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

wickedly while Logan frowned.
    The thought of Lily on the ground injured by something he’d done made him sick. “But her amulet looked so much like mine. I guess I followed her to find out more. I know it was reckless.”
    “As long as you get that, it should be cool. I won’t say anything.”
    “Thanks.”
    They floated over the waves in silence. Logan was grateful Chance didn’t dig in his point. Logan made a mistake, Chance told him how he felt about it. The end.
    “Chance, if you could become a human, would you?” Logan paused. “I mean entirely human.”
    “I couldn’t be. Voudoun is in my blood.”
    “But hypothetically, if you could be born again without it. With no knowledge of any of it, would you?”
    Chance held back to let a few human kids take the first set. He glanced at Logan sidelong. “You have to be dead to start over. And I don’t want to die.” Chance glanced over his shoulder eying the next set of waves. “I’ve worked hard to get where I am. Besides, magic is all I’ve ever known. I see how humans live. I was there during Katrina, remember? It was a tragic mess—the worst of the human condition. I can transcend all that now. The inevitable death and dying. The rot. The struggle to work, reproduce, just to start heading downhill toward death? No thanks.”
    “Hate to point out the obvious, but have you looked at Jacob lately?” Logan said. “It’s not exactly like he’s avoiding the downhill spiral toward death. He looks like he’s already accepted the invitation and is knocking on the front door.”
    “But it won’t happen to us. Not for awhile anyway. So this witch? Was she unbelievably hot? You know they cling on to that fountain of youth perk of theirs like crack.”
    “She was…yeah, she was very pretty.”
    Understatement of the century.
    “Would be nice to have that perk again.”
    “Yeah, it does seem like Jacob would be more eager to mend things with the witches, for vanity’s sake alone.”
    “Mending things? Jacob? Peace would be the last option on his list. He likes fighting them. Loves stealing back part of what he feels was rightfully his.”
    “But he doesn’t even fight anymore, we do.”
    “Maybe he’s living vicariously? Dude, I don’t know.”
    Logan confided in Chance what he’d been thinking about all day. “What if that’s why he’s so intent on winning in the Gleaning? What if some of the energy we glean off the witches is the key to age reversal?”
    “How would that benefit him then?”
    “I’m not sure yet. But I do know I’m feeling a little wary about the whole idea of the Gleaning now. I mean, if she's not evil, then wouldn't it be evil to destroy her?"
    “We’re warlocks,” he said by means of explanation. “You’re acting really weird, dude. Since when have you been bothered by using aggression?”
    “Since…”
    His word caught in the air.
    Since meeting Lily.
    Since stealing her amulet.
    Of course. Her amulet. It was making him all…weak minded. And adversarial. Making him think treasonous thoughts.
    “Am I really being weird?”
    “You are Leader of the Sons of Darkness, Logan. And you just now said…”
    “I know what I said.”
    “Give me the charm.” Chance reached over the water.
    “I can’t.”
    “Then I can’t protect you.”
    “I don’t need protection from her . She’s not evil, Chance, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. It’s like we’re…fated or something."
    Logan flashed on the moment he saw her for the first time, curled on the rock, sheets of white-blonde hair spilling over her shoulders like new-fallen snow.
    “You have to drop this line of thought, Cheese. You know exactly who you are. Who we all are. It’s treason to talk this way. It’s her amulet taking hold of you.”
    Logan felt the waves rise under him. Chance wasn’t on board yet. He had to drop it, or he risked getting Chance in trouble, too.
    “You’re right, I’ll stop worrying about it. We all have enough on our