Page 23 of Edge of Wonder

Unease made the back of my neck prickle, and the familiar feeling of being watched invaded my senses. It was the same feeling I’d had in the alley outside of Warren’s shop.

Almost as if I wasn’t alone.

“Who’s there?” I shouted, my voice echoing in the stone chamber.

The stairs creaked. Instinctively, I placed myself between the half-open door and Alice’s coffin. My hand rested on a dagger sheathed at my waist.

“Show yourself!”

I listened for approaching footsteps, but the only sound was my adrenaline-charged breathing. The flickering shadows played tricks with my mind until I was certain something evil lurked on the other side of the tunnel.

With a bang, the crypt’s door slammed against the wall. Air swirled around the room, kicking up dead leaves and shaking the vines. A crack of thunder sounded, followed by a beam of white light that illuminated a figure standing in the doorway. The woman’s hands were fisted on her hips. Her dark hair blew in the whirlwind and a long black cloak whipped around her ankles.

As quickly as it rose, the tempest subsided, and the woman’s cloak settled along with the flying debris.

“Blasted storm spell!” she cursed, ripping away the decaying leaves that clung to her sleeves. A vine had lodged itself in her hair, and she plucked it out, then flung it to the floor. “So much for a clean entrance. Less wind next time, huh?” Throwing back her shoulders, she curled her lips into a devious grin. “Sebastian Ward, you’re a hard man to track down. Unlucky for you, I’m persistent.”

A tight smile strained my face as I released the grip on my dagger. “Aunt Tessa, what a surprise. You didn’t get the letter containing my current address? How strange. The carrier pigeon must have dropped it.”

“Very funny.” Tessa stalked into the crypt. Her gaze landed on the glass coffin. “Now isn’t the time for jokes or a family reunion. Not with a dead girl lying between us.”

“Her name’s Alice.”

“I know her name, Sebastian. I’m the one who killed her.”

I scoffed as more of the puzzle pieces fell into place. “I knew you were involved the second I saw your card. Was your box of clues necessary?”

Tessa shrugged. “Just a few breadcrumbs in case you needed help finding her. You’ve been gone a long time.”

“I could still leave.” I glanced toward the door, but my feet were rooted to the ground, calling my bluff. “What are you going to do, kill me too?”

“Don’t tempt me.” Tessa waved her hand, forcing a gust of wind to slam the door closed. “You’ve had your fun, and now you’re not leaving until you do your job. I might have killed her, but you’re going to bring her back.”

Sarcasm drenched my tone. “You can’t be serious. Reviving the dead isn’t an option. The magic involved is lethal to the spellcaster. It’s trading one life for another. A witch should know that.”

Tessa rolled her eyes as if my well-documented facts were ridiculous. “I know all about it. That’s why I made it easier for you. The spell I cast only made her deadadjacent. It’s quite genius if you ask me. Bringing her back will hurt—probably a lot, and it’s gonna leave a mark—but it won’t kill you.”

“Some spell! I suppose Alice coming back as a ghost was a happy coincidence?”

“Wait. What?” Tessa flinched.

She doesn’t know.

My aunt couldn’t see ghosts and had no way of knowing what her spell had done. How ironic. My hands weren’t the only ones dirty when it came to this girl. I’d ditched her, and my mother and her friend killed her. We were a life-ruining trifecta.

“I guess your perfect spell wasn’t so perfect after all.”

Tessa whirled toward me, kicking up her cloak a second time. “Alice is here?” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “As a ghost?”

“Yes, Alice is a ghost. But seeing as she’s no longer bound to me, she’s currently trapped inside the cottage.”

Tessa raised an eyebrow at my admission, then cringed. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to remain in stasis, not come back as a ghost. I knew I shouldn’t have bought those ingredients secondhand. You try to save a coin and everything goes haywire.” She rubbed a hand over her face in frustration. “No. This is your fault. You left her here to rot. You left all of us. If you hadn’t run off, this wouldn’t have gone on for as long as it has.”

“I didn’t know she was here! Thanks to you and my mother, I’ve been steering clear of magical towers for a decade! The two of you lied to me. I thought I was helping some random ghost with no past, who had the unfortunate luck to be named Alice.”

“Would it have made a difference if you’d known?”

My teeth ground together. “Yes. I would have moved on to the next job without looking back.”

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