The ambulance pulled up to the curb and the paramedics rushed in, tending to Annie. Adam told them that she'd received the burns from a space heater incident gone awry. The paramedics looked askance at that, but they didn't ask questions, they just bundled Annie into the back of the ambulance.

When Mira tried to climb in the back with her, the paramedic stopped her. "You'll have to follow in a car. We're taking her to Mercy General." He slammed the door.

The ambulance drove down the street. Mira watched until it turned the corner. She felt Jack come up beside her before she glimpsed him out of the corner of her eye. They stood for a moment in silence.

Every part of her body seemed to ache from the knowledge that he'd deliberately misled her. He'd concealed and twisted the truth.

"I expected you to break my heart in the end, Jack, but I never thought it would happen this way," she whispered. She turned and walked down the street and didn't look back.

TWENTY-FOUR

MIRA SLUNG PLATES OF TURKEY, GRAVY, AND mashed potatoes, the special of the day. Lunchtime at Mike's Diner was in full swing, and Mira should've hit her groove by now.

But Mira doubted she'd ever again find her groove in the diner.

That was gone, along with a wicked, gorgeous, and ultimately deceitful blue-eyed man.

Mira dropped her order off, refilled drinks, and went to clear off a table. Her body went through the motions because her mind was a million miles away.

Annie had been released from the hospital two days after she'd been admitted, and they'd flown home from New York. Mira had gone back to work at Mike's the next day, needing something to occupy her in a major way. They'd hired a part-time waitress to cover her while she'd been gone, but Mike had still given her old job back without a moment's hesitation.

Not that she was enjoying it much.

The world had changed in her eyes during the last few weeks, and she had changed with it. She no longer found the tentative satisfaction she'd once known at the diner. Not now, after she'd tapped her power and found her magick. That made everything else seem awfully pale in comparison.

Or maybe she was just depressed.

Mira picked up a tub of dirty dishes and carted it to the back. After she dropped it off for the dishwasher, she stopped to wash her hands. Plucking a clean dish towel from the cabinet near the sink, she walked out behind the counter to survey the half-full restaurant. She caught sight of the TV on the corner platform above the counter and did a double take. The afternoon news was on and the picture showed the Duskoff Building. She grabbed the remote by the coffeemaker and increased the volume.