Page 55 of The Glittering Edge

Penny doesn’t have to ask what day he means. She fiddles with a loose thread on the hem of her skirt. “Because I found the cat.”

Alonso’s jaw drops. “Youfound her?”

“She was in our backyard. We thought she got into a fight with an animal. I was going to bury her in the woods.” Penny can still see the kitten’s dead eyes.

Alonso drums his fingers on the steering wheel. “Her name is Nimble. She’s my familiar now.”

“Your familiar? Like a guardian?”

“Yeah. She’ll live a lot longer than the average cat, or the average human, which is cool. And sometimes she just… shows up. She has an Alonso beacon.”

“That’s incredible,” Penny says.

“And annoying.”

Penny swallows. “So you can bring dead things back to life.”

Alonso’s smile falls. He shifts his body so that he’s facing her—his fighting stance, Penny is learning. “I broughtherback to life. That’s it. It wasn’t even on purpose.”

“But can’t you do the same thing for people?”

“No,” Alonso says immediately.

Penny’s heart drops. “But why not? We don’t know if we’ll be able to break the curse. If we can’t, I thought maybe you could—you know.”

Alonso squeezes the bridge of his nose. “When I brought Nimble back to life, I had to cross the Veil. That left a channel open to my body.” He leans closer. “Did you know poltergeists are real? They all hang out across the Veil, dreaming of the day they can hop into a living body again.”

“Which means…” Penny remembers the episode ofAmityville Highwhen a ghost took over Olivia’s body, and François had to use his poltergeist powers to banish it. “You could be possessed?”

“Exactly. And then I would’ve been stuck across the Veil with someone else piloting my corpse.”

Penny gasps. “Then you would’ve died?”

“Worse. Poltergeists are ghosts with grudges that keep them in the Second World forever. They’ve been reduced to bundles of powerful energy, and they spend all their time thinking about getting back to our world to get revenge on the living. There are way too many instances of poltergeists possessing witches and creating large-scale disasters. My mom made me read all about it… the start of World War I, a whole bunch of massacres across different countries, and even some of the most effective witch hunts in history were triggered bypoltergeists possessing witches and fucking everything up. If I wasn’t a stupid kid when I found Nimble, I never would’ve brought her back. Who knows what could’ve happened.”

Alonso looks out the window, a vein throbbing at his temple. Penny tries to picture what would happen if the wrong kind of spirit possessed him—and got access to his magic.

“Your family could get hurt?” she says.

“Everyone in Idlewood could get hurt.” He looks at her. “Including you.”

Penny laughs. “Yeah, tragic.”

“Don’t even say that,” Alonso says, looking down at his hands. “I already cause enough problems. Don’t need to add ‘vessel for an evil spirit’ to that list.”

Penny clears her throat. “Sorry I asked.”

“It’s fine. But I’m not crossing the Veil again. Ever.”

They fall silent. Penny’s window is down, and a breeze rustles a necklace hanging from the rearview mirror. It’s a small silver charm, and in the center there’s a metal braid ending in three points. She wants to ask what it’s for, but she’s done enough damage for one day.

“Thanks for the ride,” Penny says, opening the door.

“Hey,” Alonso says, and Penny turns back to him. “I’m going to try my best. That’s all I can do.”

Penny nods. “At least we have the ward.”

Alonso’s brow furrows. “What ward?”

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