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‘Yeah, right,’ Lizzie said, ignoring the sudden surge inside her. Xan wasn’t telling her something she didn’t already know. She’d taken one look at Elric and known they were mated, bonded, forever.

She just didn’t have to like it.

‘I’d give anything to be you,’ Xan said, and the ring of truth in her voice was undeniable. ‘Give up my powers, anything. He’s worth any sacrifice. It’s hopeless for me, he’ll never love me, but if I were you…’ She leaned close to Lizzie, cinnamon and sulfur again. ‘Let passion take you, Lizzie. To be Elric’s one true love is a destiny worth any gift.’

And all I ever wanted was to get rid of my gift, Lizzie thought, looking at Xan’s beautiful, ageless face.

So why was she suddenly feeling manipulated when her long-lost aunt was telling her to reach for everything she ever wanted, true love and no inconvenient powers?

But Dee’s decade of warnings still stuck in her brain, and while she might have been spacey, she was never stupid. ‘What’s in it for you?’

‘For me, darling?’ Xan echoed, pulling back. ‘What could be in it for me? Except your happiness. Happiness and true love.’

Yeah, right, she thought, but this time she didn’t say it out loud.

‘Go to him, Lizzie. He’s everything you ever wanted.’ There was the faint glint of a tear in Xan’s eyes, a real tear, and her voice was true. She took Lizzie’s hand in hers, her fingers twining, and the amethyst went wild. Hot and sparking against her skin, a fiery warning that Xan didn’t seem to notice. ‘Don’t let your sisters tell you power is more important than love. Nothing is more important than love.’

She held on for a moment, and then released Lizzie’s hand, turning and walking away, graceful in those beautiful silk pants, the red kimono lifting gently in the wind. Lizzie stared after her, dizzy and confused. That was sincere; she really meant that. But that was also Xan.

The day had grown suddenly cold, and the amethyst against her skin seemed lifeless, as if, after giving off that major electrical charge, it had burned out. Lizzie pushed her hair out of her face and realized her hand was shaking. On top of everything else, she must be coming down with some kind of flu. It only needed that to make her life complete.

She needed to get to her sisters, to see if she could reclaim some kind of sanity. Mare had said Mother’s Tattoo Parlor for lunch, and that was as a good a place as any to figure out exactly what was going on, and whether Aunt Xan really was the she-devil of the western world. The cold began to seep into Lizzie’s bones and she hugged herself and turned toward Mother’s, feeling sicker with each step. With luck she wouldn’t have to think about Elric for a very long time.

Mare got to Value Video!! at ten wearing her work clothes which, since Saturday was Corpse Bride, consisted of a wedding dress and veil she’d found at Goodwill, ripped up, and dyed blue. Dreama met her at the front counter. ‘That’s a great dress,’ Dreama said.

Mare got a box of Junior Mints out of the case and gave it to her.

‘Thank you.’ Dreama opened the box. ‘The leak in the beanbag chair got worse last night. I think we really gotta just move it outta here.’

‘I’ll do it,’ Mare said. ‘Where’s Jude?’

‘In the office discussing sales with William.’ Dreama shook her head. ‘Jude is cute, but he doesn’t have much sensitivity.’

‘You are a keen judge of character,’ Mare said.

Dreama nodded, serious. ‘When William took his dinner break last night, I got all the sharp objects out of there.’

Mare looked at her, surprised. ‘Very good, Dreama.’

Jude came out of the office and smiled when he saw Mare, his green eyes glassy with delight, his tie still vile.

‘Ciao, Mare! I’m so glad you’re here.’ Then he looked at her dress. ‘Oh. That’s interesting.’

‘Well, we all become the remains of the day,’ Mare said.

‘Huh?’ Jude said.

‘Emily,’ Dreama said helpfully. ‘Corpse Bride. It’s in her song. Mare’s wearing her dress.’

‘Right, right,’ Jude said. ‘Great marketing. But in New York, you’re going to have to give up anything that’s out of the normal.’

I’m not going to New York,’ Mare said, and ignored Dreama’s fallen face. That was life. One crushing disappointment after another.

‘But it’s a tremendous opportunity,’ Jude said, and then turned when Crash knocked on the plate-glass door.

‘We don’t open until ten-thirty,’ Jude said through the glass, but Mare reached around him and unlocked the latch. ‘No personal conversations on Value Video!! time!’ he told her, his voice rising, and she opened the door.

‘I got your message,’ Crash said as he came in. ‘Nice dress. Corpse Bride, right?’

Mare picked up the broken beanbag chair and jerked her head toward the storeroom.

‘Both of you, in there,’ she said to them. ‘Take care of the store, Dreama. The boys and I are going to have a little talk.’

When they were inside the storeroom, Mare dropped the beanbag chair on the floor, folded her arms, and said, ‘Okay, which one of you bitches is my mother?’

Jude said, ‘Huh?’ but Crash said, ‘Phoebe Cates. It’s from this bad movie she made me watch once.’

‘Lace,’ Mare said.

Jude still looked perplexed. ‘Who’s Phoebe Cates?’

Crash frowned at him. ‘You never saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High? The pool scene? Every guy knows that scene.’

‘Exactly,’ Mare said. ‘He also never saw Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Corpse Bride, Young Frankenstein, the third Indiana Jones, or Ghostbusters.’

‘Son,’ Crash said. ‘You’re in the wrong business.’

Mare leveled her eyes at Jude, who was breathing heavily now, his Adam’s apple practically palpitating, his fingers rubbing his tie tack so hard, she almost expected a genie to appear. ‘You don’t happen to know a tall, dark-haired woman in a red dress, do you? Very beautiful? Dark eyes with a red ring around the iris? Looks like she could cut you in half with them?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Jude croaked.

‘The hell you don’t,’ Mare said. ‘My aunt Xan sent you, you little bastard.’

Jude shook his head, his chest heaving.

‘Back to Aunt Xan, are we?’ Crash said.

‘I have a few questions for you, too,’ Mare said to him, suddenly angrier with him than with a lying VP she didn’t care about anyway. ‘Five years you’ve been gone but all of a sudden you want to marry me. How’d that happen?’

‘It was time,’ Crash said. ‘You’re mad about that?’

‘You’ve been gone for five years,’ Mare said. ‘Why now?’

Crash shook his head. ‘I don’t know. The business is on its feet. I bought a house. We’re making money. I was tired of chasing girls.’

‘Oh, thank you,’ Mare said.

Crash looked confused and more than a little annoyed. ‘This guy in Annapolis ordered a bike and it was ready to ship, and I thought, I could deliver it and see Mare again. The bike I’ve been restoring for you is finished. I looked out the door one day and thought about you standing in the sun, and I missed you so much I couldn’t breathe. It was just time.’

‘Just like that,’ Mare said, trying to ignore the ‘couldn’t breathe’ part. ‘I find your timing suspicious.’

Crash shrugged. ‘You’re the Queen of the Universe. Maybe you made it happen.’

I’m not the queen of anything,’ Mare said grimly. ‘So what did my aunt Xan tell you?’

‘Nothing,’ Crash said, definitely annoyed now. ‘I don’t know your aunt. What’s this about?’

‘I think you’re both Xan’s evil minions.’ Mare swallowed hard, appalled to realize that she was upset, almost crying upset. ‘She was always trying to get control of us, and I think she sent men after us this time, and I got a doubleheader. At least I only fell for one of you.’