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“I can’t prove every part of the mechanism yet, but the before-and-after pattern is too consistent to ignore. The town isn’t blessed with everlasting love.” My voice drops. “We’ve been cursed.”

Chapter 39

Pepper Vines

Ezra blinks. “What do you mean, cursed?”

I gather papers into a new pile because if my hands stop moving, I might remember someone just threatened to kill him. “The release road worked before Susannah. After her pack botched the ritual, impossible things began happening to people who weren’t there. Their grief spread. Their bond pain spread. So did their fear of losing each other.”

I point at Scarlet’s notes. “It’s still affecting people.” Then Ezra’s records. “It’s affecting you. And the town has been feeding the wound by celebrating the exact thing that caused it. Love that never lets go.”

Theo makes a sound full of anguish. “What do we do?”

The answer feels close. Not complete, but close enough that every nerve in my body starts humming. I stare at the witness instructions. The one held walks. The holder remains. The witness does not call.

The route existed before the curse. A functioning ritual is buried underneath the damaged one.

“We do it correctly,” I say.

Ezra’s color pales, and his expression goes blank.

I grab the witness instructions. “The curse began when they broke the release ritual. If we complete it properly, we may be able to release the part trapping you.”

Theo’s gaze drops to the page. “And the town?”

“I don’t think one correct release fixes everything.” The admission hurts. I tap the post-ritual accounts. “These effects spread beyond Susannah’s pack generations ago. People who weren’t part of her bond started hearing voices, carrying grief that wasn’t theirs, and feeling bond pain near the old route. Ezra may be caught in the same pattern, but the pattern already exists outside him

I look at the route map. “Completing his release may free him without removing whatever the failed ritual left in the land.” “So this could save Ezra without breaking the curse,” Theo says.

“I think so.” I spread Ezra’s symptom logs beside the ritual account. “The curse explains why the old wound can reach your bond, but it doesn’t explain every detail of what’s happening to you.” Ezra’s gaze follows my hands as I say, “Your fading is specific. You’re not only picking up old grief or dreaming someone else’s memories. Your body is caught between being present and being gone.”

“Which has been extremely inconvenient.”

“Yes. One star. Would not recommend.”

His mouth twitches, but his eyes stay scared.

I trace the old instructions. “The keeper accounts describe a walker held between leaving and returning when the release is interrupted. The route stays open, but the person cannot finish crossing it.”

Theo looks at Ezra.

I compare Ezra’s records against the ritual roles. The fading. The dreams. The way his body strengthens when the three of us settle together, then slips when the old bond pain spikes. His repeated visions of Susannah trying to walk while the people she loves pull her backward.

“Oh.”

Ezra leans forward. “Good oh or terrible oh?”

“Both.” I put my finger beneath the first line. “The one held walks.” My gaze lifts to Ezra. “That’s you.”

He goes still.

I move to the second. “The holder remains.”

Theo’s scent sharpens.

“That’s you.”

His eyes meet mine, and I feel the weight of what I’m asking settle over him.