Chapter 52
Chapter Fifty-Two
Part of Regina wanted to chase after her sister.
To grab her and pull her back up into the attic, to make her understand.
Another part of her wanted to push Violet down the stairs and be done with it.
She gripped the bottom of her chair to keep herself grounded as she watched her sister disappear.
Only when she heard her bedroom door close did she open her journal and go over the list one more time.
She’d crossed out a few ingredients, added a few others, but ultimately, she was satisfied with the end result.
This would give her the boost she needed for her spells to be more powerful than Violet’s.
She rose from her altar and walked to her bookshelf.
She considered using the cards from the deck Tillie had given her, but she needed something far more precious to her if this spell was going to hold.
She reached for her very first deck, a gift from her mother when Regina was only five years old.
She hadn’t touched it since Helen died. Even now, Regina could remember the light in her mother’s eyes, her excitement to be sharing that moment with Regina.
They’d lit a blue candle for clarity, and Regina had pulled a card: the magician.
Helen had said drawing it as her first card was an auspicious start. Regina held the card now between her thumb and her forefinger. Her mother had been right. Nothing could stop her.
She flipped through the rest of the deck until she found the last piece she needed. The temperance card—a symbol of balance. Burning it would tip the scales in her favor, allowing her to strengthen her own power and weaken Violet’s in the process.
The journals and books on the shelf shifted back and forth with curiosity. Regina rested a hand on one of them.
“Just a little magic,” she said. “You might feel something when I light the candle, but it’s nothing for you to worry about.” The house would be the perfect anchor. It had more power than either sister, making it strong enough to ground her spell.
Beneath her feet, the rug curled up to touch the tip of her shoes. “I love you, too.”
She sat back down in front of her table. She hoped her spell would be enough. Had she more time, she could’ve put together something more elegant. But there was no magic quite so powerful as pain.
The loss of her father.
The loss of her mother.
And now the loss of her sister.
That was what she’d poured into the wax in her workshop that afternoon. That was what had dripped out of her heart into her fingertips and along the length of twine. She’d felt every moment like she was living it again.
The crash of the car into the tree. The breaking of glass and bending of metal.
The crack of the trunk as it crushed her parents beneath it.
She’d been so young then, only thirteen.
She almost couldn’t believe she’d lived as much of her life without her parents as she’d lived with them.
She wouldn’t let the same thing happen with Violet.
“If it does, I’ll never do magic again,” she mumbled.
She set her circle, and she placed her candles.
A Caldwell’s power put magic into the world, it wasn’t meant to take it.
If Regina wanted this spell to work, she had to offer something in return.
Something that would be worthy enough to trade for what she’d be drawing from her sister.
The only thing Regina had that came close to that, was her love for Violet.
But that wasn’t something she was willing to give up.
Instead, she offered something that was never hers to begin with, something that would make all of this go away.
“I offer Violet’s love.”
As she spoke the words, the walls creaked and the floorboards shuffled and the lamps flickered. She ignored all of it. The house may have come to care for Tillie, but it would get over her leaving Violet in time.
Then, Regina struck a match.