Just because I was attracted to him, it didn’t mean I was interested in him. And I hated fighting with my twin. Which was exactly what was going to happen if I admitted to being interested in Ethan.
Give it time, I thought. She’ll be bored with him in a month. Then, if it’s meant to be between me and Ethan, it’ll happen naturally. She won’t even care, because she’ll have already moved on to someone new.
I needed to be patient and let fate take its course.
“Earth to Gemma.” Mira snapped her fingers to get my attention. “Did you hear a word of what I just said?”
“Sorry. I was thinking.”
“Of course you were. But back to Joey. You’re the one who broke up with him. So if anyone should feel awkward at the start of next term, it should be him—not you.”
“You were never friends with any of your exes before you dated them,” I said. “It’s different.”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “But whatever happens next term, you know I’ve got your back. Right?”
“Right,” I said, although for the first time, I wasn’t sure I truly believed it.
3
Gemma
THREE MONTHS LATER
I stood in front of the mirror, studying the jeans and burgundy tank top I’d chosen for tonight.
For my seventeenth birthday.
But most importantly, for the Gemini circle twins ceremony.
I ran my hands over the front of my jeans. There were no instructions about what to wear for the ceremony, so my mom had told Mira and me to wear whatever we were most comfortable in.
For me, that was always jeans and a tank.
I brushed my hair, and then looked around my room. Books lined the shelves on every wall. Fantasy, science fiction, historicals, thrillers, mysteries, and even the occasional contemporary romance. You named it, I had it.
My window was a perfect reading nook where I could sit and look out at the ocean. It would have been expensive real estate, if generations of my family hadn’t owned the café below the small apartment and passed it down the family line.
I zeroed in on the shelf of my favorite books—the one close to my bed—and read the titles on the spines. The majority were fantasies. As I studied them, I was reminded of each wonderful story I’d read and enjoyed, which calmed my racing heart.
Two knocks on the door, and Mira opened it and pranced inside. She wore high-rise jean shorts that barely covered her butt, and a pink crop top that showed a sliver of skin above her belly button. Her short, blonde hair was perfectly wavy, in the way I knew meant she’d curled it first, then brushed it out to make it look more casual.
She examined her reflection from multiple angles. “How do I look?” she asked.
“Cute shorts,” I said. “Are they new?”
“Yep.” She turned around to look at herself from behind, and pouted at her reflection like she was a model posing for a photoshoot. “But I’m going for more than ‘cute.’ I want to be irresistibly sexy.”
My heart dropped. Because I knew what that meant.
She had plans with Ethan after the ceremony.
“You do realize that if the ceremony works, we’re going to be there all night,” I said. “Right?”
“The ceremony’s not going to work.” She rolled her eyes, turned to face me, and crossed her arms over her chest. Her push-up bra was so tight that she was nearly spilling out of her top. “It’s all a bunch of craziness.”
“It might not be,” I said, even though we’d had this conversation a million times.
Mira wasn’t going to believe in magic until she saw it herself.
I, on the other hand, had faith. Because I always felt the tingle of magic in the air around me. It was right there, but if I tried to grasp it, it slipped through my fingers.
It felt the strongest at the cove. I could have sworn that sometimes I saw a shimmer of green or orange dance across my skin. I could never make it happen when anyone else was there, but I knew what I saw.
And then, there was something else. Some other proof I knew I’d seen before. But whenever I tried to remember, it slipped away like a forgotten dream.
“Ethan’s already on his way.” Mira dropped her arms back down to her sides and smiled. “And I need to look perfect. Because tonight’s the night.”
My chest tightened, because I knew what she meant. She’d only been talking about it for the past month.
She wanted to lose her virginity to him.
The thought of it tore me up inside. But I kept my expression blank, like I always did when she brought up Ethan. Then I swallowed down the lump in my throat and asked, “Where are you guys going?”
“Not sure yet. But we’ll figure it out once I tell him it’s what I want for my birthday.”
“You mean he doesn’t know?”
“He knows that I love him,” she said. “I told him last week, on Christmas. So now, it’s time to seal the deal.”
I stared at her, shocked.
How had she not told me she loved him until now?
“And he said it back?” I asked.
Please say no, please say no, please say no…
Guilt slammed down on me, because I shouldn’t have been wishing that for my twin. Mira loved Ethan. Hoping he didn’t love her back was selfish and cruel.
But I couldn’t help it. Every cell in my body buzzed with wrongness at the thought of Ethan being in love with Mira.
“He doesn’t have to,” she said coolly. “I know he loves me. Tonight, he’ll finally be able to show me. And that’s what’s important.”
He doesn’t love her.
I relaxed and sat on the edge of my bed. “When’s he getting here?” I asked.
“He just left his house. So, around half an hour.”
“We’ll still be doing the ceremony.”
“He knows that,” she said. “He asked where we’ll be, so I told him. He’s gonna wait for me in the parking lot nearby.”
“You told him about the ceremony?”
I couldn’t believe it. No one but the witches in the Gemini circle was supposed to know.
“It’s just Ethan.” She shrugged. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not ‘fine.’” I glanced at the door, knowing Mom was getting ready in her room down the hall. She wouldn’t be able to hear us—she always kept music on—but I was paranoid anyway. “What if he sees something?”
“All he’ll see is a few people gathered around a bonfire.”
“You know that might not be true.” I didn’t care how much Mira claimed to love Ethan—she shouldn’t have told him our family secret. “Give me your phone.”
“What?” Her hand went to the back pocket of her shorts, and she stepped back. “Why?”
“Because I need to text Ethan. I’ll tell him we’re going somewhere different, and to meet you in the parking lot of the café.”
“You’re not texting Ethan.” She stared me down like a cat whose territory had been breached.
“Then you do it,” I said. “What’s the difference if you meet up with him there or here?”