Page 151 of The Glittering Edge

Giovanni De Luca

August 17, 1979

Penny reads it one more time. Then she pulls up Ellie’s obituary, her eyes searching for the date of her death.

August 18.

Ellie died the dayafterGiovanni wrote this blood oath. And Giovanni didn’t die by any magical means—he shot himself. Which means he was telling the truth in this blood oath.

She squeezes the skeleton key to her chest. She was meant to find this. Because this means Giovanni didn’t curse the Barrions—and it changes everything.

Penny tucks Ellie Barrion’s purse under her arm and crawls out of the storage unit. She locks the door and drops the key into the gravel, silently apologizing to Annie Thompson and hoping she finds the key sooner rather than later.

As she makes her way back to the car, Alonso’s words from the night of the gala come back to her.He told me… itwasn’ta curse…

The face of Charles Barrion appears in her mind. The way he threatened Giovanni De Luca. His condescension toward Penny. His self-satisfied air that night at Elkie Lake.

Penny doesn’t know the details, but Corey’s grandfather must’ve had something to do with this. Penny will figure that out later. Right now she needs to talk to Milton Pierre.

As soon as she gets back into her car, Penny dials the number. The phone rings and rings and then goes to voice mail.“Hi, you’ve reached Second World Emporium, your number one source for herbal treasures and antique religiosity. Please leave a message—”

Penny hangs up and calls again. And again. And again. She’s seriously considering a drive to Bloomington when the line clicks to life on the other end.

“Second World Emporium, this is Milton.”

“Milton! This is Penny Emberly. Do you remember me?”

“Penny?” Milton says, and then he lowers his voice. “Hey, hold on, hold on.” There’s some shuffling, and then he says to Penny, with theatrical volume, “Yes, miss, we have witch hazel mixed with lamb’s blood. Which concentration are you interested in?”

Penny doesn’t answer until he clears his throat. “I want… strong. All the lamb’s blood.”

“Cool, yeah, cool. Let me check the back for you.”

Suddenly Penny is listening to jazzy Muzak. After a few seconds, it cuts off, and Milton speaks in his regular voice. “It’s fine, my grandma left. Had to check the stockroom to make sure. Sometimesshe uses the phone in there to listen in on our calls so she can give us ‘performance reviews.’” He sighs. “I’m guessing you heard about the De Lucas. I’m sorry about Alonso’s magic. I really respect what y’all did, and I wish I could’ve—”

“Milton, I have to show you something.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Can I FaceTime you?”

“One sec.”

A few seconds later, Penny’s phone rings with a FaceTime request from an unknown number.

“Did you use magic to get my number?” she asks as soon as Milton’s face appears on the screen.

“Caller ID. Magic straight from the 1990s.”

“Right.” Penny flips the camera. “I just found this.”

After Milton has a chance to read the blood oath, there’s a long, pained silence.

“This is bad,” Milton mutters.

“No, it’s great! It’s…” Then she realizes what he means.

“The whole Council…” Milton sighs. “We punished the wrong people.”

---