Page 79 of The Magic We Made

But that’s exactly what happened. Ash had forgotten everything else except his single-minded search for Emma Bridle.

“Slow down, Ash. It’s not going to make a difference to Emma if we get there in ten minutes or half an hour or even tomorrow—”

“Tomorrow?” Ash finally looks my way, and I’m startled to see that his face, in the bluish glow of the streetlamps beneath which we’re passing, looks almost gray with anxiety... and something else. “If they’ve found the bone, tomorrow might be too late.”

“I thought we just agreed that this bone thing is bogus, so it doesn’t matter when we get there. Besides, Jackie didn’t seem too enthused about sending her people out to an uninhabited island in the dark to rescue someone we don’t even know is in danger—”

What Jackie had actually said to me when I’d called her from back at my mom’s house was,Are you shitting me, Giovanni? It’s Sunday night. Do you really think I’m going to be able to rally a small-townpolice force to go out to a nature preserve and get eaten alive by ticks on a Sunday night? Especially to rescue some witches who are there of their own volition? Not going to happen.

“I hope the bone thing is bogus,” Ash says, turning his face back toward the road. “But that doesn’t mean Emma isn’t in danger.”

“Danger fromwhat?”

“Well, to start with, if Haley does the ceremony correctly, someone over on that island is going to die.”

“Die?”

“Human blood has to flow before the powers of the last witch to possess the bone can be assimilated into a new host—”

“New host?” I’m still clinging to the dashboard, but now I also feel like I’m clinging to my sanity. “What are you talking about? How do you even know any of this?”

He shakes his head. “My grandmother. She’s into this kind of stuff.”

I nod, thinking of my own mother’s belief that sprinkling salt around doorways will ward off evil. “Yeah, okay. But that still doesn’t mean Haley plans onkillinganyone. You told me yourself that you think she’s only doing this to steal money from her followers—”

“Right. But regardless of whether Haley is a grifter or truly a witch, her followersbelieveshe’s the real thing.”

“And?”

“And if they believe she’s the real thing, they’re going to believe the power of the witch’s bone is real, too. And that’s going to make them easier for her to manipulate.”

“I get that.” I watch as the dark shadows of our houses loom into view. We’d left when it was still daylight, and I had forgotten to leave a porch lamp on for myself. Now the only light is fromthe nearly full moon, just rising over the treetops across the lake. “You mean a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“Exactly. So it doesn’t matter if any of this stuff is true. Those girlsthinkit’s true, so they’re going to do anything Haley says.”

Ash has pulled into his driveway and switched off the engine. In the sudden stillness after thePUTTPUTTPUTTsdie out, I can hear the chirping of crickets. They sound extra loud because the cooling temperatures have given them an added sense of urgency.Winter is coming. Everybody find a mate.

Ash turns in his seat to face me. I’ve never seen him look so serious.

“The problem,” he says, “is that if your brother-in-law is right, and those holes he’s been seeing are connected to Haley, that means she got those girls to spend months—the entire summer—searching for that bone. And if she managed to get them to do that, what’s next? According to the ceremony, what’s next is murder.”

“Well, if that’s the case,” I say, “we really do need to wait for Jackie. Just let me call her again. If Haley isthatdangerous—”

“Sheisthat dangerous, and that’s why I can’t wait. Finding Emma and getting her out of there before the ritual begins is my responsibility. Now that I know where she is, I have to go to her.” He’s undoing his seat belt and opening his door. “It would probably be best if you went back to your house. Call Jackie again if you want, but do it from inside, with the door locked. No matter what you hear or see in the next few hours, do not open your door to anyone but me.”

This statement is the opposite of calming.

“Ash.” I hop out of the truck. “This is ridiculous. I’m not leaving you.”

“You have to. I won’t be able to do what I have to if I’m worrying about you—”

“I’m a grown woman who can take care of herself, Ash. Let me help.”

“Not tonight.”

Of all the things I expected him to do next, none of them include what he does, which is lean over, lift me bodily from the ground, and begin carrying me fireman-style toward my house.

“Ash, what are youdoing?” I grunt.