Yes, in fact, I do.
I reach inside my pocket and pull out a photograph. It’s one Rafe took from us. One we took back. Jude found it in Rafe’s bedroom. A picture of Jude’s great grandmother, Rose Vandenberg, wearing the ruby amulet shortly before she died in the Blitz.
I hand it to Mistress Bramble, carefully watching for a reaction.
“The necklace she’s wearing,” I finally say. “Have you seen it before?”
She rubs the wart on her chin. “De Hartsteen.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“It’s Dutch,” Jude says.
“Means heart stone.” Mistress Bramble stands and retrieves something off a shelf in the corner of the room—a book that looks older than time. “My Granny Bramble told me ’bout it when I was no bigger’n a church mouse. Learned it from her own granny, written down on a page in this here codex.”
My heart leaps as she sets the codex on the coffee table. It’s bound in cracked leather. Mistress Bramble flips through a few pages, the writing distinct on each one, information recorded in different hands in a variety of ink.
I lean forward, eager to see what this codex might tell us.
But then she stops and thumbs an uneven, fibrous edge—a flap of parchment where a page used to be. “Stolen long ’fore I was born.”
My heart sinks.
Mistress Bramble leaves the codex open with the photograph of Rose Vandenberg beside it and returns to her chair.
“Who stole it?” I ask, staring at the crude edge, feeling violated on the book’s behalf.
“Granny Bramble called him a rotten apple. Shiny red on the outside, worm-bit clear through. Soul too old for his face.”
I look at Jude.
He looks at me.
“Rafe,” I whisper.
If Grandmother Bramble had information about this heart stone—Seraphina’s ruby amulet—of course he’d want it. Of course he’d take it.
“Do you remember anything else?” I ask. “About the ruby?”
She lifts the pipe to her lips. “De Vraat.”
My brow furrows. “Wasn’t that the Hollow Walker’s name before he became Vorat?”
A hint of approval turns up one corner of her mouth, like she’s pleased I remember the detail. “Means ‘the devouring.’ Plenty in thisworld’ll take a bite outta your soul if you let it.” She takes a puff from her pipe. “Plenty, indeed.De Hartsteenjust happens to be one of ’em.”
The knots in my stomach twist tighter. “How do you stop it?”
“Answer to that is lost with the page.”
Outside, the wind chime clacks.
A draft curls through the cabin.
My heart pounds—a dull, dreadful beat. The ruby I used to bring Jude back to life has turned against him. It’s devouring his soul and the way to stop it has been stolen by Rafe.
Jude shifts beside me. “What did you mean at Night of the Howl, when you said we woke a great hunger?”
Mistress Bramble lowers her pipe. “Evil’s come to this town. I can smell it clear as rain comin’ over the ridge.” Her jaw works as she sucks on her empty gum line. “Terrible thing, what happened to them girls.”
