Description: Chapter One I was haunting the mailbox. It was already late March and I should have been receiving an acceptance letter anytime, at least that''s what I hoped. I had applied to three colleges, but UC Nightshade was my first choice. It might seem weird to want to stay in the same small town where I''d always lived, but my father, through no fault of his own, had been away from the family and hadn''t been back home that long. I couldn''t bear to disappoint him by leaving. Besides, my two older sisters already went to UC Nightshade, so I''d have the benefit of their advice. And more important, my boyfriend, Ryan, was applying to UC Nightshade too. On my way home from school I spotted someone in a blue uniform standing in front of our mailbox. The postal carrier! But when I rushed up I was surprised to see it wasn''t our usual carrier. Instead it was a strange woman with light brown hair who was standing with one hand in our mailbox. "Where''s Mr. Johansson?" I asked. He''d been our mail carrier for years. The woman turned, startled, and I noticed a purple birthmark on her face. "Vacation," she mumbled, and hurried off. I was disappointed to find the mailbox empty. The anticipation was going to kill me. My whole family had noticed my frequent trips to the mailbox, and Poppy sometimes messed with me by hiding the mail. Mom''s car was in the driveway, which meant she was home already. I walked through the front door and into the hallway. "Daisy, the mail''s on the kitchen counter," Mom called from upstairs. It was unusual to find her home before me on a weekday. It must be a slow day for crime. Mom was a psychic investigator, and she helped local law enforcement agencies with their cases. It made life interesting, since Nightshade''s chief of police was the father of my boyfriend. Ryan and I seemed to have inherited their taste for crime solving, since with his help I''d solved several crimes in Nightshade. You know what they say: The couple that solves crimes together stays together. Well, they don''t really say that, but they should. I thumbed quickly through the pile of mail. Bills, junkmail, and a thick envelope for my father, but there wasn''t anything for me. "Mr. Johansson says hello, "Mom continued. "The mailman? I thought he was on vacation," I said. "What did you say?"Mom hollered. "Never mind," I replied. Just then, my cell buzzed. It was Ryan. "Did you get anything yet?" he asked. "Nothing. You?" There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment. "Nothing," he eventually replied. I sighed. "Cheer up," he said. "They''ll be here soon." "I''m getting tired of waiting," I said. "Me too," Ryan admitted. The unspoken tension between us was caused by one question: What would happen between us if we ended up at different colleges? Not to mention that my boyfriend was a werewolf, which might be difficult to hide at the dorms. Hiding my psychic abilities would be comparatively easy. The existence of paranormals was starting to be known and accepted in Nightshade, but not everyone in the world had that attitude. The thought sent me into such a deep funk that I almost missed Ryan''s invitation. "Do you want to do something tonight?" he asked. "I have to work," I said. "How about Friday? We''ll make it a special date." I was flattered by his insistence. "Of course," I replied. "What do you have in mind?" "I just want to see you," he said."You''ve been so busy lately." I''d been busy, it was true, but I also had been avoiding him, using work as an excuse. Everyone said that long-distance relationships never worked. I didn''t want to get even closer to Ryan only to break up when we left for separate colleges, or later, when distance took its toll. If we both ended up at UC Nightshade, our relationship stood a chance. I missed him, though, and couldn''t resist temptation. "I''ll make you dinner," I offered. "Everyone will be out of the house." At least, I was pretty sure they would be. Rose would be out with her boyfriend, Nicholas Bone, and Poppy had a date. She''d been out with her new guy, Liam, almost every night. Even my parents would be out attending some faculty function at UC Nightshade, where my dad now taught part-time. "Why don''t we go out to dinner?" Ryan asked. "There''s something I wanted to talk to you about." Why can''t he talk to me at home? "Sure," I said. "Slim''s?" "I was thinking maybe dinner at Wilder''s," Ryan replied. Wilder''s? That was a special-occasion restaurant, not the kind of place we normally went on date night. I once had a few cooking lessons from their former chef, although the lessons were more like unpaid labor than a learning experience. "Okay," I said after a long pause, "but I thought you were saving money for college." "You''re worth the splurge," Ryan said. "I''ll make a reservation for seven." We hung up after I realized I needed to be at work in half an hour. Business had picked up at Slim''s Diner, so I''d been working a lot, which was helping with my college fund. If I got into a college, that is. I went to talk to my sister Poppy about using the car that night. Both Rose and Poppy still lived at home while they attended UC Nightshade.My parents were ecstatic at the idea of me doing the same. Poppy was on the phone, as usual, but she broke offher conversation to stare at me. "What?" she said. "I''m on the phone." "Can I have the car tonight?" I asked. "Sure," she said. "My date is picking me up here." She''d been awfully mysterious about Liam. We''d met him at an event on Halloween, but she hadn''t brought him home and didn''t talk about him at all to us, which was definitely not like Poppy. I drove to work, still wondering what Ryan wanted to talk to me about. Once there, I went in search of my boss. Slim''s had red leather booths, the best cinnamon rolls in the county, and a prophetic jukebox. Not your average diner at all. And the owner and his sister were far from average, as well. The head waitress, Flo, was on her cell phone, in the middle of a very giggly conversation. Probably with her boyfriend. I decided not to interrupt. There was no sign of Slim, but since he was invisible, there never was. I went in search of him to see what he needed me to do first. I waited tables or helped out in the kitchen, depending on the day. The kitchen looked empty, but I knew enough to doublecheck. "Slim?" I said into the air. "Hi, Daisy," a voice said. "Where do you need me tonight?" I asked. "I''ve got the dinner menu under control," he said. "Why don''t you help Flo?" Flo was still giggling into her cell phone, so I grabbed some quarters and went to say hello to Lil, the jukebox. She''d given me a ton of clues during my investigations. A few months ago, I''d discovered that there was a soul trapped in there. I''d promised to help her escape her jukebox prison, but so far, I hadn''t found a way to do so. I wasn''t ready to give up yet, though. I punched in a few random selections and waited. Nothing. Lil was miffed, and I didn''t blame her. "I''m working on it, I swear," I said. "But Circe took her show on the road and hasn''t stepped foot in Nightshade since we found out."What we''d found out was that sorceress and celebrity chef Circe Silvertongue was responsible for trapping Lil in the jukebox and turning her fianc into a pig. "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley came on. Lil was getting impatient. "Message received," I told her. "A little more action it is. I''ll try to figure out what our next step is." Lil responded with "Inspiration Information" by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and then went silent. My friends Samantha Devereax and Sean Walsh walked in and sat down at one of the smaller booths. I went over to say hi. "What are you two doing here tonight?" I said. "You''re all dressed up." Samantha looked gorgeous. She wore a minidress with an itty-bitty cardigan thrown over it. She had her hair piled high and wore long sparkly earrings. "We''re celebrating," Samantha said. "Sean signed his letter of intent." "Congratulations," I replied. "But what''s a letter of intent?" It wasn''t my imagination that they exchanged a meaningful glance. "Intent to play," Samantha said."Sean''s going to play college baseball with the University of California, Irvine." Letter of intent? Shouldn''t Ryan be signing one of those letter thingies? "I think Slim has some sparkling cider in the back," I said, "left over from Nightshade''s anniversary party. I''ll bring some out." "That would be fabulous," Samantha said. Samantha wasn''t angsting like the rest of us. She already knew whe

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