Uncle M nodded. “I agree. We need—”

I cut him off before he could finish. “All I know is first we need to get The Book of Moons to Ethan. There’s still a chance we can get him back.”

“Do you really think so?” Marian said the words quietly, almost under her breath. Though I couldn’t be certain, it seemed like only I could hear them. Still, I knew Marian believed in the impossibilities of the Caster world—she’d seen them firsthand—and she loved Ethan as much as I did. He was like a son to her.

We both wanted to believe.

I nodded. “I do. I have to.”

She rose from her chair and came back around the desk, poised as ever.

“Then it’s settled. We’ll get Ethan The Book of Moons, one way or another.” I smiled at her, but she was already lost in thought, looking around the library as if it held the answers to all our problems.

Which, sometimes, it did.

“There has to be a way, right?” John asked. “Maybe in one of these scrolls or one of these old books—”

Ridley unscrewed the top of her nail polish bottle, wrinkling her nose. “Goody. Old books.”

“Try to have a bit more respect, Ridley. A book is the reason the children in the Duchannes family suffered for generations.” Marian was referring to our curse.

Rid crossed her arms, pouting. “Whatever.”

Marian swiped the bottle out of her hand. “Another thing I don’t allow in my library.” It clattered to the bottom of the trash can.

Ridley glared, but she didn’t say a word.

“Dr. Ashcroft, have you ever delivered a book to the Otherworld?” Liv asked.

Marian shook her head. “I can’t say that I have.”

“Maybe Carlton Eaton could just run it on over.” Link looked hopeful. “You could wrap it up in one a those brown paper packages, like you do for my mom’s books. And, you know, circulate it or somethin’.”

Marian sighed. “I’m afraid not, Wesley.” Even Carlton Eaton, who had his nose in every letter in town in both the Mortal and Caster worlds, couldn’t make a delivery like that.

Frustrated, Liv flipped through her little red notebook. “There has to be a way. What were the odds you could get the Book from Abraham at all? And now that we have it, we’re just going to give up?” She pulled the pencil from behind her ear, scribbling and mumbling to herself. “The laws of quantum physics must allow for this sort of eventuality.…

I didn’t know anything about the laws of quantum physics, but I knew one thing. “The stone from my charm necklace disappeared when I left it for Ethan. Why would the Book be any different?”

I know you took it, Ethan. Why couldn’t you take the Book, too?

I realized Uncle Macon could probably hear me, and I tried to stop.

It was no use. I couldn’t stop Kelting any more than I could stop the words that strung t hemselves together, waiting for me to write them down somewhere.

laws of physics

laws of love

of time and space

and the (in)between place

(in)between you and me

and where we are

lost and looking

looking and lost

“Maybe the Book’s too heavy,” Link offered. “That little black rock wasn’t any bigger than a quarter.”

“I’m not sure that’s the reason, Wesley. Though anything is possible,” Marian said.

“Or impossible.” Ridley pushed her sunglasses back into place and stuck out her red tongue.

“So why can’t it make the jump?” John asked.

Marian glanced at Liv’s notes, considering the question. “The Book of Moons is a powerful supernatural object. No one really understands the scope of its power. Not the Keepers or the Casters.”

“And if the origin of its magic is in the Caster world, it could be deeply rooted here,” Liv said. “The way a tree is rooted to a particular spot.”

“Are you saying the Book doesn’t want to cross over?” John asked.

Liv tucked the pencil behind her ear. “I’m saying maybe it can’t.”

“Or shouldn’t.” Uncle Macon’s tone grew more serious.

Ridley slid to the floor and stretched out her long legs. “This is so messed up. I risked my life, and now we’re stuck with that thing. Maybe we need to hit the Tunnels and see if any of the other bad guys know the answer. You know—Team Dark.”

Liv crossed her arms over her EDISON DIDN’T INVENT THE LIGHTBULB T-shirt. “You want to take The Book of Moons to a Dark Caster bar?”

“You have a better idea?” Rid asked.

“I think I do.” Marian slipped her red wool jacket on.

Liv scrambled after her. “Where are you going?”

“To see someone who knows a great deal about not just that book but a world that defies the physics of both the Caster and Mortal worlds. Someone who just may have the answers we need.”

My uncle nodded. “An excellent idea.”

There was only one person who fit that description.

Someone who loved Ethan as much as I did. Someone who would do anything for him, even rip a hole in the universe.

CHAPTER 27

The Cracks in Everything

Now, don’t you tell me you’re thinkin’ a settin’ foot on my front walkway, you hear?” Amma refused to let Ridley anywhere near Wate’s Landing. She said so in about fifteen different ways in the first conversation we unsuccessfully tried to have with her.