Solene's mother and father had tried to shield her from the legends of the curse. But they reached her ears anyway—if at least due to Soleil.

It was said that a witch from the prestigious Anouir family had married an elvish prince of the Danaan line, a long time ago. The elves did not care for this, and declared that as long as there were witch children bearing the Danaan name, their children would be as powerful and brilliant as the sun and the moon—but like the sun and the moon, they could never share the same sky.

Every generation, at least one set of twins with magic like the sun and moon were born, among the most powerful witches of their age. But that magic came with a price. Their names littered through the history books, marking the sides of good and evil, and they would always meet destruction at each other's hands.

Soleil and Luna had somehow managed to avoid this, for this long at least.

But then came Solene, born with no twin.

When Solene had finally learned of the story, and gained the courage to ask her mother, Luna told her that it was a sign that Solene wasn't cursed at all.

But the charm necklace Luna had made for her told Solene that she truly didn't believe it at all.

Solene could also see it in the moon-pale blonde edges of her hair—the hair of the Danaan sisters who did bear the curse, at odds with the rich brown she'd inherited from her father.

It all pointed to Solene still being cursed—and perhaps even more so.

For she had to carry the sun and the moon alone, with all its power and capacity for good and evil.

If she was cursed to burn out in the epics of history, then she wanted to choose her path. A hero's death, before she could ever become the villain, was more than welcome in Solene's eyes.

"Well, I guess we can call this a going-away present." Soleil's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

Solene straightened up as Soleil reached into her coat and pulled out of its pocket a little box.

"Got you this when I was on the site in Khiyiira, right before we went to Greenhill." Soleil passed it to Solene.

"You didn't have to get me anything," Solene protested.

"Of course I do." Soleil gestured dismissively. "You're my only niece. It's practically in the job description. 'Must get sole niece gifts from all the aunt's fabulous travel.' It's in the fine print, you know."

"She's right," Helena added. "And it goes double for aunties." Solene grinned and shook her head.

"Come on, open it, I'm not getting any younger!"

Helena raised an eyebrow. "You're not one to talk, Soleil."

"Alright, alright!" Solene removed the top of the box to reveal underneath a sheet of tissue paper a little silver ring in the shape of a cat. She immediately slid it on— a perfect fit. "Oh, wow, thank you!"

"Of course." Soleil leaned her head against her hand. "I saw it in one of the shops and instantly thought of you."

She glanced to the kitchen door—Luna hadn't emerged back out yet.

"You know, one of these days I'd like to take you with me to one of the sites." Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "I know your mom's worried—but you're nearly grown up now. It'll be your choice soon enough. And I think some adventure would do you good."

"Soleil." The humor had disappeared from Helena once more.

"I don't know." Solene shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe in the summer, before I try to get in the Duelist Guild."

"I know you don't want to be in this house, in Ventura Sound all your life, do you?" Soleil's eyes gleamed as she leaned forward and placed a hand on Solene's knee. "You're different, you're going to be something special someday, I just know it. All you've gotta do is take a step out of this little box, and the world is yours." 

That was the thing about Soleil. The way her eyes shone on you, she made you feel like you were the most special person in the world. And maybe you were, just to experience her radiance for a moment.

It was hard to say no to her.

And to be honest, hadn't Solene thought just earlier that morning that something had to change about her life?

She didn't want to be an archaeologist for magical artifacts, disabling curses and determining the properties of treasure long locked away by wealthy elves or kitsunes or ancient witches.

But a summer couldn't hurt, could it? One where she would be the one traveling to far-off places, where she could have stories to tell her own children?

"Soleil, that's enough."

Helena's words pulled Solene out from under her aunt's spell.

Before she could open her mouth to answer, she heard footsteps and turned her head to see Luna had returned.

"I hope you aren't trying to get Solene to join you on a dig site again?" Her mother's voice took on that breezy, too-casual voice once more as she sat down in one of the armchairs.

"Can't blame an aunt for trying, can you?" Soleil leaned back, away from Solene.

"I can and I will." Luna looked to Solene. "After all, you want to be a Duelist— and I think that's a fine ambition."

"Finer would be a Healer." Helena looked to Solene pointedly.

"And that would be fine too, if that's what Solene wants." Luna's gaze was fierce upon the woman who had raised her. She softened when she looked back to Solene. "Whatever it is you want to be, I'll support it."

Soleil snorted. "You would."

"It seems I was wrong about what I had in the pantry," Luna continued, as if Soleil had said nothing at all. "Solene, why don't you go drive over to Monetti's and grab a pizza? That'll give time for me and my sister to catch up. You could give Aunt

Helena a ride as well—you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

There was no arguing with her mother when her eyes got all steely like that and her voice airy.

Besides, with the setting sun? It was a good time to take her car for a ride. A red convertible with all rounded edges and colorful flower stickers on the hood and door, it had been her sweet sixteen present last year. And because she was so often away at school, on the island, she hadn't yet tired or driving it.

"You got it." Solene gave her mother a two-finger salute.

Helena rose. "It is a good night for a drive—besides, we might have to make a detour or two."

Helena winked—as good of an indicator of anything that they'd go through the drive-thru for milkshakes.

As they left the house, Solene couldn't help but wonder why exactly her mother didn't want her to go with her aunt to any of her dig sites. Was it overprotectiveness? Or was it that Soleil knew the secrets that Luna would never tell her and that Solene could never bear to ask about?

"Did I ever tell you about my husband?" Helena turned down the dial on the radio after the last single from the werewolf boy band Far North finished.

"No." Solene hadn't known that Helena had ever married.

"He died a long time ago, a few years before the twins started at the Anouir Institute." Helena propped her arm up on the side of the car. "Gwydion was a Duelist, you know."

"I didn't."

Helena laughed. "Well, he was retired by the time we met. Forcibly retired, mind you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know about the theory of karmic magic, right?" There was a moment of uncertainty in Helena's eyes. Unlike most of the Danaan clan, Helena and her twin, Diana, had not attended the Anouir Institute. In fact, Helena did not practice magic much at all. As such, she sometimes was as uncertain as a mortal about the rules and concepts of magic.

"Of course, Auntie."

"Then you know that what you do can come back as a curse, things like violence especially have a way of coming back." Helena glanced over the bridge's side, at how the dying sunlight hit the water. "Gwydion was cursed by one of the dark witches he brought in to face the Covenant's justice. It was a nasty curse, it relied on the Rule of Three and karmic magic to enhance it. He died about ten years after I met him because of it."

She looked back to Solene, meeting her eyes in the rear-view mirror. "I don't want that to happen to you, starshine."

Solene recognized Helena's grief, she saw it in her mother's eyes, in the lilac tree in the backyard.

"I know, Auntie."

"But I can't change your mind, can I?" Helena tiled her head, smiled sadly.

"I'm afraid not." Solene braked gently for the stoplight.

"You're a Danaan woman, just as headstrong as us girls tend to be." Helena looked back out of the car. "Suppose it's just as well. We have to be stubborn to break a curse."

But there was no breaking an elvish curse.

They all knew that. The elves were magic itself come alive, as close to divinity as the plane of Verana would ever see. To break their curse, they would need a miracle.

And those, Solene wasn't so sure she believed in.