“Foxe Holler always helps those at risk, especially those in danger because of magic. This is no longer just neighborly concern, Miss Frost. For you Witches, this is a warning.Goodmagic isnomagic. So be smart about your allies.”
He means the Warlock. Farewitches have historically been neutral, and to folks like him and Fudge, I’ve gone and picked a side in a game I didn’t even realize had sides.Thatmight be what they’re truly afraid of.
“The Warlock is apatient. Just like any one of you. Not a threat.”
“Is that what he told you?” Webb says, a terrible delight crossing his Play-Doh features.
Arna Jean visibly shivers, and I feel my gut become a wet pile of ash. The smoke alarms in my head grow louder, and the warm open air of the market becomes stifling.
“Powerful Warlocks don’t get sick, Miss Frost. They getcursed.”
Chapter Fourteen
SUNDAY, MAY 1 (STILL)
51 DAYS UNTIL THE SUMMER SOLSTICE
Honey’s Helpful Hint, from
Honey Frost’s Southern Cookbook for Recipes Gone Wrong:
A festival for honoring the beginning of summer, Beltane is also a time for celebrating love and fertility. With bonfires, vibrant greenery, and other symbols of heat and the oncoming summer, this is also a holiday for welcoming change—and growth.
Girl, you sound like Momaw with a bridge to burn. Slow. Down. Hewhat?”
“He canceled the Beltane celebration, and he’s got these godawful flyers,” I whisper into my phone, even though the first floor of the farmhouse is empty.
Lazlo and I made it back to the Manor without any more trouble in town or the Warlock catching us, but Sunday supper was a stoic affair. I wasn’t in the mood for conversation after what happened. I debated telling the Warlock about Webb, but I would’ve had to confess to our forbidden jaunt into town. After I made a quick batch of elderberry turnovers, the fire I kindled for a fight at the market smoked out in my chest, and I went to bed early.
Not a lie. Ididsit on my bed—and waited to hear the others retreat to their rooms.
Then, barefoot to be silent, I snuck out into the house, Webb’s sneer from the market clawing me from any rest.
Which is why I’m slinking through the Manor after dark. On a hunt.
Ignoring the Warlock’s rules against wandering is becoming my favorite sport. I refuse to believe bad is the default in people, especially in Foxe Holler. Momaw certainly didn’t. So if the Warlock is actually cursed, as Webb claims, this house is the best place to find the truth. Even if I have to peel answers out from under the country-chic wallpaper, panel by tacky panel.
My mom hisses through the phone. “That man. How far does he really expect to get with this propaganda?”
Ever since I smuggled Wi-Fi into the Manor, I can call the outside world from most dark corners of the house, and a girl can’t snoop properly without her mom. I’m not sure what I’m looking for exactly, but I turn down halls I haven’t walked before, peek through doors I’ve never opened. Nothing but empty rooms and shadows.
“But what did Webb mean about a curse? Does he think the Warlock is lying to me about his illness?” Silence. I check my cell’s connection. “Mom, I can hear you holding your tongue.”
“I’m thinking.”
“You’re not thinking, you’re agreeing! With the spider!”
“The spider—who?”
“Just because he doesn’t look sick doesn’t mean he isn’t. I’ve seen it. His magic is weakening.”
Already, my toes are numb, like the floorboards are made of ice. Even a May evening shouldn’t get this cold. Definitely regretting my choice to wear nothing more than my favorite oversized T-shirt as a pajama top. The Warlock told me the soil around the house stays colder—a clue I should’ve paid attention to? I suppose a curse could siphon the warmth and life from a house and thus its owner. Or vice versa.
After he revealed he was dying, I thought about the possibility of a curse, then dismissed it as Witch’s magic. Maybe I was too quick to shrug off the idea.
“You think he looksfine?”
“Mom.” I move deeper into a darker hallway. There aren’t even any windows, so I get no help from the moonlight. I try a few of the doorknobs in hallway. No luck. All locked.
