This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2)(4)

“We have a full cycle of the moon to do whatever it is we’re gonna do,” I said. “That’s what Hecate said.”

Persephone huffed and looked away. “A catch. Why does everything have to be so complicated? That’s simply not enough time.”

I felt like I was falling back into hopelessness again. Marie moved to my side and sat on the arm of the couch. She gently touched my shoulder.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” said Circe, standing up.

Mo sat up straight, glancing back and forth between Marie and Circe. “Y’all know each other?”

“Surprised?” Marie asked, avoiding Mo’s question as she kept her gaze locked on Circe. “Why?”

“I don’t know what you’ve shared with everyone else, but let’s not act like you haven’t been wrecked by this place, too,” Circe said. “I thought when you got a chance, you’d have run as far away from here as you could.”

“Not everything here is terrible,” Marie said. She glanced at me and smiled warmly. It made me feel something other than grief for just a split second, and I was thankful for that. I rested my head against her.

Circe glanced at me and then Marie and then me again before returning to her seat on the couch.

“Marie. What are you—” Persephone began, but Circe cut her off.

“Just stop,” Circe said. “We have questions. I’m sure you all have more questions too, but I’ve been awake for almost two days. I can barely keep my eyes open.” She turned to me. “Can you give me a few hours to rest?”

I wanted to say no. We didn’t have time to sleep. We needed to find out where the last piece of the Heart was so we could get Mom back.

Circe seemed to sense my hesitation. “You look like you could use some rest, too,” she said.

“I don’t think I could sleep if I wanted to,” I said. “Not after everything that just happened.” Karter’s blood—spilled as Hecate’s dog gripped his shin in its mouth—was probably still damp on the broken floor of the apothecary. The oleander leaves were probably beginning to curl. I wanted to throw up.

“I understand,” Circe said. “More than you can possibly know.” She took off her glasses and wiped her eyes, then replaced them and turned to Mo. “I can make sure sleep finds you. Just sleep. No dreams. Just rest. I can offer you that, if you’ll allow it.”

Mo wept silently. “Please,” she said. If she wanted a break from the agony, she should be able to have it. It wasn’t going anywhere. It was so raw, like an exposed nerve, and every brush against it sent us reeling.

I clung to Mo, with Marie, Nyx, and Persephone trailing behind. We led a procession of tears and shattered hearts down the hall into what was left of the apothecary.

Inside, Circe looked around but said nothing. Mo didn’t look at the spot on the floor where Mom had died, but I couldn’t look away. The oleander lay scattered around where she fell. An ache coiled itself around my chest so tight it took my breath away.

Circe touched the splintered remains of the ladder. Several of the rungs had been split right down the middle, and the entire thing was off its track. “Persephone, would you please get me the belladonna?”

Persephone nodded, planted her foot, and leaped to the small walkway that circled the top of the room, landing with a soft thud.

Mo grabbed my arm and yanked me behind her.

Circe pushed her glasses up. “Sorry. I should have said something.”

“So say it!” Mo yelped. “How did she do that? What is happening?”

“It’s the Heart,” I said, trying my hardest to calm her but remembering how jarring it had been to see Marie use her power for the first time. I’d almost jumped from a moving vehicle after the incident in the cemetery. “The Heart changes them.”

Mo’s eyes grew wide. “Them?”

I had to be honest with her. “Persephone and Marie.” I glanced at Circe, who nodded. “They’ve both been changed by the Living Elixir made from other pieces of the Heart.”

“ ‘Changed’ means what exactly?” Mo asked.

“They’re stronger, faster, more … resilient than they were before,” Circe said.

Resilient. I guess that was one way to describe immortality.

“Like—like superheroes?” Mo asked.

“I’m definitely a villain,” Marie said.

She was trying to lighten the mood, but Mo looked like she was gonna pass out.

Marie grimaced. “I’m joking. I’m not a bad guy, Mo. Promise.”

Mo didn’t say anything, and I was a little worried she was in some kind of shock. I didn’t know Persephone’s backstory, and Marie’s was gonna require more than just a passing mention. But we didn’t have time for that.

I patted Mo’s arm. “It’s okay.”

“Definitely not okay,” she muttered under her breath.

Persephone slid open the small door hiding the shelves stocked with the dried pieces of the deadliest plants in the garden, removed one of the jars, and hopped down as easily as she’d gone up. She tossed the jar to Circe, who set it on the disjointed remains of the counter.

“Need some hot water,” Circe said.

Persephone disappeared down the hall in the direction of the kitchen.