Chapter One
-Lila-

     “Once upon a time, there were two magical, enchanted twin sisters. One was a majestic and powerful sorceress with vibrant conjuring abilities passed down to her through generations of beautiful witches. And the other was… me.” 

      I stared into my reflection, dragging my finger over the three thin gold chains that dangled around my neck.

     “Don’t talk like that, Lie.” From inside her stuffed closet, Anna scrunched up her face at me. The two of us were holed up in her one-bedroom apartment.

      “Why not?” I asked the identical girl. She was my twin, my mirror image… if mirrors could be prettier, more confident, and both our parents’ favorite kid. I sighed. “We weren’t even named correctly. You should be Lie, short for Lila and lie guard, and I’ll be Anna Banana, the no good, human fruit fly.” 

     “The human fruit fly? Jesus, Lila. You’re still a witch.” 

     “Non-witch.” 

     “Witch.”

     “Says who? I have no use in this universe.” I gestured at her world.

     “Yes, you do. Don’t be so dramatic.”

     “You’re the dramatic one. Insisting I come into town. Demanding it be tonight, on threat of death.”

     “I didn’t threaten…” Anna dug back into the closet. “Did you tell Mom and Dad you were here?”

     “No. What’s the point?” I flopped on her bed. 

     “Dad would love to see you. You know he would.” 

     “I know.”

     “He calls a moratorium on coven talk and magic the moment you arrive.”

     “Mother must love that.” 

     “Mom loves him.” Anna shrugged. “She’d protect him with her life.” I glanced her way. My sister grinned. “They’re parabonds. Shhh.” She put a finger to her lips, to tease and shush. “You didn’t hear it from me.” I bristled at the witch word and the secret. Parabonds. I didn’t even know what it meant. Not really.

     “He shouldn’t have to hide who he is, who you all are, just for little old me.” 

     “But we do,” Anna said sweetly. “Dad worries about his little non-witch,“ she assured me with a wink.

     “Witch,” I pushed back, just to be difficult. 

     “That’s the spirit!” 

     “And Mother?” I drawled.

     “Dad worries.” We both smirked. Mother was a tough one. The matriarch of the Drake family didn’t take crap from anybody. Especially my Dad. Or Anna. Or me. We were supposedly all adults now, but none of us ever stood up to that woman. Of course, I didn’t stand up to anybody, so that didn’t mean much of anything, but the other two also quaked in their boots in fear of her. 

     As children, Mother trained Anna and I in the ways of magic the best that she could–but my sister was always far more talented. After I was officially passed over by the academy, Mother sent me away. Cast me out of the family. They’d never admit it, but that's what happened. It was destined to occur. After all, the three of them were bound to secrecy. My parents and sister were all members of the powerful, elusive witch coven, the High Council, a fact I wasn’t supposed to know. And my twin was now in her last year of training at the secret Witch Academy. I wasn’t supposed to know that either… 

     They were in and I was out. 

     That meant their whole lives were off-limits to me.

     I’d been permanently rejected by the coven at the age of nineteen. Back then, I’d hoped and even expected to enroll in the enchanted training program with Anna, but it wasn’t up to me. Or her. The fates decided who partnered with whom (who parabonded with whom, I should say) and not every would-be witch in the town could get in. I didn’t make the cut. You could probably still see the shoe print of rejection on my butt if you looked closely at me. But that was ancient history. Since then, my folks had pushed me to enroll in the ‘best schools’ for architecture study. It was no coincidence that all the institutions they suggested were hundreds of miles away from the town where they lived. So I went. Plumpkin was a small place. Without magic, there was nothing here for me.

     Family reunions had become drawn out, exhausting things. 

     Everyone was on edge.

     My parents swore they loved Anna and me both equally but, since we’d left home (me for college and her for the academy) Anna’s bedroom remained a pristine shrine to her youth. Mine was repurposed into a cluttered storage room. At least things between Anna and I stayed like they’d always been. Honest and direct. A bit pushy on her end. Just what I needed. I loved my twin. I wished she could make my every decision.

     “Well… it’s good you kept your homecoming a secret on this particular evening,” Anna said. Uh oh. 

     “Why?” My twin-senses twitched.

     “Because of this.” 

      Anna pulled a beautiful mauve gown out of her closet and swirled it around her waist to show me. I looked in awe at the dress. Regal, frothy and delicious. She would look perfect in that shade. Anna looked perfect in most things. How we could be identical sisters and still be so different I didn’t understand. But I was happy that at least all the traditions of confidence and magical abilities that had swum out of my head had landed in hers for safe keeping. 

      “It’s the Amethyst Sun Down of Witches this weekend,” she explained.

      “It’s beautiful, Anne.” 

      “I know… and you’re gonna wear it.” 

      “What? No.” I sat up on the bed with a frown. 

      “Mmm hmm.” Anna slid a gold mask over my eyes. Purple gems sparkled on my surprised face. “It’s a costume party, Lie. A masquerade.” We stared into the mirror together, my beautiful sister and me. Her nimble fingers undid my braided hairdo and let my blonde waves tumble big and bouncy over my shoulders like hers always did. She floofed up the style until my head mirrored hers. “And you’re gonna go in my place.” Next, she folded her hair into a braid like the one I always wore.

     “Anne.” Under the half-mask, my mouth frowned. I tried to take the costume off, but she stopped me.

     “Hear me out.” She moved quickly, a speech already prepared. She sat down on the edge of the bed, an uncanny reflection. “It’s at the Child’s residence. The grand house on Fourth Street–”

     “The manor?” I hated that she immediately caught my interest.

     “Mmm hmm.” She cooed. “The one you’ve always wanted to visit?” We’d looked up at those grounds our whole lives. “Wouldn’t it be cool to see inside?” 

     “Cornelius and Ambrosia were too stuck up to invite me.” 

      “They still are,” Anna automatically agreed. “Old magic,” she huffed. “And their Dad is the king of the coven. Victor Child. They think they know everything. But who cares. The house dates back to before the town was born. You love old things.”

      “I do love old things,” I hesitantly agreed.

       “It’s like a castle,” Anna pushed forward. “Think of the transoms and cable-knit doo-hickeys.” We both grinned. She got one architecture term correct. Ornate charm and decoration were neither of Anna’s interests, but they were a huge draw for me. To get inside the mansion would be a visual treat.

      ”They must be worth millions,” I mused. 

      “Try billions. Sept-jillions, maybe. Money means nothing to them.” Anna said in such casual distaste I knew money also didn’t impress her the way it did me. I’d had enough nights eating ramen noodles in a bachelor apartment flipping through basic cable channels while paying my way through school. I could appreciate the finer things. To experience that sort of opulence up close would be an eyeful. Anna could tell I was already on the hook. 

      Damn. 

      How’d she get in my head? The sibling connection was strong between us. Like it always had been.

      “You can get in, nose around all night, no one the wiser. It’s perfect.” 

      “Oh no.” I snapped back to reality. “That’s trespassing.” 

      “Uh uh. I’ve got the invite right here.” Anna plied it into my hands. “We look exactly the same. It’s a masked ball. No one will know who you are, and if they do, they’ll think that you’re me. You don’t need some parabond to claim you.” 

      “To be accepted there, you do.” I sighed. The coven wasn’t for me. “I don’t belong in that world.”

       “You do, Lie. Fate was dumb. And so cruel. The visit will do you some good. It will help you find your purpose.” Anna grew tough. “You’ve always wondered what it’s like to be in the coven. To be claimed as a witch. Oh, it’s so special.” She mocked me. “You’ve felt left out. And sis, I get it. But now you can see it firsthand. I try to tell you it’s boring as dirt and that the use of magic is practically non-existent for these people except during pompous academy lessons, and blah, blah, blah, but this way you can see for yourself. Then you won’t feel so odd-man-out with me, Mom and Dad.”

       My jaw opened. “You think they’ve noticed?” 

       “They have eyes, Lila.”

        “Anna.” I parroted her name back in the same annoyed voice. She turned the charm back on, suddenly dripping with ease. 

       “Look, you said yourself, Mom and Dad don’t even know you’re in town so this is the perfect night to play a little trick.” She laid the dress against me, pushing it around my waist so I could get a sense of how it looked and felt. It was a beautiful shade of purple. “You wish you’d made different decisions during the academy enrollment session,” she gently reminded me. “Well, this is your fate.” 

I agreed. I wished I’d made decisions like her, then things would be different. 

      “So, now’s your chance,” she told me. I stared at my image in the dress. How many times would I get to wear a gown like this in my boring, non-witch life? Never. 

       “Do all the women wear purple?” I asked. 

       “For the sundown, yes. The guys can wear amethyst too, but they’re mostly in black. I’ll let Xavie know what’s up.” She nodded towards her landline phone, intending to call him. Xavier Grant was her boyfriend of over two years. I didn’t have the nerve to ask if he was her parabond.

        “We’ve never met,” I reminded Anna. 

        “Well, tonight’s the night. He’ll watch out for you.” 

       “It’s a bad idea.” My objections were wearing down.

        “At least try it on.” She offered the dress. “I know you want to.” 

         “There’s no way it’ll fit.”

         “Of course it will,” Anna countered. “We’re identical twins.” And before I could blink, she’d maneuvered me out of my comfy jeans and into the swirly purple skirts. I loved the way they swished. The top half of the gown fit like a glove, sucking me in, rounding out my curves. She’d obviously paid to have it fitted. I looked great. “You look magical.” Anna beamed. 

           “I’m not magic.” I crossed my arms. 

            “Yes, you are. And tonight you look it.” She unfolded my limbs and forced me to get a better look. I did look like the best version of myself. Like her. Like someone else. “I better take this.” 

            “No, wait–” 

            She unclasped the triple-chain necklace I always wore around my neck and threaded it under her own jawline. The final proof of me, now on her person. It was like a reversed reflection. 

           “Perfect,” she said, wearing my jeans and t-shirt.

         “If we get caught–”

       “We won’t.” 

       “But if we do–”

        “No one will know.” 

          I stared into the reflection. If I kept my shoulders back and my confidence up I did look similar. Anna was right. I’d always wanted to know what the witch world was like, how it felt to be powerful and chosen. And seeing the inside of a historic billionaire’s house would be pretty amazing…

           “I can’t.” I tried to back out again, my last attempt.

         “You can and you will.” Anna straightened me out. “You only get one life. You deserve the very best, Lie, whether that’s as a witch or a non-witch. You get to pick.” 

         “No, I–” 

          I wanted to fight more, but I couldn’t. Anna had already won. She’d combatted every argument I could think of. I should always take her advice, I knew. If I had listened before, maybe things would be different. 

         Better. 

         Tonight was a no-brainer. 

         I would go to the party in her stead. It was exciting and precarious and exhibitionist. Not like me at all. Totally her. But I supposed that was the whole point of the evening.