Spells Trouble, Kristin Cast [books to read in a lifetime .TXT] 📗

“I just can’t stop getting beat up.” She offered a heartless half smile as she glanced down at the crushed flower and brushed her hands off on her shorts.

Emily was the only one who chuckled.

Mercy clapped her hands and lifted onto her toes. “I didn’t know I had such a great arm. I should be the Mustangs’ QB.”

“Yeah.” Jax snorted and headed toward the ball. “Kirk wouldn’t lose his mind about that.”

Hunter rolled her eyes and trailed after Jax and Mercy. “Isn’t most of it gone already, anyway?”

Emily pushed the borrowed sunglasses onto her head as she entered the palm’s wide shadows. “It’d be really sad if what we’ve seen so far is him operating at one hundred percent.”

Mercy stuffed her hands into the pockets of her dress. “I used to think he was smart, but when I look back, I’m like, goddess, he was a total oaf.”

Emily lifted her hands into the air. “Finally, she sees the light!”

Hunter draped her arm over Mercy’s shoulders and pulled her in close. Mercy had not only seen the light—she’d taken a piece of it and pressed it into her heart. She glowed from the inside out. Hunter was glad to have her sister back, though Mercy’s nearness no longer filled Hunter with warm fuzzies.

Jax bent over to pick up the ball and jerked to a halt before his fingers grazed the pigskin. He craned his neck and looked up, up, up. “Uh, Mag…?”

Hunter stiffened. She slid her arm from Mercy’s back and followed Jax’s attention up one of the palm’s five trunks. Cracks spiderwebbed the bark like antique porcelain.

Jax stepped back as Mercy crouched down at the base of the trunk. The football had made a divot in the tree, like a fist through drywall. Mercy sucked in a breath, pressed her fingertips against her lips, and shook her head back and forth.

Hunter’s heart clicked against her ribs as her swallow lodged within her throat. “What—” She cleared her throat and started again. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, Freya!” Mercy closed her eyes and tilted her chin toward the crown of the tall palm stem. “I can barely feel it breathing.”

“But we fixed them.” Hunter groped at her chest for the pendant, but she’d discarded it when she threw away her god. It wasn’t bad enough she’d lost her mother. She’d forsaken her god as well. But at least … “We healed the trees. We healed the gates. We fixed everything.”

Mercy’s dark hair slipped from her shoulders as she reached out and pressed her hand to the trunk.

The elephant-gray bark cracked like dry earth. Hunter shielded her face as the long stem of the doum palm turned to ash and snowed down around them.

Screams ripped through the ashen air, a loud wailing that shook Hunter’s bones and made her heart beat hummingbird fast. Emily gripped Jax’s hand as Mercy wrapped her arms around her sister. Hunter pressed her face against Mercy’s shoulder, and her spit spackled the light green fabric of Mercy’s dress. It was then that Hunter realized she was the one screaming.

“It was for nothing!” Hunter tore away from her sister. “I betrayed Tyr for nothing!” Her knees quaked, but she forced herself to stand. “You made me do it. You fell apart when Mom died because you’ve never had to face anything in your life. You dropped all of it on me. You said I was wrong.” The rage returned. It slid through her veins like magma and cooled around her beating heart. “You’re just like the rest of them.” Hunter swiped the back of her hand against her cheeks. “You think if I’m not just like you, there’s something wrong with me.”

Tears glossed Mercy’s green eyes. “But Sarah’s poem said…” She moved closer to Hunter. Ash billowed with each step. “I thought—”

“It doesn’t matter what you thought.” Hunter shook her head. Papery tree bark fell around them. “What’s done is done.” Her gaze slid from Mercy to Jax. “Get me out of here.” Hunter pressed her fingers against her chest. She wanted her pendant. She wanted her god.

Jax wrapped his arm around Hunter’s shoulders and led her to the parking lot.

She ran her teeth along her bottom lip. It had all been for nothing. She’d nearly died for nothing. She ignored the parents and children gawking and pointing at the cloud of dust where the palm tree had been. She didn’t even look back as Mercy shouted her name. Rock now encased Hunter’s heart. It was better that way, safer. Hunter pressed her teeth into her lip. If she had only been stronger, maybe this would be different. Maybe this would never have happened. Maybe Hunter would have cast off the shadow of her sister and healed the gates herself.

She winced. She’d dug her teeth in too deep and bit through raw flesh. She snaked her tongue along her bottom lip. A copper tang heated the inside of her mouth and ran down her throat in a fiery blaze. A shooting star. She looked up at the blanket of sunlight overhead and pictured the stars just beyond. She hadn’t known her full power before, but she knew it now. Hunter Goode held the cosmos within her blood.

She’d fix the mess that Mercy had made. And this time, nothing would stand in her way. Not even her sister.

Acknowledgments

We owe a debt of gratitude to our agents, Ginger Clark (PC) and Steven Salpeter (KC) for helping us turn an idea and a few sentences into an amazing series. Thank you!

Profound thanks to our Macmillan family. To Jennifer Enderlin, Anne Marie Tallberg, Monique Patterson, Mara Delgado-Sanchez, Sarah Bonamino, and Michelle Cashman—thank you for your support and encouragement.

Our personal publicist, Deb Shapiro, deserves accolades and applause for her imagination, innovation, patience, and hard work. You are the best!

Extra special thank-you to Sabine Stangenberg, who not only keeps my (PC) life running, but is also the talented artist who created the Goodeville map! XXXOOO

To our readers, those who