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“If you’re going to be rattling around here all day long, you’d better not get into my stuff.”
    I smirked at her. “Don’t worry, Sands, I wouldn’t dream of borrowing your cherry-flavored Bonne Bell lip gloss.”
    â€œI don’t wear Bonne Bell , thank you very much. I have seen the inside of a Sephora.”
    â€œCoulda fooled me.”
    â€œOh, my God, you guys!” Alessia threw her hands up. “Look, it sucks, okay, but we all have to deal with it. So can we please just get along?”
    Jenny slumped back into the couch and folded her arms. I would’ve done the same if I didn’t know it would cause a riptide of agony. Instead I took a deep, dramatic breath and held my hand out to her. “Truce. I won’t play with your toys.”
    Jenny rolled her eyes, but she sat up and took my hand. “Deal.” When we let go, she tilted her head at me. “Those bruises do look really bad. My mom has some like super-hippie homemade ointment that actually works pretty well. Want some?”
    â€œThat would be great. Thanks.” When she got up, I turned to Alessia. “But I want to at least go back to my house to get some stuff. You do too, right?”
    â€œWell yeah, but I don’t know if we should risk it.” Alessia chewed her lip. “Pratt—the Raven—showed up there right after we left.”
    â€œI was thinking maybe I could use a masking spell,” I said. “I could probably pull one off long enough for each of us to pack a bag.”
    â€œYou need to be healing, like Nerina said. I don’t want you to overexert yourself.”
    â€œWell, I am not borrowing Jenny’s underwear,” I said. I glanced around to make sure no one was listening, but Cora, Heath, and Nerina were deep in conversation and Jeff had left to get Barb. I lowered my voice anyway. “Nerina told me what happened in the basement. About Jonah.”
    Alessia looked down at her hands in her lap. “Did she tell you everything?”
    I cocked my head. “I don’t know. What’s everything?”
    She knotted her fingers together. “We could talk to each other, Bree. Even though we were transformed.”
    My heart did a little spin inside my chest. I’d suspected. “Did he say if he heard me? At the Waterfall, during the battle?”
    â€œYes.” Alessia raised her gaze to my face. “He heard you.”
    I breathed in deep, the corners of my mouth turning up. “I knew it. I knew it was possible.”
    â€œHe thinks it has to do with connection. Your connection because you’re twins . . . our connection . . .” She looked down at her fingers again.
    â€œUgh, stop.” I held my hand up. “I don’t need to hear about your, ahem, connection. ” I reached out and nudged her shoulder lightly. “But this is huge. It means that we can communicate with him during a battle. Even if he can’t fight against the Malandanti while he’s still one of them, he can still tell us what they’re going to do before they do it. This could be super helpful, Alessia.”
    She scrunched her forehead. “What do you mean, he can’t fight against the Malandanti?”
    Before I could answer, a glass smashed to the floor. Alessia’s mother stood at the edge of the living room, her arm stretched out, her finger pointing straight at Nerina. Her whole body shook, and her face was contorted with disbelief and white-hot anger. The only other person I’d ever seen in a full Italian rage was Nerina, and Lidia definitely looked like she could give her a run for her money.
    She took one trembling step toward Nerina, her lips pale. “ You! ”

Chapter Four
    The Truth at Last

    Alessia

    I jumped off the couch. “Mom! What’s wrong?”
    But Lidia didn’t answer me. She stalked toward Nerina, her face white as moonlight. Nerina stood, her back straight and her