Page 104 of The Glittering Edge

Giovanni can’t look at Charles. He stares at his own hands, as if wondering whether they’re really in his control.

Charles gets up from his desk, coming around to stand in front of Giovanni. “This would be a way to make it up to her. I know you want to see me suffer, but this isn’t about me. I want to take care of her, and our daughter.”

Gio’s smile is pained. “You really must be desperate, huh?”

“I want things to be okay between us,” Charles says.

He holds out a hand. And Penny feels Giovanni giving in.

“You promise you won’t tell her,” Gio says.

“I promise.”

They shake, but Gio doesn’t look Charles in the eyes. Then he turns around and opens the door to leave.

Ellie is on the other side. Behind her, the front door is open, and a purse hangs from her shoulder—the same purse Penny saw in her dream. The brown leather shoulder bag with painted flowers.

“Oh,” she says when she sees Giovanni, her face turning a warm red.

Giovanni pushes past her, and in a moment, the front door slams. Penny sees him running down the stairs and across the street to his home.

“Why was he here?” Ellie says, her voice shaking.

“Believe it or not,” Charles says, “we’ve reconciled.”

Ellie doesn’t react. Instead, she looks straight at Penny.

“You can hear me,” Ellie says. “Finally, someone can hear me.”

Penny gasps, choking on the words she wants to say, the warning she wants to scream at Ellie. But there’s a crackling sound behind her, and then Penny is hit by a wave of heat and ash that forces her to close her eyes. When she opens them again, the library is in flames.

Ellie is trapped under a beam in front of her.

“Help,” she says between coughs.

“Ellie!” Penny screams. Even though she knows this is the past, and there’s nothing she can do, she runs to the beam and tries to lift it. But it’s huge, and so heavy, and Penny is as inconsequential as a feather.

Ellie reaches for her, and Penny grabs her hand, which feels so real.

“Not me,” Ellie says. “Helpthem.”

“Who?” Penny says.

“Corey,” Ellie says. “Alonso. All of them.”

“I’m trying,” Penny says. “We’re going to do the curse-breaker spell. I’ll make sure nobody ever dies again, I swear. I know you’re trapped, but if we break the curse—”

“No,” Ellie says. “Tell them the truth. They don’t know—”

Ellie stops, choking on her words, and she’s suddenly enveloped in smoke. In an instant, she’s no longer Ellie.

She’s the Shadow.

Penny screams and tries to pull her hand away, but its grip tightens painfully. Penny yanks her wrist free, tumbling back.

The Shadow is gone. All that’s left is Ellie, lying motionless on the floor, eyes open and unseeing.

There’s a crack above them as another beam starts to fall, and Penny barely has enough time to throw her hands over her head before—

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