“Because I can jump right into his car if I meet him there. It’s easier.”
“The cove is five minutes away,” I said. “Just have him wait here.”
“No.”
“Are you seriously putting him before me? Before Mom?” I glanced at the door again. “Because if you don’t text him to meet you here, I will tell her.”
“You wouldn’t.”
Guilt washed over me. Because Mira and I had always had each other’s backs. It was part of the twin code.
But this ceremony was bigger than all of us.
“Family first,” I said. “And Ethan’s not our family.”
She held my gaze for a few more seconds. Then she let out a long, defeated sigh. “Fine.” She pulled out her phone and tapped furiously on the screen. “Done,” she said, and she raised her eyes to meet mine. “Happy?”
“Let me see.” I held out my hand so she could pass over the phone.
She did, and I glanced at the screen.
Change of plans—meet me at the café. So excited for tonight! Cya soon <3 <3 <3
Three moving dots appeared underneath the message. He was typing.
I held my breath as I waited for his response to come through.
Sounds good.
Simple and to the point. Plus, he didn’t return her heart emojis.
Or maybe he just wasn’t the type of guy to send hearts.
It was such a stupid thing to care about. But I couldn’t help but wonder if it meant something. That maybe he didn’t love her, and that he never would.
I blinked, sickened by my thoughts—again. Hoping he’d never love her back was a terrible thing to want for my twin. I was awful just for thinking it. I hated myself for it.
It had been this way since that day at the beach.
Which was why I avoided Ethan as much as possible. Whatever I felt for him was just a stupid crush. And I refused to let it grow. I refused to do that to Mira.
Those five minutes we’d spent together in the cove had meant nothing.
At least, that was what I kept telling myself.
“Gemma,” Mira said, and I snapped my head up to look to her. “My phone.”
“Oh. Right.” I held it out to her, and a physical weight felt like it lifted off me when she took it back.
She glanced at the screen, then put the phone back into her pocket. “Are you happy now?” she asked.
“Very.” I forced a smile and held my hand out for her to take. “Now, let’s go. We have a ceremony to attend.”
4
Gemma
Water lapped at my bare feet as I stared out at the ocean, watching as the bottom of the sun touched the horizon. The sky was a perfect mix of purples and pinks, and the puffy clouds created one of the most beautiful sunsets I’d ever seen. I inhaled the salty air, more at peace in the cove than ever before.
A breeze blew around me, and energy flowed through me, buzzing from my head to my toes.
There was magic in the air. I could feel it.
“Gemma,” my mom called from behind me. “It’s time.”
I turned around to look at where Mira, Mom, my cousins Sasha and Rebecca, plus Sasha’s daughter Kelly were waiting around the unlit pyre.
The six of us were the only witches left in the Gemini circle. At least, the only ones we knew of, since we’d lost touch with our more distant relatives over the past few decades.
I’d only met the three of them a few times. Kelly was a few years older than us, and was studying biology at the University of Sydney. Her mom was some high-powered attorney. The other cousin was a doctor’s wife, and she stayed at home to take care of their son.
They had only slightly more interest in our family’s history than Mira, but they’d flown in from Sydney for the ceremony, thanks to my mom’s insistence.
In their designer clothes, they looked out of place in the cove. But they all shared our naturally wavy hair—even though they’d all highlighted theirs, like Mira. Their rounded, youthful-looking faces were similar to ours, and we all had the same straight, aristocratic noses with a few freckles scattered out to our cheeks.
Mira and I were the only ones with bright-colored eyes. Theirs were brown, like my mom’s.
I walked over to the pyre, anticipation in every step, and stopped in front of the tall teepee of firewood and sticks. I faced the cliffs in the back of the cove, and Mira stood across from me, looking out to the ocean.
Kelly crossed her arms over her chest and snapped her gum. “What do we do now?” she asked. She wore all black, her jeans and long sleeve shirt so tight that it could pass as a bodysuit.
My mom was already halfway across the cove, examining the sticks scattered across the sand. She picked up two of them. “We light the fire,” she said as she headed back to us. She came to me first and held out the sticks, both about thirty centimeters long. I grabbed the curvier one from her left hand. Then she went to Mira and handed her the other stick.
I held the stick in front of me like a wand and studied it. Was it just me, or was it pulsing slightly in my grip?
My mom pulled two lighters out of her satchel, handed one to Sasha, and the other to Rebecca. “I’ll let the two of you do the honors,” she said. “You’ll light the girls’ sticks when I give you the go.”
She didn’t say it, but I knew she was having them do it because the sticks needed to be lit at the same time, and she didn’t want to choose between me and Mira.
“What about me?” Kelly asked.
“Focus on giving your energy to the circle,” my mom said.
“Whatever that means,” she mumbled, and then she spat her chewed gum out onto the sand next to her feet.
Irritation rippled through me at her casual pollution of the beach. But the wind blew sand over the gum, hiding it from sight.
Rebecca walked over to me, and Sasha went to Mira. “Do you really believe in all this?” she asked softly.
“Yes.” I stood straighter. “I do.”
“I hope you’re right.” She gave me a small smile.
I nodded in return, as if saying, we’ve got this.
If this worked, and the three of them saw magic with their own eyes, we’d have three more active witches in the Gemini circle. Not that me, Mira, and my mom were truly “active” witches, since every spell we tried failed, but maybe this would be the turning point for all of us.
My mom pulled the Gemini spell book out of her satchel. The pages were so worn that the thick book looked ancient, and she opened it to a marked page near the end. “Lighters ready,” she said, and Rebecca flicked the lighter on. The small flame danced on its surface, and I could have sworn the tip of it leaned toward me, like it was drawn to me. “And… go.”
Rebecca lowered the lighter to the end of the stick. The flame immediately caught, growing bigger as it danced across the wood. The stick buzzed with energy, and the fire strengthened.
I pulled my gaze away from the fire to look across at Mira. The top of her stick was also aflame, although her fire wasn’t as large as mine. Her expression was serious, and her hair blew around her face, light and shadows dancing like ghosts across her features.
But somehow, the air around me was still.