The Carrefour Curse


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Copyright © 2023 by Dianne K. Salerni
 All Rights Reserved
 HOLIDAY HOUSE is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
 Printed and bound in November 2022 at Maple Press, York, PA, USA.
 www.holidayhouse.com
 First Edition
 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Salerni, Dianne K., author.
 Title: The Carrefour curse / by Dianne K. Salerni.
 Description: First edition. | New York : Holiday House, [2023] | Audience: Ages 8–12. | Audience: Grades 4–6. | Summary: “When twelve-year-old Garnet finally gets to meet her magical extended family she discovers they’re all trapped in the ruins of their crumbling manor and Garnet must break a curse that has decimated three generations of Carrefours”— Provided by publisher.
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022022151 | ISBN 9780823452675 (hardcover)
 Subjects: CYAC: Magic—Fiction. | Dwellings—Fiction. | Inheritance and succession—Fiction. | Blessing and cursing—Fiction. | Families—Fiction. | LCGFT: Novels.
 Classification: LCC PZ7.S152114 Car 2023 | DDC [Fic]—dc23 
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022022151
 ISBN: 978-0-8234-5267-5 (hardcover)
 
 
 
 
 For Bob, again and always
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 Turquoise
 Color: blue-green, sometimes mottled
 Magical properties: promotes physical and emotional healing, good health, good fortune, and good travels
 To recharge: place in direct sunlight
 You’d think spitting up frogs would be a lot like the worst stomach flu you’ve ever had, but it’s surprisingly different. A knot travels slowly up your esophagus and into the back of your throat. It hops onto your tongue, and then ptooey, you spit out the frog.
 A quiet but disgusting bit of magic.
 The frogs, each less than an inch long, haven’t yet filled up the basin in my lap, but if I don’t get rid of them soon, they’ll be hopping around the car. “You have to pull over, Mom.”
 My mother wrenches her eyes off the road long enough to shoot me a wild-eyed glance. She’s taking this harder than I am, which seems strange, but I think it’s better if somebody remains calm. “Just throw them out the window, Garnet.”
 “I can’t do that!”
 “Why not? It’s not like they’re—” Mom doesn’t finish the sentence. She can’t tell me the frogs aren’t real. Hallucinations don’t leave a trail of slime on your tongue.
 Which makes me wonder—where are they coming from? Are they magically popping into existence in my stomach? Or are they being frognapped from some peaceful pond and subjected to a situation that is probably as unpleasant for them as it is for me? Either way, I won’t throw them out the window of a moving car. “Mo-o-om!”
 “Okay, okay!” She puts her blinkers on and pulls onto the side of the road. “Hurry up. The faster we get where we’re going, the sooner this will stop.” Even now, she avoids saying the name of our destination.
 I pop the handle to open my door and tip the frogs onto the shoulder of the road. Go free, little guys. I’ve barely closed the door when Mom peels onto the road again and stomps on the gas. “Use the bracelets I gave you,” she says between clenched teeth. “Call upon the power of the stones to control the phenomenon and slow it down.”
 “I’m trying!” But the bracelets aren’t helping.
 It’s not like Mom’s practical magic shop carries amulets specifically for a plague of frogs. One of the bracelets Mom shoved at me during our frantic departure from home is a ringlet of obsidian and turquoise crafted to relieve nausea in pregnant women. The other incorporates a bloodstone to ward off magical danger—but it hasn’t stopped this frog curse.
 In fact, here comes another one, sliding over the back of my tongue. I spit the frog into the metal basin with a squelchy pi-i-ng.
 My finger pads stroke the stones in the bracelets, seeking relief. By now I know each one by heart. This oblong obsidian is next to the turquoise with the jagged edge. The bloodstone has a j-shaped chip on its underside. But I can only sense their physical shapes, not their magic.
 Actions beget consequences. It’s one of the first lessons in magic Mom taught me. And I think I’m paying the price for my actions now. Because not only are the bracelets useless against my affliction, I also can’t seem to hear or influence the power of the stones. Me! Garnet Carrefour!
 I was named by my mother for a powerful gemstone, and I’ve been listening to the secret song of stones for as long as I can remember. In fact, it wasn’t until I was almost in kindergarten that I understood that other people couldn’t hear them. Tonight, the silence is deafening. I’m pretty sure I’m being punished for what I did earlier today, but I can’t tell Mom about that. Not until we get to Crossroad House.
 Her phone starts ringing in the cup holder. I balance the basin on my knees while I check the screen. “It’s Holly.”
 Mom shakes her head, but I stab the green icon anyway. “Hi, Holly. This is Garnet.”
 “Hello, darling. Is it still happening?”
 Darling sounds overfamiliar for someone I’ve never met, even if she is my mother’s cousin. “Yeah, it’s still happening.”
 “What did you do, Holly?” Mom yells in the direction of the phone. “What in the name of earth magic did you and Linden do?”
 “Nothing to Garnet!” Holly’s voice protests. “We cast a simple summoning spell on you. Windy warned you we’d be forced to do that if you didn’t come willingly.”
 “I blocked your spell, so you must have cast something on my daughter.” The fury in Mom’s voice echoes through the car. I would have felt the same if I thought her cousins were to blame for my predicament, but I think I accidentally did this to myself.
 “We would never!” Holly exclaims. “And why would we send frogs? Bring her