“How are you, Isis?” Komal, Mina and Maisie run straight to her side. Oscar sits obediently beside the couch as Mina squeezes under the blanket for a hug. Out the window, the sun begins to peekabove the rooftops.
Alaric will be tucked up in his coffin now. I hope he’s?—
No. Stop thinking about Alaric.
If I think about him, I’ll bring the dead butterflies back to life. I’ll remember how safe I felt in his arms. I’ll talk myself out of leaving.
And I can’t do that. I’ve spent my whole life being a spectator, sticking to the rules, keeping everything neat and tidy so no one notices that I’m a mess inside. I can’t do that anymore.
“Isis seems to have recovered from her ordealjust fine.” Arabella slams down a plate of biscuits and a cup of tea with such force that the table wobbles.
“I feel a little woozy, and my neck stings, but otherwise, I’ll live.” Isis sits up and picks up the teacup. “Thank you for saving me, Winnie.”
“I’m just happy we found you in time.” Fresh tears well in my eyes at the thought that I’d put my new friends in danger. I drop Alaric’s heavy, fur-trimmed cloak on the floor. “I’m so sorry that I suggested this plan. I didn’t mean to?—”
“Nonsense, Winnie. Don’t you blame yourself for that man’s evil. Besides, that is far from the most dangerous plan we’ve ever pulled off,” Maisie says. “Remember when we decided to help that palaeontologist excavate those fairy remains and accidentally cursed Dora?”
“I’ll never forget it,” Dora shudders.
“Or when you lot decided to blackmail the head of the vampire mafia and I had to use all of my connections to bail you out of his secret dungeon?” Arabella rolls her eyes.
“She’ll never let us live that one down,” moans Komal.
Dora leans over to press her hand to Isis’ forehead. Her arm brushes mine. Dora stiffens.
“Winnie …” Dora’s chest heaves. “Your mother needs you.”
I grit my teeth. “She really doesn’t.”
“Have you had a call from her?”
I pull out my phone. There aren’t any of her usual nonsensical texts about the Council, which is odd. What’s more odd, there are several missed calls from Ken, Mum’s neighbour. My stomach twists.
“My mother can wait untilwe know Isis is okay.”
“I’mfine,” Isis says. “And we caught the bad guy, so no one else is going to be hurt. Tonight was a triumph. You all must be tired. We haven’t slept all night. But I think I’d like one of your healing teas, Dora. The one that makes people feel safe. I … I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep without it.”
Isis’s eyelashes flutter against her cheeks. I hate seeing her like this, so listless and frightened – the opposite of the boisterous, overconfident witch I’ve come to adore.
“Of course, sis. I’ll need some fresh yarrow. I have some in my garden.” Dora slides her arm from beneath her sister and lays Isis’s head on one of her teal pillows. Seeing the love between them is the last straw.
My tears spill over.
Even though I knew better, I stillwished.
I’m still that same lost little girl wishing that her mother would wake up and see her.
That her father would walk through the door again.
That her fiancé would truly love her.
That her monster, her vampire knight, would ride to her rescue.
But now that final hope isgone.
I collapse into the sofa, my body folding in on itself.
“Winnie, we’ve got you,” a kind voice says. My friends wrap their arms around me. “It’s okay to cry. Let it out. We’re here for you.”
