“Don’t worry. Dastien is committed to you. It’s just because you’re apart and you’re an emotional person. Don’t give it a second thought.”
For the first time since I woke up, I finally felt better. This was totally fine. My fears were taking me for a ride at night, but I just had to tell them to shut the hell up, and all would be good.
My parents got up, and I stood.
The floor came up to meet me. Or more accurately, I met it.
“Whoa.” Dad crouched beside me. “Are you okay?”
I sat up and shook my head. “God. What is wrong with me? That’s the second time I’ve tripped. And I threw up last night and dropped a plate. What is up with me?”
“You didn’t trip. You fainted,” Dad said.
“Is it your wolf?” Mom asked. “Do you need to shift?”
“No. I should be okay. It takes weeks for that to happen.” I paused to think.
Something changed two days ago. I’d been feeling weak ever since. What had changed?
I’d gone to Rosa’s. Learned some things.
And Luciana had been in my room.
There were times that coincidences were simply that. But for me lately, nothing was a coincidence.
Luciana had spelled me. Or cursed me. Or had done something else invasive and unforgivable.
I had to fix this. Now. It was time I dug around in her place.
“Mom. Dad. Thanks so much for coming,” I said as I stood again and managed to stay on my feet. “But I think it’s best if you go now.” The both started protesting as I hustled them out the door. “I’m serious. Things are about to get ugly here, and I think you should go. It’s safest.”
“But what about you?”
“Don’t worry about me. It seems like someone around here has forgotten that I’m an alpha. I’m a bruja. And I’ve been bullied too much in my life to take it anymore.”
“Luciana cursed you. They’re not just dreams,” Mom said. She was a smart lady. I hoped that when I grew up, I was half as good as she was.
“Don’t. Just go. I’ll be okay.” I wasn’t so sure about that. Luciana had spelled me twice. This time she was completely out of line. She’d broken her side of the bargain, and now I could break mine.
Chapter Nineteen
As soon as my parents were gone, I went to my room. I’d known as soon as I fainted that something was wrong. That was what happened to Meredith when she’d been cursed. It wasn’t the same, but it didn’t matter. I hadn’t gotten a vision from anything that was in my room.
When I was searching my room, I’d been looking for something missing. But what if she’d planted something?
I started digging around. I tore apart the room inch by inch. I emptied the closet, knocking on the walls and floorboards, looking for some place she could stash something.
It wasn’t until I moved the mattress that I found it. She’d cut a hole in the box spring so that it wouldn’t make a lump. I pulled apart the torn material and reached between the springs. My finger brushed against something and a dirty, oily feeling came over me.
I jerked my hand back, cradling it against my chest. I knew exactly what it was.
No. She couldn’t have. No one would mess with magic that dark.
A gris-gris.
A few months ago I hadn’t even known what a gris-gris was, but after Imogene accused me of cursing Dastien and using one, I’d done some research. It was a little pouch that carried a curse and was usually inscribed on the outside. Sure, they could be used for good, but I’d bet everything I had that this one was evil.
I didn’t want to touch the thing again. I grabbed a discarded sock from the floor and stuck my hand in it. I picked up the little pouch between two fingers. Whatever was inside jangled as I moved, but I didn’t want to open it. Messing with one of these was dangerous, and letting anything out of it could release a whole world of hurt.
I placed it on the bedside table and stepped back.
As shocked as I was to see it, it didn’t entirely surprise me that Luciana had sunk to this level. What surprised me was that I hadn’t noticed it sooner. Only now did I smell the rotten stench of whatever nasty ingredients were inside; Luciana must’ve warded the pouch against my Were senses.
No wonder I’d slept so well in Claudia’s room. She didn’t have a curse under her mattress.
The front door slammed shut. Raphael and Claudia’s voices were muffled by the distance. Daniel said something, too.
I thought about telling them about the gris-gris, but my gut was telling me that I needed to deal with this alone. If Rosa was right, I needed to start listening to my instincts.