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pawed the earth above them. “I never heard that incantation before —” she told Shane, studying Epona, looking for a trace of the bold colors he’d displayed only moments before.
    “It’s pretty basic,” he said, quickly changing the subject. “Cam, I’ve made such a mess of my life, misused the powers I was blessed with —”
    She looked at him.
    “None of what I told you is a real excuse,” Shane said. “I’m ashamed to say I just followed along, first with Thantos, then with Sersee. Then I met you. That’s when I knew for sure that I had to change. But by then, I was too deeply entrenched. I’m so, so sorry, Cam.”
    Cam felt herself tearing up. Her heart went out to him, to the little lost boy he’d been, battered, betrayed, booted from his home. Maybe she’d sensed that all along. Maybe that’s why her feelings toward him defied reason.
    Shane covered her hands with his and looked into her eyes.
Maybe we’re soul mates.
    Cam’s eyes widened. Had she done it? Read someone’s mind who wasn’t related to her? “Were you just thinking …?”
    Shane blushed, and Cam had her answer. She was developing higher skills. On her own. Something else hit her. She’d not thought about Jason since she got here.Maybe it was meant to be. Maybe Jason had to leave so she could see her way clear to Shane.
    Cam had not been lying when she’d told Alex she needed to come to Coventry to see if Shane had been sincere about doing a 180. But there was a greater good, a higher purpose. She knew it now. Her mission as a witch was to heal, to help, to be sure all things — did that not include people? — might grow to their most bountiful goodness.
    Shane needed her.
    “I do, Cam. You have no idea how much.” He’d read her mind again. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her toward him into the warm shelter of his cloak.
    As she closed her eyes to receive his kiss, his crystal horseshoe pendant brushed her sun charm and produced a strange and startling shock.
    A real buzzkill.
    Cam returned to Crailmore late in the day. She found Miranda in the herb garden. Her mother had traded her flowing cape for more practical overalls and a broad-brimmed straw hat to shield her face from the afternoon sun. She heard her daughter’s approach and greeted her with a smile.
    Which Cam returned one hundredfold.
    Miranda’s heart quickened. Her daughter — one ofthe two precious children she’d once thought were lost to her forever — was so beautiful, so radiant in her unconcealed joy. “Things went well,” she ventured.
    “It was unbelievable.” Cam couldn’t stop smiling.
    “Tell me all about it,” her mother urged. “Here.” She handed Cam a trowel and a small pot in which a delicate pale green shoot grew. “You can help me. I’m putting in some new lavender.”
    In Marble Bay, Cam had never gardened. The Barnes’ family hired landscapers for that. But right now she felt she could do anything. She was overflowing with energy … and love. She took the tool Miranda handed her and absentmindedly hugged the little terra-cotta pot while recalling her wonderful day.
    Her words tumbled out in a seemingly endless stream. She explained the cruel circumstances that had led Shane astray and confided how desperately he wanted to reform. She wondered if Miranda might help him. He was such a misunderstood boy and needed so much to be loved and accepted.
    Miranda smiled and nodded and expressed not a word of doubt until Cam mentioned the horse.
    “His name is Epona. Shane said that horses are an important part of our heritage —”
    Miranda looked up from the fragrant lavender seedling she was transplanting. “Epona?” She brushedthe dirt off her hands and faced her daughter, trying to disguise her alarm. “A red horse?” she asked.
    “No, he’s totally black. But Shane was trying to impress me and he put a spell on —”
    “Did he come from the sea?” Miranda interrupted.
    “The horse?” Cam shrugged. “In a