Two hours after getting home, Celine was back at the hospital. The House of Pizza was closed for the day and their assistant manager, Tatiana, had let Celine know she was available for anything Celine needed. The idea of working at all right now was too overwhelming to consider, so Celine could have hugged her over the phone in her gratitude. The shop would stay closed one more day, then Tatiana would take over tomorrow. From there, they’d figure it out, but Celine wasn’t too concerned. She didn’t imagine anyone in New Winslow was going to get mad at her for having the audacity to close the shop when Roman…

The next morning, Olivia and Andrew went to the Limerick building to meet with Shannon, the realtor. Since Noah’s usual lawyer wasn’t available, Jude had offered to come with them. Just to make Andrew’s morning even more complete. But apparently Noah and Jude weren’t a thing anymore? At least as much as they ever were a thing? And they clearly didn’t actually have much of a romantic relationship, because Jude had been telling them about someone named Sarabeth staying over last night and sorry he was a little frazzled, they’d overslept. And then Noah had called Jude’s phone. And from what Andrew could hear, the conversation hadn’t been that of…

Andrew, Cleo, and Olivia were in the living room, not speaking. Mia had gone to bed about half an hour earlier and Andrew could still hear her in there, chatting sleepily at her stuffed rabbit. Olivia was sitting silently in the recliner, her legs tucked underneath her as her eyes darted around the room. Andrew couldn’t blame her, he kept thinking he heard the phone start to ring in the kitchen. It was like some flicker of activity in his brain that seemed to think, well I might as well get everything done if no one else will as it made the phantom noise. Noah had called earlier to say…

The first hour at the hospital was a blur to Celine. Roman was starting to come around as they arrived and the paramedics were rolling him into the emergency room. He wasn’t coherent, but he was conscious enough to grip Celine’s hand once more before they wheeled him away. Then it was paperwork and signatures and so many questions. She answered every question they asked her, but someone else might as well have been talking through her for everything she remembered of the encounter. Finally, she was told he was in surgery and a kind receptionist brought her over to a waiting area. Dr. Degas had stayed behind to update…

Dr. Degas was still on the line with Celine when her van came screeching up in front of the medical center. Her own heart pounding now, Dr. Degas grabbed a wheelchair and met them at the door, trying to shove aside the dread that was flooding into her stomach. Maybe the symptoms were wrong. Maybe it was just a chest cold like Roman apparently kept arguing. She met Celine on the front walk as she was easing Roman out of the passenger seat. He looked awful, his face pale and clammy as Celine held up most of his weight. “Here,” Dr. Degas said, taking hold of Roman and easing him…

Roman was embarrassed that he had to draw a line on running today. It wasn’t happening. He’d woken up with a chest cold that had clearly settled in overnight. So even though he was meeting Noah today, it wasn’t going to be down at the track. He’d do a lot of things, but running when he felt like shit wasn’t one of them. He pulled himself upright, rubbing at his sternum. He must have picked this up from Aidan’s playgroup. It was brutal. With a little bit of effort, Roman stood up and walked from the bedroom into the bathroom, turning the shower as hot as he could stand it.…

Noah woke up early, blinking up at the ceiling from what he quickly realized was the floor beside his bed. He’d been sleepwalking again, but at least he hadn’t gotten too far this time. Though, judging from the wide bruise forming on his thigh, the thing that had stopped him was the small table he’d brought in there while recovering and never remembered to bring back out to the kitchen. Beyond that, though, everything felt fine. He stood up and headed to his dresser to find some clothes. As he was sorting through a pile of tee-shirts, he noticed a text alert blinking on his phone screen. It was from…

As much as Iris tried to show nothing but professionalism and an aura of calm at the archive, by the time she got back to her apartment that night, she was shaking. A third Harbinger, with part of its pages removed? Proof that the town was trying to erase all history of the curse? And it was simple enough to link back to Charles Baxter. Who had made it clear he’d harm Iris if it came to it. Even though she knew her wards were strong, Iris slipped back down the stairs and into her shop. Normally, the shop felt like an extension of her home. Every inch of it…

The leather on the front of the tiny book looked pale and worn, like it had been crushed under heavy objects and neglected for decades. And, as Judith explained the process of digging through mountains of forgotten papers in the archive’s basement, Iris realized that was exactly what had happened. “It was hidden,” Judith said as Alicia stood gravely beside her. “There’s no mention of it in our files and the spot where I found it was strategic enough that it had to have been a former archivist who put it there. The inventory sheet shows a few other records that mention the ‘Strangeness’, which has to be the curse.…