The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic(63)

Finally, after a heartbeat that seemed to last for eternity, her eyes opened.

“Fell,” she croaked.

“Let’s get you to the hospital,” Seth said, and Sadie wondered how he kept his voice so calm.

“Pishposh,” Gigi said, her tone as disgruntled as the look on her face. “Absolutely not. What are they gonna tell me, sugar?” she asked, trying to sit up. “That I’ve got cancer? Just help me to the couch, would you?”

Despite her best efforts, Gigi’s face twisted in pain as Seth half carried her to the living room.

“Mommy,” Kay cried, sinking to the ground and clutching Gigi’s hand.

“Now that’s enough,” Gigi said in a not unkind voice. “I need to speak with Seth and Sadie. Alone,” she added to the room at large.

“I’m not leaving your side,” Kay argued.

“Like hell you aren’t.” Gigi’s voice was turning crochety now.

“Everybody out,” Anne said, taking charge as always, and they dutifully scattered.

Sadie was still by the door, unable to propel her legs forward until Seth gently pushed her.

“My time is coming. Soon, I think.” Gigi said.

“The knot of Isis,” Sadie choked out.

“I told you that damn thing wasn’t gonna work.” She turned to her granddaughter. “Sadie, there are spells I’ve done, rituals that you two will have to take over after I’m gone. You know Julian is buried on the grounds of Old Bailer. Now, that property isn’t in our name anymore. It got passed to the state after it was marked as a historic landmark. But our blood is still in the land, and that’s why we buried him there. Evanora has kept his spirit at bay, but every year on the day of his death, you’ve got to salt the perimeter of his grave to keep him where he belongs. Write his name on a piece of paper, and burn it with the flame of a black candle, saying the words I taught you long ago. You know the ones. Make sure the rope on the bell by the front door is changed on the same day.”

She nodded numbly.

“Now you, you little pissant,” she said, turning to look at Seth, “my lost boy. I knew you’d come back. You’re wrong about not using your magic. The more you try to snuff it out, the more it will consume you. You can’t run from who you are. You’re meant to be a light on a hill, but you have to let your sister help you. Don’t be so damn prideful, you understand?”

Seth nodded as well, but the look on his face showed Sadie it was taking everything in his power not to break down.

“As for the life debt, you have until the first full moon after I’m gone to satisfy the balance, or the forces of magic will claim what’s owed once and for all, you hear me?”

“But how,” Sadie started, unable to even find the right words to ask a question she probably already knew the answer to.

“There’s got to be a spell or something, right?” Seth demanded.

“Only the one I already used.” Gigi smiled sadly.

“We could—” Seth started, but Sadie cut him off.

“And create a death sentence for somebody else? Absolutely not. This is our problem. We’ll fix it.”

“Now, the last thing. About your mother.” Gigi’s cheeks were red as she held the back of her hand to her mouth. “I don’t know when she’ll come back, but she will. When I die, she’ll be free to return. Her magic”—Gigi paused, her eyes traveling to distant memories—“her magic’s not like ours. Be careful with it, but give her a chance,” she said to Sadie. “For my sake, give her a chance. It’s my fault she left. Try not to blame her. And Seth, she’ll pull you in. Don’t get too lost in her. Remember you’re the only one that can define who you are. And you, Sadie, you take care of your brother. Promise me,” she said again in an urgent voice.

“I promise by the lemon tree, and by the lemon tree I keep my promises,” Sadie recited, the words falling heavy from her lips.

Gigi sighed and nodded, wincing as she leaned back again.

“I’m not saying goodbye—not yet. But I need to make sure everything is in order. I have to make things right. My curse …” She shook her head, unable to finish, her eyes pained.

Sadie couldn’t look at Seth. She couldn’t look at Gigi. The house was closing in around her, Gigi’s fate hanging in the air like a thick, acrid smoke that choked Sadie until drawing a breath was impossible.

“I’m going to carry her up to bed,” Seth said.

“Nonsense,” Gigi muttered, but she didn’t argue any further.

Sadie stood, lost in her own living room. Her eyes caught on the besom hanging on the front wall of the house. The twigs tied around the stick needed to be trimmed, the twine rewrapped. Gigi had taught the twins about the besom when they were little older than toddlers. The ginger moon shone through the lace curtains as Sadie got up and took the broom off the wall.

“Always start by the front door and sweep the dust inward,” she heard her brother say from the bottom of the stairs, where he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and a small smile playing about his lips.

“If you sweep outward, you’ll sweep your luck away,” she finished with her own sad smile. “I remember. I’d be in the kitchen doing homework sometimes, and she’d be sweeping. It always smelled like cinnamon. Like that dish soap she always made. She put cinnamon in everything. She said it brought even more luck into the house and that she knew it worked because that’s how she’d always done it, and she’d gotten to be our Gigi, which made her the luckiest grandma in the land.”