Free Edge of Moonlight by Stephanie Julian

no,” Amity rushed on as if she’d read his mind. “She didn’t try to hurt herself.
    But Evie needs help. I have her powered down for now but when she comes out of this, I’m not sure what she’ll do if you can’t keep her calm.” Amity remained seated, seemingly unafraid of him. Which didn’t make any sense because he was pretty sure he was wearing his intimidation face. Grown men were known to break and run when he looked like this.
    This woman just smiled. “I’m sure you’ve noticed changes in your sister. Since the kidnapping.”
    John went deadly still. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Amity continued to smile. It should’ve freaked him out, should’ve made her seem weird or creepy.
    But he sensed no danger from her at all.
    A flash of movement in the doorway caught his eye and he turned to find Kaine staring at him with no emotion whatsoever. But from her, he sensed guilt.
    “I want answers now.”
    “And you’ll get them, of course,” Amity said as Kaine dropped her gaze to the floor. “Evie’s resting comfortably. Why don’t we go into the other room and talk there?” Torn between leaving his sister, who did appear to be sleeping soundly, and finding out what the fuck was going on, he decided he needed answers first.
    This Amity woman appeared to have them. And the woman he’d taken to his bed last night, who’d blown his mind as he’d come in her body…
    She’d lied to him. He could see it in the way she held her body. She felt guilty about something.
    Fine, he’d let these women tell him what was wrong with his sister because he knew there was something going on with her. Ever since the kidnapping, Evie had been different.
    And somehow Kaine, who he’d never met before last night, knew what was going on.
    This he wanted to hear.
    Then again, maybe he didn’t.
    Half an hour later, John thought banging his head against a wall might be helpful as he tried to make sense of what the crazy woman sitting next to him on the couch had told him.
    “So, you’re saying the tests done on Evie gave her powers. Like…magical powers.”
    “No,” Amity said. “What I’m saying is that the tests brought out her latent powers and she doesn’t know how to handle them.”
    John fell silent as he considered everything the woman Kaine had brought into his house to help his sister had said.
    The thoughts in his brain tangled around each other until he couldn’t seem to get a handle on any one thread and follow it to a logical conclusion. Absolutely none of this made sense.
    At least, none of it made logical sense.
    When Amity spoke, it sounded plausible as all hell. When she told him magic was real and his sister needed help controlling hers, it all made perfect sense.
    But in the rational part of his mind, he knew better.
    And he knew that Evie had been holding it together until he’d brought Kaine home last night.
    The woman who looked so damn guilty.
    Yet every time he caught sight of her, standing still and quiet against the wall by the door, he wanted her. It felt like a fever in his blood.
    “You know,” he said, “this all sounds fucking crazy, right? Like some B-grade movie on the Syfy Channel.”
    Kaine’s head dipped lower, as if trying to make herself invisible.
    “Yes, I know what it sounds like,” Amity said. “And I know how hard this is going to be to understand but you can’t handle this for Evie. You can’t make it better.” Damn, that almost sounded like the woman had read his mind. Again. Another impossibility.
    His gaze shot to Kaine and he forced himself to ask the question he didn’t know if he wanted an answer to. “Did you do something to her? Did you do something to Evie?”
    Kaine’s head shot up but she didn’t open her mouth. Instead her lips trembled.
    He saw how pale she’d gotten, how physically ill she looked. And he wanted to comfort her. Wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her everything was okay. But if she’d done something