Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(48)

It wasn’t until three years ago when Miranda’s mom enrolled her in the competitions that their paths had crossed again. And the girl had been a bitch from the word go.

“Are you going to let her beat you?” her mom snapped.

Did Mom have to rub it in? “I said I was going to do my best.” Miranda paused. “You know what I don’t understand?”

“No, let me tell you what I don’t understand. You turned five goons into kangaroos with a mind-to-pinky curse, but you can’t find it within yourself to complete a spell to transform a few apples into oranges.”

The tightness in Miranda’s throat doubled. “Maybe I was able to do the kangaroo trick because my life, as well as Della’s and Kylie’s, was on the line.”

“And this isn’t important?”

“Oh, gosh. How could I forget?” Miranda put on her worst acting abilities. “Winning is everything, right? More important than my life and the life of my friends.”

“I didn’t mean…” Her mom actually sounded remorseful.

Wow, that might be a first. Okay, not really, but sometimes she drove Miranda loony. Wanting to change the subject, Miranda asked, “Did you see Kylie and Della out front?”

“No, I haven’t been out front.” Her mom paused. “I didn’t mean…”

“Forget it,” Miranda said, afraid this conversation would lead to her mom going into the same ol’ spiel. They came from royalty. Her father, who Miranda loved dearly when he found a few minutes to spend with her, was of English heritage and was a descendent of Merlin. Her mom, as well as her grandmother, had reigned as high priestess for several years. Miranda was expected to follow in their footsteps.

So. Not. Happening.

“It’s just … I thought … I thought you’d try harder with the prize being what it is.”

Miranda might have, if she knew what the prize was. Then again … not really. All she wanted was to be left alone to kill more shape-shifters. Was that asking too much? She moved to the window and looked out. A storm brewed. The morning sky was almost black. Flashes of lightning spidered across the sky.

A strange sensation of doom and gloom did a stroll down her backbone. Probably Tabitha sending her bad juju. The girl was a nut job. A serious nut job.

“I mean, since that boy you’ve got a thing for is there, I just assumed you might want to go see him. Peter?”

Miranda swung away from the storm and faced her mom. “I don’t have a thing for a guy named Peter, his name is Perry and … Wha—what—what do you mean ‘go see him’?”

Her mom’s mouth thinned. “You didn’t read the brochure I sent, did you?”

“What’s the prize?”

“Why do I mail you stuff if—?”

“Just tell me!” Realizing she came off rude, she added, “Please.”





Chapter Two


Miranda’s mom huffed. “They pay your way to the next competition, which happens to be in Paris, France.”

Air swelled in Miranda’s lungs. “Who gets their trip paid? First, second, and third, or just first? How many of the finalists get to go?”

“There’re twenty girls competing. I think it’s the top five who get their way paid to Paris, but … you should aspire to win. Who wants to just place in the top five? You want to win.”

Win? Miranda didn’t give a frog’s ass about winning. But going to Paris? Oh, yeah. She could hunt down her own blond, bright-eyed shape-shifter and … she wouldn’t kill him. Maybe she could make him see reason. Maybe he’d see her and realize he was still in love with her.

Tears filled her eyes. She wanted that more than anything—wanted Perry to love her.

Her mom stared. “I’ll tell you what, how about if I sweeten the deal? If you win first place, I’ll pay for that rude vampire and that other strange chameleon girl to go with you.”

Miranda stood in shock. Thunder boomed in the distance. She pushed away the doom and gloom feeling again and stared at her mom in disbelief. The only thing better than going to see Perry was going to see Perry with her two best friends, Kylie and Della, there for support. Miranda grabbed her mom by the arm and walked her to the door. “You should leave now.”

“Why?” her mom asked.

“Because I gotta practice and get dressed. Oh, and go ahead and buy those tickets. I’m winning!”

*

The bell rang, announcing they had five minutes before the competition commenced. Panicked that she’d only practiced the first apples-to-oranges spell, and clueless to what the second and third spells might be, she let out a moan. But no time to whine. She bolted from the chair, slipped her feet into her green heels, and gave herself one quick final check in the mirror.

The dress fit like a glove. A tight glove. Too much breakup ice cream. She recalled Della telling her she was going to get fat and stomping her ice cream into the floor. At the time, Miranda had been super pissed, but now … She supposed she should tell the vamp thank you, or she’d be arriving in front of the council in her fat jeans right now.

She grabbed her brush from her purse and ran it through her long strawberry-blond hair. While she’d gotten her mom’s eye color, she’d taken those red highlights from her father. As the strands fell together on her shoulders, the streaks of green, pink, and black framed her face.