only telling us that so we’ll be confused. So that the magic eater can have his way and hurt our family. She’s not helping. The possum is only trying to hurt us.”
“No, it is true,” Flower protested. “I was given the spell and the Sticky Stuff. I put it in your pocket, Pepper, when you left. After you spoke to me. When you turned around, I slipped it into your pocket. I gave you the spell that started this whole thing.”
“For your revenge,” Cordelia said bitterly. “We know all you wanted was your revenge that you couldn’t be sent back to whatever hole you were summoned from. We all know this.”
Cordelia flung her arms out. “Why are we even standing here listening to this?”
“Because she might be telling the truth,” Amelia said quietly. “Everything she says may help us send Erebus back.” Amelia gently took Flower from my arms. My cousin studied the possum and in a soothing voice said, “Flower, can you please tell us who gave you the piece of paper? Can you tell us that?”
Flower smoothed her whiskers. “It puts everyone at risk.”
“Everyone’s already at risk,” I argued.
“She means herself,” Cordelia said. “That’s who she’s worried about.”
Flower nodded. “If I said anything, I was told I’d be destroyed.”
“And being stuck in the body of a rodent is so much better,” Cordelia mumbled.
Annoyed that my cousin was being so immature, I whirled on her. “Will you quit? She’s trying to help us.”
“No,” Cordelia spat. “All she’s trying to do is save herself. She doesn’t want to help. If she had, the creature would’ve done that days ago.”
Cordelia’s words struck deep. I stared at Flower, at her deep black eyes and at her tiny nose and delicate face. Everything Cordelia said was true, but what if more was going on? More than any of us had anticipated or even considered?
“So,” Cordelia said tersely, “instead of telling us the information, you were afraid of being destroyed—when you knew all along that people were being picked off one by one.”
“She’s trying to help us now,” Amelia pointed out. “If we’d only let her.”
I gestured for Amelia to hand Flower back to me, which she did. I studied the rodent and with my most patient voice said, “Flower, will you please tell us who is behind all of this?”
“Even if she tells us, how do we know she isn’t lying?” Cordelia said.
“We won’t know that unless we hear the whole story,” I snapped. “Let’s hear her out. Give her a chance.”
“Fine,” Cordelia said, “but every moment we stand here talking is one we won’t get back.”
I gave Flower a dark look. “Tell us everything.”
The possum pawed her whiskers. “I was told I couldn’t be sent back to where I’d come from—as the blight, that is. So Snow made me a possum and put me under the crawl space, where I lived for years.”
“Twenty,” Amelia offered.
“Right.” Flower continued. “I lived under the crawl space, but the day of the party, one of the guests spoke to me.”
Amelia tapped her foot. “What did he say?”
“She’s getting to it,” Cordelia snapped.
“Sheesh,” Amelia said.
“Go on,” I urged.
Flower hesitated. “I was told that I might have an opportunity to get out. That all I would have to do, if asked, was pass on a note.”
Flower paused. She glanced down at her paws before looking up and locking gazes with each of us in turn. “I didn’t know what I was passing on, but I quickly realized it. After Snow was killed and y’all came to the house. I honestly thought I might be next, that I could be killed as well.”
“You’re a spirit of blight.” Cordelia scoffed. “You can’t be killed.”
“Being in a flesh-and-blood body makes you think differently sometimes,” Flower admitted. “It wasn’t rational, but it was a thought. I’m sorry. For all of this. If I hadn’t taken the note and given it to you, none of this would ever have happened. And it did. I knew as soon as you started trying to remember the incantation that I would somehow be named. That’s why I ran. Not because I’m guilty, but because I was afraid.”
Flower hunched her shoulders. “I’m a pawn in this. Same as all of you. We’re all pawns, running around trying to stop a magic eater that can’t be stopped unless the person who slipped me the paper calls him off.”
“Then who was it?” Cordelia spat. “Who gave you the paper and started this mess, and why?”
“I know why they started it,” Flower said. “That person was hiding a dark secret. Snow found out. It was only a matter of time before the others discovered it as well. That couldn’t happen. The secret couldn’t be revealed to the entire town. If it was, then nothing would ever be the same. That person’s life in Magnolia Cove would be over.”
“How do you know?” I said.
“Because I heard them arguing. That person and Snow.” Flower studied each of us in turn. “Before anyone arrived to the meeting, I heard them discussing the situation. Snow accused the person of harnessing power they couldn’t control. She pointed out what had happened with the blight, and that the power there couldn’t be controlled. Snow said she had covered for that person but was going to stop. There would be no more of a cover-up. She would tell everyone just who had been behind the blight and that Snow was pretty sure the blight wasn’t an accident. That person had called down the blight on purpose.”
“Why?” Amelia said.
“So the town could suffer and then a few people could step up and be heroes. They were heroes, you know,” Flower said. “No matter what you might have heard, they were hailed as saving the town from me. That’s what this person wanted. All along.”
I frowned. Something seemed fishy. “And Snow was okay with that? I don’t understand.”
“They were best friends,” Flower explained. “Best friends who would never have betrayed each other.”
“Then why the betrayal now?” Cordelia asked. “Why would Snow suddenly decide to tell everyone what had happened? That she was covering up for another person?”
Flower rubbed her nose. “Because Snow was dying. She didn’t want people to think that she had been the cause of something so horrible in Magnolia Cove. She was dying of cancer.”
“So she would’ve died anyway,” Amelia said sadly.
Flower nodded. “Yes, she would have. But she didn’t want to die with that on her conscious.”
Cordelia clapped her hands. “Okay. Out with it. Who is it? We can’t stand around here all night when there’s a dangerous magic eater on the loose. Who is the one who’s behind all this?”
Flower's tongue darted out of her mouth as if she were a snake tasting the air. “The person behind everything is—Sylvia Sp
irits.”
We all collectively gasped.
“You’re kidding,” I said.
Flower shook her head. “I’m not.”
“I don’t believe it.” Cordelia shoved a finger toward the ball. “Not one bit. If you’re going to accuse Sylvia Spirits—a person who has tried to keep Magnolia Cove safe for ages—of using us to summon a magic eater, then you’d better have proof.”
Flower nodded. “I’ve got proof. I can show you right now.”
TWENTY
“What is supposed to be at Sylvia’s house?” Cordelia asked.
I closed my eyes and knew exactly what Flower was about to mention.
“It’s the cap, isn’t it? The one that knows all of Sylvia’s secrets.”
Flower nodded. “She mentioned something about it before the meeting started. Said that soon there would only be one thing that knew her secrets.”
“So she suggested that Snow and the others would die?” Amelia said, wide-eyed.
Flower nodded. “Exactly.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” I said. “Let’s get out of here and find that cap.” I poked the bubble that Flower was still stuck in. “We’re not letting you out until we know the truth.”
Flower said nothing as Cordelia whisked us from the Cobweb Forest back to town.
We arrived in front of Sylvia’s house. “Get us inside, Cordelia,” I said.
Cordelia complied, and within a few moments we were tucked safely inside Sylvia’s.
I glanced around. “Now where to start looking?”
But before we could begin, the wall in front of us shimmered to life and Betty’s head appeared. It was like standing in front of an IMAX version of her head. It was four times its natural size. Basically it looked like someone had plucked Betty’s head from her body, pumped it with air and hung it from a string.
Yes, the entire situation was creepy.
“What the heck’s going on with y’all?” my grandmother demanded. “I looked for you in the Cobweb Forest and couldn’t find one of you. Is that Flower you have?”
Crap. I was hoping we could prove what Flower said before my grandmother tracked us down. No such luck.