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I try the second one, hoping it’s not a big blue blob, like the first This one is ible It’s just like the day I wrote it

My voice is deep and sure when I start reading while Elodie braces herself like she’s preparing for a monster to come out of the hole, also horror movie style

“I, Taylen Cromwell, do solemnly swear that I sell my soul to Elodie Thompson It is hers to do with as she sees fit The price is one dollar I agree to sign over hteen when I becoe of it She will then own ned, Taylen Croe seven”

“Holy shit,” Elodie whispers Jeffers backs her up with a doggy snort “What e thinking? How could we have sold our souls? And why until death? Most soul contracts start at death I remember we did it and buried it in the ti our souls was a good idea? We could have just proned that contract instead”

“But selling souls was such a thing back then Plus, it was highly dra for kids Anyway, you’re technically off the hook Your contract was all wet, and the ink had s”

“How did we even co for that?” Elodie shakes her head in amazement “It’s utterly ridiculous If our parents ever found out about it, I’m sure they would have been pissed We could have just done a blood brothers thing Wasn’t that also popular?”

I think about the brooch as soon as she says that, and I shudder The blood brothers thing was before our tioodness, and due to health and safety concerns, it was abandoned long before ere born I’h However, I don’t have time to respond before a cackly voice splits the air “Hooooooo ha! What do we have here? A pair of burglars digging up my perfect lawn?”

I whirl to find Granny standing on the huge back deck that juts froht pink bathrobe and has curlers in her hair Clearly, oke her up She’s grinning atpunch that I’m here Or perhaps like she knew I’d show up eventually Granny’s all about self-fulfilling prophecies

I tuck the contract back into the box and snap it close Elodie, on the other hand, releases Jeffers’ leash in surprise at seeingpink robe with actual feathers around the edges She looks like a bloody flao out here, and oh, those curlers ot the body of a twenty-year-old, or so she likes to brag, and her robe is cinched tight enough to reveal soranny curves that I really don’t want to think about

And ranny’s rather active love life is a dark, dark corner where I don’t let htly, and there won’t be any wardrobe malfunctions

Jeffers finds the hole I just dug and, in a fit of glee over the fresh dirt in the yard, goes to town, er in as ether, except for his frantically wriggling back end

“Would you look at that,” Granny chirps, shaking her head as if her precious, i obliterated “It’s a canine excavator tornado”

“I’m really sorry about the lawn,” Elodie whispers, but Granny just waves her hand, shushing her

“Are you two cursed co in for breakfast?” When I scowl darkly at Granny, she just throws her head back and cackles loud enough to wake up the whole neighborhood She eyes the metal box in my hands “What? Did you have a clause when you buried it that you wouldn’t dig it up until the event you were both cursed? Not just one or the other?”

“Granny…”

“I’d love breakfast!” Elodie’s forced cheer enuine mirth

She cuts ret, hest rusty nail, and she has a wit every bit as deadly as stepping on one without a tetanus shot She wouldn’t need to make breakfast because she could serve me up with that deadly wit of hers

I leave the box on the ground instead of taking it inside within Granny’s reach She’d probably do so about the soul contract that I wouldn’t like, such as sell it on the internet or use it to blackmail azines that she owns just to hu for others, of course I can just iine it now