I moved on, even though my head was spinning. “The curse broke when I turned twenty-five.”
“It broke just after your twenty-sixth birthday, and that’s when we came for you,” Hettie said. “Well, Mimsey and Trinket at least, since I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to make the trek to the mainland.”
“How thoughtful.”
Hettie ignored me. “In retrospect, the curse was the best gift your mother could have left you with, even if it was the most frustrating thing in the world for a quarter century. We looked for you, we searched and searched and searched but we couldn’t find you.”
“Neither could The Faction,” Gus said. “And now, we have you here. A powerful Mixologist. We need you now more than ever, and it’s thanks to your mother that we have you here today. The curse saved your life.”
Staring at the two of them through eyes as wide as dinner plates, I shook my head. “I thought I came here for answers. I have more questions than ever.”
“We need to talk about what happened with Thomas,” Gus said quietly. “I owe you some explanations.”
“You?” I turned to him. “What haven’t you told me?”
“I stole The Magic of Mixology,” Gus said, beginning with something I already knew. “I had to do it to prove my loyalty to The Core.”
“The Core,” I said quietly. “The group of five people formed to fight The Faction.”
Gus nodded. “The Core was made up of me, Harpin, Turin, Thomas…and the leader.”
“Do you know the leader?” I asked, looking between the two. “Do you?” I asked Hettie.
“Nobody does.” Gus shook his head. “I explained to Hettie about The Core only because she needed to know, and now you do, too. But it must be kept secret. Turin and Thomas are gone now, but The Core must remain.”
“Turin. I saw him,” I said quietly. “He came to me before Thomas…”
“I know,” Gus interrupted. “Turin could see what was happening. He suspected Thomas. When he sensed the end was near…”
The room fell silent.
“Turin took The Elixir to protect you,” Gus said. “Thomas was after him already. He may have already been poisoned by Thomas. Taking The Elixir gave him one last chance to help.”
“He was poisoned,” I whispered. “He saved my life.”
“It’s what he wanted, Lily.” Gus got to his feet and took a few steps over. He rested a hand on my shoulder. “All of us who joined The Core vowed to give our lives to serve.”
“Why is Harpin allowed into The Core?” I asked, pulling my head out of my hands. “He’s terrible.”
Gus’s breath caught. “I don’t disagree with you, but the leader chose Harpin.”
“The leader also chose Thomas.”
“No,” Gus said. “We thought the leader chose Thomas, but really, Thomas tricked his way into the group. We didn’t realize it until it was too late. By then, Thomas had already inflicted too much damage. He even took my cane, probably to frame me, and left it in The Forest.” Gus’s fists shook with rage. “If you hadn’t found him, he would’ve killed me and set me up to take the fall for the deadly potion. Thomas would’ve escaped.”
“And Zin, does she have a role in any of this?” I looked to my grandmother.
“Zin has her own path to follow,” she said. “And it is not the same as yours. In fact, it is of the utmost importance that you not tell her, nor Ranger X, about The Core.”
I frowned. “But you know about it, and I know too. Plus, there’s Gus, Harpin, and the leader. Don’t we want more people on our side?”
“Rangers are loyal first and foremost to other Rangers,” Hettie explained. “The Core is loyal to The Core. Do you see our issues? Should Zin become a Ranger, we may have our differences, however slight.”
“Aren’t we fighting for the same thing?”
Hettie conceded my point with a tilt of her head. “Still, there are instances where our tactics may differ. I need your word, Lily.”
I hesitated, and then blew out a breath of air. “Fine. I won’t say anything. Why are you allowed to know but not them?”
Hettie smiled, her eyes both sad and amused, all at once. “I am The Core.”
Gus’s mouth parted in surprise, but his eyes didn’t reflect the same emotion. His face had the content look of someone who’d known this ending was inevitable.
I didn’t feel the same way. “What are you talking about?”
“Your grandfather entrusted me with the care of you, with the care of The Isle, and with the care of our people,” she said. “It is from him—my husband—that you’ve inherited the genealogy that allows you to become the Mixologist.”