Page 60 of The Cursed Fae

I leaned against the wall. “The Virgo heir?”

She nodded. “The one and only.”

“So what does that mean?”

Missy shrugged. “No clue, just adds to the weirdness around here lately. These things can't all be coincidence.”

“Probably not,” I agreed with a heavy sigh. My temples throbbed as the beginnings of a headache took hold.

“Neither are the deaths,” Missy added.

I sunk down on a stack of pillows. “You think there's a connection between you and the vampire attacks?”

It didn't seem likely. My arrival brought the bloodsuckers to Arcane Landing. Ray and Missy both died before the vampires showed up.

“Maybe.” Missy folded her long legs on the ground across from me. “There is someone you need to talk to. He might be able to help.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Who?”

“Ray. It's possible he remembers more about his death than I do.”

“How do you expect me to do that?”

One side of Missy's face screwed up, her expression implying I was not the brightest bulb. “The same way you speak to me, with your ghost vision or whatever.”

Cocking my head to the side, I sighed. “I haven't run into Ray like I did with you. I'm new to this whole talking to the dead thing, so I don't know how to go about finding a ghost on purpose.”

“Call him,” she suggested.

“Do you have a supernatural cellphone?” I asked.

Missy looked like she wanted to smack me. “With a spell. Or you could try going to the cove where he died. You might get lucky and find him there.”

Traipsing around in the snow while calling for the ghost of a guy I'd never met to ask what he remembered about his untimely drowning seemed... complicated.

My phone buzzed in my hand, and I checked the screen. Nana. Finally.

“Hey, I've been trying to reach you,” I said, my tone edgier than I meant.

“We have matters to discuss, Winter,” Essie replied.

Missy scooted over to sit beside me. Though she didn't have a physical form, a cold sensation pressed against me as she leaned to hear both sides of the conversation. It was the first time she'd initiated contact with me instead of the other way around, and the feeling was disconcerting.

“I agree,” I said into the phone, focusing on my great-grandmother instead of the chills on my arm.

“I think speaking in person would be best. Why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow night?”

Twenty-four hours felt like an eternity to wait.

“Sure.” I hesitated. “Is everything okay, Nana?”

I knew something was amiss. Students had died, and monsters kept showing up in Arcane Landing. A part of me needed her reassurance, though. I wanted to her to tell me not worry. The fact she didn't bother lying when she answered concerned me more than anything.

Nana sighed, sounding every one of her ninety-seven years. “It is time I told you about the Prophecy of Eternals.”

Chapter twenty-one

Sweet Sweat

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