Scarlett didn’t even know how to describe what happened next. Gwen must have lost concentration mid-spell and her magic flooded out of her in a tidal wave and collided head-on with Tiffany and Scarlett’s new spell. The magic slammed together and exploded, blowing everyone and everything in the immediate orbit away.
Before anyone could move, before Scarlett even had the chance to take a breath, the sound of metal bowing rent the air, and the balcony cleaved right off the side of the house; it crashed to the ground with a thunderous clang. Gwen and Harper were thrown to the ground like rag dolls.
Harper died instantly, crushed on impact. Scarlett could still see the blood pooling around her on the concrete patio. Scarlett had raised a shaky hand to stanch the blood, but Tiffany pushed it down.
“Someone will see,” Tiffany hissed, eyes wide and wild.
“We have to help them,” Scarlett said, not caring about appearances, not caring about anything but her injured sisters. She raised her hand once more and began to chant a spell under her breath, but Tiffany pushed it away once more.
“They’re gone,” Tiffany whispered, hugging her friend.
At that moment, a boy checking Gwen’s pulse let out a shout. “She’s still breathing,” he exclaimed.
Gwen was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
Scarlett was stricken and frantic with guilt. She only kept it together for Tiffany; she’d never seen her friend look so shaken. Later that night, before the all-hands house meeting, Tiffany had made a confession of her own. “Scarlett, do you know what Gwen and I were fighting about?” she said. “I found a deer heart and a wicked grimoire in her bedroom. She didn’t want me to tell Sadie, and as much as I don’t like her, I didn’t want to rat out a sister. But she was using evil magic. If Harper hadn’t interrupted her, who knows what Gwen would have done?” Tiffany broke down in tears.
Scarlett felt sick to her stomach and she began to cry too. Her mind was swimming with if-onlys. If only Tiffany had told her about the heart. If only they hadn’t pulled that stupid prank . . . but it was done. They were the most powerful witches in the country, but they couldn’t bring Harper back.
“We screwed up, Scar. We didn’t start this, but we have to stop it. We have to stop Gwen,” Tiffany said.
“Gwen can’t hurt anyone anymore,” Scarlett said, thinking of the unconscious girl getting wheeled away by the paramedics.
“She’s a witch. She’s stronger than me. What do you think she’ll do to us?” Tiffany said.
Scarlett opened her mouth to protest, but Tiffany was trembling, the air around them in the room picking up speed with her emotion. “We can’t tell. And we can’t let her hurt anyone else!”
The window of the room blew shut from the force of her feelings.
Scarlett relented. “We won’t tell. We won’t let her hurt anyone else,” she repeated.
Immediately the wind died down and Tiffany collapsed on her bed, spent.
After the meeting, they’d told Sadie and Dahlia what Tiffany had seen in Gwen’s room, and everything that happened after that went exactly according to plan. The sisters bound Gwen’s powers that very night. The administration had blamed the balcony collapse on faulty construction and spent the summer reinforcing all the balconies on campus. And no one was any the wiser about why Gwen had freaked out and done that spell in the first place.
For two years Scarlett had told herself that it wasn’t her fault. Not really. Gwen was the one who’d lost control. Gwen was the bad witch, the one going down a dangerous path. She and Tiffany had been right to stop her. But deep down, she’d always known what they’d done.
Now she recounted the incident to Vivi in a wooden tone. When she finished, she looked up at her Little. “Don’t you see? We blamed it on Gwen, but it was us. We’re the reason Harper is dead. If we hadn’t played that stupid prank on her . . .”
“Oh, Scarlett.” Vivi looked stricken. “That’s awful. Really awful. But you didn’t kill Harper. You said it yourself—it was supposed to be a harmless prank.”
“But it wasn’t. We told ourselves back then that we were protecting the Ravens from Gwen. But we created this,” Scarlett argued.“If we hadn’t done it, Harper would still be alive. And Gwen . . .”
“And Gwen would still have her powers,” Vivi finished, realization dawning in her eyes. “Do you think she wants them back?”
“Wouldn’t you?” Scarlett said.
“And now she’s on campus again.” Vivi sat back in her chair for a moment, as if to let the news settle.
“And now Tiffany’s been kidnapped,” Scarlett said. “By someone who wants a powerful magical talisman.” She shot Vivi a pointed look. “The kind of item that could probably break an old binding spell . . .”
Vivi let out a low whistle. “Scarlett, I think you need to tell Dahlia the truth. All of it.”
Scarlett shook her head vigorously. She’d thought of that, of the sweet relief of unburdening herself finally. But she couldn’t yet. Not to protect herself, but to protect Tiffany. “She’d kick me out. Strip me of my powers—and I need them more than ever right now.” Scarlett’s breath came faster. “I have to find Tiffany. I have to. She’s my best friend; I can’t just walk away from witchcraft right when she needs me most. It’s my fault. Don’t you get it? Gwen did this to get revenge, and it’s my fault for letting it happen. You have to promise me you won’t tell, Vivi.”
“Hey.” Vivi put a hand on Scarlett’s forearm. “Deep breaths.” She waited for Scarlett to inhale a couple of slow breaths before she spoke again. “Nobody’s taking your magic away, okay? I promise I won’t tell a soul.” She pursed her lips. “What about the Henosis talisman? If we find it, we’ll get Tiffany back.”
Scarlett let out a faint, humorless laugh, struck by the irony that someone to whom she had been so cruel was being so kind to her now. If she was the bad witch of this story, surely Vivi was the good one.
“What is it, Scarlett?”
“The talisman is hopeless. Nobody’s seen it since it vanished from the house decades ago. If it ever existed in the first place.”
“There are all kinds of spells to find lost objects,” Vivi pointed out.
“Spells our foremothers tried, no doubt.” It was at times like this that she longed for Minnie. Minnie knew every bit of witch history, forgotten spells and things that weren’t forgotten but weren’t written down in hopes that they would be forgotten. She wanted Minnie here for another more selfish reason, though. She wanted to talk to her. She wanted her hugs, her cups of mystery tea, and her words—the words that weren’t spells yet did the trick of making her feel better all the same. But Minnie wasn’t here; Vivi was. And they somehow had to figure this out on their own.
Vivi shrugged. “Maybe there’s something they overlooked. We can check the archives, not to mention all the older tomes in the rare-books collection at the library. Didn’t you say the talisman initially belonged to the school?” Vivi caught Scarlett’s gaze and held it. “We’ll find her, Scarlett. Whatever it takes. We’ll find that talisman, and then we’ll use it to bring Tiffany home.”