Spells Trouble (Sisters of Salem #1) - P. C. Cast Page 0,13
a douchebag, I promise I’ll dump him faster than Xena makes Em sneeze—Goode guarantee?” Mercy lifted her hand.
“Goode guarantee!” Hunter’s ponytail bobbed as she nodded and extended her pinky, which Mercy caught with her own—pinkies still hooked, the twins tapped their knuckles together before their hands separated, fingers fluttering like birds as they shouted, “Sisters of Salem!”
“Hugsees?” Hunter said.
“Total hugsees.” Mercy grabbed her sister and squeezed her tightly.
“Yaaasss! Now those are my twins!” Emily grinned at them in the rearview mirror. “And it was a super fun party, though I don’t know what the hell happened with that scary beast thing in the smoke. And Mercy Anne Goode, I’m talking to you.”
“Hey, I don’t know, either! I just did a little witchy stuff to the wood. You shoulda just seen the cool oak tree. No clue what happened.”
“Wait, I think I know what went wrong,” Hunter said. “You only called on oak?”
Mercy nodded. “Yeah, I checked out the woodpile before they lit it—well, from a distance—but it all looked like that old oak that split from lightning last spring. They cut it up and left it at the campgrounds for people making campfires.”
“It wasn’t all oak. Remember the apple grove just after you turn in to the lake drive?”
“I know what you’re talking about. That’s Mr. Caldwell’s grove,” Emily said. “Mercy and I got super sick the summer we were thirteen from eating too many green apples from there. Remember, Mercy?”
Mercy shuddered. “I’ll never forget.”
“Last winter that ice storm killed the oldest tree out there.” Hunter tightened her ponytail as she explained. “Mom told us about it. Mr. Caldwell called her to see if she could save it, but it was too late. I remember she said that the apple wood was being chopped up and given to the campsite.”
“Huh. I got the wood wrong. Still weird,” said Mercy.
“And super weird that it was apple wood.” Hunter touched her T-shaped pendant and shared a look with her sister. Neither needed words to understand the significance of that particular type of tree this particular night.
Emily waved her hand around, redirecting the twins’ attention. “Hey, did you two ever consider that what happened might have just been a fluke and more about the weird smoke caused by your exploding moss fire bomb than anything remotely witchy? I mean, no offense, but that makes way more sense than saying that you actually conjured something from smoke.”
Mercy and Hunter locked their gazes and smiled knowingly.
“You’re right, Em,” said Mercy.
“Makes way more sense,” added Hunter.
“Well, anyway, it was a super cool party! And now that you two are back to your normal psychic-level closeness, all is right in the world.”
“Oh, sod it! I’m a wanker! I didn’t give you—” Mercy began.
“Your pressie!” Hunter finished.
“Mercy, you’re not British.” Emily tossed her mass of tight, dark curls back from her face as she glanced in the rearview mirror at her bestie.
“Neither are you!” Mercy giggled. “Me first!” She fished into her bag until she caught the little box she’d wrapped in silver foil and handed it to her sister.
Hunter shook it and then tore into it. She opened the box and her eyes went huge. “Holy Tyr! They’re unbelievably gorgeous! Mag, you shouldn’t have. They’re way expensive.” The moonlight that came in through the car’s windows glistened off the moonstone studs that were set in white gold and circled by little diamonds.
“The look on your face was worth every second of the six months of babysitting I had to do to pay for them.”
“Seriously? That’s why you’ve been so cheap for the past six months?” Em said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you suck at keeping presents secret!” said the twins together. Then they laughed and, at the same moment, said, “Jinx!”
“I am so good at keeping secrets,” Emily grumbled.
“Yeah, you are—as long as they’re not about presents,” said Mercy. “But don’t worry. We love you anyway.” She held out her hands to her sister. “Okay, now me!”
“You’re super sure I got you something and I have it with me.”
“Of course you did and of course you do. It’s probably something little that you can fit into that ridiculously small cross-body you carry.”
“Oh, please. What’s ridiculous is that suitcase you lug with you everywhere.” Hunter bent and felt around under the bucket seat in front of her.
“Yeah, but if the zombie apocalypse happens I’m set.” Mercy patted the bulging bag at her side.
“Do not tell me that you hid her pressie in my car and did not