“I think we’re asking the wrong question,” Allegra said.
Sasha raised her eyebrows. “What’s the right question?”
“Whether Max somehow got ahold of the addendum to Cold Blood. Whether he’s planning to use it on the firstborns.” She paused, her eyes wide with fear. “On us.”
Silence stretched between them. Claire wondered if she was the only one who felt Marie as a palpable presence, as if she were looking over their shoulders, encouraging them to figure out the mystery of Cold Blood. To save themselves.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Claire finally said. “Why else would Max have the letters? Why else would he take pictures of the firstborns and break into their houses?”
“They’re making doll babies,” Xander said softly. “Preparing to hex us with the Cold Blood spell as revenge for Elisabeta’s death.”
“Now you’re thinking,” Eddie said.
“What about Claire?” Sasha asked. “Why wasn’t her picture on the wall? Why hasn’t her house been broken into?”
Xander shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they hadn’t taken her picture yet. Maybe she’s last.”
Allegra turned to Eddie. “Have you ever heard of Cold Blood? Is there a counter?”
Eddie shook his head. “I’ve heard talk, but like a lot of the old recipes, it’s difficult to know how much of it is just legend. And if Marie did create a counter as the letters seem to indicate, I have no idea where we’d find it.”
“Can we come up with one on our own?” Allegra asked.
“Without the original spell, it’d be almost impossible,” Eddie answered.
“Well, we need to figure something out,” Xander said.
He didn’t have to say what they were all thinking; his house had already been broken into. Once Maximilian and Eugenia got ahold of something belonging to Sasha—and maybe Claire—whatever they had planned would be set into motion.
“We could talk to the other firstborns,” Allegra offered. “Except for Daniel. He’s too young. But we could let Charlie and William and Laura in on everything and see if they have any ideas. Laura’s really talented with recipes. Maybe she could try to develop something.”
Claire shook her head. “I don’t want to do that.”
“Why not? Because you don’t trust them?” Allegra asked, her blue eyes looking into Claire’s. “They’re just like us.”
Claire tried to think of a way to explain that wouldn’t sound offensive. “It’s nothing personal. I just don’t know them very well, that’s all.”
Allegra shrugged. “Whose fault is that?”
“Allegra . . .” There was a subtle warning in Xander’s voice.
“I’m just saying,” Allegra continued, turning her attention back to Claire, “the other firstborns are there. They’d help if they knew we needed it.”
“I don’t know.” Xander tapped his fingers along the edge of the table. “Maybe we should just take it to the Guild.”
“No way.” Claire was as surprised by her vehemence as Xander. “They made Eddie out to be some kind of nut job just to keep their secret. I don’t trust them to tell us anything at this point. We could give them what we have and they could just pat us on the head and tell us to let them take care of everything. For all we know, that would be the last we heard of it, ever.”
“Would that be so bad?” Xander asked. “At least someone would be taking care of it. Someone who knows what we’re up against.”
Eddie chuckled softly. They stopped arguing, turning to where he sat, his expression as placid as the Pontchartrain on a windless summer day.
Xander scowled. “What’s so funny?”
“You,” Eddie said with a smile. “The fact that you still believe the Guild knows anything about what it’s up against.”
“Well, they may not be doing much about black magic in our ranks, but they definitely know more than we do,” Xander said.
“You’re right about that, my man. And that’s just the way they want it,” Eddie said. “Question is: How long do you want it to be that way?”
The words hung between them.
“Eddie has a point,” Sasha said. “Our parents might know more than we do, but that’s not saying much. I mean, it seems to me that they’ve made a pretty big mess of things. Not to mention the fact that, based on what Eddie told you, the Guild knew Max could pose a threat all this time. But they never said a word about it, and from the looks of things, they didn’t do anything about it either.”
Allegra nodded. “Exactly. And anyway, each new generation in the Guild has to step up at one point or another,” she added. “The older generation becomes, well, old or tired or ineffective and—”
“Hey, now . . .” Eddie protested.
She smiled at him. “There are exceptions. I’m just saying that maybe it’s time for us to stop letting our parents take care of everything. Maybe it’s time we step up and start acting like firstborns.”
“There’s just one problem,” Xander said. “We don’t have any idea what we’re dealing with.”
“Right,” Sasha agreed. “We can’t even start looking for a counterspell until we know what the Cold Blood spell does.”
Allegra leaned in, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Let’s think about this; if it’s used on someone’s enemies, it has to be a spell to kill someone in cold blood or with cold blood or . . .”
“By turning their blood cold,” Claire tried.
The words sat between them.
“We can’t be sure exactly what it is,” Sasha said. “And it’s not like we have time to experiment with counterspells in the hopes that we stumble on the right one.”
“I might be able to help with that.”
They turned to Eddie.
“You guys up for a drive?”
TWENTY-FOUR
They piled into Eddie’s car, Xander in front, the three girls in the back. It didn’t take Claire long to realize they were heading back into Treme.
After about half an hour, they turned onto North Claiborne. The highway loomed overhead, blocking out the sun on one side of the street. A row of run-down shops lined the other. Eddie parked next to the curb in front of an old building. The structure itself had seen better days, but the red paint job was fresh, the sidewalk swept, the windows gleaming.
For the first time in days, Claire had the urge to take a picture. Too bad she’d left her camera at home when she and Xander had left for Treme. Was it really just this morning?
Eddie got out of the car.
“What is this place?” Claire asked, stepping out into the heat.
“The only one I can think of that might have an answer about the Cold Blood spell,” Eddie said, leading the way to the bright blue door.
They followed him inside and were immediately plunged into cooler air scented with incense. Claire caught sandalwood, patchouli, frankincense. The light was dim, and she reached out for Xander, touching his arm as she waited for her eyes to adjust. Sasha and Allegra came in behind them and shut the door.
“Be right there.” The voice was slightly husky and came from somewhere beyond the front of the cluttered room. It was followed by the sound of shuffled paper and the slow drag of something heavy being moved across the floor.
Sasha and Claire shuffled nervously from foot to foot while Xander peered into the dim recesses at the back of the room. Eddie, unfazed, leaned against the wooden counter.
Claire took advantage of the time to look around. They appeared to be in a large storefront, although it wasn’t like any store she’d ever seen. Bookshelves lined the walls, and an odd assortment of objects was stacked haphazardly on shelves, tables, even the floor. She recognized some of it: gris-gris bags in various states of disrepair, stained and unraveling dolls, sticks of incense—some of them half burned—standing up in a small vase.