The Book of Spells (Private 0.50)

Catherine’s lips twisted up in thought. “What about something he’s touched?”

Eliza immediately thought of the book Harrison had gifted her, but she’d lied to Catherine about its sender. She shoved aside another pang of guilt.

“My glove!” Eliza said, remembering. She turned and yanked open the top drawer of her bureau, then took out the left glove she had worn the night of the dance. “He held my hand when I was wearing this.”

Her skin tingled at the recollection, and she ran her thumb over the palm of the glove.

“Perfect,” Catherine said, snatching it out of her hand. She tied the crystal’s black ribbon around one of the fingers of the glove, then laid the whole thing aside on their dressing table. “Now, you’ll need to dump the pebbles into the water. Concentrate on an image of Harrison as you do so.”

“All right.”

Eliza took the jar of pebbles and removed the lid. Holding the jar over the washbasin, she closed her eyes and concentrated. In her mind’s eye she saw Harrison just as he was on that first day, playing out on the quad with his friends. Then she saw him in the basement of Gwendolyn Hall—his open, frank, interested expression as she spoke to him about The Jungle. Then at the dance in his formal wear, his hair combed back from his handsome face, his whisper in her ear . . . She felt a thrill go through her, and she overturned the jar. The tiny pebbles raced into the water with several tiny plops.

“What now?” Eliza asked breathlessly, opening her eyes.

“Hold the crystal over the water,” Catherine said, handing the small bundle—ribbon, glove, and pendant—to Eliza.

Letting the crystal drop from her palm, Eliza dangled it above the basin. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and suddenly felt very silly. Here she was, nearly a grown woman, hoping some trinkets and a bowl of water and rocks would lead her to her true love. Catherine, however, wore a look of serious concentration and determination, so Eliza wiped the smile off her face.

“Repeat after me,” Catherine said. “Spirits from the other side, let your wisdom be my guide, show me the place where this person hides.”

Eliza reached out and took Catherine’s hand in her own.

“Say it with me,” she said. “I know it will work better if you do.”

“Okay,” Catherine replied with a smile, as if flattered.

The two girls held hands, closed their eyes, and recited the incantation.

“Spirits from the other side, let your wisdom be my guide, show me the place where this person hides.”

A light breeze blew Eliza’s hair from her face, and her breath caught. She felt suddenly dizzy, and she wrenched her eyes open in an attempt to steady herself. As she watched, the crystal began to spin above the bowl of its own accord. Eliza clung to Catherine to get her bearings. After a moment, she was able to focus on the miraculous things happening before her.

The crystal spun in a wider and wider circle, and the water in the bowl began to ripple.

“Are they . . . are the pebbles moving?” Eliza gasped, leaning closer as the blue stones at the bottom of the bowl began to jiggle and jerk.

Catherine nodded, her lips pressed together giddily as she held tightly to Eliza’s hand. “It’s really working!”

Then, ever so suddenly, the pebbles arranged themselves at the base of the bowl, the water stopped rippling, and the crystal hung straight. Its tip pointed down at the water like an arrow. Eliza’s heart was in her throat. She could scarcely believe what she’d just seen.

“I don’t understand,” Catherine said. “What does this mean?”

Eliza bent closer to the water, narrowing her eyes as she began to detect a shape among the pebbles. An image came to her: three thick, winding limbs attached close to the base of a trunk—heavy branches, laden with leaves, hanging almost to the ground. “Is that . . . ? Yes! It is! It looks just like the old elm!”

Catherine grabbed the sides of the bowl with both hands and stared. “You’re right!”

“Do you think Harrison’s out there right now?” Eliza asked, barely able to believe what she was saying.

Catherine snatched the crystal from Eliza’s hand and tossed it in the long box, then threw the whole thing back under her bed. The two girls clasped hands and ran down the hallway, nearly flattening Lavender, who was on her way to her room. They laughed as they tripped down the stairs and out the front door, then raced around the back of Crenshaw House to the garden that had been the site of one of their first punishments. Eliza sprinted to the tree, expecting to see Harrison’s blond hair gleaming in the sunlight.

But he wasn’t there.

“I suppose it was too good to be true,” Eliza said, her shoulders slumping.

“The spirits would not have led us to the wrong place.” Catherine strode forward, ducking beneath one of the lower-hanging branches. Eliza watched her, amused. Did she think she was going to find Harrison hanging from the limbs?

“Eliza!” Catherine said, her word but a gasp. “Come quickly!”