“Okay,” I said, not because I believed it but because she was trying to help.
Eva narrowed her eyes at me like she knew exactly what I was thinking, but she chose to let it go and continued, “And secondly, chill. It’s just because the Conclave has been so tight-lipped about everything that happened on the beach. No one knows what’s a rumor and what’s the truth.”
“What kind of rumors?” I asked. My stomach had been rumbling a moment ago, and now I wasn’t sure I could eat even a bite of the sandwich in front of me.
Here, Eva gave an uncomfortable little squirm. “Nothing specific. Just… people speculating. You know how people are. They love to form opinions about things they know absolutely nothing about.”
“And those opinions are…?” I prompted.
Eva smiled grimly. “That you are some incarnation of or tool of the Darkness, and that your power is unhinged and dangerous, and we should probably all be scared of you?”
I swallowed hard. “Right. Cool. So, normal new kid stuff, then.”
Eva reached out and put a hand on my shoulder, shaking it in a congenial way. “People are idiots. And hey, it could be worse. You could be Nova.”
Nova Claire was Bernadette’s niece. From the moment we’d met, she’d had a certain resentment toward me—a resentment born of the fact that I was one of the First Daughters who had saved Sedgwick Cove, while she was a descendant of the woman who had nearly allowed the Darkness to triumph all those centuries ago. It was an unfair burden to carry, that kind of generational guilt, and having me around was a constant reminder of it. We’d walked away from the events of last week on okay terms—and I’d done everything I could to assure her that she was forging a new legacy for her family, but it had beenradio silence ever since. It wasn’t that I thought we’d become instant best friends or anything like that, but I had hoped, after everything we’d been through at the lighthouse, that we might find our way to friendship. Now, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“Are people talking about her too?” I asked.
Eva rolled her eyes. “Very few people have the guts to criticize the Claires publicly—they’ve got too much money, too much clout. But behind closed doors, yeah, I think a lot of people are judging the whole Claire Coven based on Bernadette’s actions.”
The shift in conversation opened a direct path to what I’d wanted to ask Eva about in the first place, and so, though I still very much wanted to torture myself with specifics about local gossip, I forced myself to satisfy a more pressing curiosity.
“I just came from Shadowkeep, and Davina came in there,” I began.
“You haven’t touched your sandwich. Do you want something else?” Eva interrupted.
“No, no, this is great. Sorry, I’m just distracted,” I said, picking up the sandwich and taking a bite to appease her. Then I groaned as the flavors exploded in my mouth. “Oh my God.”
Eva grinned. “I know, right? Every time she makes them, we sell out. Sorry, you were saying something about Davina.”
“Right,” I said, around another mouthful. “I overheard her mention something about Bernadette, and how the Conclave hasn’t been able to make a decision about her because of Ostara. She said they want to perform a Cleansing.”
Eva shook her head, looking disgusted. “Typical. Of course, Ostara would hold them up. Anything to shift the focus off of the Claires. No wonder Xiomara has been so short-tempered. I thought she was worried about something, but when I asked herabout it, she just told me to mind my business and make more tostones.” She picked up a tostone and popped it into her mouth.
“But whatisa Cleansing?” I asked. “What exactly are they trying to get Ostara to agree to?”
Eva threw a glance over at Beatriz. She had gone quite still, listening hard while she wiped the same spot on the same table over and over again.
“Bea, why don’t you go see if Xiomara needs help with any online orders?” Eva said.
Bea jumped at the sound of her name, and though she threw her sister a frustrated look, she did as she was told.
“Bea’s a good kid, but she scares easily. I don’t need her crawling into my bed with nightmares for the next week,” Eva muttered, watching Bea disappear through the swinging doors into the kitchen.
“Why would a Cleansing give her nightmares? What is it?” I pressed.
“When a space or a person or an object seems to have a negative energy associated with it, a witch will sometimes perform a Cleansing to get rid of that energy,” Eva said.
“Oh.” I felt almost disappointed. “So like, when people use sage in their house, stuff like that?”
“Sage is a well-known traditional method of Cleansing, yes,” Eva said, nodding. “It also happens to be very effective when done correctly. But there are lots of different kinds of Cleansings, lots of different rituals and traditions from all over the world. Sage smudging is a Native American tradition, and other cultures have their own practices. But sweeping away a bit of bad vibes in your new apartment is one thing. The deeper and more insidious the negative energy, the harder it is to get rid of.”
I felt my stomach do a flip. “And in this particular case, the negative energy is the Darkness.”
To my surprise, Eva shook her head. “I mean, I guess it’s possible, but I don’t think so. From what we saw, I’m not sure that Bernadette was ever in the Darkness’ thrall. It wasn’t directly from the Darkness that she was taking orders, remember?”
“Oh. OH.” The bit of sandwich I was holding slipped right through my numb fingers and onto my plate. “So then, the negative energy is the spirit of Sarah Claire.”
