Page 56 of Enchant the Dawn

“Are you sure?” Ava asked, her brow furrowed with worry. “Perhaps you should spend the day here.”

“No.” Maddy shook her head. “I want to be alone for a while.” It was a lie, she thought as she left the house and opened the car door. What she needed was Dominic. When he’d called about coming over last night, she had said she didn’t feel well enough for company. She regretted it now, but it would be hours before he woke.

* * *

At home, Maddy paced the living room floor. I’m a witch. How could that be possible?

She tried saying the words out loud. “I’m a witch.” The word witch seemed to echo off the walls. Witch. Witch. Witch. It was impossible. Inconceivable. She bit down on her lower lip. Had summoning a cup of hot chocolate been an aberration? A fluke? A one-time thing? If she tried to summon something else, would it work? Or had her magical ability vanished like the morning dew?

Pausing in front of the fireplace, she closed her eyes and held out her hand. In her mind’s eye, she pictured one of the apples sitting in a bowl in the center of the kitchen table. Come to me.

And it was there, in her palm, red and real and solid.

Startled, she dropped it on the floor, then sank down on the sofa. “I am a witch,” she murmured.

Unless Ava was playing some kind of supernatural joke on her. But if she was, it wasn’t the least bit funny.

* * *

Maddy’s tumultuous thoughts penetrated the dark sleep. Sitting up in bed, Dominic opened the blood link between them. He muttered an oath as he read her tangled emotions. She was frightened and confused about being a witch. A witch! What the hell?

He dressed in record time and transported himself to her house. On the porch, he pounded on the door.

It opened immediately. “Dominic! What are you doing here?”

“What the hell is this about you being a witch?”

She stood back so he could cross the threshold, then led the way into the living room. “How do you know about that?” she asked.

“Your thoughts woke me.”

“I’m sorry.”

He frowned at her. “Tell me what’s going on.”

She dropped down on the sofa and leaned back, her arms folded across her chest. “I don’t know. Last night, after I left your house, I was sitting here, wishing I had a cup of hot chocolate, and the next thing I knew, there was a cup on the coffee table. And this morning, I thought about an apple, and one appeared in my hand.”

Dominic swore softly. That was how his sister’s magic had started. Calling small things to her—an orange, a book, her hairbrush, a DVD. But Lily had been born a witch.

“I went to see Ava earlier,” Maddy said. “She thinks this is happening because of the potion she gave you.”

“Why would that have any effect on you?”

“She thinks it’s because you’ve tasted her blood and mine and I tasted yours.”

A hell of a trifecta, Dominic thought as he dropped down beside her, his hand seeking hers. “That’s the damnedest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Maybe it will go away.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he agreed. But he didn’t think so. Maddy’s sudden magical ability wasn’t what bothered him. It was the kind of magic she might possess, he thought, remembering the darkness he had tasted when he kissed her. Was it still there? Pulling her closer, he claimed her lips with his. And quietly cursed Ava as he tasted the darkness once again. “Other than discovering that you’re a witch, how do you feel?”

Maddy shrugged. “The same as always,” she said slowly. “But not. I don’t know how to explain it.”

Seeing her troubled expression, he said, “Why don’t we go get something to eat? Maybe a change of scene will take your mind off things for a while.”

“Maybe,” she agreed, although she doubted it. Still, getting out of the house, being around other people, sounded better than sitting here, worrying.

Because Dominic had transported to her house, they took Maddy’s car and drove to the mall. In the food court, they ordered hamburgers, shakes, and fries, then found a table.

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