“He’ll come,” Emma said. “Mondays are his day off.”

Katie hoped Emma was right. She thought of the Bible in the freezer in the basement and wondered if the spell would be stronger if he was at her house. It had been a little over a month, and so far nothing had happened. Sure, he’d been nice and she knew he liked her, at least as a friend, and sometimes she could feel him staring at her, but he hadn’t made any attempt to see her away from Emma’s house, and she knew he was still dating the blonde.

“Wear your black bathing suit,” Emma said, referring to her most revealing suit. “You look really hot in it.”

Lina’s perception of herself as open-minded was being put to the test as she watched the group in the pool. Well, not exactly the group, but the boy-man Katie seemed glued to all afternoon. When the four males arrived, Lina had made an attempt to go out and meet them, but Katie intercepted her at the door and with just one look made it clear she didn’t want her mother anywhere near the party or pool. Lina reluctantly didn’t push it, afraid she’d discourage Katie from inviting friends over and further alienate her, but that didn’t stop her from spying on them off and on all afternoon from the kitchen window. When had she become so judgmental? As a teenager she wouldn’t have thought twice about a boy with tattoos, but here she was thinking poorly of someone simply because he had tattoos on his body.

“What are you looking at?”

Lina jumped and spun around at the sound of Logan’s voice. “You scared me,” she breathed, her hand on her chest. “How was the camp?” He was attending a half-day lacrosse camp at a local school.

“Good. Who do all the cars belong to?”

“Katie has some friends over. They’re at the pool.” Lina watched him look out the window.

“I’m going to see if they want to play water volleyball,” he said, seemingly unfazed that the group looked different than the kids he normally associated with.

“Who’s in our pool?” Megan asked when she arrived home an hour later.

“Katie’s friends,” Lina said.

“Oh my God!” Megan practically gasped. “Katie’s sitting next to a guy with a full-sleeve tattoo! Gross.”

“Megan!” Lina frowned at her. “You don’t even know him. Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

“What? I’m not allowed to have an opinion? How does she even know him? He looks older than me.”

“I think he’s friends with Emma’s brother.”

“Well, so much for hanging out at the pool,” Megan said before crossing to the refrigerator. “I’m not going anywhere near them.”

“Your brother is fourteen, and he’s taller than me,” Matt said. “What happened to you?” He was submerged up to his chest in water as he lounged on the underwater steps leading into the pool while Katie stood a couple of feet in front of him. The rest of the group, which now included Logan, was playing water volleyball at the other end of the pool.