But I could see his point. We needed whatever info we could get out of Madame Duvoir. I could grill her on Mac and Seraphia once we had more.
Madame Duvoir leaned over the book, studying it, absorbing it. She breathed deeply through her nose and stared at it with a dagger glare. “This is definitely cursed.”
“But not the same curse that’s on Mac and Seraphia?” I asked.
“Like I said, they aren’t cursed.”
It made no freaking sense, but I pressed my lips together and waited.
Madame Duvoir held out a hand to Grey. “May I?”
“Yes.”
She touched his free hand, closed her eyes, and focused. “You are cursed as well. The curse is similar to the one on this book.”
“And therefore, similar to the curse on the wall,” Grey said. “They feel identical.”
Madame Duvoir nodded. “I’m going to look into this more closely.”
She rose and carried the book to a table on the far side of the room, which was covered in a variety of crystals and silver tools.
Placing the book in the center of the table, she circled it with a ring of red powder, lit two pale green candles, whispered an incantation, and blew them out. The smoke was much thicker than it should have been. Trails of it spiraled toward the book in strange patterns. Madame Duvoir turned to us, her eyes gleaming with interest. “You’ve got quite the problem on your hands.”
I leaned toward her. “Who cast the curse?”
“That, I cannot tell you, but it was likely a sorcerer, given the type of magic. However, I do know how you can break it.”
Elation surged through me. “That will save my friends.”
“They’re not cursed, honey.”
Irritation prickled my skin, followed by the chill of fear.
Grey’s grip on my hand tightened, bringing me back to myself before I snapped.
“If you can break the curse on the wall, you might learn more about your friends’ situation,” Madame Duvoir continued. “And you may fix the Devil’s memory as well.”
“You can’t break the curse on my mind?” Grey asked.
“I cannot. Messing around with minds is beyond my power. But I can give you a spell to break the curse on the city wall. From there, you are likely to find more clues.”
Even if that was all we’d get from her, it was still a lot.
Madame Duvoir scribbled something on a piece of paper, then collected a small bag of crystals and handed them to Grey. “These are on the house because I feel bad about your memory. You still need a few ingredients, and this spell is best cast when the moon is at its zenith.”
I stared at the paper in Grey’s hand. An incantation was written on it, along with instructions and a complicated drawing of swirls and spirals. But what if—
A shout sounded from below, and Neve hopped up. “Time to leave. The boss’s goons are here.”
“You’d better go,” Madame Duvoir said. “He’ll cut you apart as soon as he looks at you.”
9
Grey
Men shouted from below us, and Madame Duvoir gestured for us to follow. “Come on,” she said. “I can get you out the back way.”
“Will we avoid his goons?” Ms. Cross asked.