Page 66 of Monsters in Love

I lean back and run my hands across my face. Time is the one thing I’ve always had on my side. Now my future looks bleaker than ever.

Anya purses her lips and glances around the room. “You said you’re familiar with these books, right?”

I nod. “Most of them. I haven’t read them all, but I have a good idea of most of what’s here. Of course, that doesn’t count the books in the attic.”

Her blue eyes widen. “There are more books?”

“Yes. Several trunksful, in fact. I haven’t gotten to them yet, since they’re in storage.”

“All right. That complicates things a little bit, but I’m not ready to give up.”

“I don’t think we have much hope,” I point out.

She grins. “Oh, Luc, there’s always hope.”

“Don’t call me Luc,” I grumble, but she just laughs.

“Don’t worry, Luc. I have an idea.”

ANNIE

“Here’s my proposal,” I tell him.

He sighs, like he always does when I speak, but nods. “Yes?”

“Let’s help each other with our problems. You help me look for a way to alter the spell

Celeste cast. And I’ll try to help you break the curse and get home.”

“You think you can find something in these books that I cannot?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. But you have knowledge of the library and I know about spellcraft. As a witch, there could be things in the books that stand out to me, things you might not have noticed. And your familiarity with the books might help us find something on…I don’t even know what to call it. Bank spells? Mortgage magic? Or like…anything that could help us save the house.”

He’s quiet for a moment, apparently considering my idea. But then he must come to the same conclusion I did—what choice do we really have?—and nods in that annoying stoic way of his.

“Very well. We shall work together.”

“Good.” I stick out a hand and he reluctantly shakes it.

“However,” he says. “If we succeed in saving the manor, I will still protest your plans.”

“If we find a way to break the spell Mary put on you, will it really matter? Won’t you leave? Why would you care what I do if you’re back in France?”

He considers that. “Perhaps we should make a second bargain. We will focus on saving the manor first. And once that is achieved, you agree not to open it to strangers until after my curse has been broken.”

I nod. That seems fair. “Agreed. Is there anything else you can tell me about the curse? Any details at all? Who knows what might be important.”

He rubs a hand absently over his chest. “I do not know the name of the spell she used. Only that she stole my heartstone.”

I look at him curiously. “What’s a heartstone?”

“It is…a part of me. My equivalent of a heart, you could say, but more than that. Also my soul, I guess you could say? Without it, I am incomplete. After she took it from me, Mary hid it somewhere, but I have searched the manor a hundred times and never found it. It must be here; it is the thing that physically connects me to Mabon Manor. But I cannot find it. In order to break the curse, we need both the correct spell and the heartstone, not to mention Alice’s forgiveness. It must be returned to me before I can leave.”

I think about that. “You know, the spell may not be the important factor here. It’s hard to say for sure, but any general disenchantment might suffice. The heartstone might be the key to all this.”

“You don’t think there’s a specific spell we need to find?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe. But if the spell were difficult to break, I don’t know why Mary would have gone to the trouble of hiding your heartstone so well. It seems to me she took that precaution because the curse itself might be a simple one.”

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