Page 1 of Enemies By Fate

Chapter 1

Poppy

Run! Run, Poppy, run!

The hiss in my ears pops my eyes open, whipping my neck to the side as my heart leaps into my throat. At the base of my neck, behind my earlobe, the dull throb of the crescent moon aches. My left hand inches upward, but the mark doesn’t burn as much as it initially felt like it did in my dream. The memory of the nightmare has fangs gnashing at the tender skin of my neck. The tip of my finger trails over the mark carefully, but I’m right—it doesn’t hurt at all, even though I’m expecting it to. It’s not sensitive, even though it seems like it should be. It never is.

It’s just calling out to me, even in my waking hours, somehow warning me, summoning me.

Preparing me, maybe?

I wish I knew.

Again, I wonder where the crescent-shaped mark came from, appearing to me like the dreams have over the past year. It’s all interconnected, but how? If the mark had been there before, no one had pointed it out, the obscure location behind my ear probably making it unnoticeable enough. If not for the newfound glowing, I never would have stumbled upon it myselfwith a makeup compact mirror. But even an internet search gave me nothing.

I’ll find out soon enough. Answers are coming.

Tonight.

“Poppyseed? Are you sleeping still?” Sadie calls out from the hallway, her lilting Southern twang reaching my ears before she opens my bedroom door without knocking. It’s a habit I wish she’d get over, now that I’m a fully grown adult, but try explaining that to an old-school Southern witch.

“My house, my rules,” Sadie likes to say, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to die on that hill. My adoptive mom’s done too much for me to be squabbling over a stupid little issue like privacy when she literally saved my life.

Hastily, I drop my hand away from my neck, allowing hair to fall back over my ear, and I curl back into the double bed nervously. For all her observational skills, Sadie doesn’t seem to have noticed the randomly activated mark behind my ear yet, and I’d like to keep it that way—at least for the next twenty-four hours.

All I want is some answers of my own before anyone can fire off some questions at me.

The witch stands at the threshold, her wise, sooty eyes narrowing suspiciously as she takes in my face. I can already tell she smells deception on me, and I haven’t even said anything.

She’s that good.

Placing her hands on her hips, she tilts her graying bun to the side, tendrils of black falling over her olive complexion. “What’s wrong? Why are you just sitting in bed?”

Forcing a smile, I throw the thin duvet aside. “Nothing,” I lie, avoiding her astute, witchy gaze. “I just woke up. I’m getting my bearings.”

She’s not buying it.

“Have you been having nightmares again?” she asks with concern.

Maybe she’s more onto me than I care to admit.

“What do you mean again?” I mutter, turning my back on my guardian.

Sadie stalks across the bedroom floor uninvited, and I swallow a groan, knowing there’s no sense in fighting the witch’s scrutiny. It’s like lying to a lie detector test. She always knows.

“What are they about?” Sadie presses. “Tell me what you remember.”

“Sadie, I’m fine,” I promise.

“You’re way too old for teenage secrecy bullshit, Poppy,” she scolds me. “You’re an adult now. If you need help, ask for it. I shouldn’t have to dig it out of you.”

“I will ask if I need it,” I grumble, wishing she’d stop treating me like a child if she claims I’m not one.

“Do you need me to concoct a spell for you? Something to help you sleep through the night dreamlessly?”

“No!” I whirl around to confront her, shaking my head vehemently. I tower over her slightly. My five-foot-seven frame carries inches over her five-foot-one form, but she doesn’t flinch as she folds her arms and throws her head back to look up at me. Nothing fazes Sadie, and I’m proud of her in this moment as she challenges me.

Not for the first time, I wish she were my real mother.

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