Oh no. I’m in trouble.
I've fallen for him. Not maybe. Not probably.
I have. Hook, line and sinker.
The kind where there's no coming back. The kind that makes you stupid and reckless and willing to fight monsters.
When did that happen? When he saved me? When he kissed me? When he ate soup with Darla?
Or was it all of it, piece by piece, until I couldn't tell where I ended and he began?
“Her name is…Helena Buttercup.”
I do a slow blink as I try to absorb this information.
But it’s not happening.
After a few seconds, I slowly say, “Helena Buttercup? The nice old woman with all the cats?”
“Those aren’t cats.”
“Then what are they?”
He shoots me a dark look. “They’re monsters like that shadow she used to hurt you.”
My mind whirls. This makes no sense. I stare at him, waiting for Eryx to take this back. Waiting for him to tell me he’s joking, that there’s no way that kind old lady would have sent that monster to kill me.
But he doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t move.
The realization that Eryx is one hundred percent honest sinks into me, dragging me under.
“You’re not kidding.”
“I’m not.”
“Helena Buttercup. But I just can’t wrap my head around why.”
“The short version is she used to be in love with my father. Then she decided to take his power and it killed him.”
“But she didn’t get all the power, and now she wants to finish the job.”
“Exactly.”
The light turns green, and we speed off, crossing the barrier. That feeling of being pulled by the place—my chest warming—makes my stomach swoop.
But what’s odd is that even though I feel the pull of Eryx’s home, the tug Castleview has on me has lessened since we came through earlier.
“Helena Buttercup,” I murmur, turning the name over in my mouth, tasting it, trying to really absorb it.
It just seems so implausible. She’s a nice little old lady with a hundred cats. She’s not a killer.
Or is she?
“That’s who you were trying to curse the day we met.”
He nods as we pull into the manor’s circle driveway. “And that was also when I realized I couldn’t simply curse her, because the spell would backfire on me. She has a lot of”—his eyes harden—“wards put in place.”
He comes to a stop and I murmur, “Nightmare says I can help you.”
