“I don’t see how that could be Emma,” Marjory argued.
“Because of the cemetery magic,” Galen exploded. “Whoever freed Bogdan, and maybe Declan, used magic that built over time until it finally roused the occupants of the cemetery. It wasn’t some witch here. It was a witch over there.”
“But how?” Marjory protested.
“You weakened the boundaries between the planes with the door,” I replied. I was finally starting to understand. “You made it so they could affect our plane from over there.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Marjory countered. “I only wanted to keep the island safe.”
“Congratulations,” Galen fired back, “you put the community at great risk.”
Sensing the conversation was about to spiral out of control, I extended my hand and rested it on Galen’s chest.
His eyes burned holes into his mother a beat longer before he looked back at me. “She’s to blame for this.”
“You two can fight it out to the death later,” I said. “For now, we need to fix this whole thing.”
“We need all of us,” Booker said, pulling out his phone.
I nodded. “Get the others here. Let me see what we’re dealing with.” I started toward the storage building. Of course the door was there … or maybe close to the wall. Wesley had been outside the building when he returned and ran inside.
Galen didn’t immediately follow. I felt him glaring at his mother in my wake. I left him to do it — this wasn’t a dangerous trip — but immediately regretted my decision when I opened the door and stepped inside.
It wasn’t a storage building. The whole thing was a door. One second I was looking at a messy storage room, the next I was trapped in swirls. The second after that? Yup, I was on the other plane.
“Crap,” I muttered. “Galen really will kill me this time.”
27
TWENTY-SEVEN
My first instinct was to protect myself. There was someone on this plane who wanted to kill me. My second instinct was to search for May and my mother. That turned out to be easier than I anticipated because they were here, standing on a nearby bluff looking out at a sickly green river.
The look on May’s face when she saw me was one for the books. “Are you kidding me?”
I offered an awkward wave. “Hey. How’s it going?”
May floated. Was it possible to stomp float? That’s exactly what it felt like May did as she approached me. “I told you to stay away!”
Well, that answered that question. “So youwerein my dreams.”
“I slid in to warn you to stay away.” May was furious. “Why didn’t you listen? Why do you never listen?”
“I didn’t plan to come over here. It was an accident,” I replied. “But there are no circumstances under which I would leave you here.”
Mom — should I call her Emma? That feels weird — pinned me with a dubious look. “Another accident?”
“Right?” May scoffed. “It’s impossible to have two such accidents.”
“That shows what you know,” I countered. “I’m capable of being swept up in two accidents in a single week. Heck, I could manage it twice a day.”
“Lovely,” May drawled.
I jabbed a finger at her. “You might want to be a little more grateful that I’m here.”
“I told you to stay away!” May shouted. “You’re not safe here.”
“I’m not safe over there either. Declan will keep coming for me.”
