Grim Lovelies (Grim Lovelies 1)

She stepped back. Looked at the scattered magical objects at her feet—?anything to avoid looking at Beau. Jars of herbs. Scraps of paper with long-forgotten spells. Gold coins. Priceless objects that now belonged to them.

Luc touched her shoulder. “Can you forgive me, Anouk?”

She drew in a breath. “I understand why you did what you did.” She paused and then blurted out, “At least you’re here now. You can fix this entire mess.”

She waited for Luc’s confident grin. That knowing wink.

He held out his hands, shaking his head. “I can barely stand, dust bunny. I’ve been gone. I can’t fix anything.”

“But you always know what to do,” Anouk insisted.

Then she saw that Cricket and Beau and Tenpenny were now looking at her the same way she had once looked at Luc. When had she become the one everyone turned to for guidance?

A flicker of hope started to return. She swallowed. “There’s nothing wrong with a little dust,” she said, blowing a streak of it off Luc’s thumb.

Outside the crypt, the dance party had dwindled to a core group of revelers; the rest of the Goblin horde were asleep on the catacomb floor using skulls for pillows. It felt cold—?too cold.

Where was Viggo? Ever since she’d cast the love spell, he had been practically glued to her side.

The smile fell off her lips.

“Where are Viggo and Hunter Black?” she asked sharply.

“Um, about that.” Beau looked even more uncomfortable. “I was so sick of that love spell that I had December break it. I didn’t think we needed Viggo’s help anymore.”

“Love spell?” Luc asked, bewildered, and then he raised his eyebrows doubtfully. “Viggo?”

“I have so much gossip to tell you,” Cricket said.

“If the spell is broken, then Viggo isn’t loyal to us anymore,” Anouk said. “He’ll go straight to the Royals and tell them that we’re here in the catacombs.”

“I’ll find the prick,” Cricket offered, producing a blade.

“We don’t have time. They could be anywhere in Paris by now. We have to change our plan.”

“To what? We were short on options to start with.”

A paper fluttered to the floor and landed amid the detritus. The beastie spell. Anouk knelt down, smoothed it out, and then flipped it over and sniffed. Once more she smelled that familiar odor of onion and lemon, only now, with Luc back, she remembered where she knew it from: the secret messages she and Luc used to write to each other in invisible ink and slide beneath each other’s doors.

She met his eyes and smiled.

She dug a match out of her pocket, whispered a flame to life, and held it a careful distance below the spell. Luc might not be able to solve their problems for them anymore, but he had given her an idea.

“There’s always another way,” she said, “if you’re desperate enough.”

Chapter 33

Twenty-Two Hours of (New) Enchantment Remain

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She blew out the candle flame.

“Look at this.” She showed them the back of the beastie spell. “Rennar didn’t only write a spell to turn animals into humans. There’s a second spell here, written in an invisible solution of cepa de apa, lemon, and diluted blood. I knew I recognized that smell.” She shared a knowing look with Luc. “The words are revealed when exposed to fire. It’s a contra-beastie spell that can turn humans to animals.”

Tenpenny peered over her shoulder at spell. “It’s surprisingly elegant. Rennar does have a way with words, doesn’t he? That handsome devil . . .”

“So you can cast it?”