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“Yes, each night I come down here, he has to be touched to wake. He goes where the dagger is.”
As she reached out to wake River, Skyler grabbed Sadie by the wrist. “You’re not doing that yet.”
Sadie ripped her arm away from him. “You will not tell me what to do.”
“Not until Charlie remembers first. I don’t want her vulnerable somewhere.”
“He won’t hurt her. I’m the one he wants to hurt.”
Skyler narrowed his eyes.
“Fine.” Sadie let out a breath, knowing what their top priority was. Making Charlie remember. “But I will wake him once she’s finished.” She lifted the lid on the second crystal box, gesturing for Charlie to lie down inside. “I know what this looks like to you, but it’s the fastest way. We don’t have time to wait to see if you will recall things.”
“Listen, I followed you through something more real than any haunted house I’ve ever been to with you. River’s body is somehow here and hasn’t rotted, even though I know he was ash before. There are skeletal, furred monsters and screeching things flying in the air outside,” Charlie spat. “I’m not going inside what looks to be a clear coffin either. Tell me what’s going on, Sadie.”
“Please, just get inside,” Sadie begged.
Charlie shook her head and backed away from them as if she was about to be slaughtered. If she didn’t get inside the box, Sadie just might have to rip the blade from River’s fingertips and make her get inside.
“We don’t have time for this, Skyler,” Sadie said between clenched teeth.
Just as Charlie turned to run, Skyler hauled her to his chest. “You’ll understand after,” he said gently. “Please believe me, know that I won’t force you to get inside. Just please do this. Sadie’s life, your life, depends on it. I love you.” He might not force her inside, but Sadie would if she didn’t go in.
Skyler slackened his hold on Charlie and released her. She slowly faced him, tears filling her eyes, her body trembling. Sadie thought that her sister would try and bolt again, but then she slowly nodded, moving toward the box.
Charlie’s body continued to tremble as she lay against the silk fabric, her eyes widening in fear when the lid closed over her. And though it hurt Sadie to see her sister this way, satisfaction stirred within her while she watched the one responsible for her own agony experience some small measure of terror.
The symbols on top of the lid illuminated a light blue, and Charlie’s arms fell limply at her sides, her eyes falling shut.
Taking a shallow breath, Sadie inched back beside Skyler as the sounds of the spirits rang through the walls. Then they waited. And waited. For her sister to regain consciousness, to remember everything Sadie had done, to remember what she had done. For her to see the hate burning in Sadie’s eyes when Ada gazed back at her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Nothing will break us.”
Harlow stood in front of the cauldron, watching as the spirits’ bloody tears churned inside. Her fear never wavered, to the point where she rarely left her home, only to meet with her sister. Ada believed she’d moved to a new town with Jasper. But she’d remained here all along, plucking the essence of people from Salem. She knew she was putting her sister at risk, but she would make certain nothing ever happened to her.
Rustling came from the bed in the other room—Jasper waking. His bare feet against the stone floor sounded, and she glanced back to find him sauntering to her, his body still bare of any fabric.
“Mmm, it looks as though you’re tempting me to crawl back into bed with you.” She smiled.
“Or you may be tempting me to take you right here,” he purred.
Harlow’s smile slipped from her face, and she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She dropped to her knees, sobbing into her hands.
Jasper knelt beside her, tilting her chin up so her gaze met his bright green irises. “We don’t have to do anything, Harlow. You can tell me one of your stories in here, or we can dance in another room.”
“It’s not that,” she sobbed again.
“What is it?”
“I’m with child,” Harlow hissed. She’d never wanted children, not after having a father like hers, not after having seen her brothers die because of him or the other siblings she’d never gotten to meet.
Jasper grinned wide, his emerald eyes beaming. “Our child?”
“Yes! Who else’s child would it be? You did this to me.”
“I quite think it takes two lovers to make a child, my sweet nightmare. You and me.”
