just how well it goes for you. But if you think our family has done nothing but hurt this town, then surely you can protect us all without the gifts we’ve so generously given you.”
She held out her hand expectantly. It took May a long, disbelieving moment to understand what she was asking for.
“The Deck of Omens doesn’t belong to you,” she whispered, her heart thumping painfully in her chest. “It chose me. It’s mine.”
“It belongs to the Hawthornes,” Augusta said, a brutal smile flickering at the corners of her mouth. And May understood. This was her mother’s trump card. If May refused to hand the deck over, she’d be a hypocrite. But if she did, she’d be powerless.
Slowly, she drew the cards from her pocket. Peeling her fingers away and leaving them in her mother’s hand felt like ripping out a vital organ with her fingernails.
“Take them, then,” she said, proud of how her voice did not waver. She turned away, unable to bear even another second of watching Augusta clutch the cards triumphantly, and started toward the living room. But a hand closed around her wrist before she’d taken a single step.
“If you leave, you’re betraying us.” Justin’s eyes were wide with panic, his hand clammy around her arm. He paused, gasping for breath, and May felt a stab of unease. He hadn’t been running. Why was he so tired? “Just stay for a few minutes, all right? I want to talk to you about Dad. About your powers?—”
May shook him off. She was done listening to her family’s excuses.
“You’ve betrayed us for the so-called greater good a hundred times,” she told him. “Seems right that I finally get a turn to save the day, don’t you think?”
The forest was eerily silent. All sounds of life were absent except the rustling of May’s footsteps in the dead leaves as the sun set around them. Before long, the ground grew soft and squishy beneath May’s feet and the smell of corruption began to rise around her, stronger than she remembered. It was the smell of lost and ancient things, the smell of despair, the smell of death. But May headed deeper into the trees anyway. All she wanted to do was get as far away from her family as possible.
Well, most of her family.
“I must say,” mused Ezra from beside her. “That was deeply unpleasant.”
“I can’t believe she threatened you with the dogs,” May muttered angrily. “She had no right?—”
“It is her choice to decide not to take my help,” Ezra said. “I wish she were capable of changing her patterns, but both Augusta and your brother are unfortunately set in their ways.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” May shoved down the awful things she’d said to them, the guilt she felt. She was tired of feeling like she would never be enough. There was someone who valued her abilities, who actually believed in nurturing her powers instead of suppressing them. That felt like a far healthier thing to focus on. “So. About this plan…”
“Ah. Yes.” Ezra brightened up visibly behind his glasses. “As I said before, May, it would have been lovely to have their help, but they aren’t necessary. The only part of this that’s required is you.”
“But I failed,” May said softly. “When I tried to change the future, the cards went blank. And the corruption got worse.”
Augusta taking the cards away stung more than anything else. She was disarmed. Declawed. But refusing would have been worse?—would have felt like a different kind of loss.
“That’s because we both miscalculated how strong the corruption would be,” Ezra said. “You’re strong too, but it will require more ability than you currently possess to destroy it. This ritual will grant you the power you need.”
“But I don’t have the cards. How can I?—”
“Don’t worry.” Ezra’s voice was soothing. “We won’t need them.”
The Sullivan ruins crested the horizon a moment later. May could barely see them through the haze of twilight and the smoke of the airborne corruption.
“Be careful,” she told her father, handing him a cloth to wrap around his face. “I know you said you’re safe, but I don’t want you getting corrupted.”
“Very thoughtful of you, May.” He tied it around the bottom of his face and led her forward, into the thickening mist.
“Where are we going?” she said.
Ezra’s gaze went solemn behind his glasses. Again, his words were muffled by the fabric. “In order to do this right, May, we must bind you more closely to the Beast.