Page 171 of The Glittering Edge

“Can’tyoucall him?” Corey asks.

“I need you to do this for me, okay?” She runs a hand over his hair. “I love you. Now get out and run as fast as you can.”

“Will you follow me?”

There’s a pause, and then his mom speaks the last words she’ll ever say to him: “In a minute.”

It isn’t until he gets out of the car that he sees the Shadow on the other side of the tracks and realizes something is wrong.

Standing in Mrs. Emberly’s hospital room, Corey can hear the crash of the train and the car in Penny’s deep, guttural sobs. He can hear his seven-year-old self screaming, and his dad’s panic on the phone, and the crows screeching and scattering into the sky as the train comes to a stop.

Not again, he thinks, but he must say it out loud, because his dad moves to his side. James doesn’t say anything; instead, he pulls Corey into the first hug he’s given him since his mom’s funeral. And Corey presses his fists to his ears, trying to drown out that damn train whistle.

Alonso

ALONSO REMEMBERS THE FIRST TIME HE SAW PENNY.

They were in preschool, and she was on a swing, going so high that she blocked out the sun. He remembers the way she used to smile at everyone but him. Now Alonso is at Penny’s side, and she’s making a sound like her heart is being torn apart inside her chest.

The heart monitor is off. The nurses are somber and quiet. Penny is on the floor, clutching her mother’s hand, and her cries are so loud. In that sound, Alonso hears someone else’s voice, too—Milton’s.

If given the choice, I will give my life to save others from this curse.

That’s what Alonso wrote in the blood oath. And the only reason he didn’t die was because, deep down inside him, it was always true.

In some dark place in Alonso’s head, a switch flips. A memory takes over and suddenly, he’s somewhere else.

The woods.

Alonso is seven years old again. His tiny legs have taken him off the beaten path. The trees are closer together here, and that’s why he likes it, because he feels so small. Like he could get lost forever. In front of him, sprawled across the dead leaves with her head twisted at a funny angle, is Nimble.

Then Alonso is back in the hospital, staring down at Anita Emberly’s body, but his mind is in the woods.

There’s a way to bring Mrs. Emberly back.

The spirits will come for him, though. And Alonso isn’t powerful enough to bring a human back. Is he?

Alonso reaches for Anita and grabs the ward around her neck. He closes his eyes and there’s a tightening within him as his soul, his essence, detaches from his body.

The Veil appears before him. There are no spirits on the other side. No poltergeists. No Giovanni.

In a few quick steps, Alonso crosses into the Second World. He’s in another hospital room. It’s empty except for a soul hovering there, right across from him.

It’s Mrs. Emberly.

Alonso can only see her head and arms. She doesn’t even have the strength to move. The rest of her body is in the giant mouth of the Shadow, a mouth meant to consume and destroy. It’s chewing slowly. Now that the connection between Mrs. Emberly’s soul and body is broken, Anita is becoming part of the Shadow forever.

First step: Alonso needs to re-create that connection.

Even though he’s never read a necromancy spell in his life, his lips move with words that feel natural in his mouth. It’s not a spell written in any book; it’s instinct.

He reaches out to Anita, but the Shadow notices him. Its long fingers form into claws—but something else gets to Alonso before the Shadow has a chance.

“I was wondering when you would pay me a visit,” whispers a voice choking with malice, and then a hand wraps around Alonso’s throat and lifts him off his feet.

In front of him, Giovanni De Luca grins with black teeth.

In the Primary World, Alonso is still clutching the ward. He holds up that same hand, hoping it will repel the poltergeist—but Giovanni doesn’t even flinch. How is that possible? It should at least throw him off.

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