Page 24 of Haunting the Deep

Whoa on so many levels, where people call other people “darling.”

“I’m not coming,” Alice says flatly. No wonder Alice doesn’t sugarcoat.

Alice’s mom continues down the hall, and Alice marches straight through a formal sitting room decorated with Victorian furniture. She opens a door at the back of the room and we file through.

Mary hits a light switch controlling two Tiffany floor lamps. The room is upholstered with black fabric from floor to ceiling. Heavy black curtains snuff out any light from the windows, and it smells faintly of the herbs the girls burn in their spells. There’s a black area rug, a desk, and a cozy black couch with a matching love seat and armchair.

I sit.

Susannah plops down next to me. “Did you soundproof this room?”

“Yup,” Alice says. “My parents don’t care. And there are always people in and out of this place. No one can stand to work for my mother for more than a month. I don’t want every new person in my private business.”

“Redd’s room was lined with black fabric, too. You guys are the same brand of suspicious.”

Alice rolls her eyes at me. “There are all kinds of spy spells, genius, and this helps block them.”

“You really think people want to know what we’re talking about?” My question doesn’t hold the oomph I want it to. Salem’s nosy, and everyone pays particular attention to the Descendants.

Mary sprawls out on a love seat with her arm behind her head. “Someone in town started tracking Alice last year. He tried to poison her because we caught on to the scam tour he was running.”

Of course the people I make friends with would be almost as prone to dangerous situations as I am. And who poisons anyone in the twenty-first century? No wonder the Borgias was a dance theme favorite.

Susannah kicks off her shoes and pulls her legs up under her long black skirt. “So what did Redd tell you?”

I lean back into the pillows. “She said that we started something with that spell and now we need to finish it.”

“Started something how? Did you mention the key I found in my bedroom?” Alice asks with an uneasy edge to her voice.

“She wouldn’t give me any details. She said we would know better than she would.”

“Great. Typical cryptic Descendant,” Mary says.

“She also said that the course we’re on would bring death. Possibly mine. She wouldn’t say. And then she shoved me out the door. It sounded like she felt guilty not warning us, but also that she wanted nothing to do with the whole thing.”

“Death,” Susannah breathes, and looks at Alice. “My mom always said Redd was the honest type. She never told you something worked if it didn’t. I think we have to assume she means what she says.”

“Which also makes me think that when Alice’s bones said darkness would be over us and our rest would be a stone, it was most likely ominous,” Mary says.

“Don’t you know all of the Descendants?” I ask.

Alice scratches her shoulder. “We don’t follow around every Descendant in town and put them on a naughty-or-nice list. We’re definitely not all the same. And again, we’re secretive.”

“What she means,” Susannah says, “is that some Descendants form groups, like us. Some go solo, like Redd. Some have no interest in magic. And others become amazingly good. Take our parents, for instance. They never cared about it. The three of us and Lizzie learned spells from our grandmothers. They were friends, just like we are. And it’s not only witches. There are lots of warlocks in Salem as well.”

“So you think Redd was telling the truth?” I ask.

Susannah nods. “From what I know about her.”

“At the very least, if Redd bothered to talk to you, then she thinks whatever we just got ourselves involved in is a big deal.” Alice bites her nail. “When she said we would know better than she would, what were you talking aboutexactly?”

“The spell we did last night. She compared our subtlety to drunk monkeys.”

Susannah leans forward. “But how could a spell to keep spirits away have started something?”

“That’s what I wanted to know,” I say. “And I’ve been playing it over and over in my head. The spell said that spirits should ignore us unless we have ‘tangled lore,’ and the last line was ‘From now on I will only find the spirits whom I need to mind.’ ”

“You think we found a spirit we need to mind?” Mary says with no enthusiasm.