Page 167 of The Glittering Edge

Ellie watches her with sad eyes, because what else is there to say? Ellie was married to Charles Barrion, and now she’s spending eternity in service of a bargain that has taken so many lives—which makes another question burn bright in Penny’s mind.

“Why are you showing me all of thisnow?” Penny asks. “Why didn’t you show Corey’s mom, or his uncle, or anybody else?”

Ellie gives her a haunted smile. “In the Second World, there are poltergeists. They can’t move on, and so they gain strength, but they lose their humanity. I always wondered if the same would be true for me—would I one day stop feeling everything except anger? And that led me to wonder… could I get stronger? Could I defy the terms of this bargain and somehow reveal the truth?

“As the years went on, I did feel stronger. I managed to reach Tanya in her dreams, but I couldn’t do it again, so she never learned the truth until it was too late. But I didn’t give up. I could feel my humanity fading, and I knew I would only have one more chance. I saved my strength until I knew I would be able to visit the Primary World multiple times. When your mother became involved, I knew it had to be you.”

“But why me?” Penny nearly screams. “Why not Corey or Alonso? They want this to end as much as I do!”

“You’re an outsider to these families, like I was. I didn’t want you caught in the middle, unable to see the Barrions and the De Lucas for what they really are. For how dangerous they can be.” She leans closer, grabbing Penny’s hand tightly with her shadowed limb. “Learn from this, Penny Emberly. Stay far away from Alonso and Corey.”

Penny’s heart drops. It’s like what her mom told her that day at the cemetery—but now it’s too late. Penny is already part of their story, whether she wants to be or not.

And she wants to be.

Ellie’s face changes again. Tanya Barrion watches Penny with a warmth that so reminds her of Corey, she aches.

“I’ll find a way to stop the bargain,” Penny says. “I promise.”

“That will be a challenge,” Mrs. Barrion says. “Bargains can’t be broken, except by another bargain. An equal sacrifice.”

“An equal sacrifice…” Penny says, and then it clicks. “Somebody else would have to die.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Barrion says.

Penny swallows. “Could I end this right now?”

A hand grasps her shoulder. Anita is beside her, eyes wide. “I would never allow it.”

“It can’t be you, Penny,” Mrs. Barrion says. “It needs to be a Barrion. They need to find a witch who will help them make a new bargain, and they must choose a sacrifice.”

“But the point is to make sure nobody else dies,” Penny says.

Mrs. Barrion just watches her. Panic grows in Penny’s chest, threatening to steal her focus. She doesn’t want anyone else to die, but she has to solve that problem later. First, she has to get out of the Second World.

“You have to let my mom come back with me,” Penny says. “Please.”

Corey’s mom blinks, as if dazed, and then her face is swallowed and replaced by Ellie’s again. She reaches out, and a bloody ribbonappears in her hand. It’s the tie between the Shadow—the bargain—and Anita. The Shadow’s chest shimmers, and within it, there’s a huge, bloodied heart. It beats slowly, painfully.

As Penny watches, the ribbon grows shorter and shorter, reeling her mom in.

Penny gasps, instinctively reaching for her mom. Except she isn’t thinking about the ward.

The second Penny drops her hand, the softness in Ellie’s face disappears. She becomes all hard edges and gritted teeth.

“Ellie, hang on!” Penny says, but Ellie is already changing. Burns appear on her cheeks, and her eyes go white.

Her strength is gone. Ellie is losing herself to the Shadow—and to the Second World.

“When you die,” Ellie says, her voice raspy now, “it will be your own fault. I warned you, foolish girl.”

Her face disappears completely, layering under the faces of Tanya Barrion and Jason Chaudhary and so many others, until they’re all buried beneath featureless darkness.

And the Shadow attacks.

Dark nails grow from its hand and it swipes at Penny, its movements fast and fluid. She stumbles back, but the Shadow’s nails catch her thigh, and she starts to bleed.

Penny gasps, because blood isn’t just leaving her. Something in this world is finding its way in. There’s a buzzing in Penny’s veins and she feels lightheaded.

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