Whispers at Moonrise

the…!” he muttered.
    Kylie gasped.
    Miranda giggled.
    Della snorted with laughter.
    “Go away!” Kylie screamed, her face blood red as she wiggled her pinky at the hot guy. He was gone as quickly as he appeared. Kylie looked back at her two best friends, who were now in fits of laughter. She slapped her hand over her heart, which was racing.
    “Don’t ever talk me into doing that again!” she screeched.
    “Wasn’t that … oh, what’s his name? Zac something?” Della asked. “The actor, I mean.”
    “Oh my Gawd, it was!” Miranda said.
    “I always thought he looks a little like Steve, don’t you think?” Della asked.
    “Oh, crap!” Kylie buried her face in her hands. “I didn’t hurt him, did I? It won’t, like, give him cancer or anything?”
    “No,” Miranda answered, a giggle still sounding in her voice.
    “Good,” Della said, rubbing her hands together. “Then bring him back. I want to see if he really looks like Steve.”
    “Are you freaking nuts?” Kylie asked Della. Then she focused on Miranda. “Will he remember this? Will he think he lost his mind?”
    “It happened so fast, he’ll probably think he imagined it. Besides, it’s not your fault.” Miranda giggled again. “It’s Della’s.” Miranda pointed at the accused.
    “Oh, right. Blame the vampire!” Della bellowed.
    Miranda rolled her eyes. “Della put the image in your thoughts and for some reason you just envisioned Zac.” Miranda smiled again. “You are obviously attracted to him.”
    Kylie started to deny it, but couldn’t.
    “I’m still not taking the hit on this one,” Della said.
    Miranda looked at Della. “I guess I should have told you to be quiet. Sorry.” She covered her mouth when she snickered again. Then she sat up straighter. “But … wow. I have to tell you I’m shocked. Only the most powerful witches can transport human beings. Even my mom can’t do that.”
    “Don’t you guys think he looks like Steve?” Della asked again.
    Kylie dropped into the chair. “I don’t care who he looks like. I’m not doing it again. I have no control and no knowledge. I’m sure to screw up.”
    “That’s why you need practice. Besides, nothing bad happened,” Miranda said.
    “Seriously? I brought a half-naked movie star into our cabin!”
    “And what part of that is bad?” Della asked. “I mean … I hate to say this, but for the first time I’m seeing that it might be cool to be a witch.”
    “Thank you!” Miranda sat up straighter.
    “I mean, can you just zap yourself anything you want? A hot guy? A cup of O-negative blood? A new pair of jeans?” Della asked.
    “Please, you can’t do that,” Miranda said. “It’s totally against the rules.”
    “But…” Kylie stared at Miranda. “You just had me do it.”
    “Yeah, but you’re a newbie. It doesn’t count.” Miranda looked back at Della. “That’s not to say I can’t do anything. If it’s for a greater good, it’ll be okay. If it’s for one’s own benefit, well, it has to be within reason. If I’m given a tuna sandwich and want turkey, that’s not a big deal. It’s swapping one meat for another. But if I even do it too much, I’d get called on it.”
    “By who?” Della asked. “The meat gods?”
    Miranda frowned as if to say this was serious and Kylie couldn’t agree more. “By the Wicca society.”
    “Wait,” Kylie said. “You mean, they know what I do?”
    Della cleared her throat as if in warning, but Kylie didn’t understand the warning. She was too concerned about the Wicca society knowing her stupid mistakes to pay attention.
    “Yeah,” Miranda said. “They’re like Santa Claus with their magic crystal balls. They know if you’ve been naughty or good.”
    “Great! So someone’s looking into a magic ball right now and knows I conjured up a half-naked hot actor?” Kylie asked.
    “You did what?” the deep male voice asked from behind Kylie.
    Kylie froze, worried that Zac had returned. The fact that she wasn’t even the least bit happy about it said a lot about her disposition, too. Then she ran the voice through her head again and recognized the dark tenor.
    Crap. She was in trouble now.

 
    Chapter Twenty
    Kylie turned in her chair and faced a puzzled-looking Lucas. He wore a pair of black jeans and a solid light blue T-shirt. The shirt fit just tight enough that she knew his abs could compete with Zac’s.
    He continued to stare. “Did you just say—?”
    “It was … a spell