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Her gaze lowered to the romance novel She pushed the book away like a sated diner refusing an extra piece of cake

“Thanks for bringing the book,” she said, while Zoë turned on the ovens and went to pour herself so to read it in the first place”

Zoë cast a quizzical glance over her shoulder “What were you going to do with it?”

Self- amusement twitched the corners of Justine’s mouth as she admitted, “Burn it and buy you a new copy”

Zoë fumbled with a spoon as she stirred crea to Justine, she asked blankly, “Why were you going to burn my romance novel?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to burn the whole thing Just a page” Seeing her cousin’s confusion, Justine explained sheepishly, “I was planning to sort of … well, cast a spell And it called for setting fire to ‘words of love scripted on parche from a romance novel would do the trick”

“Who were you going to put a spell on?”

“Me”

Judging from Zoë’s expression, an inquisition was about to start “You’ve got so to do,” Justine said hastily, “and I need to roll out the coffee cart to the lobby—”

“The coffee cart can wait” caentle but inflexible reply

Justine sighed and settled back in her chair Silently she reflected that although she was known as the bossy and opinionated cousin, Zoë was the one who got her way more often She just happened to be quieter about it

“You’ve mentioned this stuff about spells before,” Zoë said “And I re probleht you were joking, trying tothe i”

No Justine had not been kidding

She had never an tradition What she hadn’t adold, was a hereditary witch

So many varieties of witchcraft existed that the word itself was practically less without a qualifier There was classic witchcraft, eclectic witchcraft, oth, Wiccan, and so forth But Faory of natural-born witches … those with ic in their DNA

Throughout Justine’s childhood, her mother had instructed her in the ways of the Tradition She had taken Justine to festivals, ca the two of theard for school schedules One year they had lived in Oregon, and the next they’d stayed in a pagan community in Sacramento … then a few months in New Mexico … Alaska … Colorado … Justine couldn’t remember all the places they had stayed But they had returnedto a home that Justine had ever known

If the soot pattern on the inside of a glass candleholder reseold would say it was tins in footprints, the shape of a cloud, the path of a spider, the color of the moon

Justine couldn’t remember exactly when she had started to resent the nomadic pattern of their lives She only knew that at some point, it had bothered her that they could pack up everything they owned in a quarter hour “It’s so old had told her “We’re free as birds, Justine All we lack is wings” But even robins and starlings had stayed in their nests longer than Justine and her mother

Things ht have been different if Justine’s father, Liam, had still been alive, but he had died when she was a baby Froold had told her, Justine knew that Liarown apples, pears, and cherries Marigold hadapples to celebrate the autumn equinox A red bandana had been tied across his forehead to keep his long dark hair out of his eyes He had peeled an entire apple in one long strand, and when the peel had fallen to the ground, it had old’s initials, which she’d taken as a sign

They had ht away Liam had died before the next year was out Their entire relationship had been as brief and intense as a lightning storraphs of hi band or pocketknife, or the guitar he had played His orchard had been sold, and his possessions had been disposed of Justine was the only evidence that Liam Hoffman had ever existed She had his heavy dark hair and brown eyes, and according to her mother, she had his smile

Whenever Justine asked for stories about hiold shook her head and explained that when soone, all the memories went into a secret place in your heart You could take them out and look at them only when you were ready Eventually Justine had realized that Marigold would never be ready All Marigold wanted to reme that could ever happen to you It uitar music and the taste of apples

Reflecting on those years of constant upheaval, Justine thought she understood why herenough, love htly that you couldn’t slip free

And that hat Justine wanted, with all the force of her will

“Can we forget this whole thing?” Justine asked Zoë, rubbing her tired eyes “Because you don’t believe in this stuff, and if I try to explain, I’ crazy”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe What matters is that you believe in it” Her cousin’s tone turned coaxing “Tell me what kind of spell you wanted to cast on yourself”

Justine scowled and swung one of her feet, andunder her breath

“What?” Zoë asked

Justine repeated it, lance at her cousin, expecting derision or amusement But this was Zoë She only looked concerned

“Is this because of the breakup with Duane?” Zoë asked gently

“Not really It’s ether with Saed to Alex, and … I’ve never been in love”

“It takes longer for soer than me, you know Maybe by next summer—”

“Zoë, the problem isn’t that I haven’t fallen in love The problem is that I can’t”

“Why are you so certain?”