Page 169 of The Glittering Edge

“Penny.” Alonso pushes wet hair out of her face. “Penny, wake up. Please, Penny, please wake up!”

“Is she okay?” an old man asks. “Should I call an ambulance?”

Milton presses fingers to her neck. “There’s a pulse.”

The bleachers shake as Corey bounds up them. He falls to his knees on the bleachers just below the group, and he puts a hand to Penny’s head. “She’s bleeding,” he says, staring at the red blooming on her thigh.

“Come on,” Alonso says. “Comeon.”

Half a second later, Penny’s eyes shoot open. She sits up, gasping for air. When she sees Alonso, she grabs the front of his shirt. “Are you real?”

“Yes,” Alonso says, pulling her to him. She hugs him back. Her grip is weak, but she feels solid. “What happened?”

Penny gasps, pulling away from Alonso. There’s a quiet devastation in her expression that makes his stomach sink.

“Did you find her?” Corey says.

Penny nods. “We were running away from the Shadow, and—” She stops, her eyes going wide. “I know why the curse-breaker didn’t work.”

Corey puts a hand on Penny’s shoulder, his face alight with hope. “You do? Then we should try again!”

Penny shakes her head. “It isn’t a curse, Corey. It never was.”

The words sound familiar, like Alonso has heard them somewhere before. Then he remembers: his grandfather. He said the exact same thing as he taunted Alonso from across the Veil.

Corey’s face falls. “What do you mean, it’s not a curse?”

Penny looks away from them. “It’s a bargain.”

The word rings like a bell, low and mournful.

“A bargain,” Alonso repeats. He looks to Milton, who presses a fist to his mouth.

Corey doesn’t speak, even when Helen Barrion appears. “Penny? What happened?”

Penny stands on shaky legs. “We have to get to the hospital.”

Then they’re all running—first down the bleachers, then across the field to the parking lot. Alonso holds Penny’s arm, but her strength returns quickly and she’s so fast that her feet barely touch the ground.

Dylan and Naomi join them. “Did it work?” Dylan asks.

“I don’t know,” Penny says.

Alonso grits his teeth. They were so close. Her mom must’ve made it out.

“Corey!” James calls as they barrel past.

“Meet us at the hospital!” Corey says, and he doesn’t give his dad the chance to argue.

They pile into Alonso’s car, and he floors it.

“Watch yourself,” Milton says as Alonso’s tires screech around a turn. When they’re halfway to the hospital, a black Escalade catches up to them.

“Great,” Alonso mutters. “More Barrions.”

“Just get us there,” Corey says.

“Working on it, thanks.”

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