A Witch’s Beating Heart

by Kasey Mackenzie

  I bit my lips and cleared my throat, because she had just touched on a guilty little secret of mine. That had her gaze sharpening on my face. She gave me a quintessential Mama look, something that I was usually doing to her; because despite being the younger, I was generally the more mature and responsible twin. Guess there really is an exception to every rule…

  “Spill it, baby sis. I know that expression on your face, and it’s the I’ve done something morally gray but am not going to ‘fess up to it look that is usually on my face.”

  We were each nothing if not honest about our shortcomings.

  “Yeah, well...Funny you mention magical hackers.”

  Her jaw dropped open as she fell momentarily speechless. She had just started to sputter out something halfway intelligible when Belle and Pixie sauntered into the room. The familiars hopped onto the corners of our desks and broadcast their internal snickers to us both.

  Pixie was the first to speak. ((Come on, Misty. Did you really think that little computer club Crystal joined last year was just to pad her already voluminous extracurricular portfolio?))

  Misty’s eyes narrowed, and she swung a glare in my direction. “Are you telling me that you’re a magical hacker? That you joined a magical computer hacking club?”

  The incredulity in her voice had me crossing my arms over my chest and getting defensive. “What, did you just assume I was such a complete and total goody-goody I could never step off the straight and narrow?”

  Never mind that, other than this one little thing, that actually described me to a capital-T.

  “Oh, come on Crys! This would be like you finding out I’d secretly joined a knitting circle.”

  “You do have an insane love of all things fashion.”

  She shook her head, although humor did curve her lips slightly. “Seriously, Crys. Spill it. What under the Eternal Skies tempted you to join a magical hacking club?”

  “Well, I hate for the most atypical thing I ever did in my life to be for the most cliched of reasons, but there was this boy…”

  Her eyes widened, and she leaned forward. “Wait. I’m assuming this isn’t one of the boring little high school boyfriends that I already knew about.”

  I winced, because her description was extremely accurate. Every single witch boy I’d dated at GHS had been, without exception, completely and totally boring. And of course the one atypical guy I’d ever been attracted to had been the one who’d never given me a second glance. I’d stayed firmly in his Friend Zone the entire year I’d been in his secret club hiding in plain sight.

  “Don’t get all excited, Mist, because there’s no hot secret romance to spice up this revelation. Zane Anders never looked at me as anything more than an anomaly. The school’s biggest brainiac and valedictorian by day, secretly into magical hacking by night. Definitely not dating material. I mean, he didn’t even try to kiss me on any of the nights it was just the two of us exchanging tips and tricks to improve our leet hacker skillz, as the humans say.”

  Her mouth gaped for a second time. “You got to spend one-on-one time with Zane freaking Anders and never told me?”

  Misty’s reaction perfectly illustrated why I’d allowed myself to carry an unrequited torch for a guy that was so not my type. The boy was so California cool he could have launched a thousand icebergs and so freaking hot he could have melted all one thousand. Not even just not my type, but so much the exact opposite of the typical guy I went for that brains would have literally exploded had we ever gone on a date. Including, apparently, my sister’s.

  Good thing I was equally not his type, I guess.

  Because I really did prefer my sister’s head exactly the way it was. Even if sometimes I wanted to knock it into something. Like now.

  Seeing the lusty haze that had overtaken her eyes inspired me to envision Zane the last time I’d seen him. Just hours after we’d graduated. Both of us wearing the stereotypical black caps and gowns, mine loaded with a crap-ton of insignia broadcasting my nerdiness loud and clear and his bearing only that single club’s badge plus the knot marking him as being among the top 1% of our class, academically speaking. That dichotomy between not giving enough shits to join other organized activities and his sheer overwhelming intelligence had only made him all the more attractive.

  He’d stood in the moonlight where we’d snuck to the back of the football field to say our goodbyes; his tall, lanky form and devil-may-care smirk making my breath catch. His burnished copper-colored hair had been arranged in one of those styles that looked like it took absolutely no effort but really cost a couple hundred dollars in an expensive salon. And therein was the other interesting piece to Zane’s puzzle. He’d been able to thumb his nose at all of the extracurriculars Misty and I had embraced because his family was so freaking rich and well-connected, his getting into whatever universities his little heart desired was guaranteed.

  Except when we’d met to bid each other farewell, Zane admitted he wasn’t even sure he wanted to go to college. And for the first time in our year-long friendship, I’d absolutely lost my shit with him. So even if he’d once felt some shred of attraction toward me, having me rant and rave about how he was wasting an opportunity that poor witches like me would kill to receive would have choked that to a swift and painful death.

  Fingers snapping in my face had me blinking to focus on Misty’s hand in front of me. “Earth to Crys, come in Crys! You gonna answer the question?”

  “Er, um, no?”

  She pursed her lips. “Nice try, Twinkie, but no way in hell am I letting you get away with that. Why am I only just now hearing about all the little one-on-one hacking—cough, cough—sessions you got to have with Gloaming High’s richest bad boy?”

  That bad boy reputation had been exaggerated—at least according to him—but he’d acknowledged doing everything he could to foster it once it caught on. Not that he’d ever confessed the real reasons why.

  I shrugged. “Like I said, there was never really anything worth sharing. Most of the times, we met with other club members. It was just a few times we were alone. And he never so much as winked at me.” Probably my biggest high school regret, since he’d been the first boy I’d ever wanted to really see me.

  Misty must have sensed something of that regret in my voice, because she backed down. Not that she wouldn’t bring it back up at a later date. Relentless would have been my sister’s middle name if we followed the same naming conventions as some of the Fey.

  “All right, so back to the current topic. Are you trying to tell me that you have leet hacker skillz good enough to make sure nobody can read these letters?”

  I cracked my knuckles and placed my fingers atop my brand-spanking-new keyboard. “Better, sister dear. I’m telling you that by the time I’m done, nobody will ever know that these letters were so much as a microscopic glimmer in their digital daddy’s eye.”

  And with that completely accurate boast, I set out to do just that.

  * * *

  I stared angrily at my reflection in the mirror late the next morning, wondering for the umpteenth time why you had to master both branches of magic to physically change your appearance. To say I was having a bad hair day would be an understatement right in line with claiming that Misty owned a few pairs of shoes…

  Speaking of the devil, her voice echoing from inches away had me jumping a foot in the air. “Want me to braid it?”

  Once my heart rate slowed to a more bearable level, I gave her an annoyed look for the scaring-me-to-death thing and then her a quick hug for offering to save my pride. “Oh, would you? We need to leave in 15 minutes or we’ll be late.”

  She squeezed once and then pushed back to let me see her eye roll. “And we know how much you hate being late.”

  I stuck my tongue out as she grabbed a comb, ponytail holder, and one of her miraculous hair products before corralling me into my office chair. Minutes later, I was the proud possessor of an intricate braid that would have taken me a hundred years and more tu
torial videos than actually existed to figure out. Misty gave me the once-over when I stood and brushed a few stray hairs off my flirty little sundress. Dainty berry-colored flowers artfully sprinkled the pastel pink fabric. Matching berry sandals with flowers on the straps decorated my feet, and a lipstick called Berry Kiss graced my lips. Now that she’d tamed my unruly mane, I felt passably pretty. Even standing next to her.

  She’d paired a daring, fluttery little v-neck tank top in a deep emerald green and dark denim shorts with green-and-white sandals. Her hair fell in a soft, straight waterfall halfway down her back rather than the frizzy mess of not-even-curls my hair had pulled before she’d braided it into submission. Not for the first time I thought that if she’d been the twin having one-on-one hacking sessions with Zane, there definitely would have been at least a little kissing going on.

  But thoughts like that weren’t healthy (or fair) for either of us, so I shoved them aside. “You ready to go mingle with our rich-witch classmates?”

  She grinned and linked her right arm through my left. “But of course. Wonder Twin Powers, activate!”

  I called out, “Hey, you ladies coming or not?”

  Pixie materialized directly on my right shoulder, claws digging in just slightly harder than was necessary for balance. I likewise caressed her with far more force than needed. She licked my neck like a mortal cat would have done, and my hands softened to stroke her with affection. Belle appeared on Misty’s opposite shoulder just seconds later. After one last check in the mirror next to the front door, we set off for the atrium.

  The teleporter back to the first floor was accessed by a similar suit of armor, tucked into a dark corner just a few feet away from where we’d poofed in. Trey had advised that the suit of armor would swing aside to reveal a staircase during those not infrequent cases when the teleporter was acting up. Thanks to my overly punctual ways, we didn’t run into anyone from our own floor, although we did see a couple other early birds striding ahead of us in the lower Northwest wing as we strolled toward the main atrium in the center of Artemis House.

  My breath caught when we stepped over the atrium’s threshold. Yesterday, it had appeared a simple (if enormous) enough indoor courtyard with large marble floor tiles and comfortable sofas and chairs surrounding coffee tables beneath an impressive glass ceiling. Today, we stepped out of a normal dormitory hallway into the great outdoors. Gone were the domed ceiling, four walls, and lounge furniture. We stood on the fringe of a gorgeous country meadow filled with well-trimmed grass, brilliantly-colored flowers, and a large tiled patio in the center of the meadow. Wrought-iron tables and chairs filled most of the patio, with a long buffet table covered with tons of food and drinks on one side and a podium surrounded by high-backed chairs on the other. The scent of warm summer sunshine melded with the fragrance of delicious foods and made me smile.

  A few students mingled on the grass just a few feet from the three steps leading up to the patio. I also caught sight of the dozen RAs assigned to Artemis House puttering around the buffet table. As if she’d heard my mental recognition, Stephanie caught sight of us and waved us over with a smile.

  Misty dropped my arm to fiddle with the delicate necklace around her throat, and I rolled my eyes. “Down, girl,” I murmured.

  She batted her lashes with feigned innocence. “I have no idea what you mean.”

  “Mm hmm, and I guess that you’re not nearly as interested in Steph as she is in you.”

  She tossed her head at me and began strolling across the grassy meadow. “Again, completely clueless here.”

  “I’m not buying the bridge over desert land you’re trying to sell, Mist. I know I rarely give you unsolicited advice…” We both chortled at that bald-faced lie because we were founts of unsolicited advice for each other. “But just remember. She’s the Senior RA for our dorm. We need her to like us both. Not get pissed off should you break her heart.”

  Misty scowled. “Why do you always assume I’ll break their hearts?”

  “Uh, other than the trail of broken male, female, and nonbinary hearts you left behind at Gloaming High?”

  Her lips twitched a little at that as her innate honesty kicked in. “Mmm, yeah. Other than that.”

  My sister never deliberately broke anyone’s heart; she just had such a charming, bubbly personality that others often mistook her natural friendliness for romantic interest. She tended to date more often than me, but she usually kept things more casual. I’d actually lost my virginity long before she did. When she did fall for someone, though, she fell hard and was fiercely loyal. It wasn’t her fault that others tended to fall faster than she did. She was always perfectly honest with them. People just often heard what they wanted to rather than the words being said.

  “I would expect you to give the same advice if I were giving googly eyes at, oh, Trey over there.”

  She glanced to where Trey was arranging a stack of pizza boxes. “Wait, you have googly eyes for Trey? Hmm, he is a gorgeous hunk of witch.” Her eyes glazed over as she looked him up and down, unconsciously licking her lips.

  “And that is why it’s not a good idea for either of us to be making googly eyes at either of them. Or any of our RAs. We want to draw as little negative attention as possible while we’re here, remember? Plus, they can make our lives miserable in the event of a breakup.”

  Misty huffed out a wistful breath. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. But just because you’re right doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be one hell of a ride.”

  I punched her lightly on the arm that didn’t have 10 pounds of purring feline resting upon it. Moments later, we passed the group of students chatting around the patio steps. Misty exuded her natural charisma and greeted them all cheerfully before we climbed the stairs and walked over to the waiting Stephanie. Curious glances followed our progress, but I kept my gaze firmly fixed ahead. Which was the reason I got a good look at the tall, copper-haired man who appeared from what must have been the dorm’s front door but currently looked like a black, door-shaped hole in the air.

  My heart stuttered and only by the grace of the Eternal did I manage to avoid my legs doing the same. Misty recognized him in the same instant I did, and she shot me a sudden excited expression before she whispered, “Zane freaking Anders!”

  Chapter 6

  Heat flushed my cheeks while my eyes devoured all six-feet, two-inches of his body. His burnished copper hair fell in a slightly longer but still careless ’do; he wore the same style of dark-washed jeans that clung to his lightly-muscled figure as tightly as Pixie now clung to my shoulder; an equally tight green t-shirt covered with the retro witchy band we both loved hugged his torso; black boots, belt, and wrist cuffs studded with silver completed his just-this-side-of-bad boy look.

  I had just managed to suck in another breath after way too long holding it when I realized his gorgeous copper eyes now stared into mine. And for the first time ever, they seemed to hold something more than amusement or mild affection. Heat flared in their depths, and had I been a piece of chocolate I would have melted into a mess on the patio floor.

  He must be looking at Misty, came my cynical thought, but no. She was now several feet to my left, and his hypnotic eyes were focused solely on me. Gazing into mine as if they could unlock my inner secrets. Or as if he were inviting me to discover his…

  Misty’s sardonic voice echoed in my brain. ((Yeah, he never even gave you a second glance all right. Because his first glance was so smoking hot it burned everything in its path.))

  Thank the deities she had switched to telepathy. We were so close to the group of RAs—and Zane—that they would have heard had she spoken out loud. ((I swear to you by all the Eternal Graces, Mist, he has never looked at me that way. Because damn, sister, we would have done a whole hell of a lot more than magical hacking if he had.)) Even me, shy as I could sometimes be around guys, would have found the courage to make a move in the face of an expression so smouldering it left my skin all tingly.

  Misty linked her arm around
mine again and tugged me toward Stephanie. Good thing she took pity on me, because my knees were still weak and a fire had been ignited deep inside. I would have stumbled had I tried to walk under my own power. Hell, let’s be honest—I would have still been making googly-eyes at the boy who hadn’t cared enough to even break my heart had she not started dragging me along.

  Stephanie arched a brow in Zane’s direction as Misty and I stopped next to where she was arranging cans of mortal soda and bottles of the finest Witch Springs water. “Sooo, I take it you know our newest RA?”

  “RA?” my voice squeaked out. What the actual eff? My voice didn’t squeak! Except now, apparently.

  She laughed at the incredulity in my voice. “Yeah. We don’t usually hire freshies in that position, but I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that he’s the best-connected witch in our dorm. Well, probably tied with the Beverly Brothers.” She glanced from Zane back to us. “Oh! Remind me to introduce you to them later. Jackson and Maxim are our other resident twins. Identical, and two years ahead of you. Pretty cool guys, despite being sons of politicians.”

  That had me snapping out of my Zane-inspired fog. “You mean Jack and Maxine Beverly, Gloaming Council members? Those politicians?” And how like rich-witch politicians to name both their sons after themselves.

  She nodded, and I fought to keep my expression neutral. The Beverlys numbered among our wicked stepmother’s most vocal supporters. Somehow I doubted that cozying up to their children would end well for us. Misty shared my opinion, given the meaningful look she cast my way.

  Stephanie gestured toward the very witch I was doing my best to ignore. “Looks like Zane’s trying to get your attention, Crystal. You should probably go put him out of his misery.”

  Heaving a huge internal sigh, I glanced where she pointed. Zane stood next to Trey and his stack of pizzas. Zane’s full, sensual lips were curved upward as he crooked a finger. Something I assumed he’d already done a few times to inspire Steph’s comment. Not wanting to attract any further attention, I rolled my eyes and murmured to Misty, “Be right back.”