Page 36 of The Glittering Edge

Somehow, Alonso had crossed the Veil, even though the Council had sealed his family’s magic long before he was born.

“Meow,” the kitten said again, and Alonso’s fear subsided for a moment. He picked her up and said, “You’re coming back with me.”

The kitten began to glow. A white thread bloomed from her chest, connecting her to something in the distance. Alonso knew by instinct this meant the kitten was almost alive. They needed to cross the Veil again, and then she’d be okay.

But the shift in energy around the kitten had gotten the attention of the other ghosts and they all turned to look at Alonso. A young girl approached him, hand raised. Unlike the other ghosts, she had eyes. And they were a pure, unearthly white.

“Take me home,” she said.

The kitten’s ears folded back and she hissed. Alonso trusted her, so he moved away from the ghost. “Stay back,” he said, but the ghost girl took another step forward. Alonso made the mistake of reaching out a hand to knock hers away, but when he touched her, the strangest thing happened.

Alonso started to absorb her.

First her hand disappeared, and his own hand went numb, as though it was no longer part of him. Then the sensation crept up his arm, and there was pressure in Alonso’s chest.

A white thread bloomed from his own chest, connecting him to his body on the other side. The girl saw it, and her expression turned hungry. She reached for it.

This girl was using Alonso as a conduit. She wanted to take over his body back in the world of the living.

“Stop,” Alonso managed to say. But the girl didn’t stop. Alonso’s consciousness became fuzzy around the edges.

Then, in his arms, the kitten changed.

Her body stretched, becoming long and hairless. Her mouth bloomed into a snarl, and her paws grew to the size of Alonso’s head. She reached out with her claws, swiping at the girl’s torso. The girl screamed as the kitten tore her like paper, the pieces of her floating off as her scream echoed.

Alonso shouted in relief, and he wrapped his arms around the now-large animal that had saved his life. But the ground shook, and other ghosts started to appear—and they all had white eyes.

The animal snarled at them, and fear held the ghosts back for a split second. Alonso took the opportunity. With the animal held tightly against his chest, he ran at “top speed,” following the thread that connected the animal to its tiny, lifeless body.

Thunder rumbled inside him again, and then he felt rain. When he opened his eyes, he was back at Elkie Lake.HisElkie Lake.

And in front of him, the kitten was purring.

He gasped and scooped her up in his arms. “Hi,” he said, burying his face in her fur. She dug her claws into his skin in affection.

Magic buzzed in Alonso’s veins. His family wanted their magic back more than they wanted anything else in the world. If Alonso could use his, they would be happy. Hopeful. Alonso could see his mother’s face already; she would be so proud of him. Alonso knew he wasn’t easy to be around. He could feel it in the way people treated him, like he was delicate. But if he had magic, his mom wouldwantto spend time with him. She would teach him how to use his powers.

Then Alonso remembered the stories about his grandfather Giovanni. The man who had used his power to kill people, including Corey Barrion’s mother a few months ago. His mom and aunts always lowered their voices when they talked about Grandpa Gio, as if they weren’t supposed to speak his name, or love him, or even remember him.

They were ashamed.

Alonso clutched the kitten tighter to his chest. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. If he had this power, could he control it? Or would he end up like his grandfather—making enemies and hurting people until he couldn’t live with himself anymore?

In the future, Alonso would use strategically vague questions to get stories from his mom and aunts about necromancy—one of the most dangerous classes of forbidden magic. He would learn there were no known success stories. Instead, any witches who tried to resurrect the dead were possessed by poltergeists—white-eyed spirits like the young girl Alonso had encountered, ghosts who weren’t able to cross over and grew powerful from their resentment of the living. Poltergeists keep their memories but lose all empathy, and whenever they get the chance to cross through the Veil, they wreak havoc on mortals and witches alike until their hosts are killed. Alonso had only escaped thanks to the kitten, and he swore to himself he would never cross the Veil again.

But that day in the woods, Alonso hadn’t realized how close he’d come to dying. He just held the kitten to his chest and decided he didn’t want anything to do with his newfound magic.

“I’ll call you Nimble,” Alonso told the kitten. He’d learned that word from his classmate Penny Emberly. They’d done a project in language arts that required them to research the roots of words, and Penny had chosennimble. When she used it in an example sentence, she’d said, “A cat is very nimble because it always lands on its feet.”

The kitten purred in approval. Then her ears twitched, and Alonso heard it, too: a snapped twig, the crinkle of leaves.

Alonso whipped around, holding the kitten to his chest. “Who’sthere?” he called, afraid it was his mother or aunts. If they knew about his magic, they’d want him to use it. And what if he lost control?

But there was nobody in the woods. There was only silence. Nobody had seen him bring the kitten back to life. It would be their secret.

Or so Alonso had thought.

Corey

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