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Erin scowled. “If you were a warlock, how eager would you be to come across an agency tasked with keeping tabs on you?”
“Another reason not to call in my dad — or yours,” Pippa decided.
Erin snorted. “They’re not shady. Harlon is.”
With that, she looked out over the ranch, and everyone grew quiet. It was late afternoon, edging toward evening and another fiery sunset. Shadows crept ominously over the arid landscape, and the air grew crisper.
“I have another idea, but I’m not sure I like it,” Pippa finally said. “The vortex. Could we use its power to protect ourselves?”
Erin wrapped her arms around her middle and looked toward the cliff. “The only thing that terrifies me more than the idea of Harlon using it is trying to use it myself. And didn’t Aunt Emma warn us never to go close?”
Pippa and Abby glanced at each other, then at the floor.
Yeah, those two had definitely gotten close at some point.
“Maybe it was one of those warnings adults give that only apply to kids.” Pippa made air quotes. “Like,don’t smokeordon’t have sex.”
Erin broke into laughter, and even Abby cracked into a sly look — only to frown an instant later.
“Sex was pretty easy to figure out on my own,” Erin said. “I’m not sure the vortex works that way.”
They looked at each other blankly, then at me, but I had nothing either.
“Let me guess,” Erin sighed. “Agency training didn’t cover that.”
No, it didn’t. For all it had taught me about warlocks, it hadn’t prepared me for seductive vampires, like Angelina, or for falling for the genuine appeal of Erin. Which just went to show that some things, you had to learn the hard way.
With Erin, I’d do it all over,my dragon whispered.Again and again, a thousand times.
As bad as the situation was, a smile played over my lips.
A horse nickered, and a bird flew by, slicing through the red-hued landscape.
“What about your own power?” I asked quietly.
Pippa laughed. “What power?”
I motioned at her, then Erin. “Your mother is a dragon, and your fathers are warlocks, right?” When they both nodded, I turned to Abby. “Is your father a warlock too?”
“He’s a self-absorbed nutcase. That’s what he is.”
I stuck up my hands, coming to my point quickly. “Well, I’m guessing he has magic too. Look.”
The sisters traded exasperated looks as I grabbed a box of matches and lit one. When I held it near Erin, the flame bent toward her, but she just laughed.
“That’s the wind.”
“Not the wind,” I insisted. Could they not see what I meant?
Spotting a lantern, I lit it and held it high. Again, the flame bent toward Erin.
I tapped the glass of the lantern. “It’s not the wind. It’s you.”
I got another one of thoseYou are unbearably stupidlooks. “The lantern is probably crooked or something.”
But even when I rotated it, the flame tilted toward Erin.
“And if I do this…” I swung the lantern slowly between Erin and Pippa. At some point in the middle, the flame swayed a little, undecided, then jerked over to whichever sister was closer.
