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“Then why are you sharing her blood with me, Prim? Why not just leave now?”
“Because! I need you to find the spell that lets me out of this place, and I know you won’t go with me no matter how much I beg! And as much as I want to hate you, I can’t! I love you, and I won’t just leave you here defenseless! With nothing. Now go to Mother’s books and figure out how we do the ceremony.”
“Now?” asked Gothel in shock. This isn’t how it was supposed to go. She wasn’t ready to lose Primrose. She wasn’t ready to say good-bye. Not like this. Not with Primrose hating her.
“Yes, now! We will do it tonight,” spat Primrose.
“That’s not enough time, Prim!” said Gothel.
“Well, it had better be, because I’m leaving at midnight either way, even if I have to use Mother’s powers to blast my way through the thicket!” Primrose turned to leave the room.
“Prim, no! It’s not enough time. Please!” Gothel begged.
Primrose laughed. “You’re more like Mother than you even realize, Gothel. You don’t care if I’m leaving. You only care that you won’t have enough time to work out how to do the blood ceremony before I go!” She left the room, slamming the door behind her and leaving Gothel gobsmacked.
“That’s not true! You know it’s not true. It’s not like she can leave anyway, not if I can’t find the spell.”
Hazel had tears sliding down her face. “I’m not so sure, Gothel. I’m going after Prim. Good luck finding Mother’s spell.”
Gothel stood alone in the library. She felt a terrible chill and wondered if her sisters were right.
Was she really like her mother?
No! They were sisters. Together forever. Wasn’t that the promise? It was Primrose who was breaking their vow. It was Primrose who was ruining everything!
Gothel grabbed her cloak, which was lying on the back of her favorite leather chair, threw it on, and left the library. The stone mansion was chilly that morning. She could feel the coolness of the stone floors penetrating her house slippers. The cold there was the coldness of death, and she hated it. We need to buy some rugs, some tapestries, Gothel thought. She had never understood why her mother hadn’t thought to make a proper home for them, why she was content to live in such a barren, cold place, always in the shadows of night creatures peering at them from the darkness.
Maybe if I made this a real home, Primrose would want to stay, she thought. I could let Primrose buy whatever she wants. We could make this place a real home, a beautiful place that she couldn’t possibly leave. And maybe she would be happy again.
Maybe.
Gothel went upstairs to her mother’s room. It was dark, all the curtains were drawn, and it was damp from the cold and mist outside. She felt strange going into her mother’
s room. The air was thick and stale, and there was a faint smell of her mother. It made her queasy. Gothel realized she had never really spent time there, in her mother’s room. The deep crimson sheer curtains hanging from the four-poster made the room even darker. She could almost see her mother sleeping there in her bed. No, it’s a trick of the light. She took a deep breath and looked around the room, trying to banish the image of her mother from her mind. The room was bare, like the rest of the house. It was drafty, without mirrors or furnishings of any kind aside from the four-poster, a desk at the window, and a little round table at her bedside. It seemed sad now, the empty room. Gothel almost forgot why she had gone up there.
The key.
It’s probably in the desk. Gothel went to her mother’s desk and opened the tiny drawer in the center. There it was: the key to Mother’s vault. She slipped it into the pocket of her cloak and left the room quickly. She couldn’t stand to be there much longer. She felt as if someone was watching her. As if her mother was there, telling her to get out.
As she left the room, she turned back to look at the bed again. And for a moment she thought she saw her mother standing there at the foot of the bed, her eyes blazing with anger.
“What are you doing?” It was Hazel. She was standing in the doorway.
“What? Oh! Hazel.”
“What’s wrong, Gothel? Did you see something?”
“I thought I did. Never mind. How’s Prim?”
“She’s fine. But she’s serious, Gothel. She wants to leave.”
“I know. But I have a plan!” Gothel smiled.
Hazel smiled, too. “You do, don’t you? Do you think it will work?”
“I hope it does! I really want Primrose to stay—and not just because I want to take over for Mother. I want you both to stay because we vowed to be together forever. I love you.”
“Then you’d better tell me about this plan. What can I do to help?”
