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  Julia’s lips parted. After a moment she lowered her eyes and returned to her work, but her pencil moved more slowly.

  Guilt filled Angie’s chest. She shouldn’t have even thought about searching her friend’s mind. There had to be boundaries between them. Julia had a right to her own thoughts, her own secrets.

  Angie settled back on the grass, wishing she was home with a big plate of cookies. A bird had been in mid-flight when they froze time. It hung in the air at an impossible angle below motionless clouds. There was no wind. No life. No anything. She could think for as long and hard as she wanted. Maybe this wasn’t such a good thing after all.

  “Done,” Julia said. She stuffed her binder in her backpack, then stood up and reached for Angie. “I’ll unfreeze time now.”

  “Okay. I was standing here,” Angie said. “And I think you were closer to the tree.”

  “What the crap? Who was even watching us?”

  “You never know,” Angie answered.

  Julia rolled her eyes. “Is this close enough?”

  Angie nodded and they joined hands. Power surged to life, awaiting their command. She felt Julia draw it to her. For a split-second Angie saw students sitting in the cafeteria, people at bus stops and in coffee shops, in office buildings and gardens. Everything was a jumble of images that made her head spin. Angie’s heart constricted at the thought of Kaitlyn with a share of this power, and for a moment she resisted the flow of time. Julia frowned, pulling in more of Angie’s magic until the whole world surged forward and back to life.

  Chapter 5

  Julia

  Julia hated running. Detested, loathed, whatever other words there were for it. Angie would know them, but Julia thought hate summed it up best.

  “Pick up the pace, Corona,” Coach Hamden yelled.

  She ignored Coach Hamden, panting through the ache in her side as she pounded away on the dusty track. It was so unfair that athletic types like Angie were excused from PE for participating in a sport, while she had to suffer through the school’s underfunded fitness program.

  She turned into the curve around the track, watching the girls in the middle of the field. Angie was there, spending her free period today being thrown in the air like the pebble in a human slingshot. Julia stared at her murkily.

  Maybe she should have told Angie about how her history book changed.

  If she had told her, Angie would’ve felt like she had no choice about sealing with Kaitlyn. Angie deserved a choice.

  Angie saw her and offered her a bubbly wave, her ponytail bouncing. Julia was too tired to curb her annoyance and too exhausted to wave back. Hopefully the moan she gave her sounded like a ‘hello.’

  “Are you excited about prom tonight?” a girl next to Julia said.

  Julia’s lungs ached. Her head hurt from trying to think while running, which was always a bad idea. Who was this girl? Mindy? Cindy? And why did she want to start up a conversation and run at the same time?

  “You’re going, right?” the girl asked.

  “Right.” Right, right, right.

  “Wow, you’re so lucky that your boyfriend’s a junior,” the girl said. “I would kill to go to a dance on the Queen Mary,” the girl continued, oblivious to Julia’s aching side or her annoyance at being talked to while enduring this agony. “It’s the actual retired steamship. Aren’t you excited?”

  “Excited,” she huffed. Yes. So very excited.

  “You don’t look excited.”

  Couldn’t the girl see she was about to die? Please, somebody, shoot a meteor at her so she’ll shut up and leave me alone.

  Angie joined in on their little running group. When cheer practice ended she liked to run a lap. For fun.

  How did the girl always manage to look so happy? Even while running?

  “Excited about what?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

  Two gasps later, Julia said, “Prom.” Oh, goodness, why must everyone keep talking? She managed the few more steps to the finish line and grabbed her knees for dear life.

  “Wow. I don’t know how you do it,” Angie said, pinching the skin on Julia’s arm. “You don’t like eating healthy and you never exercise.”

  “Shut ... up,” Julia managed. Even in her weakened, deoxygenated state, she didn’t forget about the girls within earshot, and no girl liked hearing about a semi-thin girl who ate crap and never exercised.

  The lunch bell rang and everyone headed to the locker room. Julia hesitated. This was it. Lunchtime. The moment they would mark Kaitlyn and release her magic. Or try to.

  Kaitlyn and her crew took tennis for their PE requirement. They would be coming up from the courts any second.

  “Are you sure,” Julia whispered, “absolutely positively sure you want to do this?”

  Angie looked back at the side of the hill where Kaitlyn would be coming from. “Yes.”

  Dread rushed through her. Mixed with the dread was something else. She couldn’t deny it. Excitement. It pumped through her veins like a dizzying overload of adrenaline. By marking Kaitlyn and then sealing her, they would keep their magic forever.

  The idea of going back to being normal sounded like the most unbearable thing on earth, but she would do it in a heartbeat if that’s what Angie wanted. She gave Angie a lingering look, worried that they were making the wrong choice. Angie’s heart-shaped face was set in determined lines. She wanted to do this. Julia exhaled a pent up breath of relief. If this worked, they would never have to go back to being normal again. Eventually she would be able to do more than just freeze time. With practice she would be able to do all the things Angie could do—move objects, light flames, everything. They were really going to be lifelong witches.

  “I’m ready,” Angie said, looking up at Julia, and Julia felt a twinge of guilt. Angie reminded her of a little kid saying she was ready for a roller coaster when it was clear she was still scared out of her mind. “The magic is more important than anything, right?”

  “Right,” Julia agreed, though probably not for the same reasons as Angie.

  “Good. So we agree.” Angie tucked a nonexistent strand of hair behind her ears. “Let’s go talk to Kaitlyn.”

  “Awesome. Wait, talk? Why talk?”

  “To explain what we’re doing.”

  “Have you lost it?” Julia ignored Angie’s widening eyes. “Let’s mark her first and explain later.”

  “That wouldn’t be fair to her.”

  “I don’t give a crap about being fair after what she did to you.”

  Angie’s gaze faltered. “She should have a choice in what happens to her. I gave you a choice.”

  “But she’s evil,” Julia whispered. “No joke, don’t talk to her about it. This is our only chance to mark her. Like you said, your birthday is at midnight.”

  “We have to learn to be a team. That has to start now or what hope do we have?”

  Julia sighed. This was a super horrible idea. What were they supposed to do? Walk up to her and say, ‘Hey, Kaitlyn, you’re the third Daughter of Fate in this mystic trinity thing we’ve got going on. Would you mind if we marked you with magic—it’ll only hurt a lot—and then we’ll take you to a gypsy so she can seal the three of us together for eternity?’

  Angie’s head shifted, her gaze fixed on a point behind Julia. Julia turned to see Kaitlyn and her crew coming up the hill.

  Kaitlyn was the only girl alive who could bring the horrible PE uniform to anything resembling sexiness. Jealous girls said things like, “All that makeup makes her look like a total porn star,” or, “Anyone could look that good if they had a rich dad to pay for spa treatments.” Maybe they were right, but the witch was also flat-out gorgeous. With thick layers of glossy black hair and skin that practically glowed, she looked like a movie star. And then there were her eyes, bright green and tilted up at the edges, with eyelashes so thick and full they should make noise when they fluttered. All the makeup and spa treatments in the world wouldn’t make Julia look that good.

&
nbsp; Julia faced Angie with the hope that she had changed her mind about talking first, but Angie set her pom-poms down. Before Julia could do anything to stop her, she called out, “Kaitlyn.”

  Kaitlyn and her friends stuttered to a stop. The look on Kaitlyn’s face made Julia think of a wolf looking at a newborn lamb. Julia rushed up to take her place at Angie’s side.

  “What are they doing?” one of the girls said behind them.

  “Oh my gosh, it’s the little cheerleader.”

  “She’s come to tell Kaitlyn off for stealing her boyfriend.”

  Several more hushed oh-my-goshes followed. Kaitlyn slid a conniving glance to the girl on her right. “Little Miss Letterman Jacket and her bushy-haired sidekick want to say hello.” She pursed her full, glossy lips, eyeing Angie up and down. “Is there something you losers need help with? Besides your sorry lives?”

  Julia flinched at her tone. She wanted to grab Angie and run away, but Angie cleared her throat. “We need to talk to you about something.”

  “Not happening,” Kaitlyn answered.

  “It’s important.”

  “Then talk.”

  Angie twisted her fingers together. “It’s private.”

  Julia almost groaned. Angie made it sound like she needed to ask for a tampon.

  “How sad,” Kaitlyn said with a fake laugh. “She wants to make nice, maybe have a sleepover and invite me to join her in hideous hair color.”

  This was so pointless. “Forget it, Angie. Let’s go.”

  “No. We have to show her.”

  One of Kaitlyn’s snobby friends pulled her away. “Ignore them, Kaitlyn. It’s like when people try to sell you phones at the mall. You just keep walking.”

  “No,” Kaitlyn said. Her eyes narrowed on Angie. “Show me what, Angie?”

  “We found a picture of you on the internet,” Angie said.

  Kaitlyn’s lovely face turned white. Her friends hung back, delighted and appalled. “You have two minutes,” Kaitlyn said, storming to the locker room.

  They followed Kaitlyn to the shower room, the only sure place no one ever went in. “I’ve been waiting for you to drop your too-good-to-be-true act,” Kaitlyn spat. “Where is it? What website is it at? I won’t be blackmailed.”

  Angie looked to Julia. “Go on, show her.”

  “Okay,” Julia said, digging through her backpack. Why did she get the feeling this would not turn out well?

  “This is going to sound strange,” Angie began, “but have you ever heard of the Fates? Past, Present, and Future?”

  Julia couldn’t believe Angie wanted to tell Kaitlyn the whole freaking story. She pulled out the printed picture.

  Kaitlyn snatched it from her hands. “What the hell is this?”

  “It’s a painting. Of you,” Julia said, her stomach turning to jelly. This sounded lame. Lame, lame, lame.

  “But it’s not just any painting, it’s over two hundred years old,” Angie continued. “We have a connection.”

  Kaitlyn looked at the picture for a long second. “This is incredible.” Her gaze went from Julia to Angie. “Take a couple of dumbasses, mix in boredom and a photo cropping program, and you get a sad, pathetic attempt at a joke.”

  “It’s not a joke.”

  “Good, because it’s not funny.” She crumpled the paper and tossed it into the sink. “This must be awkward for you both, so I’ll leave. Bye, losers.”

  “Wait!” Julia called. They couldn’t let her leave! When would they have her alone again before midnight? She grabbed Kaitlyn’s arm. The mark on Julia’s shoulder grew deliciously warm. “Oh my gosh,” she breathed. Julia’s eyes closed as power flooded her. Kaitlyn really was the third Daughter.

  “Get your hands off me!”

  Julia and Angie’s eyes met. The time had come. No more questions. No more talking. Angie placed her hand on Kaitlyn’s other arm.

  “What are you doing?”

  Angie’s eyes closed. Julia grabbed her free hand so the three of them were all connected. The power was so satisfying, so ... right.

  Kaitlyn struggled, but Julia couldn’t let go now. Not if someone offered her a treasure. Not for anything.

  “Get the hell away from me or—” Kaitlyn broke off as an awful sound ripped from her throat, and Julia knew the magic had found its way to the final Daughter.

  Chapter 6

  Kaitlyn

  Kaitlyn choked back another cry. Waves of heat flooded her. She struggled against Angie and her bushy-haired friend, but their hands tightened around her arms, their fingers biting into her flesh.

  How dare they?

  Her vision flashed white. The world spun. She squeezed her eyes shut at the rush of blazing energy. It buzzed through every muscle in her body, deep inside her until it seemed to tear her apart. The power filled her with excruciating heat. She couldn’t help crying out. Her skin would melt if she didn’t break free. She thrashed around, but these girls were freakishly strong. They kept pumping her full of pain and fire. It was a prank gone too far and her heart filled with panic.

  “No,” she screamed, yanking herself forward until she thought her arms would tear out of their sockets. She wouldn’t die here, to be found on the bathroom floor.

  They let go abruptly. She almost fell onto the filthy tile. The terrifying heat didn’t leave her shaking body. It took every ounce of strength she had not to collapse. She eyed the nearest drain. God, she needed to throw up.

  And the whole time the girls kept staring at her. “Get out of my way,” she yelled, pushing past them as best as she could. They didn’t hold her back and she kept her relief to herself. “I don’t know what you did, but my father’s a lawyer—ouch!”

  She clutched her arm as her shoulder lit on fire. What had they done to her? She doubled over against the burn, clawing at her arm. “Make it stop! Freaking hell!”

  Angie acted like she cared, kneeling beside her as she sank to the floor, but Kaitlyn didn’t give a rat’s ass about the girl’s fake sympathy.

  “Get ... off!” she ground out. “Get off me!”

  “Maybe if we give her some of our magic,” the bushy-haired girl said.

  The burning snaked around her arm. “Damn it!” she screamed. “Ashleigh! Becca!” She shoved Angie to the side and kicked off the bushy-haired girl’s attempts to get near her.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Angie said.

  The pain in her arm sank deeper, reaching to her bone, and she clenched her eyes shut. It hurt too much. All she could do was hold herself tight, her hatred for them pouring over the pain, helping to numb it. They would never overpower her like this again. She would make sure of it. And she would make them pay.

  “It’s almost over,” the bushy-haired girl said, her voice excited. “Look. The mark is almost done glowing.”

  Kaitlyn looked down at her arm, expecting to see blood. Instead, she found a gold-toned tattoo. It was like the ones Angie and her friend had, full of swirls and designs, except where Angie’s had a moon and the other girl’s had a sun, hers was dotted with dozens of stars.

  She met their eyes, expecting an explanation, but they sat back. Silent again. Waiting.

  Kaitlyn swallowed as bile rose in her throat. Waiting for what?

  A gasp tore through her lungs. Her chest filled with pressure and more burning. The tight, full sensation became unbearable. Her ribs would crack with it. Her whole body would come apart. In a second she would start screaming all over again.

  The girls held out their hands to her, as if they knew she needed to hang on. How she hated them. She wanted to spit on their hands, smash in their faces.

  “Take our hands,” Angie said. Her fake concern was sickening. “You need to release your power to feel better.”

  Kaitlyn wanted to tell her to go off herself, but she had to grit her teeth to keep from screaming.

  “Just take our hands,” the sidekick said, annoyed, “or I’ll grab you and make you.”

  “Julia,” Angie said in a warning
tone.

  Kaitlyn couldn’t hold on to this feeling. Her breath came out in a gush as she grabbed their hands. What other choice did she have?

  The moment their fingers made contact the power flowed out of her, leaving sweet relief. She exhaled. Her head rolled back as finally the pain left her.

  “Wow,” Angie said.

  Or at least she thought it was Angie.

  “Cool!”

  Kaitlyn’s eyes shifted to where their voices came from. She could still feel their hands, but no matter how hard she looked she could barely make out their outlines. When they started talking again, Kaitlyn didn’t even care who was saying what.

  “Holy crap! What is this?”

  “I don’t know. We could be invisible.”

  “Oh my gosh! So freakin’ awesome! Let’s go to a mirror!”

  “Wait, we should check on Kaitlyn.”

  A transparent form leaned down. Kaitlyn scooted back.

  “Are you okay?”

  Kaitlyn peered at the weird smudge of air in front of her, then down at herself. Her own arms were as hazily see-through as theirs were, like she was made of glass.

  “What’s going on?” she asked. She felt so weird and groggy.

  They must have drugged her.

  No other explanation made sense. These bitches had drugged her.

  “What did you give me?” Rage poured out with each word. “You’re going to pay. You have no idea. If I OD—no. I won’t let this happen.”

  “Wait.”

  But Kaitlyn wasn’t waiting. She shoved at them and rushed through the locker room.

  And froze.

  The whole room was full of girls, some half-dressed, some smiling, mouths parted as if they were talking, but all of them stood as still as statues.

  Kaitlyn stumbled backward, almost falling into the row of sinks behind her. She turned to face the school’s tired-looking mirror. She had no reflection. Not even the watery outline that surrounded her when she glanced down at herself.

  She was absolutely invisible.

  She stood there, staring at her lack of reflection, surrounded by frozen statue-people, and it was all too much. She started to scream.