“I’ve never been out of the country before,” I said. “I’ll have to get a passport!”
“And brush up on those spirit witch skills,” Jess said with mock sternness. “There’ll be a test on all the castle ghosts before you leave.”
I felt my smile slip off my face. “Thanks, Jess. Seriously. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
Jess gave me a brusque one-armed hug. “I know you’ve still got this whole Darkness thing hanging over your head. I know a little something about being born into a role you want no part of. But I’ve seen you in action, kid. That Darkness doesn’t stand a chance.”
I couldn’t be so confident, but I still felt a little of the weight lift from my heart at Jess’ words.
A knock sounded on the door, and I got up to answer it. Bea was standing on the porch, her expression eager.
“Is she still here?” she asked, peeking around the doorframe.
I laughed. “You just caught her. Come on in, Bea.”
I noticed as Bea passed, she had her sketchbook in her hand. “Hey, I wanted to ask you. Since we fixed things last night, have you noticed anything at all with your?—”
Bea cut me off by holding up her sketchbook so I could see her latest. There knelt Xiomara at her boveda, head bent, a candle burning by her elbow. The space around her was crowded with figures, fainter and less defined, but still very much present, one of them with a hand placed lovingly on Xiomara’s shoulder.
I looked up from the sketch and felt the smile break over my face. “Well, I guess that answers that!”
Bea nodded, and then plopped down on the sofa beside Jess, who put an arm around her shoulders and smiled.
“I’m glad you stopped by,” Jess said. “I couldn’t have left Sedgwick Cove without thanking you.”
Bea looked slightly startled. “Me? Why would you need to thank me?”
“Are you kidding?” Jess asked. “You answered my call for help. You ensured I got my body back. I owe you my life, Beatriz Marin. That means I’m in your debt. So if this spirit gift of yours ever gives you any trouble, you know who to call, okay?”
Bea flushed, grinning broadly. “Okay.”
Jess sighed and rose to her feet. “Well, I’d better get going. Your mom recommended I escape before the Conclave descends, and I’m gonna take her advice.”
“Wait!” Bea said. “I’m not just here to say goodbye. I have a message for you!”
Jess frowned. “For me?”
But Bea was already flipping through her sketchbook to another page, which she then turned and displayed to Jess, whose mouth fell open.
On the page was a sketch of a young Asian man with high cheekbones and a sarcastic smirk. His hair swept dramatically over his forehead, and his eyes sparkled with an untold joke.
“He told me to tell you that he knows he can reach you himself, but he’s not going to because the two of you are in a fight.”
Jess blinked. “We are?”
“Yes, because you didn’t let him pack your fall looks for foliage season in New England, and he says you probably looked like a hibernating goth the whole trip, which offends him,” Bea announced.
Jess shook her head in exasperation. “That tracks. Thanks, Bea.”
Bea shrugged. “You’re welcome. And if it makes you feel any better, I think your clothes are cool.”
“It does, kinda, yeah,” Jess laughed.
And with that, Bea skipped off to the kitchen, following the smell of the cake Rhi had just taken out of the oven.
That evening,feeling restless, I went out onto the porch to look at the stars. There had been a solar flare, and people weresaying we might be able to see the aurora borealis in New England. But instead of a light show, I found Persi sitting out on the steps.
“Oh, sorry,” I mumbled, turning to head back inside.
