1
CINDER
Two months ago
Dear Ash,
If you’re reading this, I never made it back.
I know you planned to organize the library in Dad’s absence, so I hid your favorite sigil book next to this journal in hopes that you’d find it should I go missing too. I really did leave in search of our parents. I didn’t lie about that, but there are other things you need to know. You and Ember.
Our parents lied to you about the curse. They lied to us all. Every High Priestess that came before Mom lied too. You aren’t the miracle baby she made you out to be. There’s a reason why you’re the only third daughter to survive.
Mom didn’t have the heart to kill you.
The curse wasn’t that every third daughter of the High Priestess would die in infancy. It was that she would go insane and murder everyone in the coven.
I know it’s hard to believe, but Mom showed me the curse. It was in the dark grimoire in the safe.
The dirty secret of our coven is that if the High Priestess has a third daughter, she murders her. It has happened several times over the centuries, and the knowledge about the real curse is passed orally from the High Priestess to her oldest daughter. That’s why I now know.
Mom has been searching for a way to break the curse since you were born. She was certain she’d figured out how to end it for good without harming you. The witch who hexed us harnessed the power of three demons, and only three demons can break the curse.
Mom and Dad went into the woods to summon one. They cut a deal with him. I overheard them talking about it. They promised their souls in exchange for him delivering the fiends responsible. The demon required the grimoire, so they took it back to the woods, but the one they bargained with was a trickster. He took the book and our parents, but not before I tore out the page identifying the only demons who could break the curse. The ones who created it.
The witch who cursed us moved to Boston and joined the Magic Society there. I broke into their library, and that’s where I discovered what she had done. She had promised her own soul and her firstborn’s in exchange for the power, but she never planned to hold up her end of the deal.
She vanquished the three demon brothers but hid their skulls. Without their bodies intact, they can’t reform in Hell. They’re trapped in a dark prison and never got to collect her soul. The only way to break the curse is for us to release them. They are the only ones who can help.
I’ve located Discord’s skull, and I’m going to release him. I’ll convince him to take me into Hell so I can find Mom and Dad. I hope to bring them back right away, so you never have to read this, but if I don’t return, you have to release the other two. We can end this. I know we can.
Love, Cinder
My hand shook as I scrawled my name at the bottom of the page. Every word I’d written was true, but I never dreamed I’d have to write it down. To not only drag the morbid skeletons from my family’s closet and dance with them, but to record the evidence for anyone’s prying eyes to see.
That’s why I planned to hide the journal where only Ash could find it. If anyone else discovered what my ancestors had been doing all these years—what Ash was destined to do if we didn’t stop the curse—they’d destroy us. They’d have no other choice.
“Hey.” Chrys knocked on my open door, making me jump. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?” I forced a smile and slipped the journal into my nightstand drawer before sliding it closed and resting my hand on the surface.
“I texted you twice and called when you didn’t reply.” She stepped into my bedroom and leaned against the doorjamb, tucking her jet-black hair behind her ear. She wore black jeans and a midnight blue sweater that made her eyes pop.
“We’re supposed to see a band tonight, remember?” She raised her brows, a sly smile pulling up one corner of her mouth. “Patrice is going to introduce me to the bass player.”
“Right. I’m supposed to play wing woman. Sorry, my phone must be on vibrate.” I drummed my fingers on the nightstand, contemplating how much to tell her. Chrys was my closest friend. She knew me better than anyone, and I could tell by the look on her face that she knew something was wrong.
“It might be good to get your mind off things.” She sank onto the bed next to me and bumped my shoulder with hers. “Take a break from your worries.”
I sighed, tilting my head toward the ceiling. “I can’t tonight. I… I’m going away for a while.”
She shifted her weight, curling her right leg beneath her left and angling toward me. “Your parents again?”
I nodded. “I found another lead.”
“Are you leaving tonight? I’ll go with you.” She tugged her phone from her back pocket. “I’ll just let Patrice?—”
“No.” I shot to my feet. “You’ve got a bass player ready to finger your strings. Go have fun.”
