Wattpad Exclusive! Spellbinder Prequel Chapter

Prequel Chapter

"Take this you no good piece of crap!" Miranda Cane mindlessly tossed her jeans into her half-packed suitcase, then stopped. Glaring at her phone in her hand, she pushed buttons to bring on death. Breath held, she plopped her butt on the mattress, waiting to see if she'd succeeded. "Die for me!"

"Hey." Kylie, her chameleon roommate, popped her head into Miranda's bedroom door. "Who do you want to die?"

"It's just a game." Miranda barely glanced up, instead she frowned as she watched the blond avatar, a shape-shifter, dodge the bullet she'd sent his way. "Damn it, I missed again."

Kylie moved in and looked at the screen on her phone. "You're a gamer?"

"No, I just . . . this one is fun." The fact that her ex, Perry, was a blond shape-shifter had nothing to do with her sudden interest in murder. Okay, maybe it had everything to do with it, but who gave a crap. Perry, sure as hell didn't. He'd broken up with her and then took his cute butt to Paris. And he wasn't calling.

Miranda frowned and looked back at the screen where the blond shape-shifter grabbed a gun from the magic bubbles, and commenced to fill her avatar with bullets. Oh, that hurt.

She glanced up at Kylie. "Or it would be fun if I could take out that nasty scumbag! Grr!" She tossed her phone on the mattress.

"Are you okay?" Kylie dropped on the bed beside Miranda.

Hell no! "Of course I am."

"Is this about Perry?" Kylie asked.

"Perry? Who's that?" She rolled her eyes. "Oh, you mean the guy who spent the last four months telling me he loved me and then broke up with me and left me to wallow in pain. Left me, while he's probably in France playing kissy-kissy and checking out the tonsils of some French chick? I should give him pimples. Or jock itch. Yeah, that's what I'll do."

Kylie frowned. "I'm sorry I brought him up."

"I'm fine," Miranda lied again and glanced back at her phone. "Haven't you ever just wanted to kill something?"

Kylie made a face.

Miranda rolled her eyes again. "Della's right, you are just too nice."

A grin brightened Kylie's blue eyes. "Speaking of Della, I just got a text from her. She said her mom agreed to let her come with me to your competition tomorrow. So we'll both be there."

Miranda suddenly wished she hadn't asked them to come. "Great, when I make an idiot out of myself, you two can be there to cheer me on."

"Why would you make an idiot out of yourself?" Kylie bumped shoulders with her in that best friend kind of bump that said I care without a word.

A knot of emotion filled Miranda's throat. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because I'm probably the only dyslexic witch who's stupid enough to let her mom sign her up for a spell competition. What if I turn someone into a kangaroo? Or . . ."

"Hey, you finaled in that last competition," Kylie reminded her.

"A fluke," Dread built in her chest. "Even Ernie said so."

"Ernie?" Kylie asked.

Miranda reached into the suitcase and pulled out her magic eight ball. "Meet Ernie?"

Kylie laughed. "Hey, I had one of these when I was thirteen. I used to ask it about boys all the time. Will he kiss me? Ask me to dance? Does he even know I exist?"

"You didn't have one like this," Miranda said. "This one is . . . special."

Kylie took it from Miranda's hands."You mean like really magic?"

"Yeah." Miranda could tell Kylie didn't believe her, not that it bothered Miranda. Non-witches, even paranormals, always held a shadow of doubt when it came to Wicca powers.

Kylie wrapped her palms around the black ball. "So if I ask it a question, it will answer it?"

"Only if he's in the mood," Miranda frowned.

"Okay." Kylie gave the ball one quick shake, the liquid inside the sphere made splashing sounds. "Are you really magical, Mr. Ernie?"

Kylie looked down and waited for the message to appear in the little window and then read the words. "You betcha!" She grinned. "Okay, let's try again."

"Good luck," Miranda said glaring at the black ball who had refused to answer any of her earlier questions.

Kylie rolled her eyes. "Is Miranda going to win the competition?" She shook the ball and then stared at it, waiting. When nothing appeared Kylie looked up, her brow pinched.

"Told you, he wouldn't answer," Miranda said.

Kylie laughed. "I just need to shake it a little harder." She gave the ball a good shake. Then looked back down at it . . . waiting. Finally, frowning she looked up. "Why is it not working?"

"I told you. He's not in the mood," Miranda said.

"It's just stuck." Kylie shook it again, and then stared down at it. When nothing appeared, she looked up at Miranda with wide eyes. "You weren't joking. It's really. . . Shit." She literally threw the ball back to Miranda and popped up off the mattress.

"That's freaky," Kylie said and walked out. "I got to get packed and so do you."

Miranda watched her go, and then looked back down at Ernie. All of a sudden a heavy feeling filled her chest. Not just from the broken heart, but the kind of feeling that usually meant something. She cupped her hands around the magic ball and brought it close to her lips. "Is bad shit about to happen?" she whispered the question.

She gave it a shake then stared down, believing Ernie would ignore her again. But then one word floated up and pressed against the tiny round window. "Absolutely."