Ember grabbed two beers from the fridge and popped the tops before returning to her seat. She took a long pull from her bottle and slid mine toward me. The icy bubbles loosened the thickness in my throat, but they did nothing to quell the sense of impending doom churning in my gut. Chaos hadn’t said a word, which was a very, very bad sign.
“‘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.’”
My eyes blinked rapidly of their own accord. I took another swig of beer, but it barely made it past my throat.
Ember continued, “‘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.’”
“Wait. What?” No way would I murder the coven. I loved our coven and most of the people in it. “That can’t be right.”
Ember gave me a sympathetic look and read some more. “‘I know it’s hard to believe, but mom showed me the curse. It was in the dark grimoire in the safe.’”
I shot to my feet. “This can’t be happening. I need to see it for myself.”
“Hold on.” Ember grabbed my wrist and tugged me back into my seat. “You need to hear the rest of this first. ‘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.’”
Holy mother of magic and mayhem. What the actual eff? “I’ve got a demon inside me. Chaos, are you the reason I’m supposedly going to murder my coven? Are you going to force me to do it?”
Five seconds passed before he responded. “You have my word that I will not force you to murder your coven. The only person in danger from this possession is you.”
“What about after? When you take over completely?”
“I thought the plan was to find my skull so that won’t happen.”
“But if we don’t?” My voice trembled, hysteria edging my words.
“If we don’t, no more harm will come to your coven. I promise.”
That should have relieved me a little, but it didn’t. “He says it won’t be because of him. What else did Cinder say?”
“‘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.’”
I opened my mouth to speak, but whatever words I thought I had to say got stuck in my throat. The page of sigils that had fallen out of my book. I had possessed myself with the same demon who cursed my bloodline.
“Chaos…” I said, my jaw clenched.
Silence answered me.
“There’s more,” Ember said. “‘The one 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.’”
“Chaos!” I shouted, and Ember jumped. “Is this true? Did you curse my family?”
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. “My brothers and I let the witch use our power, yes.”
“But you said if I went insane, it wouldn’t be because of you. Liar.” My hands curled into tight fists, and my heart rate kicked into a sprint.
“No, you said it wouldn’t be because of me. I said I wouldn’t murder your coven or make you do it while in possession.”
I crossed my arms. “Lying by omission is still lying.”
“I’m a demon.” I could almost see his nonchalant shrug.
“That’s no excuse, mister.” I jabbed my finger forward as if he were in front of me. “You have to fix this. I can’t murder my entire coven.”
My sister arched a brow. “Are you done?”
“Not yet. Did you know about this all along, demon boy?” I fumed. How could he betray me like this?
“I have known since you told me you were a Holland and the youngest of three.”
I sucked in a breath to berate him more, but he continued, “If you want to save your coven, you have two options. Find our skulls and release us. We will be in your debt, and I will try to convince my brothers to release you from the curse in exchange for our freedom.”
Sure. That sounded like an easy task. Not. “And option two?”
“Allow me to take over. Give your life to me, cease to exist. Without you, your coven is safe…until the next third-born daughter arises.”
I told Ember what he said.
“Let me guess,” she scoffed. “He suggests the second option.”
“While that would be the easier of the two, my brother would still be imprisoned, and you would no longer exist. The world is a better place with you in it.”
“Is that so?” I rolled my eyes. “He votes for option one. Release him and his brothers, break the curse, and we can all be done with each other for good.”
“I didn’t say…”
