T*Witches: Destiny's Twins (6 page)

And it hurt. She could feel her chest tighten, her heart begin to race. With each quickened pulse, tears pushed up out of some bottomless pit of sorrow in her gut.

She was literally feeling
his
pain.

As if from far away, she could hear Dylan saying, “Yo, forget him.”

Which was what everyone now seemed to be doing. They went about their business — eating, talking, laughing, shouting, and pointedly ignoring Stevie.

Shaken, Alex’s mind returned to the body she’d left sitting beside Cade at the skateboarding slackers’ table. From there she watched Stevie making his way out of the lunchroom, head down, shoulders slumping.

“Feel like a walk?” Cade asked, picking up his tray and pushing back from the table.

“Sure,” Alex said uncertainly.

“They’ve sent the imposter back,” Miranda happily reported to Rhianna.

“And bonus,” Ileana declared, “they did it with kindness, compassion, justice, and love!”

Rhianna frowned at the twins’ keyed-up guardian.

“Okay, scratch the love part and add that they did it
after one failed attempt,” Ileana acquiesced, tossing her head and flinging back a cascade of shimmering blond curls. “But certainly they showed amazing compassion and kindness. And they learned from their mistake.”

Rhianna was not in the best of moods. They’d buttonholed her as she was leaving her home. She’d been on her way to the Village Plaza, indeed had been looking forward to meeting Lady Fan there for an early-bird dinner, and did not welcome the interruption. “And this surprises you?” she asked curtly.

“Of course not,” Miranda said.

“Hello.” Ileana rolled her eyes. “It’s the first week of their Initiation and they just handled a completely unsanctioned situation superbly. They used wisdom …” She held up her thumb. “Intuition …” She added her forefinger. Then stopped, frustrated. “Come on, Rhianna. Be fair. Smoking out Amaryllis and then finding a way to help the evil little imp escape Thantos’s wrath has got to be worth big points!”

“For most fledglings, yes,” Rhianna agreed, reluctantly pushing back the door to her cottage and leading her surprise guests inside. “But of Artemis and Apolla, one expects no less.”

“So they’re being punished for being brighter than other fledglings?” Ileana complained. “What?!” she added as the twins’ mother kicked her.

Miranda’s attempt to caution the rash young witch pleased Rhianna. A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth as she led them to the glass-front cupboard that held Cam’s and Alex’s viewing boxes.

Each gold container was inscribed with the girls’ Coventry names under the crowned bear crest of the DuBaer family. There was an opening in the shape of a pentagram, a five-sided star, at the top of each box.

As Lady Rhianna unlocked the cabinet, Miranda’s hand reached toward the containers, as if by touching them she could touch again their maker. It was Aron, her murdered husband, father of the twins, who had crafted the boxes, as he had their daughters’ sun and moon charms, in the days before their birth.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rhianna caught the gesture. She removed the boxes carefully, one at a time, and handed the first to Miranda. Then, so as not to embarrass Aron’s widow, and to appear evenhanded, she gave the second box to the twins’ impulsive, tactless, and, most bewilderingly, Karsh-appointed guardian, Ileana.

In a golden bowl on the shelf above the viewing boxes were sparkling crystals and precious and semiprecious stones of every shape and color. Rhianna dipped her plump hand into the bowl and drew out a fistful of stones.

“Apolla deserves at least three points for intuition, for flushing out Amaryllis,” Ileana declared.

“Artemis as well. They both treated the girl with compassion,” Miranda reminded her daughters’ Initiation Master.

“For uncovering not only who, but why —” Rhianna began, trying to ignore them.

“At least two points for wisdom, then. Two stones, surely,” Miranda broke in.

“And courage,” Ileana said. “It took great courage and even trust!”

“Courage certainly deserves several points. Don’t you think?” Miranda asked Rhianna.

The old witch rolled her eyes in exasperation. “The boxes,” she demanded.

Ileana and Miranda held them at arm’s length. With mind-boggling speed, Rhianna picked a number of stones from her hand and deposited them into the containers.

The
plink-clink, click-clack
of pebbles hitting thick gold pleased Miranda, though neither she nor Ileana had been sharp enough to see how many stones the old witch had awarded nor into whose boxes they’d been dropped.

“Listen up,” Rhianna curtly commanded. “This is how it is. For waylaying the bully in the cafeteria, Apolla earns two stones. For feeling the bad boy’s pain, three for Artemis. For working together, two more each. And for gloating —” Rhianna upended the boxes and shook a stone out of each — “that’s a minus two.”

After returning the boxes and bowl to her cupboard, Rhianna hurried to her door. Grabbing Miranda’s hand, Ileana rushed to catch up with the Exalted Elder. “One more thing,” she called out.

“I think not.” Rhianna quickened her pace, leaving the door to her cottage ajar. “Not now. You’ve already taken too much of my time.”

“Time is just the issue!” Ileana chased after the quick-striding witch.

“What the child means,” Miranda intervened, “is we were wondering
when
you’re planning to convene the Initiation?”

Rhianna hurried on. “The thirtieth and the thirty-first, of course,” she huffed, without turning around or slowing down.

“But —” Miranda called after her. Ileana released her hand and raced ahead, holding up the hem of her midnight-blue gown.

“Wait up, your esteemed eminence,” the twins’ guardian called as respectfully as she could manage. Politeness did not trip easily off her tongue. But if ever there was a time to catch flies with honey, this was it. “Lady Rhianna, I’ve been thinking —”

“Always a dangerous thing!” With a huge sigh, Rhianna whirled to face the women.

“No, really — why must their forty-eight hours have
to be the day before and the day of their birth dates?” Ileana continued, “Why not hold the Initiation at the full moon, as Apolla believes it will be? You know that their mainland family is planning a gala celebration for their birthday —”

“Rhianna, dear friend.” Miranda joined the fight. “Why not honor their adoptive parents by allowing the party to take place as planned?”

“They are already honored by having been chosen to rear extraordinary children,” Rhianna said curtly.

Ileana shook her head. “You don’t understand. You just don’t get it! Emily, the mother, has gone to such pains —”

Rhianna’s large downy wings bristled as if preparing to unfurl. “Enough!” she commanded. “The DuBaer twins are bright and resourceful enough to meet any challenge put before them. They must be!”

“And so they are,” Miranda asserted. “You are right, of course. They’ll find a way to deal with the situation.” She turned to see how Ileana was taking the rebuff.

But Ileana’s focus had shifted.
Someday I’ll have wings like those,
she mused, staring at Lady Rhianna.
Or maybe not,
she decided unhappily, since they were granted only to those who had been of extraordinary service to the community.

And really, what had she done to deserve such marvelous
appendages? Nothing of merit. She’d merely acted as a mentor to Cam and Alex. Which had been easy given how intelligent, talented, and teachable they were.

Lady Rhianna was watching her, waiting.

“All right, point taken,” Ileana said with rare humility. “It was insolent of me to suggest bending the rules. That’s what ruffled your feathers, isn’t it?”

Lady Rhianna seemed taken aback. “Well, well, well,” was all she could say as she studied the beautiful and vain young witch who had given away her childhood to care for and protect Apolla and Artemis.

Over the next week, Alex and Cam practiced their magick at every op. Never before had they been so tuned in to the various problems of their classmates and peers. The knowledge of their “viewing” made them take notice. It was totally empowering.

Her sight now nearly as good as her phenomenal hearing, Alex shielded Dylan from a stealth trip-up attack by Caroline Ledbetter. The freshman girl’s unrequited crush on Dyl had turned to anger. The “Astral Glow” Alex sent had surrounded Dylan with a blinding burst of light — which kept Caroline from seeing her quarry, let alone sticking out her foot and sending him sprawling headfirst into the cafeteria trash can.

When an unprepared Beth got called on to stand
and deliver in Biology, Cam tried a telepathic forwarding spell. By sending her best friend a visual of a random man in one of those
Save The
T-shirts, Beth blurted out, “Manatee,” the correct response to a question about an endangered sea mammal typically found in the southern hemisphere.

With way too much studying to do, Alex considered casting a spell to make her English teacher forget to give out homework. In the end, she decided against it. Mrs. Conner was one of those passionate types who loved what she taught and was more stoked than her students when a kid really “got” a poem or story or essay. Alex opted against less homework in favor of not messing with Mrs. Conner’s teaching plan or her head.

Cam came up against a different moral dilemma. A player from the Salem Wildcats, Marble Bay’s toughest opposing team, was having a miserable game and getting hammered more by her own ticked-off teammates than by Cam’s peeps. Desperate and defeated, the girl stood between Cam and an easy goal.

Cam’s competitive nature wanted to win both the game and the gratitude of her pumped-up teammates. To kick the goal or kick the girl’s self-esteem up a notch? A split-second decision gave the edge to compassion over competition. Cam purposely blew the shot.

And when Cam saw eyes roll as Briana described
her father’s “fabulous” last visit — a trip Cam knew had been another brutal no-show — she laid a Truth spell on her bud. The magick got Bree to confess to what really happened: Her dad had chosen a Caribbean cruise over his promised visit to his daughter — and had caught a mystery ailment that had all the passengers barfing their way back home. Bree and her audience totally cracked up over the props payback.

On October thirteenth, Alex aided hapless Hannah Priestly, the least-talented girl in math class. During a math team contest, Alex guided the girl’s hand to write on the blackboard
DM,
as the correct abbreviation for Decimal, while her teammates incorrectly wrote
DC,
or
DEC.
Alex glowed when the teacher said, “Only one of you is correct,” and Hannah looked around cluelessly. The teacher said her name, and her teammates rushed her and raised her high in the air, as if she’d just won the World Series.

Becoming a full-fledged witch was going to have its extremely cool moments, Alex thought.

And then, without warning, an image of Stevie Hitchens crossed her mind. A snapshot of how she’d seen him last — a sorry, slumped figure slinking out of the cafeteria. The utter opposite of the amazed and ecstatic Hannah.

*        *        *

Wisdom.

At home that afternoon, Cam decided to look up the word.

Alex came into their room and caught her flipping through the big dictionary. “What’re you trying to find?” she asked, proud of her vocabulary know-how, her language skills. She could probably help Cam with any definition she needed. She was a writer, after all. Well, a songwriter anyway.

Cam jumped at the question as if she’d been caught doing something smarmy.

“Nothing. Um. Just something. You know, just curious …”

But Alex was already at her shoulder, peering at the open page, which began with the word
wide-awake
and ended with
wild bergamot
. “Wild bergamot’s a purple-flowering plant.” She couldn’t help showing off — courtesy of two hours of ferocious cramming with
The Coventry Catalog of Herbs and Sundry Flora.

“No. I was just checking out —”

“
Wisdom
,” Alex read her mind and jumped in. “Wisdom? Why?”

“I was just wondering whether the episode with Bree and Nadine fell under wisdom or intuition — or for that matter, trust, courage, or honesty,” Cam confessed, sounding frustrated.

“You’re grading yourself!” Alex laughed. “Why am I so not shocked? I mean, who but a control freak like you would have to figure out —”

“What points I earned? Hello, who but me has a right to know?” Cam responded heatedly. “Anyway, here’s what it says. Do you want to know?”

“The business with Amaryllis,” Alex said, “I figure that was intuition, big time. Plus a dab of honesty and maybe even trust on my part, since I ’fessed up about getting initiated —”

“I know. I gave you points for that,” Cam said.

“Excuse me? You’re grading me, too?!”

“Chill, Alex. So far you’re doing okay. Here it is. Listen to this. ‘Wisdom: having the power of discerning and judging properly what is true or right; showing such power…’ blah, blah, blah … ‘to make or to become aware or enlightened.’ O.M.G.!” Cam paused, surprised. “Listen to this. The last meaning. It’s labeled archaic — as in ancient, old-fashioned, outdated. ‘Having knowledge of magic or witchcraft!’”

“That’d be us.” Alex announced, “So we’ve aced wisdom on all counts.”

Just then, once again, Stevie Hitchens crossed her mind. “Kind of,” she amended, no longer smiling.

“By the way, know what today is?” Cam asked, shutting the dictionary.

“Tuesday,” Alex answered flatly.

“The thirteenth!”

“And this news should shake me because?” Alex prompted.

“Hello. Three days to the full moon, remember?” Cam said. “We should be getting the call to Coventry anytime now.”

That being the case, Alex thought, she had some quick and serious work to do on Stevie Hitchens.

CHAPTER NINE

THE CALL

Friday the sixteenth came and went. The full moon had shone gloriously into their room. And while Alex slept, Cam had sat up at the edge of her bed, fully dressed — in one of her favorite cashmere sweater sets — determinedly waiting for the call.

It never came.

And then another Friday — the twenty-third — rolled by. And still no word from Coventry.

Cam and Alex had continued to cram. They had memorized and practiced some awesome spells at home and at school. They’d created new incantations, most of which worked surprisingly well. Their talents were definitely improving — particularly Cam’s mind-reading ability.
As for hunches and premonitions, Alex had experienced at least three, counting the one in Dylan’s room when she’d seen Amaryllis’s face.

Stressed out by waiting, Cam had tried to figure out how their viewing might be going. She doled out points to herself… and to Alex. By her reckoning, they were neck and neck now.

But a week ago her twin had bounded into the lead with a single act of trust and courage. She’d befriended Stevie Hitchens.

And gotten him to apologize to Nadine.

With whom he fell in love!

Now the two of them held hands in the hallways and neither the new girl nor the bully sat alone at lunch anymore.

Alex swore she’d used no magic to accomplish this. She’d done nothing but hide a topaz stone in Stevie’s backpack — topaz being a gem of courage, excellent for dispelling fear and insecurity with the light and warmth of love.

Cam had caught up to her sister just days ago. And it was Beth who’d provided the opportunity.

All of a sudden, Cam’s laid-back best was obsessing about a business trip her mom was supposed to take. The trip itself was a week away. It had never been a big deal before. Now Beth couldn’t let go of it. She kept saying
she felt lonely already. And — as if it were the most brilliant idea she’d ever had — how cool would it be if Cam and, okay, Alex, too, bunked in with her?

It wasn’t even what she said that was off, but the way she said it. Overstoked, hyper, practically giggling — all very un-Beth.

After soccer practice one afternoon, Cam suggested they split a pie at PITS. By then she was sure something was up.

Her tall, gangly, curly-haired bud was beyond up for it. “Excellent. I mean, we can talk about you hangin’ at my house while my mom is away.”

Cam couldn’t take it anymore. “Bethie, what’s up? For real. You’ve been giving off this weird manic vibe lately.”

Beth had stopped dead in the doorway of the pizza place. She couldn’t look at Cam. Embarrassed, she allowed Cam to drag her to a booth. The minute they sat down, she blurted it all out.

“You know, don’t you?” her best friend forever said, looking miserable. “I knew I’d never be able to hide it from you.”

And suddenly, Cam did know. This time, only a slight headache ushered in the vision, a rhythmic throbbing in her temples. Then she heard and
saw
Beth’s mind.

In it was a picture of Emily … Emily swearing Beth to secrecy … about the birthday party.

Em was planning an at-home bash to end all bashes for the twins’ sweet sixteen.

To keep the party a surprise, she and Dave would tell Cam and Alex that their birthday gift was going to be dinner at a snazzy Boston restaurant — with Beth invited along. The restaurant was famous for its lavish Halloween costume party.

Beth’s job was to keep Cam and Alex away from home so that Emily would have a couple of days to whip Casa Barnes into party shape.

It was perfect. Beth’s mom was going to be in Chicago that whole week, Cam heard her friend telling Emily. So Beth would “plead” and Emily would “reluctantly allow” the twins to keep her company, to stay with Beth after school and overnight for a few crucial days before their birthday.

Beth’s job, besides providing a home away from home, was to keep Cam and Alex occupied. A shopping spree would work, Emily thought. Scouring Marble Bay for sumptuous costumes to wear to the dinner. Maybe a trip to the mall to pick out their own birthday gifts. A salon stopover to get their hair and makeup done for the bogus big night out. All charged to Emily’s plastic.

Beth was to get them home Saturday night at eight o’clock sharp when the three of them, Beth, Cam, and
Alex, costumed to the max, would walk in on a radically stupendous surprise birthday bash — the details of which were blurry to Cam.

Candles burning. She could make those out. And little sparkling lights draped through tree branches. And … jack-o’-lanterns!

Jack-o’-lanterns?!

“Cami? Are you all right?” Beth was asking.

Are you
serious
? she wanted to shout. I can’t believe they’re doing it at home. Making it a Halloween party! As if she and Alex were going to have fun dunking for apples and carving pumpkins for their sweet sixteen. It was ridiculous, ludicrous, monstrous!

But Cam opened her eyes and nodded, though her head felt like a bobble-headed dashboard doll and every fiber of her being wanted to scream,
No!

“S’nothing,” she’d murmured to Beth instead. “Just lack of sleep. Alex and I have been cramming … for the PSATs. So, that would be a no,” she said. “I mean, no, I didn’t… I don’t know what you think I’m supposed to know. I just felt like you were, you know, avoiding me.”

She hadn’t blown Beth’s secret… when she might have so easily. All she would have had to do was say, “Yup, you’re right, I know all about the surprise. Now here’s what I want you to do about the party.”

Instead, she’d opted to
trust
Beth and Emily. Which took all the
courage
she could muster.

Of course she’d filled Alex in the minute she got home from PITS. And she’d begged her sister to play along with the pitiful plan. “If I can grit my teeth and show for a trick-or-treat birthday debacle, you can, too,” Cam summarized. “Dropping out now would amount to cruel and unusual punishment for Dave and Emily, who’ve been so —”

“Get a grip and spare me the gratitude lecture.” Alex held up her hand like a traffic cop. “I know what I owe your folks. Besides, what else have I got to do this Saturday? I tapped into Cade’s head a week ago and even
he’s
in on the secret. He’s gonna tell me there’s an emergency, that he’s gotta work late at the law office all weekend. Anyway,” she added irritably, “it’s not like there’s a conflict. We haven’t heard word one from the itty-bitty Initiation committee, have we? Talk about a debacle.”

“Do you think it’s all some whack test or joke?” Cam had finally dared to ask.

“If it is,” Alex grumbled, “I can see how witches got a bad reputation.”

The mall was crowded. And it was only Thursday evening.

Cam, Alex, and Beth were surprised to see hordes of costumed toddlers gripping plastic pumpkins filled with candy in one hand and their mothers’ hands in the other.

Apparently, there was a Halloween party going on for children aged two to ten.

“I didn’t know. I swear.” Beth eyed the swarming Spider-Mans and Sponge Bobs, Harry Potters and Dora the Explorers with distress. “I didn’t know they’d be doing Halloween early. I just thought we could check the place out. You said you wanted to get a new outfit for your birthday —”

“Maybe I should get a costume,” Cam said, trying to keep the upset out of her voice.

“No prob,” Alex assured Beth, digging into her jacket pocket for change to drop into the approaching kids’ goody bags. “This place is loaded with inspiration —”

“Right,” Cam grumbled. “I’ll be Lilo and you can be Stitch.”

“Um, Cam —” Alex had grown rigid. She was standing stock-still in the middle of the mobbed mall aisle. “Look over there.” She signaled with her eyes. “That woman in costume —”

Cam followed her twin’s gaze. “Ileana!” she gasped. “And Boris!”

A beautiful blond was wading toward them through
the Lilliputian throng. She was wearing a midnight-blue robe and carrying an orange cat.

“Ill what?” Beth asked, clueless.

Cam grabbed Alex’s hand. Alex grabbed her moon charm. “It’s either Ileana or another one of Uncle Thantos’s clones —”

“Right,” the gorgeous goddess sneered. “Like my fool of a father would really want two of me!”

“It’s really you!” A broad smile broke across Alex’s face.

They left Beth standing and staring and raced to their guardian witch. “What are you doing here?” Cam asked, stoked to see her.

“I thought Boris and I could score some easy candy,” Ileana teased. “Are you ready for your Initiation?”

“You mean, right now?” Alex asked, taken aback.

“Not now exactly. Midnight will do,” Ileana informed them. “You should be good to go”— she glanced at her watch —“in about five hours. That ought to be enough time for any last-minute arrangements.”

“Like what?” Cam asked. “We’ve read every book you lent us. We’ve been practicing magick for weeks now. I’ve got a backpack full of herbs. So what do we have to do? I mean, are we supposed to change our clothes, grab a toothbrush, or what?” A hint of annoyance
had crept into Cam’s voice, the result, Alex thought, of weeks of hope and disappointment waiting for the Coventry call. “We don’t need five hours. What’s wrong with now?”

Ileana sighed. “Well, I thought I’d get in a little mainland shopping —”

“We’re ready,” Alex sided with her sister. “We’ve been hanging out all month, waiting to hear from you. Cam’s right. We might as well go now.”

“And what shall we do with your stunned friend?” Ileana asked.

Cam turned to see Beth coming toward them, smiling tentatively. “What are we going to tell her?” she asked Ileana.

“Sorry,” their guardian said. “We’re still in your Initiation month. I’m afraid I’m not allowed to help you.”

“Alex.” Cam turned to her sister. “What should we do? Will the Lethe spell work for —” Then it hit her. “Forty-eight hours?! But we can’t leave now,” Cam blurted. At Alex’s questioning look, she added, “The Initiation, Als. It takes forty-eight hours. Do the math. We’ll be gone on our birthday!”

“The party!” Alex got it. “Emily will crumble —”

“She’ll be devastated, destroyed!” Cam turned to Ileana. “This is so not fair! My mainland mom has this
secret extravaganza planned for us. We can’t not show. She’s been working on it for weeks, maybe months!”

For a moment, their guardian looked sympathetic, even sad. “I know,” she said with a sigh. Then her features hardened. “I’m afraid it’s entirely your choice. Like everything you’ve done or ever will do, your choices, judgments, and decisions will determine your worth and usefulness.”

Cam looked at Alex, who shrugged. “I don’t want to freak Em out, either. Honestly, Cami, I… I actually like her. And Dave. And then there’s Dylan — he’s like my best Marble Bay bud. He’s like … a real brother —”

“But?” Cam’s panic turned to impatience.

“But I don’t know what’s right. I don’t know what to do,” Alex admitted. “I mean, we can’t be in two places at the same time —”

“Not unless Amaryllis shows up again,” Cam snorted sarcastically. Then, suddenly, she brightened. “Als, if we leave now, get to Coventry early, maybe we can leave early. I mean, it’s not even seven o’clock. If we can get back by seven on Saturday, we’re golden!”

“Hi.” Suddenly Beth was beside them, extending her hand to Ileana. “I’m Beth Fish, a friend of theirs.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” Ileana took Beth’s hand in both of hers. “I’m Ileana, Cam and Alex’s guardian witch.”

Alex couldn’t believe her ears. Cam gasped.

“Just kidding,” Ileana said. “I’m a friend of the family.”

“Right.” Beth grinned. “I knew I’d seen you before —”

Of course, Cam thought. Ileana’s main squeeze was Brice Stanley, movie star and secret warlock. Their guardian had been photographed more than once with the Hollywood hunk. But Beth hadn’t made the connection.

“Oh, that’s what you’re supposed to be. A witch. Neat costume.” The explanation had satisfied Beth. While she grilled Ileana about where she’d gotten her guardian witch outfit and such cool sandals and did the cat come with the costume, Alex and Cam tackled their issue.

And came to the same conclusion at the same time — Amaryllis.

It’ll work,
Alex silently decreed.

It has to,
Cam noted.

We just have to find a spell to get her here.

The Traveler,
Cam reminded her twin.

It’s worth a try,
Alex decided.

Oh, no. She’s a witch!
Cam’s shoulders drooped.
She won’t be allowed to help us.

Alex slumped just as Cam had. Then she perked up again like a plant dosed with Miracle-Gro.
She’s not exactly a witch. Not totally. She hasn’t been initiated yet. She said so herself. She’s still a fledgling!

Does that matter?
Cam asked.

Let’s find out,
her sister decreed.

“Excuse us for a minute.” Cam snatched her twin’s hand. “We’ll be right back.”

“Bathroom break,” Alex said, flying after Cam.

“Why? Because you owe us!” Cam told the reluctant girl who was glaring at her with steely gray eyes.

“And anyway, you don’t want to be on the island when we arrive,” Alex pointed out. “Because that’s when Lord Thantos will know you lied to him.”

The spell had worked. Amaryllis, flustered and sputtering, had materialized in the dead-end corridor behind the rest rooms. Except for her pale yellow robe, their uncle’s lackey still looked like Alex — and then Cam. Still under the original spell, she kept changing back and forth between the two girls.

The Coventry fledgling was trapped. And she knew it. Which didn’t make her any less angry. “You’re both going to be gone! How am I supposed to be both of you at the same time?!”

“Good question,” Alex admitted. The trio stood surrounded by cardboard cartons and seasonal display pieces. The mall was preparing for Thanksgiving. Branches of fake autumn leaves, two nearly life-size cutouts of Pilgrims, a cornucopia, and a Godzilla-sized turkey with fanned-out tail feathers hid the twins and Amaryllis from sight.

“You could … um, wear a mask?” Cam suggested
feebly. “It’s a costume party,” she reminded Alex, who was looking at her as if she had two heads.