Mr. Crowley and Philip had both been lingering in between, and the only way to be certain that they could be together was to make sure they moved forward at the same moment. Neither of them had been grounded in the next phase, and if they failed to cross over together, it was likely that they’d lose one another again before finding their way to what rested beyond this life.
“Time isn’t on our side,” Anne murmured. “We don’t have until the end of the year as we did with the curse. This needs to be sorted out in a matter of weeks, or the situation may slip entirely beyond our control. And we’ll need to try and uncover the rightful owner of Mr. Crowley’s ring while figuring out what can be done for Philip so we’re ready to reunite them when everything falls into place.”
“There’s the shop to consider too,” Beatrix added.
She knew that if Anne neglected the Crescent Moon, the other members of the Council would wonder what was carrying her away from the shop and begin to notice that her focus wasn’t entirely on completing Mr. Crowley’s Task. Then they might realize what she was up to and take matters into their own hands, demanding the ring and finishing the Task themselves before the Quigleys could be certain that Philip wouldn’t be left behind.
“But you have me,” Violet said, reaching forward to pull Anne’s hand into her own. “I can help uncover clues and keep the shop running smoothly so you can focus your effort on putting things to rights.”
“I’m relieved to hear that,” Anne replied. “Because I’m not going to be able to do this on my own.”
“I can help too,” Beatrix added.
Anne drew in a breath then, as if a distinct fragrance had drifted into the room.
“You certainly will,” Anne replied as she considered her sister. “But I think that you must also try to write. I have a feeling that you need to stay on your path for us to set Mr. Crowley and Philip on theirs.”
“Why do you think that?” Beatrix asked curiously.
“Your birthday vision was the sensation of paper crumbling beneath your fingertips,” Anne explained. “And in my vision just now, I could smell aged paper. It must all be connected somehow.”
Beatrix wanted to protest, but when she met Anne’s eyes and saw the sense of certainty that had grown there, she merely sighed and leaned against the back of the settee.
As much as she would have liked a distraction from her own troubles, if Anne thought that she needed to stay focused on her writing to help their friend find the same sense of peace their mother must have felt when she slipped beyond the worries of this life and into the arms of their father, that was what she would do.
“You’re just going to have to trust me,” Anne murmured as she reached forward and gripped Beatrix’s fingers with her free hand. “I do,” Beatrix replied, returning the pressure. She believed in her sister’s intuition, now more than ever.
“Then let’s begin,” Violet declared as she laced her hand through the crook of Beatrix’s arm, drawing the three of them together in a single interconnected knot. “Since we don’t have a moment to waste.”
With that, the house prodded the fire until the flames were roaring, knowing that the Quigley sisters would remain awake in the family parlor long into the evening hours as they discussed how a bargain might be struck with Fate once more.
CHAPTER 7
A Beetle
Signifies unrest and a sense of things moving out of place.
Hours later, when the sisters had said sleepy goodbyes and stepped out of the family parlor to drift toward their beds and the rest that awaited them there, Violet found herself slipping away from the Crescent Moon and into a dream tinged with the scent of caramel apples and sawdust.
Though she’d done her best to keep herself from falling asleep, knowing what visions lurked there, her eyelids had grown heavy, and eventually she’d succumbed to the sensation of losing touch with the soft flannel sheets beneath her fingertips.
She was no longer in the safe and comfortable confines of the house, but climbing to the very top of a wooden platform on the side of the circus ring. A chaos of sparklers and flames was unfolding beneath her, and though she couldn’t see the faces of the onlookers, gasps and cheers of utter delight told her that the rest of the troupe were working their magic on the crowd.
Violet was surprised that she could hear all the excitement in the tent, given how loudly her own heart was beating within her chest. The sound of it seemed to be coming from everywhere, growing louder and louder with every step that she took toward the edge and reverberating against the corners of her dream until the whole scene started to shake.
After a few breaths, Violet realized that she felt just as she always did before allowing her impulses to take over and pull her where they may: nervous about flinging caution to the wind but eager to feel the electric shock that shot straight from the base of her spine all the way to the tips of her fingers whenever she couldn’t predict what might happen next.
She was standing on the precipice of the platform now, so close to the edge that her toes wrapped around the boards, ready to launch her away from safety and into the open air.
But before Violet could take that final step toward the unknown, a voice started to cut through the rhythm of her heartbeat, so faint that she wondered if it was just one of the violins in the flock of musicians below drawing out a fresh chord. She almost shook off the noise and the feeling of hesitation that came along with it, but then a calloused hand gripped her own, gently pulling her away from the edge.
“Wildfire, listen to me,” Emil was saying. His voice, normally so playful and full of mischief, was rougher now, tinged with the weight of worries straining to be heard.
The scent of fireside smoke slipped into Violet’s dream then, causing the tightness in her muscles to relax as she thought of how much stronger the aroma of summer midnight would be if she stepped back and leaned into Emil’s arms.
“We’re ready,” Violet heard herself reply in the same tone she used whenever her mind was already made up. “I know we are!”
Emil shook his head, clearly torn between letting Violet leap off the platform and into the rush of the performance andreminding himself that at least one of them should remain grounded for just a moment longer.
