House Of Ivy And Sorrow Part 6

His eyebrow arches. "Who are you?"

"Dorothea Hemlock, your dear Carmina's mother."

"Oh, I see. So Josephine lives with you, then."

"Yes, indeed." She claps her hands together. "Speaking of, I have to steal Jo from you for a little, and I wanted to ask if you needed anything. Some water? Pudding?"

I put my face in my hand, restraining a groan.

"Water would be great,"

She shakes her head. "Get him some chocolate pudding, too, dear. Chocolate fixes everything."

"Even blindness?" he asks.

Nana lets out a cackle. "I see why Carmina loved you so much. Make sure to get plenty of rest. Your eyes will need it."

After getting some food and water for my dad, I head to the apothecary, where Kat sits in front of a small, round table. On the table rests a pair of pliers, neatly placed in the center of a white doily.

TEN.

I've seen a man give up his ear for enough luck to save his family from foreclosure. I've seen a child sacrifice his sense of taste for three months to keep his dog from going to the pound. And I've seen a woman literally give up her right arm so her baby would live. But it's not the same when I know the person. I'm not sure I can watch Kat go through pain. My stomach turns, and all Nana has done is hand her a bag of ice to get her finger as numb as possible before . . .

I'm so going to lose it.

"Why do we have to do this again?" I ask. "I trust Kat. I don't need a binding spell to know she won't tell."

"It's as much for her protection as it is for ours. Once she is bound, you will know if she's in danger, and she'll know if you are." Nana drapes three necklaces over Kat's head. "These are protection charms to dull the pain, speed healing, and prevent infection. Do not take them off until your nail has grown back."

"Okay." Kat puts a shaky hand to them. "Thank you."

Nana goes back to her desk, reading from the book. "Now, Josephine, you sit across from Katherine. We will use your skin for our part of the deal."

I raise an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

She lets out a frustrated sigh. "This is a contract. We promise to protect her, and in return she promises to protect us as well. A nail to symbolize shielding, and a piece of flesh to represent the bond of protection. A fair trade."

"Of course, should have known," I say. "Where am I cutting and how much?"

Kat gulps. "This is so morbid."

"This is magic. It's not pretty." Nana turns to me, setting down a small pair of gold scissors. "A dime-size piece should do, from wherever you'd like."

"From wherever I'd like? You say it as if I'm excited to mutilate myself." I look over my skin, trying to decide where to cut. Avoiding joints would be smart. It should probably be a place easily covered by clothes, so as not to draw attention. But then again, a good scar is always a conversation starter.

Nana rolls her eyes. "It's hardly a scratch."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get this over with."

She scoots the pliers toward Kat and puts a copper bowl between us. "The offerings go in when I say. Katherine, you will be expected to remove the nail yourself."

She nods, grabbing the pliers.

My mouth goes dry. As lovely as my part is in the spell, I want to trade. I don't want her to do this. I want to knock her out and erase her memory and let her go along her merry way.

"Jo."

I look up at Kat, who's trying to smile. "Remember that time Colby Turner was ragging on me?"

"Yeah." It was in third grade, during the worst of my awkward period. For some reason, my baby teeth stuck around forever, and I'd just lost my first front tooth. So I had this awful poofy hair, a face full of freckles, and a hillbilly gap. Most everyone called me Billy Jo.

Kat was a skeleton back then. Still is. The girl can take down a large pizza on her own, and n.o.body knows where it goes. Colby kept poking her where her spine stuck out when she hunched over. I don't remember what I said to him, but I do remember it was the first time I cursed someone on my own.

I gave up seeing color for a week; he had the runs for a week.

"I learned something that day," Kat says. "Let's face it: Everyone made fun of you, and you know what? I never thought to stand up for you. I don't think Gwen did either. We consoled you after, but we let it happen. And then you . . ." She looks down, seeming ashamed. "You stood up for me. You taught me how friends were supposed to act. So stop freaking out and let me be there for you, too."

I sigh. "Fine."

Nana tousles Kat's short, dark hair. "You darling girl. How come you never bring your friends over, Josephine? They're wonderful."

"Uh, the witch thing?"

"Oh, right." She goes back to her spell book, now propped on a stand. "Ash of the shepherd dog and golden eagle's tears."

It's a very short reagent list, but eagle tears aren't easy to get a hold of. Nana goes to the special cabinet behind her desk-the one with the most valuable and rare items. Then she grabs a bottle of ash from the shelves. She pours a little mound of the ash in the copper bowl, then drips four tears on top. As she holds her hand over the mixture, it liquefies into a silvery pool.

"The flesh to be protected," she whispers.

Before I think too much, I'm cutting at my forearm. It definitely doesn't feel good, but I try not to be a baby about it because it's much easier than Kat's part. Once I have the chunk, I place it in the bowl and it foams. Grabbing a bandage, I wait for the next part in a fit of nausea.

"The shield to protect." Nana eyes Kat. "Do it quickly. Hesitation will only make it hurt more."

Kat sucks in a breath, her tiny frame stretched as tall as it can go. She removes the ice from her left pinky finger and clamps the pliers down. She closes her eyes. Her muscles flex.

That's when I look away.

She screams once, and it's cut short by a gasp of agony. Regardless of being cold and numb, it probably still hurt like h.e.l.l. I look back just in time to see her place the nail in the bowl. Her finger gushes blood, and her hands tremble as she grasps the bandages. Her strained breathing fills the silence as we watch the liquid turn gold.

Nana holds up the bowl. "Drink, and become bound."

I take the bowl and drink. "Huh, tastes like honeysuckle."

"Really?" Kat says.

"Yeah. Go figure."

She takes the bowl from me and sips. "Not bad."

We freeze at the same time, so I figure she feels what I'm feeling. A warm sensation, like sunbathed gra.s.s, tickles at my legs. It fills in every piece of me, bit by bit, and by the time it gets to my head I'm keenly aware of Kat's well-being. Her finger kills, but other than that she's . . . happy. Definitely not in any danger.

She gasps. "Wow, it's like ultra-sensitive intuition."

"Yes." Nana shuts the book. "Almost as strong as blood." I watch her, and all my instincts scream that she's hiding something. Honestly, I don't want to ask. Not now. There's been enough trauma today. Which means, of course . . .

"Time for some pudding!"

ELEVEN.

My father sleeps almost all of the next few days, and we let him, though there is so much we need ask. He's so weak, and I feel bad pushing him more than necessary. Nana says it's okay, since our hunters can't see us anymore.

But this evening, Kat and I help my dad downstairs, and we spend all of dinner talking about magic. They have lots of silly questions like "Why don't you teleport everywhere?" or "Can't you conjure your food?" Most of which can be answered in one way: sometimes the payment isn't worth it. If I teleported everywhere, I'd be freaking bald. We use magic when the benefit outweighs the payment, when it's necessary, and, of course, when others pay us to help them out at their own risk.

"So all of Willow's End has a magical barrier over it?" Kat seems to be having a hard time wrapping her mind around it. "How? What does it do?"

"It warns us if there are any threats to us," I say as I clear plates from the table. "If someone who intends to harm us tries to get in, it blocks them. The head of house is tied to the spell, so she can sense any attempts to breech it."

Nana nods. "Our home works much the same way, but the spells are even stronger. No one can step foot on our land without our permission, if they can find it in the first place. Only the truly desperate can be led here without effort, which is probably why Joseph didn't have any trouble finding the address."

"I was pretty desperate," he admits.

After we clean up, Nana pulls out her best pudding for Joseph-pistachio, b.u.t.terscotch, chocolate peanut b.u.t.ter, devil's food. She orders it through the mail, and every month we get a big box of exotic flavors.

"Isn't that one divine?" Nana sits next to him, seeming way too happy that he's here.

He nods. "I had no idea pudding could be more than a second-rate dessert."

She slaps his arm. "Bite your tongue, young man."

"This is so strange." He searches for his water gla.s.s, and I push it into his hand. "Thanks. It's frightening how much of Carmina I can hear in your voices. I'd always thought she didn't get along with her family, since she refused to introduce me. Never would have guessed it was against the rules."

"Not against the rules, necessarily," Nana says. "You could say it is . . . distasteful. Most of us consider it selfish to risk the lives of those we love."

"No offense, but that's a load of c.r.a.p." He takes a long drink while we stare at him. I'm not sure if I'm offended. At times I totally agree. "If you want to protect something, you keep it close. You don't push it away and hope nothing will happen. I could have been here for her, maybe not as protection, but as support. And it seems like this house is impenetrable, if whatever was in me can't enter."

"It's probably good you can't see Nana's face right now," I say. She looks positively murderous. I didn't make the comment, and I'm cowering.

Nana finishes off her pudding, letting the silence work its dark power.

My phone decides this is the perfect opportunity to ring. I check the window and see it's a text from Winn.

We really need to have an actual date. I smile.

I'm game. Friday?

"Who's that?" my dad asks, since Nana is still fuming.

"Umm . . ." So it turns out no matter how much you know your dad, it's hard to announce that you are in a relationship.

Definitely, Winn replies.

"It was probably Winn, the boy she's dating," Kat says for me.

His eyes widen. "Oh."

"Back to the matter at hand." Nana puts her fingers together, as if she's plotting. "There was a time I would have made you blind for good if you said such things."

My jaw drops. "But-"

She holds up her hand to silence me. "Joseph, now that we've made you welcome and you've healed some, we must discuss the evil that sent you here. I need to ask why you decided after all this time to come here. Every detail you can recall could be important."

He sighs. "I wish I had more information. A letter was sent to my office-that's it. There was no return address, and the handwriting looked like it was done with an old ink pen. Inside, there was a picture of Carmina. On the back there was just *Willow's End, Iowa.' No exact address. But it was enough for me."

"They knew we were here?" I say, shocked. How did they find our town?

"Do you still have the letter?" Nana and I ask at the same time.

"It's with my stuff at the bed-and-breakfast."

Nana looks at me. "Fetch his things after school tomorrow, but don't touch the letter."

"You mean . . . he's staying with us?"

"Can't have him going out there and getting cursed again." She pulls herself up with her cane. "I'm beginning to think some traditions would be better left forgotten, and it seems he wants to stay anyway."

He smiles. "I do."

"Good night, then." Click goes the cane, then a long creak, over and over as she ascends the stairs.

"I better get home, too. My mom has texted me twice. Let me know if you need anything." Kat gives me a hug and leaves, her footsteps echoing down the hall.

"At least you can always hear people coming in this place," my dad says.