"Years?" I asked. "I didn't know that."

He shrugged. "I didn't want you to. I didn't want anyone to know, especially Bree. She's always gone for the dumb, good-looking types. I've been watching her be with one jerk after another, knowing I never had a chance." His smile faltered. "You know she told me about when she lost her virginity?" He turned to me, his blue-gray eyes glinting in fading sunlight. He shook his head again, remembered pain on his face. "She was all happy and excited. The best thing since mocha latte, she said. And with that loser, Akers Rowley."

I frowned. "I know. Akers was an ass. I'm sorry, Robbie."

"Anyway," Robbie went on, his smile returning, "have you looked at me lately?"

"You're gorgeous," I said instantly. "You're one of the best-looking guys in school."

Robbie laughed, sounding for a moment like his old awkward and self-conscious self. "Thanks. But, um, do you think maybe I have a shot now?"

I bit my lip. Now, there was a loaded question. I mean, totally apart from the fact that Bree might be getting involved in dark magick, it was so odd to think of her and Robbie as a couple. They'd been friends for so long. "I don't know," I said after a minute. "I don't know how Bree sees you. Yeah, you're good-looking, but she might think of you more as a brother. You sort of know her too well to put a spell on her. Or vice versa." I grinned. "Nonmagickally speaking."

Robbie nodded, kicking his boots through the leaves. His forehead was creased.

We walked deeper into the woods. We had only about twenty minutes before it would be dark; soon we'd have to turn around.

I threaded my arm through his. "There's something else," I said. I felt I needed to warn him, to put him on his guard. "Today I heard Bree and Raven talking about their new coven."

I told him the gist of what I had overheard in the bathroom, leaving out the part about my hair. That was something I had to deal with myself, with Cal's help. Besides, I wasn't even sure what the strand of hair meant. I didn't want Robbie to feel any more torn between me and Bree than he already did. But at the same time I didn't want her to use him.

"Yeah, I know they want to recruit new members," he acknowledged. "Don't worry, I'm not interested. But I am going to go and see what's going on."

Here with Robbie, in the woods, my thoughts about Bree and Raven and their coven began to seem a little paranoid. So what if they wanted to have their own coven? That wasn't necessarily bad or evil. It was just different, another spoke on the wheel. And the hair… well, who knew what that was about? Sky had told them no one would get hurt, and they seemed to trust her. But most of all, I just couldn't see Bree as evil. She'd been my best friend for so long. I'd know if there was something really warped about her. Wouldn't I?

I shook my head. It was too hard to think about. Then I remembered something else that I'd overheard. "Do you know someone named Thalia?" I asked Robbie. "She's in Bree and Raven's coven."

He thought and shook his head. "Maybe she's a friend of Raven's."

"Well, my informants tell me she may make a move on you," I said. I'd meant it as a joke, but the words came out sounding dark for some reason.

Robbie brightened. "Excellent," he said.

I laughed and poked him in the side as we walked along the park path.

"Just watch out, okay?" I said after a while. "I mean, with Bree. She tends to like guys she can control, you know? Guys she can intimidate, who'll do whatever she wants. They don't last long."

Robbie was silent. I didn't have to tell him all this; he knew it already.

"If Bree could care about you in the way you deserve," I went on, "it would be great. But I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know," he said.

I squeezed his arm a little tighter. "Good luck," I whispered.

He smiled. "Thanks."

For just a minute I wondered about love spells, love potions, and whether they ever worked. But Robbie broke into my thoughts, as if reading my mind.

"Don't you dare interfere with this magickwise," he warned me.

I feigned a hurt expression. "Of course not! I think I've done enough already…." Robbie laughed.

Suddenly I stopped short and pulled on his arm. He glanced at me quizzically. I raised a finger to my lips. My eyes scanned the woods. I saw nothing. But my senses… there was someone here. Two someones. I could feel them. But where were they?

After another moment I heard muffled voices.

Without thinking, we both dropped down behind a large boulder by the side of the path.

"You're wrong—I don't want to," someone was saying.

My eyes met Robbie's and widened. It was Matt's voice.

"Don't be silly, Matt. Of course you want to. I've seen how you look at me."

Of course. It was Raven—and she was trying to seduce Matt. It made perfect sense. I remembered how she'd said his name in the bathroom, how she'd laughed.

Without speaking, Robbie and I peeked over the top of the boulder. About twenty feet from us Matt and Raven were standing face-to-face. The sun was dropping rapidly now, the air turning colder. Raven moved closer to him, a smile playing on her lips. He frowned and stepped back but bumped into a tree. She moved in and pressed herself against him from chest to knee.

"Stop," he said weakly.

Raven wrapped her hands around his neck and stood on tiptoes to kiss him.

"Stop," he repeated, but the word had about as much force as Dagda's meowing. He resisted for a grand total of five seconds, then his arms went around her, his head slanted, and he pulled her to him tightly. Next to me Robbie dropped his head into his hands. I gaped at them for a little while longer—but when Matt unzipped Raven's coat and unbuttoned his own, I couldn't stand it anymore. Robbie and I leaned with our backs against the boulder. I heard a small moan and cringed. This was too embarrassing.

Robbie leaned closer and breathed into my ear. "Do you think they're gonna do it?"

I grimaced. "I don't know. I mean, it's freezing out here." Robbie let out a muffled snort. Then I started giggling. For several seconds we crouched low and chewed on our coat sleeves, choking with laughter. Finally Robbie had to look. He eased his head around the boulder into the woods. "I can't see much," he complained in a whisper. "It's too dark in the trees."

I didn't want to look myself, though I knew I could have seen everything clearly. My night vision had improved dramatically; I could see easily in the darkness now, as if everything was illuminated slightly from within. I'd even found a reference to that power in a witchcraft book: it was called magesight.

"I don't think they're doing it," Robbie whispered, squinting. "It looks more like heavy making out. They're still standing."

"Thank the God and Goddess," I muttered.

I heard Matt's voice: "We have to stop. Jenna…"

"Forget Jenna," Raven murmured beguilingly. "I want you. You want me. You want to be with me, in our coven."

"No, I—"

"Matt, please. Quit fighting it. Just give in and you can have me. Don't you want me?"

He gave a strangled moan. Now it was my turn to cover my face with my hands. I wished I could stop Matt somehow. Of course, I was also thinking he was a total jerk.

"You do want me," Raven coaxed. "And I can give you what you want. What Jenna can't do for you. We can be together, and we can make magick, strong magick, in my coven. You don't want to be with Cal anymore. He's a control freak."

I stiffened and frowned. What the hell did she know about Cal?

"In our circle you can do what you want," Raven continued. "No one will hold you back. And you can be with me. Come on…."

Raven's voice had never sounded so sweet and pleading. A shiver went down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold.