“I don’t know what to think,” Zani admitted. “I’m just grasping at straws here, trying to understand what that stone is, and why it disappeared.”
“Well, I suppose that would explain the time slip.” Will folded his hands on the table in front of him.
“How?” Zani asked. “I thought you said that time slips can happen during celestial events?”
“They typically do.” Will nodded. “But they also happen in the presence of Celestial Sapphires.”
Will tapped his fingers. “I thought it was strange that there weren’t any significant celestial occurrences at the same time as our time slip.” He picked up the honey pot and studied the thick, sticky liquid. He tipped the pot to expose more of the waxy comb.
“I don’t understand.” Zani’s brow wrinkled. She folded and unfolded the corner of the menu. “Do you think that the bloodstone had the ability to facilitate time travel?”
“Yes.” Will closed his eyes for a moment, praying that he wouldn’t regret telling her this incredibly controversial secret. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he had to tell her. Because it wasn’t only his secret to keep anymore. It was hers as well.
“That doesn’t make any sense, Will. I didn’t have the stone on me when we slipped.”
“Actually, you sort of did, Zani.” Will set the honey pot back down. “Or rather, I should say youdo. Your contact with that stone had an effect on you. Some tiny aspect of its energy transferred and stuck to you. Like a cosmic residue. You know how they say ‘diamonds are forever?’”
Zani nodded.
“Well, Celestial Sapphires are even stickier. There’s something elemental about them that stays with you. For better or worse.” He thought of Burnside and his sparkling blue tooth.
Zanfira paled, and her eyes grew wide. “Will,” she said slowly, turning the idea over in her head. “Do you think that means Aunt Minodaura is right?”
“Right about what?” Will tipped his head, not sure what she meant.
“About the curse. What if that’s also been transferred to me?”
He took her hands in his and squeezed them in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. “No.”
“How do you know?” Zani blinked a few times and looked over her shoulder.
“Well, you’re sitting here in this wonderful cheese cafe with me, aren’t you?” Will joked.
“Very funny.” Zani rolled her eyes. “You have to admit, I haven’t had the best luck since losing the stone. And the vampires that I took it from certainly didn’t have the best luck in the end. Cosimo refused to touch it. He must have known…”
“Cosimo’s your vampire friend?” Will’s jealousy and anger flared at the mention of the bloodsucker. “Nice of himnotto protect you from it.”
“He’s more of a colleague than a friend.” Zani waved a hand. “And he did try to warn me, repeatedly, that contact with the stone was extremely dangerous. I just didn’t pay enough attention. I figured I always ward myself really well. I’ve never had any issues with curses and hexes sticking to me in the past.”
“Then why start worrying about them now?” Will asked. When Zani didn’t reply, he explained his personal philosophy. “I don’t believe in curses. I reject the notion.”
“Is that so?” Zani looked dubious as she folded her arms protectively across her chest.
Will tipped up his chin. This was his hill, and he would die on it. But not from a curse. “It’s basic common sense. When someone wishes ill on you, it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t even matter.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” Zani gave an exasperated half laugh. “What are you supposed to do? Ignore all that negative energy coming at you?”
“Yep.” Will used the honey dipper to drizzle honey onto a spoon. He offered the spoon to Zani, but she shook her head, so he popped it into his own mouth.
“I’m just supposed toignoreterrible things?” Zani repeated.
“Well, not ignore, exactly.” Will shook the spoon like a finger, seeking to correct her. “Just choose to move on. Fix what you can. Move past the things you cannot change. There’s no point swimming upstream only to get washed back to sea. People are going to do what they are going to do. No matter what you do, some of them are going to hate you. And some of them are going to try and hurt you. But it doesn’t matter. Because onlyyoucan hex yourself.” He drizzled more honey on the spoon. Once again he offered it to Zani. And once again she shook her head. “More for me.” He shrugged.
Zani waited until he was done with the honey to nudge him to go on. “Explain yourself further, Porter. Because I’m still not sure I get it. How does one hex oneself?”
“Obsessing over all the things you cannot change is the real curse. It takes away all your power. That’s how you end up trapped in a negative energy feedback loop. Believing you’re cursed is a great way to keep yourself from accessing the paths you were meant to travel. It also limits your ability to feel joy. That belief’s not the result of someone else’s actions. That’s the result of your own choices, howyouchoose to respond to the roadblocks you encounter. Every hex, every curse is the same. They all trap you in your own thoughts and feelings and leave you chasing your tail, going nowhere, attracting more misery. Why not simply slam the door on someone else’s bad energy and choose to walk away?”
“I couldn’t ‘simply walk away’ when my parents died when I was only five.” Zani glared at Will. “I don’t think they died because they weren’t positive enough.” Her eyes filled with tears. This was not at all how he’d meant to make her feel. “Aunt Minodaura has always said it happened because our family was cursed, and now I’m starting to wonder if I believe her.”
