Witch - By Fiona Horne Page 0,4

on the right.

‘We’re twins,’ Amelia whispered, as if she were sharing a secret rather than stating the obvious.

My eyes shifted from left to right as I tried to keep up with them.

I started to gather up the stuff from my bag that had spewed everywhere. I reached for The Sixth Sense and Us, but Amelia beat me to it.

‘Cool book,’ she said.

‘We have it, too,’ Alyssa added. ‘Have you tried the psychic vision meditation on page 23?’

‘Page 33,’ said Amelia.

‘She’s probably right.’ Alyssa shrugged and rolled her eyes. ‘She’s better with numbers.’

‘I did try it, but I’m not sure if I did it right. I’m just kind of experimenting,’ I said, feeling like I needed to contribute something to the conversation.

They both smiled. ‘Our mom got us the book for Christmas,’ Alyssa said. ‘She’s really into this stuff. She says we’ve been psychic from the day we were born.’

I felt an unexpected rush of admiration for both of them.

‘We always know what one another are thinking,’ Alyssa said.

‘Which can be totally frustrating, of course,’ Amelia chimed in.

‘Did we mention we’re twins?’ Alyssa said, giggling.

‘I knew she was going to say that again,’ Amelia said huffily. ‘Anyway, twins knowing what one another are thinking and feeling is common, apparently. It gets kind of confusing at times. Sometimes I think I’m thinking something, but it turns out that I’m actually just hearing what Alyssa’s thinking, and then other times—’ She stopped talking abruptly and shot her sister an annoyed glance. ‘And she currently thinks I’m talking too much.’

‘You could have picked that up from half the school,’ Alyssa said under her breath, then looked at me. ‘So, do you think we’re clinically kooky?’

‘I was actually thinking I like that about you,’ I said. It was true – I’d never met anyone psychic before, and I was enjoying the girls’ company. ‘Psychic stuff is . . . definitely interesting to me,’ I said hesitantly.

They smiled and I immediately felt more confident. ‘It’s awesome that your mum’s into it, too.’ I blurted out. ‘My parents are so straight I have to hide books like this away from them. They’d probably burn them.’

Both girls laughed – at exactly the same time, of course. ‘Well, if you ever want to come over to our place for dinner,’ Alyssa said, ‘our mom will talk your ear off about it. And read your tea-leaves while she’s at it.’

‘And feed you all the vegetarian mush you can cram in,’ Amelia added with less enthusiasm.

‘Sounds great.’ All of a sudden I felt really happy. ‘Why haven’t I met you guys before?’ I asked.

‘We’ve seen you around,’ Amelia said, ‘but you always seemed to want to be on your own, so we didn’t want to be pushy.’

‘But then you ran into us, and you have a copy of one of our favourite books,’ Alyssa continued. ‘It seems like fate. That book is really rare, you know – it only finds its way to certain people.’

‘Well, I’m glad I ran into you,’ I said. ‘I truly would love to come over and meet your mum and eat her “vegetarian mush”.’

‘Come this Friday,’ said Alyssa. ‘It’s Vania, right?’

‘That’s not her being psychic,’ Amelia whispered in my ear, ‘it’s her paying attention in class. So, dinner Friday. You can catch the bus home with us.’

‘That would be the bus that’s leaving in three minutes,’ Alyssa said in a sudden panic.

‘Bye, Vania,’ they chorused and hurried off down the hall, leaving me feeling slightly bemused.

A boy’s voice interrupted my thoughts: ‘Vania.’ I turned to see Bryce standing there, and for the second time that day I wondered what he wanted with me.

Because I’d been chatting with the twins I’d missed my bus, and Bryce offered to walk me home. It wasn’t too far out of his way, he said, but I was still pretty surprised that he would bother – even if he was class president. I wondered what Cassidy would say if she knew – not that there was anything to it, of course.

‘You know you didn’t have to walk me home,’ I said once we’d set out. ‘I’m totally fine on my own.’

Bryce smiled at me, and with the sun setting behind him he looked kind of angelic. Once again, I started to feel dizzy. What was this guy’s power over me? Sure he was good-looking, but there was something more to it than that.

He suddenly reached out and took my arm, making me jump. His hand felt cool and smooth, and I