Witch's Brew - Spellspinners 1 (Spellspinners of Melas County) by Heidi R. Kling Page B

knows that.”
    With some difficulty, I respun the spell that guarded my thoughts. Then I said, “But there’s some other reason. More specific to you and me.”
    “Which is?” He stopped walking and stared intently. Magnetizing.
    “I thought you said you could Hear my every thought?”
    His eyes narrowed. “I thought I could.”
    “Why’d you steal my amulet, Logan?”
    The spell had obviously worked, because he was looking at me curiously, not knowingly. Giving up, he tugged on a chunk of hair and looked out toward the sea. “It looked so much like mine.”
    I bit my lip. “Yours?”
    “Yes. Which was given to me by my real parents.”
    That stopped me. “Your real parents?”
    “Yes, and I don’t know who they are. Jacob, the headmaster at the academy, raised me. My amulet’s the only clue I have to them.”
    “So he’s not your father?”
    “He’s my legal guardian, not my biological father.”
    “Oh, wow.” The prophecy had mentioned the Roghnaithe would possess the magic of both light and darkness. If Jacob wasn’t his father, was another warlock? I needed to ask Iris and Camellia ASAP.
    “How are you doing that?”
    “What?”
    “Blocking me like that?”
    “I’m not going to tell you!”
    But he looked so sad, suddenly I was the one feeling bad. What had Iris warned me about? Manipulative qualities. Bingo.
    “Look, I’m sorry I took it. I’ll give it back after I find out more about it.”
    “You could have just asked for it,” I said softly.
    He stopped. “You would’ve let me borrow it? A warlock? Come on, Lily. You wouldn’t even let me hand you your water bottle. Germaphobic, remember?”
    “But that’s only because I thought you might try to entrap me and drag me back to your creepy…”
    “Father?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I told you I wasn’t the one who put that spell on you.”
    He was making it practically impossible for me to be angry at him. His sadness. It made him seem human. Like he might care. He had saved me from the burning amulet. And now he was going along with this whole “set up Orchid and Chance so we can hang out” thing. “I know,” I said.
    “Do you believe me?”
    “I want to.”
    Logan nodded, and resumed walking. I wanted to fill the silence, but didn’t know how. Didn’t know if I should try. He made it nearly impossible to stay on guard. It was the being around him, the vulnerability hidden behind his hard-eyed mask, the joking tone in his voice, the way he looked at me when he thought I wasn’t looking—he was just the opposite of someone I could manipulate. And anyway, making nice did get me ample opportunity to get closer to him, and closer meant an opportunity to catch him off guard and snatch my amulet back, and later…
    “Later what?”
    “How did you Hear that?”
    “You dropped your guard.”
    “Is that how you’re doing it?”
    “I think so. When you stop thinking I’m the bad guy I can Hear you again. Don’t feel bad, Lil,” he added. “It was a strong spell. Not just anyone could break through it.”
    Stop being so sweet.
    “No, I meant it.”
    “Argh!” I pulled on my hair, and he elbowed me playfully, leaning his hip into mine and bending so close I could paint the dark of his eyelashes. “You aren’t supposed to talk about spells in public like that. I might have to report you to the Congression. Your friend, too. You can’t just approach us in broad daylight and start flirting like crazy—”
    He pulled back, surprised. “I’m not flirting. Chance may indeed be flirting, but I’ve been on my best behavior. My very best behavior.”
    Flustered, I stopped, cupped my hips with my palms, feeling the heat radiating where his bone had touched my skin moments before. “Right. You’ve been talking about milkshakes. And breaking through my spells.”
    “Exactly,” he held his palms up like I was pointing a sword at him and he was surrendering. “Totally innocent of any kind of flirtation.”
    I rolled my eyes, and