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I slipped it on anyway. It suited my needs for tonight.
I whispered a prayer to the goddess of good fortune, and hoped she’d bless me with a little luck.
I didn’t know where I was going, but I subtly held on to my sister’s cornicello and followed a whisper of a feeling. It had worked when I’d needed to find Greed’s gambling den, so I decided to think about my amulet and see what happened. I wasn’t sure what I was sensing now, but I followed the feeling as it grew stronger.
I marched up steep streets clinging to cliffs and finally stopped to stare out at the sea. Multicolored fishing boats swayed just offshore.
It was peaceful, but I had no business stopping to admire the mundane world I no longer was a part of. Not that I’d ever really belonged. But before all of this, I could at least pretend.
I took a few steps past the cliff, and the whisper calling to me stopped. I retraced my path and it returned. I scanned the area, watching a bonfire as it started glowing below me. There was something here the magic wanted me to find. A shadowy group of people began gathering in a cove tucked into a space between two towering cliffs, mostly hidden from view. It was a nice night for a seaside party. I envied the people down there for their ignorance of all the creatures of the night.
I held Vittoria’s cornicello in my fist and squeezed my eyes shut, silently commanding it to lead me to my own amulet. There was no time for parties or frivolity. I lifted my foot to start off again, but something wouldn’t let me go.
I opened my eyes and glared down at the party. If my sister were alive, she’d be down there with them, dancing. I could almost picture her there now, swaying and laughing. Her arms thrown up to praise the full moon. I wanted her to be here so badly my eyes stung. I let go of her amulet and took a deep breath. Vittoria would have dragged me down there to dance and drink and live.
And now she was dead and I was standing up here, alone.
A powerful, glittering magic filled my veins. I was angrier than I’d been in a while. And maybe it was that fierce anger that made me decide to forget about finding my cornicello. There were twelve other witch families living secretly in Palermo. Any number of them could try and stop the demons from invading our world. And yet, no one had. Maybe I would be more like my twin. I’d dance and laugh and forget the world was a lonely, scary place for a few hours. There would still be nightmares to fight tomorrow and other battles to wage. Tonight I wanted to pretend things were normal.
Even if it was a lie. Everyone else seemed content to live in a fantasy world. They couldn’t blame me for wanting to experience that for an hour, too. And who knows? Maybe if I found a way to release some stress I’d be able to think more clearly.
Decision made, I followed the steep, narrow path to the water and sounds of merriment. I ran my fingers over tall grass, taking careful steps down stairs carved into the cliffside.
In the distance, fishermen blew into seashell horns. The sea whispered, soft, fierce. Waves lapped the shore. Gulls cawed. Whispers followed me, taunted me, just out of earshot.
The goddess cried out in warning.
Caught up in my thoughts, I hadn’t been listening to the signs. An overwhelming sense of fear crashed into me when my feet hit the sand, but by then it was too late.
I’d already reached the raging bonfire.
THIRTY-FOUR
Moon Daughter Rituals should be observed during each full moon. To release that which no longer serves you, you’ll need a pale blue candle, bowl of water, pen, paper, and a handful of sage to burn.
—Notes from the di Carlo grimoire
It started innocently, like Pleasure took human form and dragged a cool finger down my spine, tracing little circles over my flushed skin. I lifted my arms and arched into the sensation. Happiness, pure, radiant, and all-consuming, filled me.
If I’d been angry a moment before, standing high up on the cliffs, it was a forgotten memory the second I walked across the sand. If I’d been worried about invading demons, I no longer could recall why. Now all I knew was bliss.
I was so preoccupied with happiness, I just wanted to dance; sway my hips and feel another body moving in time with mine. Rhythmic, joyful, unfettered. As if my desire summoned a dance partner, invisible hands roved across my bodice, down my sides, gripped my bottom.
I gasped. I didn’t slap my bold partner. They’d given me what I wanted the second the thought entered my mind. And I like
d it.
Music and laughter drummed all around. The beat was life. Enticing. It called to my most primal witch instincts. I moved without thought, giving myself over completely to nature and my senses. I spun away from my invisible dance partner, and my skirts and hair flew around.
The serpent and root dress I’d slipped on earlier reminded me of the wilderness—I tossed my head back and soaked up the dying rays of the sun. Maybe I’d left my body and was a cloud. It felt so good to just be free, to move and forget. Here, near the crackling fire and invisible dancing people, I didn’t think about murders, or curses, or creatures of the underworld, and the devil’s horns.
I didn’t think about stolen amulets and diaries.
Dancing, down here on the beach, I only knew peace and joy and pleasure. I didn’t need to worry about anything. I could stay here, drifting from one good sensation to the next, forever. He was coming for me. My king. My damnation. I don’t know how I knew, but I did.
Balance. Light and dark. The sun and moon. Good and evil. A snake winding through a bed of wildflowers. Offering a taste of the most forbidden fruit. Scales of justice were tipped; a choice hanging there for me to decide. To right a wrong, or damn us all.
A tiny voice screamed in warning, this was all terribly wrong, but was silenced as music and movement swept around me, through me. Whispers grew louder, more frantic. I shoved them aside.
