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  He bit her. Indirectly, but his

  teeth still punctured her skin. And his

  saliva, with all its germs and magic,

  could’ve contaminated her blood.

  Crap. Karma strikes again.

  A moment later, rationale took

  over and she realized that she couldn’t

  become a werewolf because she was

  already a witch. The two different

  magics couldn’t live inside the same

  person . Duh. One always dominated the

  other and because she was born a witch,

  she’d stay a witch. At least she’d be

  spared the anguish of fleas.

  Danny sat on the floor, leaning

  against the wall across from the

  bathroom when she came out. “Your

  cousin Thing called.”

  “You mean Thane?”

  “Yeah, that's what I said. He

  needs to talk to you 'bout something

  important. He wants you to come over to

  his house right away.” He scrambled to

  his feet.

  She held in a groan. Thane was a

  fellow Senior at school and a nice

  enough guy, though a bit high strung. He

  discovered a lost letter in his late uncle's

  trunk that her mother had written when

  she was pregnant with her. Her father,

  Thane’s uncle, died before telling

  anyone he was a new dad, so nobody in

  Thane’s— and now her—family knew

  she even existed until three days ago.

  The last couple of days had been

  hell for her with Thane following her

  around asking a million questions to 'get

  to know her better'. They’d had casual

  conversations in the past, usually

  homework related, but now he wouldn’t

  shut up. She couldn't take it anymore.

  “I'm sure whatever he wants to

  talk about can wait until Monday.” She

  pushed past her door and headed to her

  desk to pull out her Trigonometry

  homework.

  “But,” Danny said as he barged

  in. “He told me he'd give me ten bucks if

  I get you to go over there.”

  She stopped. “He did?” How

  badly did he want to know about her

  childhood pets, or where she went on

  vacation?

  “Yeah, so go.”

  Sitting in her chair, she looked

  him over from head to toe. For once, he

  might be useful to her. “Is Garren going

  to be there?”

  “Who?”

  “Never mind.” She twisted the

  wide leather bracelet that never left her

  right wrist as she thought. “Tell you

  what. I'll go if you donate Thane's bribe

  money to the New Rug Fund.”

  “What?” His voice screeched out

  a high note. His eyes grew so wide that

  the whites were visible all around his

  irises.

  “You're the one who ruined the

  rug in the first place, remember?

  Besides, do you want to go back to the

  orphanage that kept you locked in a cage

  like a dog?”

  He froze in his step, terror

  reflected in his eyes. “I don’t wanna go

  back there.”

  Mr. McGregor may be son of a

  bitch, but at least he treated Danny like a

  human being. No cages for werewolves

  in his house.

  “If we don’t come up with

  $5,000 soon, we’re both outta here.”

  His shoulders sagged as he

  dropped his gaze to the floor. “Fine.”

  She grabbed her hoodie and

  skateboard. “You should've asked for

  twenty.”

  “Hey, Ivy?”

  She stopped with her hand on the

  doorknob and waited.

  “If you have a cousin, does that

  mean you're going to move out and live

  with him now?”

  Her heart cracked at the tremor

  in his voice. “I'm not going anywhere.”

  He smiled.

  “All right, out. I have to go earn

  our first ten dollars. Only $4,990 to go.”

  She set her shoulders to brace herself for

  a boring evening of interrogation and

  dragged herself out of the house to visit

  her new family.

  Chapter 2

  “You want me to do what?” Ivy

  asked. The first place Wizard Martial

  Arts trophy she had been admiring

  slipped through her fingers and fell to

  the floor. The clank echoed throughout

  Thane and Garren's bedroom as it hit the

  hardwood.

  “Kiss— Prince— Sebastian,”

  Thane said as he leaned back in his

  chair, the wood creaking in protest.

  Green eyes peered through wisps of

  blond hair, accentuating the soft contours

  of his choir boy face. He was every

  mother’s dream for her little girl;

  respectable, handsome and totally non-

  threatening. But that wholesome, All-

  American-Kid persona he had going on

  was an act. Something sick and twisted

  lurked beneath the surface.

  She thought he wanted to discuss

  family trees, not disgust the hell out of

  her. The very idea was... was... just

  gross. On top of that, he had the nerve to

  roll his eyes at her. Her! She wasn't the

  one who had lost her mind.

  Garren,

  Thane's

  stepbrother,

  listened to the conversation from his

  bed. He sauntered over to her, picked up

  the dented trophy and placed it back on

  the shelf. He was the polar opposite of

  her cousin in every way. Arresting blue

  eyes, with the power to make otherwise

  intelligent teenage girls abandon all

  common sense, peeked out from behind

  locks of black hair. Add his sharp facial

  features and muscular build, he was who

  the daughters drooled over.

  One hand still on the ledge above

  her shoulder, he leaned in and flashed a

  cocky smile. “You should do it, Ivy. It

  might be the only chance you get to kiss

  a guy.”

  She bit the inside of her cheek to

  keep herself from responding to his

  childish jibe. She didn't like him being

  so close, afraid he'd see the bruises she

  tried to hide under her curly hair. After a

  brief stare-down, he turned and flopped

  down on his unmade bed. His cheap

  cologne lingered in the air, tickling her

  nose.

  She backed up into the wall and

  crossed her arms over her chest,

  obscuring the band logo displayed

  across her baggy, black t-shirt. She eyed

  each boy warily. “Is this a joke?

  Because if it is—”

  “No, no.” Thane threw his hands

  up in surrender, shaking his head.

  Her narrowed eyes regarded

  Garren, the boy who'd been the bane of

  her existence since she arrived in the

  small Alaska town. This could be one of

  his practical jokes.

  But Thane wasn't the type to

  tease people. On the contrary, being

&nbs
p; smart and a bit socially awkward, he

  was picked on quite a bit. He wouldn't

  go along with his stepbrother, would he?

  She turned to her cousin. “But

  Prince Sebastian's been dead for two

  hundred

  years.

  That's

  disgusting,

  immoral, and I'm pretty sure illegal.”

  Was she the only one who thought this

  was wrong?

  “Technically, he was cursed, not

  killed,” Thane clarified.

  “I fail to see the difference.” She

  turned around to crack the window open.

  The smell of sweaty socks and low tide

  made her woozy. “Are you guys storing

  bait in here?” She shuddered at the

  thought of what could be lurking under

  the piles of filthy clothes crammed in the

  corners. She stuffed her hands in her

  pockets

  to

  keep

  from

  getting

  contaminated.

  Garren glared at her. “No. My

  hockey uniform still reeks of spoiled

  halibut. I still owe you for that.”

  She smiled. That was one of her

  better pranks. He deserved it after

  announcing to the entire cafeteria that

  she was in need of a more effective

  soap. “You started it.”

  Garren moved to get up, but

  Thane beat him to it and stood between

  the two. “That's enough. Can we focus?”

  After clearing her head with

  fresh air, she ignored Garren as best she

  could and turned back to Thane. “Fine.

  Why do you want me to kiss a dead—

  excuse me— sleeping prince?” Not that

  it mattered since she wouldn't do it

  anyway. She was just curious.

  “Because I believe it will break

  the spell,” he said, settling back down in

  his seat.

  “And you want to break the spell

  because...?” What’s in it for him?

  Thane's eyes grew wide before

  he grabbed a folded up Salmagundi

  Gazette and shoved it in her hands.

  “Because the wards around the town are

  failing. I thought you, of all people,

  would be concerned about that.”

  She didn't appreciate his tone

  and snapped the paper open to see what

  he was talking about. Skimming the

  front-page article, she caught key words

  like 'secrecy wards', 'failing', 'solution',

  and 'reward'.

  Reward?

  That

  caught

  her

  interest. “I still don't see what one has to

  do with the other.”

  Thane took the paper back and

  slowly rolled it up, never taking his

  perplexed gaze off her. After an

  uncomfortable moment of his staring, a

  look of understanding spread across his

  lightly-freckled face. “I forgot you've

  only been here a year and don't know all

  the history. Legend says that Prince

  Sebastian set the original wards on

  Salmagundi to protect his lover from her

  scorned husband.”

  “And you think, if he was back,

  he could reset the wards, and we'd get

  the money for saving the town.” That

  made some sense.

  “You could even snag a date to

  Senior Prom next month,” Garren said.

  “I'm sure Prince Sebastian would be so

  happy to be alive again, he'd lower his

  standards for you.”

  That was it. She grabbed the

  closest book on the desk and flung it at

  him. He was so busy laughing at his own

  stupid joke that he didn't see it coming in

  time to shield himself. It nailed him right

  in the chest.

  Rubbing his sternum with one

  hand, he turned the book over and

  smiled. “Romeo and Juliet? Are you

  flirting with me?”

  Blood and heat rushed to her

  cheeks as her mouth fell open. Of all the

  books splayed on the desk, she had to

  pick up that one. “What? Absolutely

  not!”

  “Are you sure? Because this is a

  pretty romantic book—”

  She snorted. “Romantic? What's

  romantic about a girl killing herself over

  a guy?”

  He leaned forward, his elbows

  resting on his knees as he held the book

  in both hands. “She was in love,” he

  challenged.

  “She was an idiot,” she said as

  she waved away his lame response,

  ending that conversation.

  He reclined back against his

  pillows and opened the book. “Whatever

  you say, Ivy.”

  She

  leaned

  against

  the

  windowsill and brought her attention

  back to the reason she tolerated Garren

  in the first place. “So why do you think

  we'll be able to break the spell? I'm sure

  others have tried before.” She was

  almost afraid to hear the answer.

  Thane

  had

  a

  passion

  for

  experimenting and testing his theories.

  He had no problem disregarding the

  rules when they interfered with his test.

  Not only had he been arrested a few

  times, but banned from the pool for life.

  “You know how I've been

  researching my family line of Potion

  Masters?”

  Garren groaned. “Oh gawd, don't

  get him started.”

  She nodded and motioned for

  him to continue. He'd mentioned it a few

  million times already, but anything that

  annoyed Garren, she encouraged.

  Thane sat up straighter in his

  chair and grabbed an old, cracked

  leather book off his desk and cradled it

  in his hands. “About five years ago, I

  found a bunch of these old diaries that

  belonged to our great-grandmother

  Leviena, about twelve times removed.”

  He opened the book and thumbed

  through the yellowed pages until he

  found what he was looking for. He

  handed her the book.

  “Wow, it's in great shape for

  being so old.” She handled it carefully,

  not wanting it to disintegrate in her

  hands.

  “Don't

  worry.

  There's

  a

  preservation spell on it,” he said. “In

  here she mentions having a secret love

  affair with Prince Sebastian right before

  he was cursed.” He sat there, staring at

  her, as if she was supposed to already

  know the rest of the story.

  She glanced at the faded words

  and shrugged. “Okay, so we have an

  adulterer in the family. I don't see what

  that has to do with me kissing her

  boyfriend.”

  “You're going to have to explain

  everything or we'll be here all night

  waiting for her to get it,” Garren said as

  he pushed his black hair out of his eyes.

  The b
ook she threw at him lay next to

  him on the bed, forgotten.

  She glared. “Why are you here

  again?

  Don't

  you

  have

  some

  cheerleaders to chase after?”

  “Nope. Taking the day off to rest

  my lips; chapped.” Garren said with a

  smile.

  She rolled her eyes and sighed.

  “What else do you have to tell me?” she

  asked Thane.

  “Right. Well, since learning all

  this, I've been reading everything I could

  to learn more about Prince Sebastian.

  Did you know he was a brilliant Potions

  Master? He discovered how to keep fire

  thistle from exploding when adding it to

  —”

  “We don't care!” Garren said,

  running his hands through his hair. “Just

  get to the part about breaking the damn

  curse.”

  “Everyone should care about all

  the contributions he's made, not only to

  the art of potion making, but spell

  creation, charms—”

  “You're obsessed with the man.”

  Garren said. “It isn't natural.”

  Thane rolled his eyes as he

  ignored his stepbrother and spoke to her.

  “I'm not obsessed, just fascinated.”

  Garren stood, walked to the

  overflowing bookshelf and pointed to

  each spine on the second shelf. “Prince

  Sebastian, Prince Sebastian, Prince

  Sebastian,” he said after touching each

  one. “It's like you're in love. Maybe you

  should kiss him.”

  Her head snapped back and forth

  between the stepbrothers, like watching

  a tennis match. She was glad they

  weren't talking about her kissing a dead

  guy anymore.

  Thane swatted Garren's hand

  away from the books and grabbed one.

  He set it down on the desk, cover side

  up. Love Potions and Curses. “As I was

  saying,” he glared at Garren, who'd sat

  back down on the bed. “I looked up

  different spells and curses to find out

  which one was used. I've narrowed it

  down to two and the way to end the

  enchantment is the same for both— True

  Love's Kiss.” He leaned forward in his

  chair, elbows resting on his knees.

  “That means he needs to be

  kissed by his true love,” Garren told her

  after a moment of silence.

  “Well, duh,” she said. “That still

  doesn't explain why you want me to kiss

  him. I've never met him, so I couldn't be

  his true love.”

  “Yes, but I believe Leviena was

  and she died before she could break the

  spell,” Thane explained.

  She glanced back down at the

  diary in her hands, filled with her

  ancestor’s deepest, darkest secrets. That

  has