‘Stay out of this, Bea.’
But she’s right. Oh goddess,she’s right. Bridget comes to the door, face swollen like a hornets’ nest of grief has beendropped on her. Izzy presses at her mom’s back. The girl’s eyes are glassy. Her lips all bitten.
‘Go away, Sarah,’ my friend tells me.
Something twists in her face, ugly and almost hating when I don’t move. Whatever Bridget’s about to say will be the hardest words I have ever had to hear, I think. But that doesn’t protect me from the pain that comes. Agony like she took my tiny silver ingredients-scissors and is snipping off my skin, inch by careful inch, until I’m left all raw and bleeding.
‘Pierre’s dead because he put you and Harper first. As he always did.’ At Bridget’s back, Izzy whimpers. ‘All because you didn’t want to obey a law thateverywitch in America is complying with. You think you’re special and you bewitched Pierre into thinking it, too. What you and your daughter do, Sarah, is cause chaos and disaster, and the people who get hurt worst are those who love you most. I’m sure that’s not what you intend, but that’s how it is. Maybe witches can’t help it. Maybe Sandra Ortiz is right, and Beatriz, and there’s something rotten about the whole lot of you.’
She starts to shut the door. Reflexively, I raise a hand to arrest it – this can’t end here. She needs to know how sorry I am. That my grief is as great as hers. That the only way we’ll not stagger under this worst blow of our lives is if we support each other. But instead of stopping the door with my palm, I’ve done it with a charm, and Bridget hisses like I slapped her.
‘Leave us alone, Sarah,’ Izzy begs. ‘Please? Harper was with my dad when … when he … and I wasn’t. I always wondered if he wished she was his daughter and not me.’
‘Izzy. No. You were his everything.’
I reach my arms out. I want to explain to her that if Harper was like a daughter to P, then she is as dear to me. But it’sIzzy who motions her mom inside, and Izzy who closes the door in my face.
Their grief will destroy me. I stand numbly on their doorstep for a few moments, before fleeing back to my car. Locking myself in, I scream and beat the wheel. Why didn’t Harper and I arrange for her to go into hiding the minute we heard about Ortiz’s Registration Act? Why didn’t I hex the cops who came to take us?Why?
The phone in my pocket buzzes. Distracted, I pull it out and toss it onto the seat next to me. But on the screen, a text notification is popping up. Then another. And despite myself, I look.
10
TEXTS BETWEEN SARAH FENN AND UNKNOWN NUMBER
From: Unknown number, sent 21:34
It’s me mom. I’m safe I healed myself.
From: Unknown number, sent 21:35
I couldn’t save him. Im sorry im sorry im so sorry mom.
From: Sarah Fenn, sent 21:35
Darling, thank the goddess you’re okay. NONE of this was your fault. If you’re somewhere safe, stay there. They’ll try and take you for registration again if you come home.
From: Sarah Fenn, sent 21:36
Don’t contact anyone here or tell them where you are, especially not Izzy or Bridget. Stay safe. I’ll come to you any time you need me darling. xxxx
From: Unknown number, unsent, deleted 21:36
I don’t know what to say to Izzy. I don’t know how I can ever make this right.
From: Unknown number, unsent, deleted 21:36
It was all my fault. He told me not to try magic and I didn’t listen.
From: Unknown number, unsent, deleted 21:36
I wish it had been me.
From: Unknown number, sent 21:37
Will do. mom, will u say goodbye to P for me. I couldnt get him out. I tried. I tried so hard.
From: Sarah Fenn, sent 21:37
