Page 49 of The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland
It was stupid, the tiny twist of disappointment Beatrice felt. “Got it, no flying allowed.”
“Think about it like this. We can’t disable the laws of physics, because we’re bound to the system that we all share. We live inside gravity, so we abide by its rules. But we can push and pull at it, at the edges. Ah, here.”
Cordelia turned the book so they could both see. Spidery writing traced down the page, and at the bottom was a snarl of lines that could have been undecipherable letters. “Like I said, this grimoire is where our family has kept our spells for the last two hundred years. Before that, they were passed down orally.This, right here, is a spell for a sick person. It pushes out the illness and pulls in healing, always in equal measure.”
“So why don’t you just heal the dying, then?”
“It’s energy work, so it all has to equal out in the end. Every reaction, and all that. With the right tools, I probably could stop one person from dying, but it would be at the expense of my own life. But Icansiphon off other kinds of energy and push them into my patients, giving them some relief when they need it. Likewise, I can pull out some pain, but it means I have to accept it myself.”
“So, what, you just sign up for extra pain?”
“I get migraines. When I’m in one, it doesn’t really matter if there’s a little extra pain in there.” She laughed. “I’m not a martyr. I’ve got good meds from both my doctorandfrom Maizie Marco, who distills the best cannabis tinctures on the island.”
“So how did the butterfly?” Beatrice put air quotes around the last word.
“Your energy gave it a push, that’s all. It wouldn’t have taken much out of you—you might not have felt it at all, just a small muscle cramp in your calf for a second, maybe—and it’s not like the dish rose into the air, defying gravity altogether, and whizzed in loops around our heads, right? It got pushed, then gravity brought it crashing down.”
“Or your cat knocked it off.”
Cordelia’s smile was gentle. “We don’t have a cat.”
Well, damn. Taking a deep breath, Beatrice said, “So do you have a plan?”
“Absolutely not. I wish I did. But we can go through the book together and I’ll tell you about what’s in it, and maybe together we can come up with something. I think Mom knew something was wrong. She’s a pain in the ass, but she’s powerful. She told me as I left this morning that we’ll be stronger if wework together. Honestly, she wanted to come with me, but I said you might have questions, and that you’re probably not ready for her to answer them yet.”
Cordelia was right, but it didn’t take much intuition to figure that out. “I might never be. I’ve run away, except when I left, I didn’t know I was running, so I’m hoping that my best friend can ship me up some clothes soon. I’m staying here for a while because you and Minna are here, and I’m… curious.” What a lightweight word for the heaviness in her chest. “But Astrid? I have zero interest in her.”
“I feel the same way about Mitchell.”
A ridiculous urge to defend her father rose inside her.He’s a good man. All he cares about is his family. Naya and I were everything to him.
Now he had neither.
But losing his daughter—both his daughters—was entirely his own damn fault.
Beatrice pulled the book toward her. Cordelia said she didn’t have to believe for it to work, and that was a good thing. “So show me some things.”
But they’d gone through only the first two pages (a method of encouraging bees to make more honey, and a ritual for full-moon house cleansing) when her sister’s cell buzzed with a text.
“I’m so sorry.” She tapped something back. “I have to go.”
“A patient?”
“Yeah. I honestly don’t think it’s her time yet, but her husband is scared.” She reached for the book, but Beatrice closed her fingers around the edges.
“Can you… can you leave it with me?”
“Oh, wow. No. I’m sorry, I couldn’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s… precious.”
“And you don’t trust me.”
“It’s not that—it’s just that everything we know is in there.”
“And I know none of it. Please?” The smooth leather warmed under her touch, almost as if it were alive. She wanted more of it, even though deciphering the wobbly script hurt her eyes. “I won’t… do anything with it.”
