I was sitting in the drawing room, wrapped in a blanket and staring at the fire, with my untouched cup of coffee beside me. It was five in the morning, but I was so jittery, I thought caffeine would be a bad idea.

Darius and Conrad had stayed outside with Olivia as she repaired the ward. The only company I had was Iset.

We had talked over what had happened, but when the topic was almost as exhausted as I was, I fell silent. Iset was sweet enough to sit beside me and share it.

We both raised our heads when we heard voices coming down the hall toward us.

“How did it get here?”

That was Olivia. She sounded pissier than normal. I didn’t blame her; it had been a long night.

“It ran,” Conrad said.

“No shit—”

Definitely pissier than normal.

“—but how did it find the house?”

As they came through the doorway, Darius said, “From what Emerra was saying, she believes it followed the children.”

The witch switched her glare over to me.

I was too tired to mind, but I was able to muster a small yet cheerful wave to annoy her.

“How?” Olivia demanded.

“How should I know?” I said. “But the thing can smell witchcraft.”

Olivia turned to Conrad. “Can you smell magic?”

The wolfman shook his head as he sat down on the couch across from me.

I added, “Sniffing out spirits doesn’t sound much harder than smelling witchcraft.”

“If it could follow the children this whole time,” Olivia said, “why haven’t we seen it before now?”

Iset said, “Possibly because yesterday was the first time they’ve been outside the ward since they’ve regained their strength.”

“Emerra, why did you think it was following the children?” Darius asked.

“It followed them before.”

I told them about my dream—about how the four sisters were sure the wendigo would find them.

“These were the witches?” Olivia asked.

“Yeah.”

She frowned.

Darius had been settling into one of the armchairs, but when he heard that, he looked up. “Witches?”

I nodded.

Conrad said, “I’m curious why it would follow a bunch of ghosts it can’t eat.”

“It probably thinks they’re a threat,” Darius said.

“How so?” Olivia asked.

Darius raised his eyes to Olivia’s face. I usually only saw his gaze look that sharp when he was interrogating a suspect. “It made it sound like they were its wardens.”

It was a waste of his inquisition eyes. Olivia couldn’t hide the scowl that spasmed over her face.

The count sat forward on his chair and steepled his fingers. “Olivia, I thought witches didn’t have sealing magic.”

“They don’t. They have contract magic.”

I felt Iset stiffen beside me. For some reason, that understated reaction made me nervous.

“What’s contract magic?” I asked.

Olivia didn’t seem to want to answer, so Iset did.

“Contract magic binds two parties to an outcome.”

“Two willing parties?” Conrad asked.

“Not necessarily. It only requires the balance of the two parties, not their consent. The principle magic is focused on the binding.”

“That sounds a lot like sealing something to me,” I said.

“They’re closely related. That’s why you’ll hear people talk about sealing a contract, but ‘sealing’ specifically means to hold something to or in something else. A contract only ties two things together, so it can be almost anything.”

“Could those witches have created a contract between the ghosts and the wendigo?” Darius asked.

Iset spoke slowly: “I think they did. That’s the only way it would all makes sense.”

A slight strain had entered Iset’s already subdued voice, and if I could hear it, there was no way Darius would miss it.

“Iset?” Darius said.

Olivia spoke up. Her voice was as stark and matter-of-fact as she could make it. “The most powerful contracts are sealed with blood.”

The silence that followed that statement was a long one.

“What do you think happened?” Conrad asked.

“The sisters must have known they couldn’t kill the wendigo,” Olivia said, “so they had to bind it to something.”

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“To the tree?”

“I think they killed Dominie and bound the wendigo to his body. That would have been the easiest thing to do since it was already possessing it. But that kind of binding would require a lot of fresh blood.”

“You think they murdered the children,” I muttered.

“Yes.” Olivia was still trying to sound natural, but when she crossed her arms, I could see her fingers pressing into her bicep.

I had suspected something like that, but hearing it said out loud robbed me of the tenuous cover I had laid over the hole in my heart. Now exposed, I could appreciate how it gaped, and how my breath moving over it felt like a moan.

She went on, “They would have finished the contract by anchoring the children’s souls to the tree. Even with the power of four witches, the wendigo’s binding would’ve only lasted until the dominie’s body decomposed, but with the contract, the wendigo wouldn’t have been able to escape as long as the children were bound to the tree.”

And then I cut it down because it was cute and chubby.

I put my face in my hands.

“But the ghosts were fading,” Conrad pointed out.

“That was inevitable,” Big Jacky said.

We all looked around. Noctis was standing by the window. I had no idea when he had appeared, but it must have been long enough for him to follow the conversation.

He turned. “But it bought them three hundred and eighty years. They probably believed it would be worth it.” He took a step toward us, but when he spoke, he spoke to the empty doorway. “Anna, if you’re going to listen, you might as well join us.”

My breath caught in my chest. How long had she been there?

There was a flicker of white at the edge of the door, then Anna came into the room and walked into the magic circle.

“Have you heard enough to understand what they’ve been talking about?” Jacky asked.

“Yes, sir.”

Her voice was a tiny tremor of sound. Hearing it made me feel small and helpless. I clenched my hands to keep from running over and trying to stand like a martyr between her and the truth.

And Jack Noctis, the ruthless incarnation of death itself, said, “Do you remember?”

“They used us as bait.”

I saw another flicker of white by the door.

Please, I thought, not Jacob and Jan.

Anna went on, “Dominie—the monster—came after us. When he came into the circle, the sisters used magic to hold him down. Then they…they told us…to run out of the circle. Like they showed us.”

When Jacob and Jan heard the crack in Anna’s voice, they came into the room. Jacob stood beside her while Jan took her hand and leaned his head on her chest.

Anna swallowed, then continued, “Each of us to one of them. They had us practice. When Tace killed the monster, they cut our necks.”

Iset put a hand on my shoulder. She couldn’t have understood what Anna was saying, but she saw me shudder.

“Do you remember anything else?” Jacky asked.

“A bowl.”

“A bowl?”

I couldn’t stand it anymore, but I didn’t know how to strangle a skeleton either, so I yelled, “A bowl to catch the blood, Jacky!”

My face must have been eloquent; he took one look at me, then turned away and let out a quiet, “Ah.”

Anna said, “The next day, Felice came to see us. She said they were sorry, but that we had to guard the bones so that the monster wouldn’t get out and hurt anyone. Then she left.”

When Anna finished the story, Jacob put his arm around her. The three children held each other like they had been holding each other for over three hundred years—their sole comfort in a world where no one else could touch them.

Jacob was right. Anna did need them.

“Would you be willing to do it again?” Jacky asked.

My ears must have been muffled. I was sure I hadn’t heard that right. “What?”

“I asked them if they’d be willing to do it again.”

I was on my feet and in front of the skeleton so fast that I impressed even the vampire.

“Listen, you…you…bonehead! They’re dead. We can’t kill them again! What were you hoping they would do? They’ve guarded those bones long enough—it’s our turn to deal with the problem!”

“I was hoping they’d be willing to serve as bait.”

My fury had to squiggle its way between mounds of incredulous shock. It took at least two full seconds for my blank mind to hit the reset button so I could speak.

“Coal would be too good for you!” I turned to Iset. “Isn’t there some kind of anti-Santa that eats bad people?”

“Krampus was maligned,” Jacky said.

I whipped back around. “Then which mythic figure do I appeal to if I need someone to beat some brains into you?”

A wisp of fur brushed my cheek. Conrad had come up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Mera,” he said, “it’s okay. You’re angry. That’s fair. But try to take a breath or two.”

I didn’t want to do it, but I wasn’t mad at Conrad, and a small part of me knew it was good advice. I forced myself to stop and breathe.

The wolfman went on, “You don’t like it. That’s completely reasonable. But try to remember that Jacky hasn’t ordered them to do anything. He asked them.”

“They shouldn’t have to do it,” I insisted.

“They don’t have to,” Darius said. “That’s why Jacky asked.”

I glanced over at the children. Anna and Jacob both look troubled, but Jan’s eyes were wide and bright.

He moved the hand that had been hiding his grin and whispered, “You called him a bonehead!”

It was a shame he was five years old and three hundred years dead—I would have married that kid.

I went and sat down on the edge of the circle. The ghosts gathered around me.

“You should respect your elders,” Anna told me.

“No promises.” I glared at Jacky for a second, then gave all my attention to them. “They’re all going to say I have to ask.”

“But you don’t want to.”

“No, I don’t want to.”

“Do you think it won’t work?”

The question grabbed my stomach and wrenched, but I tried to stay composed. “I think it would work. That wendigo, he really wants to find you. I think he’s scared that you can still trap him. But I like you guys, and I think you’ve been through enough scary stuff, so I don’t want to ask.”

“We’re ghosts,” Jacob pointed out. “It can’t hurt us.”

Jacky said, “It can, Master Jacob.”

The children looked up at him.

“At least, it’s very likely it can,” he said. “You’re all spirit-forms, more closely related to each other than to anything else in this world. If the wendigo caught you, it would probably be able to destroy you.”

After a short pause, Jacky added, “I won’t lie to you. There will be no secrets. No hiding. If you choose to help, you should know, it would be as dangerous for you as it would be for everyone else.”

“Would it hurt if it destroyed us?” Anna asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Who are you going to kill?”

I said, “No one.” I pointed to Iset. “That beautiful mummy over there can do sealing magic. No one has to die this time.”

“Will it catch us?” Jan asked.

“We would do everything possible to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Are you going to help?” Anna asked.

“Yes.”

Jan said, “But what can you do?”

Before I could answer, Anna chided him. “Jan, that’s rude.”

“Besides, you saw her.” Jacob lowered his voice. “She’s scary.”

As I rubbed my forehead, I couldn’t help feeling grateful that the only other person who could understand them was Jacky.

When I lowered my hand, I gazed at my precious friends. “Remember, you can say no.”

The three of them looked at each other.

“Can we talk about it?” Anna asked

“Of course.”

Anna took Jan’s hand and led the boys from the room.

“What happened?” Darius asked.

“They’re going to discuss whether or not they’re willing to act as bait,” Jacky explained.

Olivia let out an angry hiss. “This is stupid! It hates witches, right? I’ll be the bait.”

“If the children refuse to help, we may have to try that,” Darius said, “but it would be better if we could avoid it.”

“Why?”

“The wendigo doesn’t know you, so we don’t know if it can track you. You also have one of the most crucial roles in this plan. If you’re focused on not getting caught, you won’t be able to focus on your magic. And if it knows you’re a witch, it’s going to be more cautious when you’re around, making it that much harder to spring the trap. It has no fear of the children.”

“Emerra,” Iset said, “will you be all right if the children say yes?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” I grumbled.

Two minutes passed in silence. I finally got around to drinking the cup of coffee Igor had brought me. It was cold and bitter despite the sugar.

The children came back into the room and crossed over to the magic circle.

Anna said to Jacky, “We’ll help.”

Jacob added, “You’ll try to make sure we don’t get caught, right?”

“Yes,” Jacky assured him.

Jacob nodded.

I tried not to react, but despite all my mature intentions, Jan felt compelled to come over and mimic patting my shoulder. You know you’re a wuss when the five-year-old decides you need reassurance.

“It’s all right, Emerra. We’ll protect you.”

That only made me love him more—which only made it worse.