Page 53 of House of Hearts
There’s no spindle prick on his finger, but Percy lies in wait anyway. If he’s hoping for true love’s kiss from Emoree, he’ll be waiting forever.
Birdie shares a fleeting horrified look with me. “How is that possible? It’s been”—she counts on her fingers—“ten months. Youdon’t sleep for ten months without…some sort of assistance, right, Violet? I’ve seen your grades. You know more about this than I do.”
All I can do is shake my head. “It’s not possible, but…is anything at this point?”
“Percy! PERCY!” Calvin digs his nails into his brother’s shoulders and shakes, but no amount of pleading wakes Percy up. There’s not a flutter of a lash or a wrinkle of his nose. Percy lies frozen, miraculously immortalized as if by divine intervention.
“Why was he in here?” Calvin asks. The question splinters in his throat, and the last word gnashes through his teeth. “Why the hell did he lock himself here? In this goddamn tomb?”
He stumbles away from his brother’s body and pounds a fist on Anastasia’s casket. “Why him?” he seethes, tears freely streaming now. They spill messily down his cheeks and drip off the bridge of his nose to the floor. “Why any of us? A broken heart isn’t worth this. Fuck!”
He’s not the only one crying. Sadie’s eyes swim with fresh tears, and her expression breaks into a silent outburst. I don’t miss the way Birdie’s hand instantly finds her shoulder and the wide-eyed stare Sadie gives her in return before leaning into her touch.
Meanwhile, Calvin’s slumped to the floor, and from a cursory glance in his direction, it looks like he’s attempting to enter a coma of his own. He stares vacantly at the ground and pitches forward. His expression is blank for several minutes before his gaze wanders back to his brother and the dam breaks, his emotions getting the best of him once again.
I don’t lie and tell him it will be okay. Nothing about this is remotely okay.
Instead I focus on what I can do. My mind’s already rolling out the blackboard and the stub of chalk, ready to go. I’ve never been good at feelings, but I’m the best at stripping a scenario down into logical parts.
Part #1: location. If you think about it, this is actually a pretty good hiding spot. We’ve got multiple barriers in play here—right now, Percy is not only hidden beneath a trapdoor, but also inside a closed tomb within the confines of a locked hedge maze. That makes him about as far away from Emoree as he can be. It also makes sense for him to want to be in Anastasia’s tomb since she’s the one who started the curse in the first place. Part #2: Percy himself. He might look peacefully asleep, but his hair and uniform are disheveled and mud-splattered. Streaked like he ran desperately through the maze in the rain, was caught by stray branches. The stitching on his blazer is frayed and loose, partially concealed by the cross strap of his brown leather satchel.
“I…I want to check something, if that’s okay,” I say before lowering to my knees and leaning to undo the top clasps of his bag. I peer into the canvas-lined interior before gently lifting it up and rummaging through it. There’s a small journal tucked into one of the pockets, and upon further inspection, I recognize the handwriting as Anastasia’s.
“Holy shit,” I whisper, and I wildly flail my hand at the group to get their attention. “It’s a diary.”
I blink down at the pages, shifting between Anastasia’s diary and her two living, breathing descendants next to me. Calvin’s eyes flicker to mine, and I’m quick to look away. We scour through each entry before lingering on the last page. It’s a hastily scrawled letter that had originally been ripped out before being shoved back into the book:
Dearest Diary,
I fear this shall be my final entry.
My wretched sister is probably with Oleander now,laughing over her devious plot to steal him away from me. What a fool I’ve been! I let her trample over my emotions and make a mockery of my heart. How could I have been so naive to their secret trysts?
If they wish to wed, so be it. Let the families come pouring in to offer them good tidings and blessings, but I shan’t be here to celebrate.
I have already ripped this infernal locket from my throat. My mother gifted these necklaces to me and my sister when we were young. She said they represented our sisterhood, a stronger bond than all else. It was supposed to forge a timeless connection between the two of us, but I intend to take mine to the grave.
Yours eternally,
Anastasia
Beyond that page, another ripped piece of parchment slips out from the back cover. It’s identical to the pages of the grimoire the Cards found, folded several times over and torn violently at the edges. The spell is transcribed in the margins in Emoree’s handwriting. She might not have been a master cryptographer, but most of our childhood was spent creating secret languages together. Even the letter she sent about Percy had been coded. I grip the page tighter and read the translation under my breath. It might only be four lines long, but it knocks the wind out of me all the same.
In this labyrinth of hedge and thorn
My heart is broken, my grief is born
Eithereternalsleep of eldest prior,
Or true love’s heart I do require
“Sleep of eldest prior,” I whisper, the puzzle pieces clicking together. I bolt to my feet and pace several steps back. “That’s what Em meant by Percy being in between. It’s like some magical coma he put himself in. A loophole where he wouldn’t have to follow through with the curse and cut out Em’s heart.”
Calvin goes perfectly still. “If only she knew that she would still die anyway.”
I chew my lip. “I still don’t understand that part.” My voice wobbles. “To be honest, I don’t understand most of this. When I came to this school, I…I figured it would all be cut-and-dried. One of you had killed her. I would expose you to the police. It would’ve made sense, and there wouldn’t be ghosts or curses or dead girls with vendettas.”
Calvin doesn’t say anything to that for a long moment. He’s too mesmerized by the sight of his brother and the steady rise and fall of his chest with every breath. I search through the satchel for anything more and find Percy’s phone. It’s the only other clue left behind, but of course it’s dead.
