Read Spellcaster (Spellcaster #1) for Free Online Page B

consciousness around the memory and somehow around the car, too. Weirdly, it seemed to her that she could feel it, the bulk and metal of it balancing against her mind—
    Lying in the wreck of the car that night, hearing Cole shriek and not knowing for a moment whether her baby brother was hurt, or how badly .
    That first night after Mom left, when the phone rang, and she and Dad looked at each other in wild hope before she dove for it—but it wasn’t Mom, only some survey that wanted to know if they were buying a new television this year .
    Getting up the morning after that, not crying once, and making breakfast for Dad and Cole like Mom used to, and how they all ate together like it was normal, like it was fine, because they were going to be fine without her somehow .
    Nadia heard a solid thunk and the creaking of old shock absorbers. Tentatively she opened her eyes to see—the car, still rocking back and forth in its new place next to the ditch. She grinned in triumph.
    And then her face fell … as someone sat up in the driver’s seat.
    Verlaine.
    Who was now staring at Nadia in a way that made it absolutely clear that, even though she might not have known what just happened, she knew exactly who was responsible.
    She’d been caught doing witchcraft.

4
    ONE MINUTE, VERLAINE HAD BEEN HANGING OUT IN HER car, stretched out on the old-fashioned front seat, trying to work a tangle out of her hair and watching videos on her phone. She’d planned to stay late enough that Uncle Gary and Uncle Dave would think she had friends to spend time with; that way they wouldn’t worry so much, or at least they’d stop nagging her about being alone so often. The next, the ground had swallowed her car. She’d been too startled even to scream.
    And that wasn’t even the freakiest thing that had happened to her today—not compared to the part where her car flew out of the ditch again .
    Or where that new girl was the one responsible.
    She dropped her hand right away, like that would make Verlaine not suspect her. Maybe it was kind of a crazy thing to suspect somebody of. But, hello, the car just flew, so welcome to Crazyville, and besides—she knew .
    The new girl said, “Hey, are you all right?”
    Verlaine had to swallow hard before she could speak. “How did you make the car fly?”
    That first split second—that was the tell. Yeah, the new girl, Natalie or whatever her name was, she tried hard to cover. But her first reaction had been total guilt and horror, which made her awkward smile afterward that much more unconvincing. “Wow, you must have hit your head.”
    “I didn’t hit my head.”
    “You must have! Because, you know, cars don’t fly. Obviously.”
    Verlaine tried the door; it still worked, and she stepped out on shaky legs. “Then how did it get out of the ditch? Do you have a forklift or a crane or something hidden around here, Natalie?”
    “It’s Nadia. And of course I don’t. Your car never went into the ditch.”
    “Um, yes, it definitely did.”
    “It only tilted to one side!” Nadia looked … weird. Like, chugged-a-Butterfinger-Blizzard-in-ninety-seconds-and-got-on-the-Tilt-A-Whirl weird. But she was trying hard to sound reassuring. “Probably it felt like you went into the ditch, but you didn’t. I’m sure it was crazy scary. Can’t believe you didn’t scream! I would definitely have thought anybody in the car would have screamed. Definitely. But you—didn’t.”
    “If my car didn’t fall in the ditch, why is there dirt in my hair?” Verlaine grabbed the ends of her nearly waist-length hair; now there were twigs and leaves caught in it, too. “Why are there pine needles all over my backseat? And, oh yeah, why do I remember falling in the ditch?”
    Nadia went on the offensive then: “Why are you pretending cars can fly? How would I even make that happen?”
    Two very good questions. But Verlaine said only, “I know what I know.”
    “When you go home and think about it, and talk