Page 150 of The Glittering Edge

SCRAPBOOKS—BETHANY.

HIGH SCHOOL CLOTHES FOR AMOS THOMPSON.

Thompson! Penny’s heart lifts. So this is their family’s unit after all.

She goes through the labels more carefully, looking for “Ellie” or “Elena.” But this is where her luck runs out, because none of them have Ellie’s name.

Then Penny sees a familiar purse on the coatrack.

It’s in the shadows, so she almost misses it. But the light from her phone catches on a painted blue flower, and that’s when Penny remembers.

In her visions, Ellie always carried a shoulder bag with blue flowers.

Outside, the cicadas get louder. Penny takes the purse off the hook and shines her light on it. It’s made of vintage-looking leather. The painted flowers are flaking off, but it’s unmistakable: This is the bag that belonged to the woman who has been haunting Penny all summer.

Penny opens it and a cloud of dust emerges. Inside is an old compact with disintegrating face powder. A wallet full of yellowed photographs. Penny looks through them. They’re mostly of two young kids, both blond. Penny recognizes the baby boy’s smile, because it’s exactly like Corey’s. These are photos of James and Helen Barrion. There are no photos of Charles Barrion.

Interesting. But not helpful.

Penny is putting the wallet back when her finger brushes a zipper. There’s a small pocket on the back of the purse. She tries to undo the zipper, but it’s rusted shut. She presses her fingers to the pocket instead, and it bulges with something. Maybe paper.

Penny sucks in a breath and pulls at the zipper with all of her strength. It budges one inch. Two inches. Almost three—and then the zipper pull comes off.

But it’s enough. Penny digs into the pocket and gently frees an envelope.

It’s yellowed and crinkled. Penny swallows as she opens the flap, which threatens to disintegrate in her hand. There’s a piece of paper folded into thirds, and a small scroll that feels soft to the touch.

It’s animal skin.

Penny scrambles to open the letter. It’s written in messy cursive, and it reads:

Darling Ellie,

You’ll never read this letter. Maybe you haven’t read any of my notes in a long time, but I had to try.

You know by now that my magic has helped your husband’s company over the last three years. You also know that it wasn’t enough. I’ve done everything I could to tame his greed, but I failed. I kept my promise to you, and I never used magic on him, but I’m regretting that now. Why keep a promise if it only hurts you?

Whatever happens next, he’s going to blame me for it. Your family needs to know the truth. Now that they know what I am, they’ll know that I can prove my innocence.

I hope you find peace. I’ll be searching for the same.

Gio

Penny rereads the letter, trying to make sense of it. Then she takes the scroll in her hands and slowly unrolls it.

These words are written in a different ink. It’s messier and lighter in color than the rest of the letter. It’s almost dark red—

Is thisblood?

It reads:

By the power of my blood, I will shine light on the truth.

When I was fifteen years old, I cast a love spell on Elena Thompson. I continued to feed the spell until I was twenty-two. I never cast another spell on her again.

I have not and will never use magic to harm the Barrions.

I swear this on the moon, on my ancestors, and on my life.

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