Page 65 of Witches of Honeysuckle House
Evie’s heart clenched, and tears welled up in her eyes.
“You think I don’t blame myself for that every day?” Evie’s voice cracked. “But it wasn’t my fault, not really. We found ourselves back here when Mom died, too, remember?”
“Because you wanted to make sure she was alive,” Florence said.
Evie crossed her arms. “Is that why you came? To blame me?”
“I came hereforyou. For us. For Clara,” Florence said. “Time’s running out, and my way of trying to stop this curse didn’t work. I was hoping the house could show us—”
Evie cut her short. “At least you admit it.”
“Maybe it would have if you’d listened to me!” Florence said.
Evie shook her head. “Maybe ifyouhad been here, things would be different. But you were so afraid of us getting hurt, you couldn’t see you were the one hurting us.”
Florence reared back as if slapped. “Everything I did was to keep you safe.”
Fear gripped Evie’s chest at the familiarity of her sister’s words. She shook it off, trying not to think about how much Florence looked like their mother, as she took a step forward and pointed directly at Florence. “Everything you did was to keepyousafe so when the curse rolled around,youcouldn’t be blamed for anything going wrong.”
Hurt flash across her sister’s face, and though Evie felt it, too, like a knife twisting in her gut, she stood her ground.
“I tried to come yesterday. I got in the car and almost made it here before I had to pull over because of a panic attack. I did that for you. Because I knew you needed me.”
“Don’t try to act like you’re the only one who came away from our childhood damaged.I’mthe one Mom grabbed by the hair. It started withme.” Evie pointed at herself, driving a finger into her own chest.
“It started long before mom put her hands on you.” Florence steadied herself with one hand on the wall, and Evie wanted to throw her out then and there for trying to find comfort in the place she’d abandoned. “I protected you from that, Evie.Me. And if you think for one second I don’t blame myself for not being there fast enough to stop Mom that day, then you don’t know me at all.”
“Maybe I don’t,” Evie said.
Florence shook her head, and when she spoke, her voice came out so soft it sounded broken. “I thought we could do this together, but I was wrong. I’m not going to let you yell at me when I’m trying to help.” She stepped past Evie toward the hole in the wall.
“Fine!” Evie called after her. “Go. Run away like you always do.”
Florence paused before she turned back to face her. “This time, I’m not running, Evie. You’re pushing me.”
Evie crossed her arms. “Maybe you deserve to be pushed.”
Florence opened her mouth as if to speak, then thought better of it before she slipped through the hole and headed down the spiralstaircase. Evie tried her best to ignore the house creaking its boards and rattling its pipes in protest.
She stepped up to the window and crossed her arms as she watched her sister emerge from the porch below. Florence stalked toward Owen’s truck. Evie turned away from the window and lifted the sledgehammer before she approached the damaged wall.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Honeysuckle House, Now
Honeysuckle House felt the weight of each blow of sledgehammer on plaster. Could a house wince, it would’ve. It had wanted more than anything to stop the sisters from fighting, to enclose all their anger and fear in honeysuckle the way it had protected them when they were children. To wrap them in the soft warmth of a fall fire or a hot cup of tea.
Instead, it had been helpless to intervene. Its magic was out of control, and every ounce of the house’s strength was focused on keeping anyone else from getting hurt.
As Evie tore down the wall the house had so carefully erected thirteen years ago, it tried to hold itself together, to keep her from causing any more damage beyond what Clara’s spell had done. It wanted her out of that room and far away from what her mother had left behind.
Part IXThe Tower
An undoing. A breaking of foundations.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Clara, Now
