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Although Dad looked like he wanted to protest, he’d also caught sight of the bacon she’d put on the table Distraction provided; discussion over

The kitchen in their new house was one of the few things about it Nadia didn’t like In their Chicago condohtest appliances her father’s big law-firm salary could buy, and oceans of counter space Here, everything was old-fashioned and a little shabby But what she disliked in the kitchen was precisely what made the rest of the house so awesoe attic she’d clai place for her Book of Shadows and the supplies for her ic She’d expected Cole to pitch a fit, but he was so thrilled by having a real, true backyard of his own that he showed no signs of coain The oaken plank floors creaked colasslet cranberry-tinted light into the stairwell If it was all slightly run-down, it was also beautiful--and as big a change froine

Nadia didn’t want any reminders of their life before She wanted to seal her fa could hurt theic was at work in this town This house seeh of the Craft to help that along

So she’d whispered the spells, encircled it with the best protection she knew She’d slipped out in the night to burythe attic ceiling blue To make it cute, she’d told her dad The real power of that particular shade, what it s he never had to know

Great, Nadia thought as she stared at her new high school, Isaac P Rodh school was bad enough On top of that, it was a new school for her senior year She’d accepted they needed the ating completely new people and teachers and cliques for the nine and a half ain Her new school was far so, but in so, not less Everyone here knew one another, and probably had for their whole lives That made her the odd one out

But beyond that, there was so just beneath the surface--once again, so else she’d ever known Precisely hoas different, she couldn’t say, but this energy was fa all around her, that static-electricity thing all over again

This was … a co on here? It’s not like soic near me--even if I could feel that, I don’t think it would feel like this It’s y is kept here But shielded--encased--in a way I don’t understand

Nadia clutched the straps of her backpack tighter as she hurried inside the registrar’s office Don’t think about it now, she told herself You can figure it out later Besides, there’s nothing you can do about it without Moh the day

Even waiting for her class schedule was almostthere, like nothing is going on, even though we both knohat’s going on, so I’m like, hey, Jinnie, and she’s like, hey, Kendall, and I’ I swear to God, she is so fake" The girl in front of Nadia so, even though she was chewing at least half a pack of guood su into that with her"

Nadia prayed for the ancient secretary behind the counter in her lilac polyester suit to find whatever the heck it was this girl wanted so she’d leave already Or shut up Either way

The door opened and shut behind her; Nadia didn’t bother turning around The girl in front of her did, her sandy hair falling over her shoulder Almost instantly, her freckled face went from pleasant to nasty, her expression fro of total fake bitches," she said into her phone, far too loudly, "that skank Verlaine just walked in"

Nadia couldn’t help but turn back to look

The first word that came into her ht The black dress she asn’t lace or leather; it had puffed sleeves and a wide belt at the waist like so froreen Converse sneakers Her co that stuff Goths used to cohosts--but Verlaine was really that fair all over And her long hair wasn’t an elaborate wig or even a dye job, unless she’d been thorough enough to even do her eyebrows Instead, it was really, truly, totally silver-gray, though Verlaine see thing about her, though, was how … hopeless she looked Like people were er even drea better Her only response was to roll her eyes and say, "Kendall, give it a rest"

Kendall said, "I have to go If I don’t get out of here soon, the skank overload will kill lance toward Verlaine; Kendall’s bubbly personality sees for dads would mean at least somebody would tell you what to wear"